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Vulnerability Assessment Service - Benefits

Vulnerability scanning forms an increasingly important part of a company's line of defense.

It detects vulnerabilities in any systems on a frequent and regular basis, enabling these to be addressed before they can be exploited. It also provides recommendations on changes to enhance perimeter security. This means a more proactive approach to security and complete visibility of any threats that may otherwise be undetected.

Specific benefits of using a vulnerability scanning service are:

Cost-effective. Automated scanning offers significant cost savings, especially when compared to frequent manual vulnerability assessment consulting.

Reduced window of exposure. If activated daily, the vulnerability exposure window of systems is reduced to a maximum of one-day. The 'Zero-Day' scanning feature further reduces the window of exposure for high-risk vulnerabilities.

Closes doors commonly used by hackers. Vulnerability scanning tools are commonly used by hackers to identify weaknesses in a network to mount an attack against. A vulnerability scanning service uses the same tools to identify and fix these weaknesses.

Regulatory compliance. Changing regulations - especially in the finance and banking industry (eg. PCI) and US markets (eg. SOX) - are requiring companies to demonstrate greater diligence around security. This is on top of existing legal obligations to provide appropriate security measures which apply to any Australian corporation. The output of a vulnerability scan combined with the recommendations assists in documenting that an appropriate risk mitigation strategy is in and aids in compliance to regulatory legislations like Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and HIPAA.

Full visibility of threats. Networks change on a frequent basis, and new devices may be added to the network without the knowledge of the IT department. Thousands of new vulnerabilities are being discovered annually, and hundreds of new patches are being released monthly. Staying on top of this requires an approach that is both automated and quickly identifies changes in the network and new threats.