Software vulnerability management: how intelligence helps reduce the risk
Vincent Smyth · Network Security · 2017
Recently, a widely publicised news report revealed that tens of thousands of computers could have been exposed to hacker threats due to malicious online advertisements that ran on major media companies' websites, including the BBC.1 These incidents are becoming increasingly commonplace and serve as a chilling reminder of how exposed we all are to the threats caused by software vulnerabilities that are exploited by malicious hackers. Every year, thousands of software vulnerabilities are discovered in thousands of products, and the exploitation of these vulnerabilities can cause extensive damage. The proactive nature of software vulnerability management presupposes that it is less costly to avoid attacks than to fix the problem afterwards. Therefore, organisations need to understand what IT assets exist within their environments that could be the target of attack. A thorough programme founded upon vulnerability intelligence will help minimise the attack surface, says Vincent Smyth of Flexera Software.