VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT SERVICE
We help to identify, quantify and categorise potential security risks in your environment. Let our detecting and resolving security vulnerability assessment services provide insight into cyber security risks affecting your IT infrastructure.
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What is a Vulnerability Assessment?
A security vulnerability assessment is a testing method to identify and classify these evolving cyber threats affecting an asset, i.e. a server, a workstation or a device. New and more sophisticated vulnerabilities occur daily. Cyphere’s Vulnerability management assessment and services help businesses identify, quantify and categorise security risks with ongoing support. This includes remediation guidance explained to your information security team to ensure the safety and security of modern hyper connected solutions.
The goal of the vulnerability assessment process is to perform internal and external vulnerabilities scans.
Why are Vulnerability Assessments important?
The speed with which new vulnerabilities are discovered in various products makes it important to identify and mitigate risks before hackers exploit any flaws. It is a crucial element for risk assessments.
Cyphere offers managed services and standalone vulnerability scanning exercise with added human intelligence added to eliminate false positives. However, this is not a subsequent manual validation as demonstrated via penetration testing. For all our managed services customers, penetration testing is performed once annually to provide deep understanding of issues, including new vulnerabilities with all the possible vectors around attack likelihood.
These IT security vulnerability assessments are a useful way to assess larger networks regularly in shorter time periods and are a useful way to prepare for vulnerability testing.
Minimise costs, maximise efficiency using our vulnerability assessment services
Types of Vulnerability Assessments to find security risks
Network Assessment
Network assessment is the process of identifying and measuring the risks within the infrastructure (network). This assessment aims to solve vulnerability assessment scope around internal systems around the number of devices on the network, their locations (if segregated with firewall protection), and what types of data they share. Regular network assessments help to identify new security weaknesses and check on the existing issues (validation).
This requires deep understanding of how internal networks function, especially how network segmentation or data security controls are implemented inside corporate networks.
Wireless Assessment
Wireless assessment is the process of remotely (or onsite) assessing and attacking a wireless network. It can be used to test for security vulnerabilities, assess an organisation’s security posture, or identify unauthorised devices on the network. Wireless assessment can be performed using various tools, such as wireless scanners, detectors, and analysers.
This is conducted within trusted zone such as corporate network or untrusted zone such as guest network remotely. The outcome does not just include scanning findings but also remediation guidance to help reduce the attack surface exposure.
Host Assessment
Host assessment is the process of determining the health of a computer system or network. This can be done through reviews of system performance, security, and other factors. Host assessment is important for many reasons, including identifying potential security risk and vulnerability and optimizing system performance.
Database Assessment
Database assessment is the process of identifying and quantifying the risks associated with using a database. This includes assessing things like the risks of data loss, corruption, or unauthorised access. Database assessment can be done on a variety of different database types, including both commercial and open source databases.
Application Vulnerability Testing
Application vulnerability assessment is a vulnerability scan examining applications for known vulnerabilities and identifies ways to steal sensitive data just like attackers. These scans can be used to identify insecure applications that could be exploited by attackers. They can also help organisations identify and fix vulnerabilities before they are exploited.
Vulnerability Assessment Service related tools
An IT security assessment is performed using vulnerability scanning tools by approved scanning information security vendors to scan for known vulnerabilities. These automated scanning tools are a mix of open-source and commercial software such as Nessus, Qualys, OpenVAS, etc.
Our assessment involves automated and manual approaches to ensure customer investment breadth and return. The security team ensures that they stay on top of the newly discovered vulnerabilities and 0days exploited in the wild, along with checking the updates of scanning tools databases.
Depending upon the scope, efforts and resources needed for the project are planned in line with customer schedule. For technical assessment, scanners and further scripts, tools and utilities are used relevant to web applications, networks and devices. To scan web applications from the outside, vulnerability testing includes the use of scanning tools and databases to identify security flaws such as SQL Injection, Cross-site Scripting (XSS), Command Injection, Path Traversal and insecure server configuration.
Read the list of OWASP Top 10 application security risks here.
What we assess in IT Environment
Cyphere’s vulnerability assessment services imply reasonable costs along with high quality. The qualifications of our security specialists conducting vulnerability assessments allow detecting vulnerabilities and finding weak points in the following components of the IT environment:
Network
Our assessment methods include assessing customer’s network segmentation, network access restriction, ability to connect remotely, firewall implementation, and more to restore optimal efficiency.
Email services
There are a few key ways to check the security level of communication software in use and assess the susceptibility to phishing attacks and spam in an email. This service includes reviewing email security, design, hardening and architecture components. Majority of the time, phishing attacks simulation is conducted specifically on the customer’s request. Vulnerability scans may miss such manual assessments due to a lack of logical checks.
Web applications
We follow the OWASP Top 10 Application Security Risks when assessing a web app’s vulnerability to various attacks.
