Which type of assessment looks at events that could exploit vulnerabilities?
Features and Benefits of VAPTVulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) provides enterprises with a more comprehensive application evaluation than any single test alone. Using the Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) approach gives an organization a more detailed view of the threats facing its applications, enabling the business to better protect its systems and data from malicious attacks. Vulnerabilities can be found in applications from third-party vendors and internally made software, but most of these flaws are easily fixed once found. Using a VAPT provider enables IT security teams to focus on mitigating critical vulnerabilities while the VAPT provider continues to discover and classify vulnerabilities. Show
Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing and Compliance RequirementsCompliance is a major undertaking, whether it is PCI, FISMA or any other. Veracode’s service allows companies to meet their compliance requirements faster and more effectively. The Veracode platform finds flaws that could damage or endanger applications in order to protect internal systems, sensitive customer data and company reputation. Having a system in place to test applications during development means that security is being built into the code rather than retroactively achieved through patches and expensive fixes. How Veracode Accommodates VAPT Veracode’s platform combines both Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) methods. By doing so, Veracode provides both a full list of the flaws found and a measurement of the risk posed by each flaw. Veracode performs both dynamic and static code analysis to not only find flaws in code but also to determine if there are any missing functionalities whose absence could lead to security breaches. For example, Veracode can determine whether sufficient encryption is employed and whether a piece of software contains any application backdoors through hard-coded user names or passwords. Veracode's binary scanning approach produces more accurate testing results using methodologies developed and continually refined by a team of world-class experts. Veracode returns fewer false positives, allowing penetration testers and developers to spend more time remediating problems and less time sifting through non-threats. Veracode has developed an automated, on-demand, application security testing solution. With Veracode, companies no longer need to buy expensive vulnerability assessment software, train developers and QA personnel on how to use it, or spend time and money to constantly update it. The Veracode platform is dynamically updated and upgraded, meaning users reap the latest benefits every time they log in. IntroductionAll facilities face a certain level of risk associated with various threats. These threats may be the result of natural events, accidents, or intentional acts to cause harm. Regardless of the nature of the threat, facility owners have a responsibility to limit or manage risks from these threats to the extent possible. The federal government has implemented The Risk Management Process for Federal Facilities: An Interagency Security Committee Standard which states, "Risk is a function of the values of threat, consequence, and vulnerability. The objective of risk management is to create a level of protection that mitigates vulnerabilities to threats and the potential consequences, thereby reducing risk to an acceptable level. A variety of mathematical models are available to calculate risk and to illustrate the impact of increasing protective measures on the risk equation." Facility owners, particularly owners of public facilities, should develop and implement a security risk management methodology which adheres to the Interagency Security Committee (ISC) standard while also supporting the security needs of the organization. Landlords who desire to lease space to federal government agencies should implement the ISC standard in the design of new facilities and/or the renovation of existing facilities. DescriptionA. Threat AssessmentFigure 1. The tornado damaged Cash America Building in Fort Worth, TX The first step in a risk management program is a threat assessment. A threat assessment considers the full spectrum of threats (i.e., natural, criminal, terrorist, accidental, etc.) for a given facility/location. The ISC standard only addresses man-made threats, but individual agencies are free to expand upon the threats they consider. The assessment should examine supporting information to evaluate the relative likelihood of occurrence for each threat. For natural threats, historical data concerning frequency of occurrence for given natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fire, or earthquakes can be used to determine the credibility of the given threat. For criminal threats, the crime rates in the surrounding area provide a good indicator of the type of criminal activity that may threaten the facility. In addition, the type of assets and/or activity located in the facility may also increase the target attractiveness in the eyes of the aggressor. The type of assets and/or activity located in the facility will also relate directly to the likelihood of various types of accidents. For example, a facility that utilizes heavy industrial machinery will be at higher risk for serious or life-threatening job related accidents than a typical office building. For terrorist threats, the attractiveness of the facility as a target is a primary consideration. In addition, the type of terrorist act may vary based on the potential adversary and the method of attack most likely to be successful for a given scenario. For example, a terrorist wishing to strike against the federal government may be more likely to attack a large federal building than to attack a multi-tenant office building containing a large number of commercial tenants and a few government tenants. However, if security at the large federal building makes mounting a successful attack too difficult, the terrorist may be diverted to a nearby facility that may not be as attractive from an occupancy perspective, but has a higher probability of success due to the absence of adequate security. In general, the likelihood of terrorist attacks cannot be quantified statistically since terrorism is, by its very nature random. Specific definitions are important to quantify the level of each threat. The more specific the definition, the more consistent the assessments will be especially if the assessments are being performed by a large number of assessors. Example assessments are provided below:
B. Vulnerability AssessmentOnce the plausible threats are identified, a vulnerability assessment must be performed. The vulnerability assessment considers the potential impact of loss from a successful attack as well as the vulnerability of the facility/location to an attack. Impact of loss is the degree to which the mission of the agency is impaired by a successful attack from the given threat. A key component of the vulnerability assessment is properly defining the ratings for impact of loss and vulnerability. These definitions may vary greatly from facility to facility. For example, the amount of time that mission capability is impaired is an important part of impact of loss. If the facility being assessed is an Air Route Traffic Control Tower, a downtime of a few minutes may be a serious impact of loss, while for a Social Security office a downtime of a few minutes would be minor. A sample set of definitions for impact of loss is provided below. These definitions are for an organization that generates revenue by serving the public.
