A vulnerability assessment is an in-depth examination of the ability of a system or application, including current security procedures and controls, to withstand exploitation. It detects, evaluates, and categorises security flaws in computer systems, networks, and communication channels. It also scans networks for known security flaws. Spotting security gaps or vulnerabilities in the current security system before attackers can exploit them also helps security professionals secure the network.
Attackers use programs like Nessus, Qualys, GFI LanGuard, and OpenVAS to
search for vulnerabilities. An attacker can find network vulnerabilities, open
ports and services that are operating, application and service configuration
issues, and application and service vulnerabilities by using vulnerability
scanning.
A vulnerability assessment may be used to:
- Identify weaknesses that could be exploited.
- Predict the effectiveness of additional security measures in protecting information resources from attack.
INFORMATION OBTAINED
Vulnerability-scanning tools often search network segments for IP-enabled
devices and enumerate systems, operating systems, and applications to find
vulnerabilities arising from vendor carelessness, system or network
administration tasks, or routine activities. Vulnerability-scanning
software scans the computer against the Common Vulnerability and Exposures
(CVE) index and security bulletins provided by the software vendor.
Vulnerability scanners are capable of identifying the following information:
- The OS version running on computers or devices
- IP and Transmission Control Protocol/User Datagram protocol (TCP/UDP) ports that are listening
- Applications installed on computers.
- An account with weak passwords.
- Files and folders with weak permissions.
- Default services and applications that might have to be uninstalled.
- Errors in the security and configuration of common applications.
- Computers exposed to known or publicly reported vulnerabilities.
- EOL/EOS software information.
- Missing patches and hotfixes
- Weak network configuration and misconfigured or risky ports
- Help to verify the inventory of all devices on the network
SCORING SYSTEMS AND DATABASES
Security analysts use vulnerability databases and vulnerability scoring
systems to assess information system vulnerabilities and produce a composite
score that represents the overall risk and severity of the vulnerabilities
that have been found. Information on the different vulnerabilities that
exist in information systems is gathered and kept up to date by
vulnerability databases.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
CVSS provides an open framework for communicating the characteristics and
impacts of IT vulnerabilities. Prioritising vulnerability mitigation
actions and determining the severity of vulnerabilities found on a system
are two frequent uses of CVSS. The CVSS calculator ranks the security
vulnerabilities and provides the user with information on the overall
severity and risk related to the vulnerability.
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)
A publicly available and free-to-use list or dictionary of standardized
identifiers for common software vulnerabilities and exposures.
National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
A U.S. government repository of standards-based vulnerability management
data represented using the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP).
These data enabled the automation of vulnerability management, security
measurement, and compliance. The NVD includes databases of security
checklist references, security-related software flaws, misconfiguration,
product names, and impact metrics.
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
A category system for software vulnerabilities and weaknesses. It has over
600 categories of weakness, which enabled CWE to be effectively employed by
the community as a baseline for weakness identification, mitigation, and
prevention efforts.
VULNERABILITY RESEARCH
Vulnerability research is the process of analyzing protocols, services, and
configurations to discover the vulnerabilities and design flaws that will
expose an operating system and its application to exploit, attack, or
misuse. Vulnerabilities are classified based on severity level (low, medium,
or high) and exploit range (local or remote).
An administrator needs vulnerability research:
- To gather information about security trends, newly discovered threats, attack surfaces, attack vectors and techniques.
- To find weaknesses in the OS and applications and alert the network administrator before a network attack.
- To understand information that helps prevent security problems.
- To know how to recover from a network attack.
RESOURCES
- Microsoft Vulnerability Research
- Dark Reading
- SecurityTracker
- Trend Micro
- Security Magazine
- PenTest Magazine
- SC Magazine
- Exploit Database
- Security Focus
- Help Net Security
- HackerStorm
- ComputerWorld
- WindowsSecurity
- D'Crypt
You might be interested in,
- Phases of Hacking
- Vulnerability Management and Assessment Phases
- Vulnerability Classification
- Vulnerability Assessment Types
- Vulnerability Assessment Solutions and Tools
- Vulnerability Assessment Reports
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