7

Continuous Vulnerability Management

Develop a plan to continuously assess and track vulnerabilities on all enterprise assets within the enterprise's infrastructure, in order to remediate, and minimize, the window of opportunity for attackers. Monitor public and private industry sources for new threat and vulnerability information.

Why Is This Control Critical?

Cyber defenders are constantly being challenged by attackers who are looking for vulnerabilities within their infrastructure to exploit and gain access. Defenders must have timely threat information available to them about: software updates, patches, security advisories, threat bulletins, etc., and they should regularly review their environment to identify these vulnerabilities before the attackers do. Understanding and managing vulnerabilities is a continuous activity, requiring focus of time, attention, and resources.

Safeguards (7)

ID Title Asset Type Function Implementation Groups
7.1 Establish and Maintain a Vulnerability Management Process Applications Protect
IG1 IG2 IG3
7.2 Establish and Maintain a Remediation Process Applications Respond
IG1 IG2 IG3
7.3 Perform Automated Operating System Patch Management Applications Protect
IG1 IG2 IG3
7.4 Perform Automated Application Patch Management Applications Protect
IG1 IG2 IG3
7.5 Perform Automated Vulnerability Scans of Internal Enterprise Assets Applications Identify
IG2 IG3
7.6 Perform Automated Vulnerability Scans of Externally>Exposed Enterprise Assets Applications Identify
IG2 IG3
7.7 Remediate Detected Vulnerabilities Applications Respond
IG2 IG3