Vulnerability Prioritization Technology (VPT)

Vulnerability Prioritization Technology (VPT) enables organizations to prioritize and reduce risk by cutting through the noise of endless alerts. Rather than treating all vulnerabilities as equal, VPT unifies asset, vulnerability, and threat data along with business context to prioritize and mitigate exposures.  

Over the past 20+ years, vulnerability management has evolved from a simple, primarily manual process to a complex multistage process with responsibilities spread across multiple teams and some automation to increase efficiency and efficacy. But growing backlogs of critical vulnerabilities underscores how there’s still work to be done.

Effective vulnerability management requires comprehensive vulnerability and threat data—in addition to a complete inventory of devices, identities, software, and controls—to better prioritize vulnerabilities as risks to your specific environment. And while most vulnerability management processes are focused on software vulnerabilities like CVEs, the most mature vulnerability management programs address vulnerabilities like missing or misconfigured agents, end-of-life systems, cloud misconfigurations, shadow IT, and more.

Vulnerability prioritization technology combines multiple critical factors—exploitability, asset criticality, business impact, and existing compensating controls—and delivers intelligence so remediation efforts can be prioritized based on real-world risk. By focusing on the vulnerabilities that attackers are most likely to exploit, VPT ensures that security teams can act quickly to protect their most valuable assets.

Organizations should look for vulnerability prioritization technology platforms that deliver:

• Comprehensive visibility and inventory of the assets including hardware, software, network devices, users, and controls
• Risk ranking of vulnerabilities based on real-world risk—considering their severity, exploitability, and potential impact on individual business requirements
• Real-time threat intelligence to identify vulnerabilities actively targeted by attackers to prioritize remediation
• Active scans of the entire attack surface to alert and prioritize new vulnerabilities across all cyber assets
• Business context and insights to align vulnerability management with business-specific risk tolerance and objectives
• Automated remediation through outbound integrations to your existing tools and processes
  

Additional Resources

• Modernize Your Vulnerability Management
• 6 Steps to a Proactive Vulnerability Management Program
• How to Set Practical Time Frames to Remedy Security Vulnerabilities

Related Terms

• Vulnerability Prioritization