Vulnerability management may not be the sexiest topic. But, while buzzier topics are certainly important, vulnerability management may just be the key to an effective data security strategy. According to a Ponemon Institute report, 42% of nearly 2,000 surveyed IT and security workers indicated that they had suffered a data breach in the last two years that could be blamed squarely on unpatched vulnerabilities. In this article, we’ll pull back the curtain on why vulnerability management matters and what we can do to support it.
More Openings for a Data Breach on a Growing Attack Surface
You are certainly aware of — or in the midst of building out — the hybrid cloud. As businesses continue to adopt public and private clouds and on-site databases, they become more flexible and agile. At the same time, they’re increasing the size of their attack surface when it comes to a data breach.
Let’s say we define the attack surface as X- and Y-axes. The X-axis marks every possible technical asset and the Y-axis marks all ways an attacker could exploit those assets. The attack surface expands endlessly. This is even more true if cloud adoption trends and patching gaps continue at the same pace.
But, that’s not why we’re doing this exercise.
Consider this same chart with vulnerability management and effective data security tools in place. Those can monitor for gaps and misconfigurations that can lead to a data breach. Suddenly, the Y-axis almost disappears. Its growth slows, turning the attack surface from a football field to a single swim lane ..
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