VM

There is no pleasure in events bearing out the correctness of recommendations unheeded. For it is difficult to comprehend the wisdom, knowledge, and experience that gave rise to a suggested course of action which plies against the prevailing sentiments of bureaucratic management. What may seem obvious to a seasoned practitioner is the result of a complex distillation of accumulated knowledge and experience unique to the individual. Lest we be myopic about our own condition, we must also admit the same holds true for business managers and leadership. Taken to the extreme, technical expertise

Overshadowed by one of the largest ransomware attacks in history involving Managed Service Provider (MSP) Kaseya that launched Independence Day weekend, Microsoft’s newest zero-day vulnerability known as PrintNightmare quickly faded from view. With the disruption in gas supply that sparked panic buying when Colonial Pipeline was attacked, followed by the attack on JBS, a Brazilian meat processing company and top beef producer in the United States, awareness of ransomware has grown in the consciousness of the American public. Ransomware attacks have risen to the level of political discourse 

One cannot help but empathize with the beleaguered software engineers burning the midnight oil to sift through decades of legacy code that is at the heart of the PrintNightmare exploit. To its credit, and amid a mass of confusion, Microsoft recognized the urgency and expedited patch development.

UPDATE: July 6, 2021: Security updates (KB5004945) released today contain fixes for CVE-2021-1675 as well as for the remote code execution exploit in the Windows Print Spooler service known as “PrintNightmare”, documented in CVE-2021-34527.

The soft underbelly of Vulnerability Management is people. For those in the trenches, the kindred spirits working shoulder to shoulder, there is little acknowledgment save the unspoken satisfaction of mitigated vulnerabilities before the next wave comes crashing ashore. 

It is a daunting prospect to consider the work created by a short-term, let alone a long-term, lapse in diligence toward your Vulnerability Management practice. Inevitably, a sobering realization sets in. Success in this endeavor means mitigating vulnerabilities faster than they are discovered. 

Vulnerability Management (VM) is not a terribly complex process to understand. Scan, evaluate, remediate, validate, then rinse and repeat forever. It can even be taught to people possessing only the desire to learn but otherwise lacking in technical skills and knowledge. 

When starting out, I recommend placing your emphasis on the development of successful behaviors rather than diving in head first and risk being overwhelmed by the breadth of knowledge and skill required. Successful Vulnerability Management is first and foremost a good habit.