Here’s a critical cybersecurity question: How fast does your company react to urgent vulnerability alerts?
Each time there is a new information assurance vulnerability management (IAVM) bulletin from the U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), the National Cyber Awareness System, or another authority, every company in the world should be able to act fast to address it. This prevents exposure to malware, viruses, hacking threats, and other global cybersecurity risks.
But this is no easy task. These alerts are issued constantly from multiple sources. And while the threat can usually be summarized in a USCYBERCOM Tweet, the cybersecurity issues behind it can be extremely complex. Your company may need to develop detailed plans of action and milestones (POAMs) to fully address each vulnerability.
This is a complex and time-consuming task, even for a large cybersecurity team. That’s why automation is a huge help with managing IAVMs through the development of POAMs.
Why Automation Matters for Cyber Security
With the help of a web-based cybersecurity monitoring platform, a company can automatically generate POAMs very quickly. Instead of taking weeks or months to react to cybersecurity issues, it can happen within hours.
The POAMs can include detailed lists of the resources, task milestones, and scheduled completion dates. Maintain end-to-end situational awareness with real-time statistics, charts, reports, and dashboards that are all web-available, which means they’re viewable on your workstations, command center screens, and on any mobile device in the world.
Follow a guided process with workflows and task assignments, so everyone involved knows their role. This prevents duplication of work and supports productivity because each activity directly addresses an aspect of the POAM with a relevant deadline.
Automation also gives a company the benefit of reliable resolution times for other stakeholders in the process. When your top execs are concerned about a cybersecurity threat and want to know exactly when it will be resolved, the tech team will have a solid answer.
A Proactive Approach to POAMs, IAVMs, and ATOs
Automation provides a thorough and proactive approach to cybersecurity. Rather than being reactive, waiting for vulnerabilities to become catastrophes, an organization can stay ahead of the curve on IAVMs as they are issued.
A cybersecurity platform also creates a way to archive your POAMs for strategic planning and compliance purposes. Once a POAM is created, it lives forever in the system. This builds a history of system vulnerabilities and resolutions, which is particularly helpful if you use POAMs to maintain your Authority to Operate (ATO). Under certain regulatory rules, you may be required to prove that you are not allowing POAMs to remain open for extended periods of time.
The platform also prevents things from falling through the cracks, which is a huge benefit for time-pressed tech security teams that are always expected to keep the company at 100% uptime. Cyber risks can never catch the company off guard because the cybersecurity platform is always on duty.
POAM Creation With Cybersecurity Manager
1. View Vulnerabilities Identified by an IAVM
From the IAVM record you can view a list of vulnerabilities identified by an IAVM by clicking on the “Vulnerability Entries” tab.
2. Identify Vulnerable Items in Your System for Each Vulnerability Identified
Within the “Vulnerabilities Identified” tab you can open each vulnerability and view vulnerable items in your system by clicking on the “Vulnerable Items” tab.
3. Generate POAM from an IAVM
Back in the IAVM record you can scroll to the bottom of the page and simply click the “Create POA&M” button.
Cybersecurity Manager will generate a POAM out of the IAVM that lists all vulnerable items in your system. You can then create tasks and workflows to address them.
Stave Cybersecurity Manager is an innovative web-based cybersecurity platform that supports efficiency in security workflows. To learn more about how Cybersecurity Manager can help you create automatic POAMs to manage your IAVMs, connect with Stave, watch this short video, or go try it out in the ServiceNow Store.
