One way to secure IT assets, maintain an awareness of the vulnerabilities in an environment and respond quickly to mitigate potential threats is through regular vulnerability assessment (VA). A VA is a process to identify and quantify the security vulnerabilities in an organization’s environment. A comprehensive vulnerability assessment program provides organizations with the knowledge, awareness, and risk background necessary to understand threats to their environment and react
accordingly.
How vulnerability assessments help companies.
The best way to take this first step in improving your IT security is to find a partner who can guide you through the process and the steps that – ideally – will follow.
Primary benefits to performing regular vulnerability assessments:

Identify known security exposures before attackers find them.
Create an inventory of all the devices on the network, including purpose and system
information. This also includes vulnerabilities associated with a specific device.
Create an inventory of all devices in the enterprise to help with the planning of upgrades and
future assessments.
Define the level of risk that exists on the network.
Establish a business risk/benefit curve and optimize security investments.
To fully capture these benefits, you should view the VA as your initial or ongoing measurement
in an ongoing process geared to improve organizational security posture.
Vulnerability assessments often follow these steps:
Determine the hardware and software assets in an environment
Determine the quantifiable value (criticality) of these assets
Identify the security vulnerabilities impacting the assets
Determine a quantifiable threat or risk score for each vulnerability
Mitigate the highest risk vulnerabilities from the most valuable assets

The two key elements to reducing security risk are to understand the vulnerabilities present in the environment and responding accordingly Vulnerability Assessment: A Technical Process
Planning and Reconnaissance
(It involves gathering of much information of the host (Ip address, domain name etc.)
Scanning and Discovery
(It involves discovering vulnerabilities by scanning the target host thereby identifying areas that needs remediation)
Exploitation
(This phase is where penetration testing begins and it involves launching an attack on the vulnerable host)
Risk Analysis and Suggestion
(The vulnerabilities are analyzed and thee risk involved are elucidated)
Report Generation
(A detailed report summarizing the VAPT {vulnerability assessment and penetration testing that was conducted on the various hosts or host.

What to do after a vulnerability assessment?
Your VA (Vulnerability Assessment ) reports like your measurements in a physical often need the interpretation and insight of a security veteran. This is why it’s crucial to work with an expert to determine which vulnerabilities require a simple patch and which demand more in-depth remediation. In many respects, it’s like getting an MRI scan of all your systems. Are they healthy or not? And which treatments will be most effective in bringing your customer databases, servers and other IT assets back to good health?
Answering those questions will lead you into the next steps in the process – penetration testing, vulnerability management and overall risk management prior to setting goals for your next VA.
Conclusion
Vulnerabilities: Threats on the Rise
Security researchers, bug bounty programs, and product vendors are discovering and reporting new vulnerabilities daily. These vulnerabilities are frequently caused by either coding errors or by security misconfigurations. Coding errors, including the failure to check user input, allow attackers to improperly access system memory, data, or to execute commands (including buffer overflow and injection attacks). The latest attacks has been the COLONIAL PIPELINE (An American Oil pipeline system that orig8nated
from Houston, Texas) AND THE JBS (A meat production industry in USA) According to www.itgovernance.co.uk/, It was another busy month in the cyber security sector, as we
discovered 143 incidents that resulted in 1,098,897,134 breached records as of April 2021.
A vulnerability assessment informs organizations on the weaknesses present in their environment and provides direction on how to reduce the risk those weaknesses cause. The vulnerability assessment process helps to reduce the chances an attacker is able to breach an organization’s IT systems – yielding a better understanding of assets, their vulnerabilities, and the overall risk to an organization. For organizations seeking to reduce their security risk, a vulnerability assessment is a good place to start.
It provides a thorough, inclusive assessment of hardware and software assets, identifying vulnerabilities and providing an intuitive risk score. A regular assessment program assists organizations with managing their risk in the face of an ever-evolving threat environment, identifying and scoring vulnerabilities so that attackers do not catch organizations unprepared.

Strumdigi provides Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing for your business.
Call Bruce for inquiries: +234 806 821 3835