Vulnerability remediation is the process of finding, addressing, and neutralizing security vulnerabilities within an organization’s IT environment, which can include computers, digital assets, networks, web applications, and mobile devices. Remediation is one of the most important steps in the vulnerability management process, which is critical for securing networks, preventing data loss, and enforcing business continuity.
Because information security has become increasingly important and businesses are heavily relying on worldwide connectivity, Cyber VRM solutions are necessary to protect against emerging cyber threats and secure data effectively. However, managing vendors, in addition to their cyber risks, can be a challenging and time-consuming effort that requires more efficient solutions.
Using best practices for cyber vendor risk management (Cyber VRM), organizations can identify, assess, and remediate their third-party vendor risks specifically related to cybersecurity. Organizations can utilize information attained from security ratings, data leak detection, and security questionnaires to evaluate their third-party security postures using dedicated Cyber VRM solutions.
According to a 2021 study by UpGuard, over 51% of analyzed Fortune 500 companies were unknowingly leaking sensitive metadata in public documents - data leaks that could be very useful in a reconnaissance campaign preceding a major data breach. Without timely detection solutions, all corporate (and personal) accounts impacted by data leaks are at a critical risk of compromise, which also places any associated private internal networks at a high risk of unauthorized access and sensitive data theft.
IT risk management and cybersecurity are two essential practices that define the effectiveness and security structure of modern organizations. IT risk management is the process of managing and mitigating risks via careful planning, specialized systems, guidelines, policies, and decisions across various sectors, not just cybersecurity. With IT risk management, the IT staff is focused entirely on IT risk mitigation.
Higher education institutions, like colleges and universities, often work with dozens of third-party vendors, which can introduce considerable security risks if the school doesn't maintain a proper vendor risk management (VRM) program. Compromised third parties can pose serious risks to universities, which can expose sensitive data, disrupt business continuity, or incur serious financial damages.
Ransomware is the fast-growing category of cybercrime. It’s estimated that over 4,000 ransomware attacks occur daily. Given the sheer volume of these attacks and the deep attack surface connections between organizations and their vendors, there’s a high likelihood that some of your employee credentials have already been compromised in a ransomware attack, which means the keys to your corporate network could currently be published on a ransomware gang’s data leak site.
Organizations trust third-party vendors to manage large volumes of sensitive customer data, with outsourcing increasing across all industries, including the highly-regulated healthcare sector and financial services. However, service providers don’t necessarily implement the same strict data security standards that these organizations do. Cyber attacks targeting third parties are increasing, according to Gartner.
Data leaks happen when sensitive data or personally identifiable information (PII) is accidentally exposed on the internet or dark web. Typically, data leaks only occur due to poor cyber hygiene, weak network security, or software misconfiguration that can lead to unintended data exposure. Without proper data leak detection processes, cybercriminals and hackers can exploit the exposed data without the organization’s knowledge using open-source intelligence (OSINT).
