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Cybercriminals constantly look for new ways to exploit vulnerabilities. Incorporating CVE monitoring into your cybersecurity strategy helps you spot, understand and mitigate these threats.
A vulnerability is an error in software code that allows threat actors to access things they should not have access to. Vulnerabilities are identified by unique identifiers, known as CVE Identifiers.
Reduce Your Risk
The CVE system is an excellent resource because it provides standardized identification for vulnerabilities and exposures. As a result, it’s easier for cybersecurity teams to work together to identify and remediate them. But, despite being a helpful tool for security professionals, CVE can also be leveraged by hackers to attack your organization. That’s because hackers can use a vulnerability to exploit weaknesses, allowing them to access your systems and networks and potentially steal or modify data. While some may argue that publicly disclosing these vulnerabilities makes them easier to attack, others argue the benefits of public disclosure outweigh the risks. Understanding the impact each CVE could have on your business and determining how to prioritize remediation efforts is critical.
Remediate Vulnerabilities
As businesses rely on a complex network, vulnerabilities are bound to arise. Whether in software, hardware, or procedures, these weaknesses allow threat actors to bypass system defenses, access data, and cause a data breach. Vulnerability remediation is fixing or neutralizing weak links detected through scanning and testing. This includes deploying patches, updating, upgrading, or turning off a vulnerability. Removing a vulnerable component from your network may be necessary in high-risk situations. The vulnerability remediation process consists of 4 steps: finding, prioritizing, fixing, and monitoring. To be successful, these steps must work together in a closed detection-remediation loop. This requires effective collaboration between security and IT teams and DevOps. Vulnerability management software should automate this workflow and provide a single source of truth for each vulnerability.
Identify Potential Vulnerabilities
CVEs are critical for identifying vulnerabilities and determining your company’s risk. The list offers a common identifier for all software vulnerabilities, making managing and comparing threats across different systems, tools, and services easier. According to a website, a vulnerability is a mistake in a piece of software code that allows threat actors to gain direct access to a system or network and take unauthorized actions. Threat actors can exploit this access to install malware or steal customer information.
The CVE project has a wide range of contributors from various industries, including security tool vendors, organizations in the public sector, and cybersecurity experts. This diversity has contributed to a more comprehensive list of vulnerabilities.
Improve Your Detection Capabilities
The CVE system helps organizations identify and prioritize vulnerabilities, enabling them to make informed decisions about vulnerability mitigation. It also provides a common foundation for vulnerability detection tools, such as vulnerability scanners and intrusion detection systems, to detect and analyze security threats.
Cybercriminals constantly look for software vulnerabilities to exploit and cause devastating cyber attacks. Keeping up with the pace of new cyber threats is only possible with proper vulnerability management processes. CVE identifiers help make managing the constant stream of vulnerabilities easier by providing a common name for each vulnerability. The CVE identifier structure includes a four-digit year, making correlating information across different tools, databases, and people easier. The standardized identification format makes it easier for security professionals to communicate about these vulnerabilities and collaborate on remediation strategies.
