It’s surprising to think that roughly five years after one of the most devastating vulnerability exploits was first released, 26% of companies are still vulnerable to it. These companies have yet to patch the vulnerability that enables the WannaCry ransomware.
Why do organizations fail to detect and address vulnerabilities in a timely manner? The cost of vulnerability management may be a deterrent to some. The average salary of a full-time vulnerability management expert is $124,984/year, and that doesn’t include insurance and other employee-related costs.
Vulnerability management doesn’t always make it into cybersecurity budgets. Leadership may think that if they are regularly updating devices then they don’t need to spend money on vulnerability assessment.
These companies and leaders aren’t looking at the management of vulnerabilities in the right way. First, it’s something that goes beyond simple patch management. It detects new weaknesses throughout a network proactively so they can be addressed in a prioritized way. It reduces the risk that vulnerabilities will stay undetected in systems for years.
Second, vulnerability management doesn’t have to be expensive. Using the right software tools can significantly reduce the cost of managing a vulnerability lifecycle.
What Typically Drives High Vulnerability Management Costs?
Let’s look at some of the factors that can cause vulnerability costs to be high. These are things that can be overcome with the right software.
Vulnerability management costs can include:
- Hiring a dedicated vulnerability management expert
- Paying thousands of dollars for each vulnerability assessment from a 3rd party
- Paying an IT team for hours documenting vulnerabilities manually
Using the right software that handles much of the vulnerability process for you is economical and means you don’t have to hire your own in-house expert.
Companies using the CyberWizPro vulnerability management tool can also manage everything themselves, without the cost of outsourcing their assessments and mitigation actions.
IT teams aren’t bogged down in tedious log-keeping activities, because the software automates the process and provides detailed reports. Managing the vulnerability lifecycle easily fits into their other activities because CyberWizPro is doing all the heavy lifting.
How CyberWizPro Lowers the Cost of Vulnerability Management
Cyberwiz-Pro from WizNucleus is a vulnerability management software that was first developed for the nuclear power industry. It is designed to support industry security assessment methodologies and guidance and supports the entire vulnerability lifecycle, from assessment to mitigation reporting.
For more than a decade, organizations that have used CyberWizPro have reported a drastic reduction in the manual efforts needed to manage vulnerabilities. That reduction in manual tasks equates to significant cost savings.
It’s estimated that approximately 40% of a knowledge worker’s time is spent searching for and organizing information. Manual tasks also increase error rates and can mean that critical cybersecurity protections take longer to implement.
The CyberWizPro vulnerability management software reduces costs by eliminating the need to manage network vulnerabilities manually. It also puts the power of vulnerability assessment and management in the hands of the organization, and they save money as a result.
Here are some of the cost-saving features of the tool.
Automatic Discovery of Assets
To do an effective vulnerability assessment you need to ensure that all assets are accounted for when you scan. This can be a time-consuming process if it’s being done manually.
CyberWizPro saves organizations time and money through its ability to automatically discover ports, services, applications, patches, and users. You can be assured that all potential vulnerabilities are being identified without all the tedious work.
Built-in Business Processes & Templates
Purchasing vulnerability management templates to use can be costly, and searching for them can take up a lot of valuable IT department time. This software automatically includes them for you.
You get the benefit of built-in business processes, including templates mapped to various NERC CIP compliance management tasks.
One Click for RSAW Generation
Organizations often need documentation like a Reliability Standard Audit Worksheet (RSAW) to provide proof of compliance. Rather than spending time and money generating these from scratch, you can generate them automatically from the CyberWizPro software.
Determines Mitigation Priorities
One of the most time-consuming tasks of vulnerability management can be prioritizing which vulnerabilities to address first. IT teams can spend costly productivity time just searching through logs and online information to come up with a game plan on which weaknesses are the most severe.
CyberWizPro eliminates those productivity costs by prioritization automatically. It looks at multiple factors, such as protections that are already in place, the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score, and whether the asset is a critical or boundary device.
Mitigation Recommendations Based on Existing Protections
One of the reasons that organizations need to pay for outside experts when mitigating vulnerabilities is that they need professional mitigation recommendations.
This is another activity that CyberWizPro manages for you. It will recommend mitigation actions based on priority, safeguards, and industry best practices.
Lower Costs & Keep Your Organization More Secure
CyberWizPro by WizNucleus can enable a strong vulnerability management program without all the traditional costs. Download a free trial today!