Mobile applications
We use OWASP’s Top 10 Mobile Risks to determine how secure a mobile app is. Modern integrated solutions often involve mobile applications and API calls that require constantly monitoring and validation of security controls.
Desktop applications
We evaluate how an app stores data, how it transfers information, and if any authentication is available.
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More than vulnerability scanning software
Whether its one scan for your server or IT vulnerability assessment cloud services for your private cloud – Do not make the mistake of buying a vulnerability scan disguised as a vulnerability assessment.
Vulnerability assessment as a service provides an output of known security vulnerabilities specific list affecting your own networks, added with cyber security expertise in removing false positives and explaining the attack impacts and likelihood of exploitation.
This accuracy when fed into the risk remediation process, makes it an effective risk assessment for a business. The following are recommended reads in this domain. You are paying for the skill-set, and context of your environment and saving on internal resources.
Penetration Testing vs Vulnerability Scanning
Read about penetration testing vs vulnerability scanning and confusions around terminology. This article explores differences, decision factors and the right choice at various stages of a business.
Everything you need to know about the vulnerability scanning process
Discover why your business needs vulnerability scanning, what it is, how to use it and how it supports risk management. Read more.
How often should you perform vulnerability scanning? Best practices shared
Read best practices around vulnerability scanning frequency and which factors help you decide how often a scan should be fun.
The top 10 network security vulnerabilities for businesses in 2022
Read about what is a network vulnerability, common types of network security vulnerabilities that are exploited to compromise businesses leading to security breaches.
Minimise costs, maximise efficiency using our vulnerability assessment services
Vulnerability Assessment methodology
Discovery
First step of the cyber security vulnerability assessment process is to profile the target, i.e. a network, a server, or a device. This is a non-intrusive exercise and involves activities like analysing the network, understanding the different assets operating systems, programs in use, and anything related to network layout. This is a fundamental step and helps to prepare our vulnerability testing team for the next stage of finalising targets and finding weaknesses.
Vulnerability Scanning
This phase includes running vulnerability scanner excluding any dangerous plugins to find weaknesses in the services and all the other systems connected to the network. This exercise is scheduled in an automated and manual approach fashion (to identify only confirmed events) unless explicitly agreed to limited timescales with a customer.
Vulnerability Analysis
The prioritised list of targets is scanned for vulnerabilities. This assessment involves checking both published and undocumented vulnerabilities against the target assets. We sift through the scan results for false positives. Such manual assessment performed ensures focus on verified vulnerabilities only.
Reporting
The assessment-execution phase is followed by the analysis & reporting. Cyphere performs analysis on the vulnerability testing output, and evaluates the risk impact and likelihood of exploitation in realistic scenarios before providing action plans to remediate the identified risks. All our reports of known technical vulnerabilities address business and the technical audience with supporting raw data, including mitigation measures at strategic and tactical levels.
Debrief & Support
Cyphere takes customer communication as seriously as reporting or assessment execution. We engage with customers during all stages and ensure that customer contacts are up to date in the language they understand. A free debrief is conducted post engagement to help the customers understand the security weaknesses and prepare a mitigation plan. Phone and email support is available after the project completion.
Benefits of Vulnerability Assessments
- Identify assets at risk of cyber attacks and data breach
- Validate your security controls
- PCI DSS, ISO 27001, GDPR Compliance support
- Gain visibility of your assets across the estate
- Inputs to your cyber security strategy through risk severities and actionable guidance
Vulnerability Assessment methodology
Customer Business Insight
The very first step remains our quest to gain insight into drivers, business, pain points and relevant nuances. As part of this process, we understand the assets that are part of the cyber security vulnerability assessment scope.
Services Proposal
It is important to gain grips with the reality, therefore, we always stress on walkthroughs or technical documentation of the assets. After asset walkthroughs, a tailored proposal is designed to meet your business’ specific requirements and financial capabilities.
Execution and Delivery
Cyphere’s approach to cyber security vulnerability assessments work involves excellent communication before and during the execution phase. This vulnerability assessment as a service helps your organisation detect vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of information security breaches and associated costs. Customer communication medium and frequency are mutually agreed upon, and relevant parties are kept updated throughout the engagement.
Data Analysis & Reporting
The execution phase of performing vulnerability assessment is followed by the data analysis and reporting phase. Cyphere performs analysis on the penetration testing output, and evaluates the risk impact and likelihood of exploitation in realistic scenarios before providing action plans to remediate the identified risks.
All our reports address business and the technical audience with supporting raw data, including mitigation measures at strategic and tactical levels.
Debrief & Support
As part of our engagement process, customers schedule a free-of-charge debrief with management and the technical security testing team. This session involves a remediation plan, and assessment QA to ensure that customer contacts are up to date in the language they understand.
