NETWORK VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT & MANAGEMENT
Cybercriminals work 24/7, 365. So should your vulnerability scanning.
NEVER BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD
A comprehensive Vulnerability Assessment is a valuable enhancement to your IT Security Assessment. However, time between your organization’s annual vulnerability scans can leave you at significant risk for interim attacks. With real-time security insights and solutions, our Vulnerability Management Service ensures year-round protection with an incredibly cost-effective solution.
SCANNING ON YOUR SCHEDULE
Annual assessments are important, but year-round, insights are key to thwarting emerging risks in your network security. With our Vulnerability Management Service, you can schedule your systems to be scanned at any time. And it's easy... our VMS requires no setup or employee training at all; just tell us how often you want your scans, and request additional scans whenever you need them.
BEST-IN-CLASS TOOLS, EXPERT SOLUTIONS
Using only Best-in-Class scanning tools that are independently validated and globally recognized, our VMS scans allow you to identify weaknesses that exist within your network as frequently as needed. At the conclusion of every scan, you’ll receive detailed reports listing all found vulnerabilities. Of greatest value, BAI's in-house experts will be on-hand to consult with you to address vulnerabilities immediately with recommendations for quick remediation. This is how we help you prevent costly disruption to your business and quickly restore your security posture.
SERIOUS SAVINGS
With BAI Security’s Vulnerability Management Service, you get the value of best-in-class, year-round scanning, plus consulting with our team of expert security engineers, who know your unique environment and can offer steps for fast remediation... all for less than you would pay for the scanner alone. And as if prevention of a malicious incident weren't enough, the financial savings you'll see with our VMS makes this our most cost-effective solution (and one that's hard to pass up!).
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NETWORK VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS
When is IT security detective work? When you’re working in vulnerability detection. Every digital system has its pressure points, but they’re not easy to identify. It takes an in-depth investigation to find your system’s vulnerabilities and work out strategies for remediation. If you have a network, deal in sensitive data, or belong to any of the top five sectors at serious risk (government, banking, education, law, and healthcare), you have a significant potential attack surface—which means you need to know where your vulnerabilities lie.
That’s where Network Vulnerability Scanning comes in. Specially targeted and conducted by your IT security department or external assessment provider, Network Vulnerability Scanning inspects your system to detect points of potential exploitation or threat.
Conducting vulnerability scans is a critical step in the direction of crafting a more holistic, effective security program. We can break vulnerability scanning down into four different categories…
- External vulnerability scan
- Internal vulnerability scan
- Intrusive and non-intrusive assessment
- Environmental scan
And from there, we can distinguish two different approaches: unauthenticated and authenticated.
An unauthenticated approach involves “intrusive” scans, or scans without trusted access to the network. This approach is designed to point out the vulnerabilities hackers can access without a connection to the network, an important consideration in mapping your weak points… but be forewarned. Because intrusive scans are, well, intrusive, they can cause errors, reboots, and reduced productivity on the targeted machine in the process.
On the other hand, an authenticated approach involves logging into a trusted network and then conducting the scan. This approach is designed to point out the vulnerabilities hackers can access with a connection to the network.
So what should you be looking for? An ideal Network Vulnerability Scan…
- Must be able to conduct comprehensive scanning.
- Should not impact your network performance.
- Should be adaptable and scalable to your network architecture.
- Should be able to identify critical threats to your network environment.
- Must be able to do risk analysis, and inform you in a timely manner about remediating vulnerabilities.
- Must be able to scan a range of assets, including but not limited to hosts, web servers, network devices, mobile devices, and virtual machine environments.
In short, you’ll want to put together a plan—or find a trusted IT security assessment provider—that can conduct scans that cover all your bases.
So what does a Network Vulnerability Assessment look like?
What To Expect: The Network Vulnerability Assessment
A Network Vulnerability Assessment isn’t just about identifying the weak points in your systems. A truly expert assessment will also check the vulnerabilities detected against known risks and attack fronts, then assign risk levels to those vulnerabilities, and recommend targeted remediation.
Your organization has the opportunity to prioritize and decide which solutions work best for you. For instance, if a vulnerability is low-risk, and mitigation would involve greater risk, IT security experts may leave the vulnerability untouched.
Network Vulnerability Assessments are generally sorted into four types:
- The host assessment identifies attacks against your server and network and is designed to provide better visibility for your configuration settings.
- The network and wireless assessment surveys your policies to prevent unauthorized access to your public and private networks.
- The database assessment identifies weaknesses or vulnerabilities in your database or other large data networks. It also highlights insecure test environments.
- The application assessment identifies security vulnerabilities in web applications. This assessment is fully automated and surveys the source code.
From there, we can break a Network Vulnerability Assessment into five steps:
Step 1. Vulnerability identification. A team of IT security experts conducts tests and evaluations of your servers and applications to sniff out vulnerabilities with the help of vulnerability scanners and automated tools.
Step 2. Vulnerability analysis. Once the team has collected the evidence, they identify the main cause (or “source”) of the vulnerabilities. They also check their work to filter out any “false positive” security flaws.
Step 3. Risk assessment. This step is all about quantification: ranking each vulnerability based on risk level, severity, ease of attack, and potential damage. The goal is to answer: How severe are the vulnerabilities detected? What impact could they have?
Step 4. Remediation. To close security gaps, the assessment team determines the most effective method of mitigation for each vulnerability, which can involve introducing all-new security policies and tools. They’ll recommend fixing the most pressing vulnerabilities and—if the risk outweighs the reward—letting some low-level vulnerabilities lie.
Step 5. Repeat. In the world of IT security, once-through is never enough. Schedule future Network Vulnerability Assessments and plan for periodic vulnerability scanning to address emerging threats.
