Neglecting vulnerability management can have dire consequences. Data breaches, costing an average of $3.92 million per incident (according to the Ponemon Institute), can devastate businesses. The time taken to identify and contain such breaches, averaging 279 days, further compounds the damage. With over 17,000 vulnerabilities reported in 2020 alone (CVE Details), the urgency to prioritize effective vulnerability management is clear. After speaking to 500+ cybersecurity leaders and security operations (SecOps) managers, one thing became clear to our CyberTechnology Insights analyst team: Organizations are falling short of their Vulnerability Risk Management (VRM) goals.
As the cybersecurity awareness month draws toward an end, it’s crucial to focus your efforts on security vulnerabilities that truly matter., and stop wasting efforts and resources to fix what’s barely risky. In short, CIOs and CISOs should strengthen their overall posture of exposure management. Effective vulnerability risk management enables SecOps teams to protect sensitive data, prevent breaches, and maintain the integrity of IT systems. Today, XM Cyber, the pioneer in continuous exposure management, has unveiled its latest innovation: Vulnerability Risk Management (VRM). This groundbreaking solution is designed to revolutionize the way organizations approach vulnerability management by cutting through the noise of false positives and prioritizing the most critical threats.
In this article, we will highlight the three things you should know about XM Cyber’s VRM solution and how it extends the scope of exposure management in 2025.
But, first, let’s quickly understand what is Vulnerability Risk Management.
Understanding Vulnerability Risk Management
Vulnerability risk management is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating vulnerabilities in an organization’s IT infrastructure, applications, and data. It involves a continuous cycle of monitoring, analysis, and remediation to minimize the risk of exploitation by malicious actors. The goal is to reduce the attack surface, prevent data breaches, and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information.
It involves several key steps:
- Identification: Finding present and upcoming vulnerabilities through various cyber forensics methods and techniques such as automated scanning tools, manual assessments, and threat intelligence.
- Assessment: Assessing identified vulnerabilities involves determining their severity and the potential impact they could have on the organization. This process frequently utilizes frameworks such as the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), which helps quantify the level of risk associated with each vulnerability.
- Prioritization: Rank vulnerabilities based on factors such as exploitability, the value of affected assets, and the potential impact on the organization. This helps allocate resources effectively.
- Remediation: Implement fixes or mitigation strategies for high-priority vulnerabilities. This can include patching software, changing configurations, or applying compensating controls.
- Monitoring and Reporting: Continuously monitor the environment for new vulnerabilities and track remediation efforts. Regular reporting helps keep stakeholders informed about the organization’s risk posture.
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Now, let’s dive into XM Cyber’s latest innovation.
#1 Safeguarding Critical Assets with a Risk-Based Approach to Vulnerability Management
XM Cyber’s Vulnerability Risk Management solution presents a range of cutting-edge features aimed at transforming vulnerability management. It enables ongoing and dynamic discovery of vulnerabilities across hybrid infrastructures, allowing for effortless transitions between contexts of intrusion risk and business impact risk. Furthermore, it prioritizes risks based on the verified exploitability of a CVE and the potential disruption to critical business systems. This approach provides a holistic view of vulnerability risk, revolutionizing traditional risk assessment by embracing a threat-led strategy customized to each customer’s specific environment.
Key Benefits of Risk-Based Prioritization:
- Reduced Alert Fatigue: Prioritize the most critical vulnerabilities and avoid being overwhelmed by a deluge of low-risk alerts.
- Efficient Resource Allocation: Focus security resources on the vulnerabilities that pose the highest risk to the organization.
- Accelerated Remediation: Prioritize remediation efforts to address critical vulnerabilities promptly.
- Improved Security Posture: Strengthen overall security by mitigating the most significant risks.
By adopting a risk-based approach to vulnerability management, organizations can achieve a higher level of security with fewer resources.
#2 Precision CVE Risk Analysis
XM Cyber’s latest VRM solution takes the guesswork out of the vulnerability or threat intelligence workflows. What are CVEs and why this solution is critical to cybersecurity teams?
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) are the industry standard for naming and categorizing known security vulnerabilities. However, simply knowing about a CVE is not enough. To effectively mitigate risks, organizations must understand the severity and exploitability of each vulnerability. Most cyber management or SecOps teams have a hard time identifying and analyzing security risks.