Vulnerability is defined to be a combination of the attractiveness of a facility as a target and the level of deterrence and/or defense provided by the existing countermeasures. Target attractiveness is a measure of the asset or facility in the eyes of an aggressor and is influenced by the function and/or symbolic importance of the facility. Sample definitions for vulnerability ratings are as follows:
The vulnerability assessment may also include detailed analysis of the potential impact of loss from an explosive, chemical or biological attack. Professionals with specific training and experience in these areas are required to perform these detailed analyses. A sample of the type of output that can be generated by a detailed explosive analysis is shown in Figure 2. This graphic representation of the potential damage to a facility from an explosive attack allows a building owner to quickly interpret the results of the analysis. In addition, similar representations can be used to depict the response of an upgraded facility to the same explosive threat. This allows a building owner to interpret the potential benefit that can be achieved by implementing various structural upgrades to the building frame, wall, roof and/or windows. The results of blast assessment depicted in Figure 2 were for glazing only. Figure 2. Existing facility (left) and upgraded facility (right) C. Risk AnalysisA combination of the impact of loss rating and the vulnerability rating can be used to evaluate the potential risk to the facility from a given threat. A sample risk matrix is depicted in Table 1. High risks are designated by the red cells, moderate risks by the yellow cells, and low risks by the green cells. Table 1. Matrix identifying levels of risk
The ratings in the matrix can be interpreted using the explanation shown in Table 2. Table 2. Interpretation of the risk ratings
D. Upgrade RecommendationsBased on the findings from the risk analysis, the next step in the process is to identify countermeasure upgrades that will lower the various levels of risk. If an organization has minimum standard countermeasures for a given facility level which are not currently present, these countermeasures should automatically be included in the upgrade recommendations. Additional countermeasure upgrades above the organization's recommended minimum standards should be recommended as necessary to address the specific threats and associated unacceptable risks identified for the facility. The estimated capital cost of implementing the recommended countermeasures is usually provided. The estimated installation and operating costs for the recommended countermeasures are also usually provided. All operating costs are customarily estimated on a per year basis. Figure 3. These photos depict two windows subjected to a large explosion. The unprotected window on the left fails catastrophically. The protected window on the right retains glass fragments and poses a significantly lower hazard to occupants. E. Re-Evaluation of RisksThe implementation of the recommended security and/or structural upgrades should have a positive effect on the impact of loss and/or the vulnerability ratings for each threat. The final step in the process is to re-evaluate these two ratings for each threat in light of the recommended upgrades. Using an exterior explosive threat as an example, the installation of window retrofits (i.e., security window film, laminated glass, etc.) will not prevent the explosive attack from occurring, but it should reduce the impact of loss/injury caused by hazardous flying glass. Therefore, the impact of loss rating for an explosive threat would improve, but the vulnerability rating would stay the same. A second example could be introduction of an explosive into the interior of the facility. The potential upgrade for this threat might be X-ray package screening for every package entering the facility. While the potential impact of loss from an internal detonation remains the same, the vulnerability to an attack is lessened because a package containing explosives should be detected prior to entering the facility. To further reduce risk, structural hardening of the package screening areas could also reduce potential impact of loss. Reduction of either the impact of loss rating or the vulnerability rating has a positive effect on the reduction of overall risk. F. SummaryThe overall threat/vulnerability and risk analysis methodology is summarized by the following flowchart. Figure 4. Flowchart depicting the basic risk assessment process ApplicationThreat/vulnerability assessments and risk analysis can be applied to any facility and/or organization. The federal government has been utilizing varying types of assessments and analyses for many years. Federal Security Risk Management (FSRM) is basically the process described in this paper. FSRM is currently being used by several federal agencies as well as commercial businesses to assess their facilities. Software is available to assist in performing threat/vulnerability assessments and risk analyses. The software tool associated with implementation of FSRM is entitled FSR-Manager. This tool is designed to be used by security personnel and allows the user to:
FSR-Manager uses the above inputs to:
More information about FSR-Manager can be found at www.ara.com. Relevant Codes and Standards
Additional ResourcesFederal Agencies
Design and Analysis Tools
Organizations and Associations
Publications
What are the type of vulnerability assessment?Some of the types of vulnerability assessment are:. Network and Wireless Assessment. ... . Host Assessment. ... . Database Assessment. ... . Application Scans. ... . Determine Critical and Attractive Assets. ... . Conduct Vulnerability Assessment. ... . Vulnerability Analysis and Risk Assessment. ... . Remediation.. What is a vulnerability risk assessment?A vulnerability assessment is a systematic review of security weaknesses in an information system. It evaluates if the system is susceptible to any known vulnerabilities, assigns severity levels to those vulnerabilities, and recommends remediation or mitigation, if and whenever needed.
What are the 4 main types of security vulnerability?Security Vulnerability Types. Network Vulnerabilities. These are issues with a network's hardware or software that expose it to possible intrusion by an outside party. ... . Operating System Vulnerabilities. ... . Human Vulnerabilities. ... . Process Vulnerabilities.. What kind of testing can to done to evaluate and identify vulnerabilities in a system?penetration tests. A vulnerability assessment often includes a penetration testing component to identify vulnerabilities in an organization's personnel, procedures or processes. These vulnerabilities might not normally be detectable with network or system scans.
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