5. Comprehensive Vulnerability Prioritization

One of the primary forces fueling the rise in vulnerabilities is the growing complexity of modern IT infrastructures. Every endpoint, cloud asset, remote worker, third-party integration is a potential attack vector. While CVEs often dominate vulnerability management efforts, environmental vulnerabilities such as devices with missing or misconfigured security controls, end-of-life systems, and shadow IT are issues that must be managed. For true vulnerability prioritization, security teams must take a broader, holistic approach when looking at their environments.

To develop a comprehensive vulnerability prioritization framework, organizations should:

Actively manage a comprehensive asset inventory
Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all assets including devices, users, software, and controls. In addition to knowing about the presence of assets, it is equally important to understand their state at all times. Having complete visibility and understanding of your environment is critical to protecting it.

Leverage multi-factor threat intelligence
Use threat intelligence not only for vulnerability prioritization but also for understanding potential exploitability based on current trends in cyber threats.

Consider environmental factors
Prioritize vulnerabilites based on a combination of CVSS, EPSS, and KEV, but also assess environmental vulnerabilities that could affect exploitation likelihood.

Integrate business impact analysis
Assess the potential business impact of each vulnerability as it relates to your unique organization’s operations and requirements, ensuring that remediation efforts align with organizational priorities.