With an effective, seasoned, trustworthy team at the helm, there are no downsides to a good Network Vulnerability Assessment that identifies the weak points in your network, gives you a complete portrait of your security architecture, and prioritize the most urgent risks.
Keep Cyber-Threats In Mind
An important part of vulnerability remediation is surveying for cyber-risks—in other words, the work of an IT Security Assessment. Having a complete understanding of all the attack fronts you face will assist your IT security team in developing effective risk responses.
You’ll always want to keep an eye out for these risk factors:
√ Malware
√ Ransomware
√ Unpatched security vulnerabilities
√ Hidden backdoor programs
√ Admin account privilege
√ Automated running of scripts without virus checks
√ Unknown security bugs in software
√ Phishing
√ Insider threats
√ IoT devices
IT Security Assessments are generally sorted into three types:
- The hardware assessment evaluates application development, unused ports, unwanted protocols, and how encrypted data is transmitted. Hackers love to target vulnerabilities in old or obsolete equipment, but this assessment doesn’t give them the chance.
- The software assessment evaluates weaknesses in your software code. It can test for vulnerability types like SQL injection, integer overflow, buffer overflow, or OS command injection.
- The procedure assessment evaluates how you use your hardware and software. It’s designed to build strategies for how to improve integrity, resolve step-specific vulnerabilities, and mitigate human error.
IT Security Assessments should be conducted as regularly as Network Vulnerability Assessments. Don’t believe us? Consider these benefits, according to the experts:
- You’ll reduce long-term costs. Security incidents are costly, and if you’re always on top of identifying and remediating vulnerabilities, you won’t incur those pesky fees.
- You’ll have a plan for future assessments. Good IT security assessments are a team effort. If you know what you want to prioritize and have a history of your vulnerabilities on file, you can work with your team to conduct faster, more effective assessments.
- You’ll be compliant. IT Security and Network Vulnerability Assessments are compliant with HIPAA, PCI DSS, and APRA CPS 234.
- You’ll keep your data under wraps. Data breaches remain one of the most insidious and costly cyberattacks across all sectors, and protecting your information will keep your business—and your reputation—well above board.
Partner Wisely To Reduce Risk
To work with an assessment provider your industry peers trust, consider BAI Security. We’re proud to be one of 2022’s Most Trusted Cybersecurity Solution Providers, offering industry-leading IT security assessments for every budget. Our Network Vulnerability Assessment is a cost-effective enhancement to your IT Security Assessment. Using only best-in-breed tools, we additionally offer year-round on-demand scanning as part of our ongoing Vulnerability Management Service, as well as consultations with BAI’s in-house experts for quick and effective recommendations for remediation.
For more information, contact us today to discuss options.
Depending on your network’s unique vulnerabilities, the results of your scan and process may look different. However, you can ask our team to focus on some of these tasks to get started:
- Identifying and prioritizing network threats
- Analyzing router and WiFi passwords for vulnerabilities
- Reviewing your organization’s network strength against common attacks including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Man-in-the-Middle attack (MITM), and Network Intrusion
- Analyzing your routers, switches, and computers for device security
Although vulnerability assessment tools can help identify security flaws, they can’t determine which loopholes can cause damage and which can’t. That’s why penetration tests are crucial to purposefully, but ethically, exploit vulnerabilities and identify which ones are threats.
A penetration test may involve:
- Using social engineering techniques such as impersonating a manager and asking an employee for a password in order to gain access to a database or other system
- Intercepting and using unencrypted passwords sent over the network
- Sending phishing emails to users to gain access to accounts
Network Vulnerability Assessment testing and reporting is not a one-time process. Your company should establish a culture of security that focuses on the ongoing safety of your business.
Although a Network Vulnerability Assessment takes some time and resources, Network Vulnerability Management is ultra cost-effective and will alleviate the financial burden of dealing with a hack that could have been prevented simply by knowing your network’s weaknesses.
BAI Security’s commitment to delivering not just assessments but tangible, strategic recommendations for long-term security enhancement differentiates them as a trusted partner.
The professional experience and technical expertise made the choice an easy one… exceptional results. We are completely satisfied.
There are a lot of service providers out there, but your staff were personable, friendly, knowledgeable and made it very clear they were there to help us get better, not to find as many exceptions as possible.
They go out of their way to be helpful, offering guidance (not a cookie-cutter approach). We chose BAI because of their reputation. We went back because of their people and professionalism, the depth of their technical knowledge, and friendliness.
Far more extensive test than any we have had in the past… The reps are 100% on your project and always available to give you feedback.
BAI Security’s reputation for delivering high-quality assessments and their commitment to staying abreast of evolving security landscapes were key in our decision-making process. The BAI team has been instrumental in providing actionable recommendations, allowing us to strengthen our overall security posture.
Outstanding platform for vulnerability remediation. Everyone I talked to from sales folks to technical experts were all great to work with and very knowledgeable.
The experience was great, and I felt that BAI had my back. The techs were great to work with and helped me resolve security issues. They were working with me to correct issues rather than just pointing out what was wrong.
There are many players in this field. I contacted some of my industry peers and asked who they used. BAI came in at the top.
I love how in the final deliverables recommendations are provided. I’ve seen other solutions (and past vendors) who simply tell you what’s wrong without any help to remediate.
The dedicated engineer that learns our environment is huge! Also, the reporting is as high level or granular as you need it to be.
We have worked with BAI Security for 5+ years. They are professional, knowledgeable and personable. The technicians have a great understanding of our complex infrastructure
Price was right, service was excellent, and the final deliverables were outstanding. Great team.
