Actionable Remediation
Actionable remediation in cybersecurity refers to providing clear, specific, and practical instructions or actions that security professionals can take to address identified vulnerabilities or security weaknesses. It's about going beyond simply identifying a problem to offering concrete steps to fix it.
Here's a breakdown of what makes remediation actionable:
Specific Instructions: Actionable remediation provides precise steps to follow. Instead of a general statement like "fix the vulnerability," it offers detailed guidance such as:
"Apply patch XYZ version 2.1 or later."
"Change the password for the 'admin' account to a strong, unique password with at least 12 characters."
"Enable two-factor authentication for all user accounts."
Prioritization: Actionable remediation helps security teams prioritize which vulnerabilities to address first. This often involves:
Severity scoring: Indicating the potential impact of the vulnerability.
Exploitability assessment: Evaluating how easily attackers can exploit the vulnerability.
Context: Actionable remediation gives context about the vulnerability and its potential impact. This helps security teams understand the importance of addressing the issue and the possible consequences of not doing so.
Tools and Resources: Actionable remediation may include information about specific tools or resources that can assist in the remediation process, such as:
Links to vendor security advisories
Scripts or commands to run
Configuration settings to change
Timeliness: Actionable remediation is delivered on time, allowing security teams to address vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.
Clarity: Actionable remediation is written in clear, concise language that is easy for security professionals to understand.
Actionable remediation empowers security teams to move efficiently from vulnerability identification to vulnerability resolution, reducing the window of opportunity for attackers.
ThreatNG is designed to provide actionable remediation guidance to help organizations address the vulnerabilities and security weaknesses it identifies. Here's how its capabilities contribute:
ThreatNG's external discovery process lays the groundwork for actionable remediation. By comprehensively identifying all external-facing assets, ThreatNG ensures that remediation efforts cover the entire attack surface. For example, if ThreatNG discovers a forgotten subdomain, remediating vulnerabilities on that subdomain becomes part of the overall security improvement plan.
ThreatNG's external assessments provide context and prioritization for remediation:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: ThreatNG's assessment of web applications identifies specific weaknesses that need fixing. For example, if ThreatNG finds weak input validation, actionable remediation guidance would include:
Details on where the weak input validation occurs (e.g., specific forms or URL parameters).
Recommendations on input sanitization techniques to implement.
Examples of secure coding practices to prevent input validation flaws.
Cyber Risk Exposure: ThreatNG's assessment of exposed ports and services helps prioritize network security remediation. For example, if ThreatNG identifies an unnecessary open port, actionable remediation would be to close that port and provide firewall rules to prevent future exposure.
Code Secret Exposure: When ThreatNG discovers exposed code repositories with secrets, the actionable remediation is very clear:
Revoke the exposed credentials or API keys immediately.
Identify where the secrets are being used and update the code to use secure methods for credential management.
Audit code repositories for other potential exposures.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG's reporting is designed to deliver actionable remediation guidance:
Prioritized Reports: ThreatNG's reports prioritize vulnerabilities, enabling security teams to focus on the most critical issues first. This prioritization is key to actionable remediation, as it helps teams allocate resources effectively. The reports use risk levels to help organizations prioritize their security efforts and allocate resources more effectively by focusing on the most critical risks.
Technical Reports: These reports provide detailed information about each vulnerability, including specific recommendations for fixing it. The Knowledgebase is embedded throughout the solution, and the reports especially contain Recommendations to offer practical advice and guidance on reducing risk, enabling organizations to take proactive measures to improve their security posture.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring ensures that remediation efforts remain effective over time:
Re-assessment: After remediation steps are taken, ThreatNG's continuous monitoring reassesses the affected systems to verify that the vulnerabilities have been successfully addressed.
New Vulnerabilities: Continuous monitoring also helps identify new vulnerabilities that may emerge, requiring further remediation.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide tools to analyze vulnerabilities and determine the most appropriate remediation steps:
Domain Intelligence: This module can help remediate domain-related risks. For example, if ThreatNG identifies suspicious subdomains that could be used for phishing, remediation steps might include:
Taking down the malicious subdomains.
Implementing stricter subdomain creation policies.
Monitoring for further suspicious domain activity.
Vulnerability Intelligence (DarCache Vulnerability): This module provides detailed information on vulnerabilities, including: Reasoning to provide context and insights into the identified to help organizations better understand their security posture and make informed decisions about risk mitigation, and Reference links to provide additional information and resources organizations can use to investigate and understand a specific risk.
6. Synergies with Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG's actionable remediation guidance can be integrated with other security tools to streamline the remediation process:
Vulnerability Management Systems: ThreatNG can provide vulnerability management systems with actionable remediation steps, automating the assignment and tracking of remediation tasks.
Ticketing Systems: ThreatNG can automatically generate tickets in ticketing systems for identified vulnerabilities, ensuring that remediation tasks are appropriately tracked and assigned to the appropriate teams.
Configuration Management Tools: ThreatNG's remediation guidance can be used to configure systems to eliminate vulnerabilities automatically.
Examples of ThreatNG Helping:
ThreatNG identifies a web application vulnerability that allows for SQL injection. It provides actionable remediation by detailing the vulnerable input fields, the type of input validation needed, and secure coding examples to prevent SQL injection.
ThreatNG detects exposed cloud storage buckets. It provides actionable remediation by specifying the exact bucket names and access control settings that must be changed to secure the data.
Examples of ThreatNG and Complementary Solutions Working Together:
ThreatNG identifies a vulnerable server. It automatically generates a ticket in the organization's ticketing system, assigning the task to the server administration team with detailed remediation instructions.
ThreatNG provides configuration management tools with the necessary settings to automatically patch a vulnerable system or change its configuration to eliminate a vulnerability.
ThreatNG is designed to identify security weaknesses and empower organizations with the actionable remediation guidance they need to address those weaknesses effectively and improve their overall security posture.
