Should I use Continuous Vulnerability Assessment?

When it comes to protecting your organization from cyber threats, one of the most important decisions you will make is whether or not to use continuous vulnerability assessment. A vulnerability assessment is a process of identifying, quantifying, and prioritizing (by using a risk management framework) the vulnerabilities in an organization's IT systems, applications and infrastructure.

Continuous vulnerability assessment is a process that is repeated on a regular basis, in order to identify and prioritize new vulnerabilities as they are discovered. The most common frequency for continuous vulnerability assessments is monthly or quarterly. The idea behind continuous vulnerability assessment is to identify vulnerabilities as soon as they are discovered, in order to minimize the window of opportunity for attackers to exploit them.

There are several benefits of using continuous vulnerability assessment. The first is that it allows you to identify vulnerabilities early on, before they can be exploited. This means that you can take steps to remediate the vulnerability before it causes a security incident. Additionally, by continuously monitoring your systems and applications, you can detect changes that may indicate that a vulnerability has been exploited.

Another benefit of continuous vulnerability assessment is that it allows you to prioritize vulnerabilities based on their risk level. This can help you to focus your remediation efforts on the most critical vulnerabilities first, in order to minimize your overall risk. Additionally, by continuously assessing your systems and applications, you can detect trends in the types of vulnerabilities that are present, which can help you to identify areas where you need to improve your security controls.

There are also some drawbacks to using continuous vulnerability assessment. The first is that it can be resource-intensive, as it requires a significant amount of time and effort to perform the assessments on a regular basis. Additionally, continuous vulnerability assessment can be disruptive to your operations, as it requires you to take systems and applications offline in order to perform the assessments.

Another drawback of continuous vulnerability assessment is that it can be difficult to keep up with the volume of vulnerabilities that are discovered. This can make it difficult to prioritize vulnerabilities and focus your remediation efforts on the most critical vulnerabilities. Additionally, continuous vulnerability assessment can be difficult to automate, which can make it difficult to scale up and perform assessments on a large number of systems and applications.

Overall, whether or not to use continuous vulnerability assessment will depend on your organization's unique needs and risk profile. If you are a small business with limited resources, it may be more practical to perform vulnerability assessments on a less frequent basis. On the other hand, if you are a large enterprise with a high risk profile, you may want to consider using continuous vulnerability assessment in order to minimize your overall risk. Ultimately, the decision to use continuous vulnerability assessment should be based on a careful consideration of the benefits and drawbacks, and should be made in consultation with your organization's cybersecurity professionals.