Vulnerability scanning is a crucial aspect of modern organizations seeking to secure their digital assets against cyber threats. While there is a plethora of scanning tools available in the market, each offering its own distinct features, the extensive reports generated can be overwhelming for developers and drain resources. This is where a vulnerability scanning service comes in handy. By leveraging the expertise of a service provider, organisations can streamline their scanning process and optimise their security posture. In this blog post, we will explore the advantages of using a vulnerability scanning service compared to a standalone scanning tool.
What is a Vulnerability Scanning Service?
A vulnerability scanning service is an outsourced team of security professionals, normally made up of SOC analysts and penetration testers, which can proactively pin-point potential weak points in your systems or networks. By continuously scanning and monitoring for possible attack vectors, the team provides you with timely reports and alert you to any potential leaks or weaknesses that could otherwise go undetected. This way, you’ll be able to patch and protect your infrastructure before attackers take advantage of any vulnerabilities.
The Problem with Standalone Vulnerability Scanning Tools
The use of standalone vulnerability scanning tools often results in an excessive amount of data, which can overburden teams and consume valuable resources. Our vulnerability scanning service offers a solution to this problem. By automating repetitive and non-critical tasks, our service helps organisations streamline their scanning process and improve their overall security posture. Our service provides numerous benefits, including a competitive edge, virtually false positive-free results, manual validation support, compliance assistance, and a dedicated customer support team – all at no additional cost. By using our service, organisations can stay ahead of the curve in protecting against cyber threats, secure their critical systems and data, and save time, money, and effort by focusing on high-risk vulnerabilities that pose a threat to their security.
The top 5 benefits of using a vulnerability scanning service:
- Competitive advantage – Demonstrating a commitment to security and regulatory compliance can give an organisation a competitive edge and help build trust with customers and other stakeholders. In our recent case study, we illustrated how our customers can produce a historical picture of vulnerability fixes to create a higher level of trust with their end customers.
- Removal of false positives – Commonly, false positives in vulnerability scanning occur when the scanner can access only a subset of the required information, which prevents it from accurately determining whether a vulnerability exists. By using a vulnerability scanning service you can virtually cut out false positives allowing developers to focus on developing code or concentrating on fixing true findings, saving your organisation time, resources and money.
- Manual Validation – Hiring a team of security experts to perform manual scans of your network can be time-consuming and expensive. A vulnerability scanning service provides a cost-effective alternative, delivering thorough scans with little human intervention. In effect, an actual human reviews all outputs adding recommendations and remediation advice to security issues.
- Aids with compliance – Many organizations are required to adhere to various regulations and standards, such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and others. A vulnerability scanning service can aid you to meet these requirements by identifying areas where you may be non-compliant and providing recommendations to rectify these issues. Additionally, the periodical scan reports provide an audit trail that helps organisations meet applicable compliance requirements and protects against malicious attacks.
- Customer Support – This is probably the most significant benefit of using a vulnerability scanning service. Think of the service as an extension of your security operations. The team of security analysts and pen testers not only validate the reports but are also there to answer any questions you have or resolve any technical issues that arise.
In conclusion, utilising a vulnerability scanning service is now a critical component of a comprehensive security program, providing numerous benefits including improved visibility, regulatory compliance, better risk management, savings on time and resources, and competitive advantage.
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