With countless CVEs being published daily, it’s challenging for security teams to prioritize which ones pose the greatest threat to their organization. Traditional vulnerability management tools often rely on severity scores and vendor patches, which may not accurately reflect the actual risk. XM Cyber’s latest solution changes all that with precision analysis.
XM Cyber’s revolutionary approach addresses this challenge by validating CVE exploitability. By correlating CVEs with real-world attack techniques and exploit kits, the solution provides a clear picture of the true risk posed by each vulnerability.
Key Benefits of Validating CVE Exploitability:
- Accurate Risk Prioritization: Focus on the vulnerabilities that truly matter by understanding their potential impact.
- Reduced Alert Fatigue: Prioritize alerts based on real-world threat intelligence, eliminating unnecessary noise.
- Efficient Resource Allocation: Allocate your security resources to the highest-risk vulnerabilities.
- Enhanced Security Posture: Mitigate the most critical threats and protect your organization’s assets.
As per Intent Market Research, the Security Automation Market was valued at USD 8.5 billion in 2023 and will surpass USD 19.8 billion by 2030; growing at a CAGR of 12.9% during 2024 – 2030. Advanced threat intelligence and machine learning from XM Cyber’s VRM solution empower organizations to make informed decisions and take proactive steps to safeguard their digital infrastructure.
A solid foundation for remediation starts with a clear justification. Cybersecurity teams require an automated workflow to manage the process of activating and coordinating resources to address vulnerabilities and security threats promptly and efficiently. The processes could involve:
- Prioritization: Identifying the most critical vulnerabilities and assigning them appropriate levels of urgency.
- Resource Allocation: Allocating the necessary personnel, tools, and budget to address the identified vulnerabilities.
- Communication and Coordination: Establishing clear communication channels between security teams, IT teams, and other relevant stakeholders.
- Patch Management: Deploying security patches and updates in a timely manner to address vulnerabilities.
- Incident Response: Having a well-defined incident response plan to handle security incidents effectively.
- Continuous Monitoring: Monitoring systems and networks for new threats and vulnerabilities.
Security teams need to understand the implications of each vulnerability, including potential risks and impacts on the organization. XM Cyber’s VRM solution empowers security teams to make data-driven decisions by providing granular insights into vulnerabilities, enabling them to prioritize remediation efforts effectively. This understanding fosters proactive security management, where vulnerabilities are addressed before they can be exploited. Everything is aimed at boosting preventive security efforts.
Under the Hood: XM Attack Graph Analysis™
XM Cyber’s Vulnerability Risk Management solution correlates CVE-related risk attributes with real-world attack techniques and cyber threats through the XM Attack Graph Analysis™. This allows cybersecurity teams to embrace a unique approach to discover, quantify, and reduce the risk presented by common vulnerabilities. The XM Attack Graph Analysis™, the solution validates exploitability, prioritizes action, and mobilizes remediation efforts, enabling a more effective approach to vulnerability management.
At the time of this announcement, Boaz Gorodissky, CTO and Co-Founder at XM Cyber said, “In today’s complex threat landscape, it’s not just about finding vulnerabilities—it’s about understanding their real-world impact and addressing them efficiently. Our Vulnerability Risk Management solution combines continuous discovery, dynamic CVE mapping, and attack path logic to enable a threat-led approach. We’re not just identifying vulnerabilities—we’re providing context for their real-world impact and streamlining the entire remediation process.”
Conclusion
XM Cyber’s VRM solution revolutionizes vulnerability management by shifting the focus from mere vulnerability identification to risk prioritization. By analyzing vulnerabilities through the lens of real-world threats, organizations can prioritize the issues that pose the greatest risk to their business.
Vulnerability risk management is a critical component of a robust cybersecurity strategy. By understanding the importance of vulnerability risk management, implementing a comprehensive process, and adopting best practices, organizations can reduce their attack surface, prevent data breaches, and maintain the integrity of their IT systems and data. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, it is essential for cybersecurity professionals, IT security experts, data management specialists, network administrators, and cloud computing professionals to stay vigilant and adapt their vulnerability risk management strategies to stay ahead of emerging threats. In 2025, we expect the cybersecurity technology (cybertech) landscape to get more focused on delivering real-time solutions for vulnerability management, threat-proofing, and automation.
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