These are just a few of the brand vulnerabilities that have been discovered in the last two years. Executives are paying more attention to application security because of the recent spate of high-profile flaws in popular software. Fortunately, this is a good thing, but it also means that security professionals are under increasing pressure to respond quickly and tactically to vulnerabilities in the software that runs their businesses.

While you want your security programs to be more strategic in nature, these potential threats cannot be ignored. For this, they need a plan that can help them determine the severity of a vulnerability as well as how their team should respond to it.

Starting with a vulnerability response plan will help you determine how your company should and can respond to threats. Veracode was in the same predicament as the rest of us. We were concerned about the safety of our company and the management of its vulnerabilities. Our production schedules and other strategic initiatives suffered because of the constant barrage of vulnerability disclosures, both from branded and non-branded sources.

Following these five steps, we came up with a strategy:

Quick-response teams can be found here.

As soon as a security flaw is discovered, a rapid response team meets to discuss how the company should respond and at what speed.

This is the second step. Create a set of guidelines for the team to adhere to.

Rapid-response teams must establish operating procedures if they are to be effective. When a new vulnerability is discovered, the rapid-response team is the first to respond. Most often, you’ll receive this notification because of reading about the vulnerability in the media or from a vendor informing you about their response plans. Any employee who hears about a new vulnerability disclosure should immediately notify the rapid response team via an internal email distribution list.

Defining priorities and responding to them is the third step in the process.

Depending on an organization’s risk tolerance level, the definition of “high” and “low” urgency can vary widely. However, risk-averse your company is, teams will benefit from maintaining their composure by using a systematic approach that follows well-defined patterns.

Setting priorities is the fourth step in the process.

When an incident occurs, determining what constitutes a high-urgency vulnerability and what constitutes a low-urgency vulnerability will save time. Defining the actions that will be taken based on the severity of the vulnerability can help enterprises justify their response to customers and board members if necessary.

Each level of response should have a clearly defined procedure in place.

The incident response team will begin its mitigation efforts once the rapid-response team has determined the breach’s priority level. It’s critical that the team has a strategy in place for dealing with the vulnerability at various levels of urgency.

Responding to a zero-day vulnerability disclosure is a necessary part of security, but it can be expensive if it diverts teams from their planned strategic or operational activities. Prioritizing and prioritizing remediation efforts based on a predetermined response plan ensures that risk is properly mitigated and minimizes costs for businesses.

Summary

Executives are paying more attention to the security of applications as a result of recent high-profile flaws. It’s becoming increasingly important for security professionals to react quickly and tactically in the face of potential threats. Your company’s response to threats can be determined by creating a vulnerability response plan. The rapid-response team is the first to respond when a new vulnerability is discovered. The third step in the process entails determining priorities and taking appropriate action. Assuring proper risk mitigation by prioritizing and prioritizing remediation efforts in accordance with a predetermined response plan.