This document outlines Bayat's standards and best practices for managing security vulnerabilities across all projects and systems.
- Vulnerability Management Program
- Vulnerability Identification
- Vulnerability Assessment
- Vulnerability Remediation
- Vulnerability Disclosure
- Vulnerability Tracking and Metrics
- Tools and Resources
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Compliance Requirements
- Special Considerations
- Proactive Protection: Identify and remediate vulnerabilities before exploitation
- Risk Reduction: Systematically reduce the attack surface of all systems
- Continuous Improvement: Regularly enhance security posture through lessons learned
- Compliance: Meet regulatory and contractual requirements for vulnerability management
- Prioritization: Focus resources on the highest-risk vulnerabilities first
- Policy and Procedures: Documented vulnerability management processes
- Tool Selection: Approved vulnerability scanning and management tools
- Identification: Process for identifying vulnerabilities from multiple sources
- Assessment: Methodology for evaluating vulnerability severity and impact
- Remediation: Standards for fixing vulnerabilities
- Verification: Process for confirming vulnerabilities are remediated
- Metrics and Reporting: Regular reporting on vulnerability management status
- Leadership Support: Executive backing for vulnerability management
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Coordination between security, IT, and development teams
- Accountability: Clear ownership of vulnerability remediation
- Regular Review: Quarterly program review and improvement
- Documentation: Maintain current documentation of the program
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Automated Scanning: Regular automated vulnerability scanning
- External Network Scanning: Weekly
- Internal Network Scanning: Monthly
- Web Application Scanning: Prior to major releases and quarterly
- Container/Image Scanning: During build pipeline and daily for repositories
- Cloud Configuration Scanning: Daily
- Mobile Application Scanning: Prior to release
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Manual Testing:
- Penetration Testing: Annual comprehensive test and after major changes
- Code Reviews: As part of SDLC
- Red Team Exercises: Annual for critical systems
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Third-Party Assessments:
- Independent Security Assessments: Annual
- Vendor Security Reviews: Before and during vendor relationships
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Threat Intelligence:
- Subscription to threat feeds
- Monitoring of security advisories
- Participation in information sharing communities
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Public Sources:
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
- Vendor security advisories
- Security mailing lists
- CVE database
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Commercial Sources:
- Paid threat intelligence services
- Security vendor advisories
- Analyst reports
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Internal Sources:
- Security testing results
- Incident response findings
- Bug bounty/vulnerability disclosure program
- All Assets in Scope:
- Production systems
- Development and test environments
- Cloud environments
- On-premises infrastructure
- Mobile applications
- Web applications
- IoT devices
- Network devices
- Endpoint devices
- Containers and orchestration platforms
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Standardized Scoring:
- Primary: Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
- Supplementary: Risk-adjusted scoring considering business context
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Rating Factors:
- Exploitability: Ease of exploitation
- Impact: Potential harm if exploited
- Affected Assets: Criticality of affected systems
- Exposure: Internal vs. external facing
- Compensating Controls: Existing mitigating measures
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Risk Levels:
- Critical: CVSS 9.0-10.0 or high business impact
- High: CVSS 7.0-8.9 or significant business impact
- Medium: CVSS 4.0-6.9 or moderate business impact
- Low: CVSS 0.1-3.9 or minimal business impact
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Remediation Timeframes:
- Critical: 24-48 hours
- High: 7 days
- Medium: 30 days
- Low: 90 days
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Priority Adjustment Factors:
- Exploitation status (actively exploited in the wild)
- Availability of patches
- System criticality
- Data sensitivity
- Public exposure
- Business impact
- Operational windows
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Verification Process:
- Technical validation of reported vulnerabilities
- Documentation of validation results
- Approval process for false positive determination
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Exceptions Process:
- Criteria for granting exceptions
- Temporary vs. permanent exceptions
- Required compensating controls
- Exception review schedule
- Exception documentation requirements
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Patching:
- Patch testing requirements
- Emergency patching procedures
- Patch deployment windows
- Patch verification process
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Configuration Changes:
- Standard secure configurations
- Configuration management process
- Configuration verification
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Compensating Controls:
- Acceptable compensating controls
- Implementation requirements
- Validation of effectiveness
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Code Fixes:
- Secure coding standards
- Code review requirements
- Testing requirements
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Assignment:
- Process for assigning vulnerabilities to owners
- Escalation procedures for unaddressed vulnerabilities
- Documentation requirements
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Implementation:
- Change management integration
- Testing requirements before deployment
- Roll-back procedures
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Verification:
- Post-remediation testing
- Evidence collection
- Closure criteria
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Zero-Day Vulnerabilities:
- Detection methods
- Response procedures
- Temporary mitigations
- Communication plan
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Unpatchable Systems:
- Risk acceptance process
- Required compensating controls
- Monitoring requirements
- Lifecycle planning
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Third-Party Software:
- Vendor management procedures
- Escalation process for vendor-dependent issues
- Alternative mitigations
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Legacy Systems:
- Additional protection requirements
- Isolation strategies
- Replacement planning
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Notification Standards:
- Who to notify based on severity
- Required information in notifications
- Notification timeframes
- Status update frequency
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Communication Channels:
- Primary and backup communication methods
- Secure communication practices
- Documentation requirements
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Stakeholder Management:
- Management briefing procedures
- Status reporting templates
- Escalation criteria
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Public Disclosure Policy:
- Criteria for public disclosure
- Disclosure timing guidelines
- Disclosure content standards
- Coordination with affected parties
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Customer Notifications:
- Notification criteria
- Required notification content
- Notification timeframes
- Support resources provided
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Regulatory Reporting:
- Reportable conditions
- Reporting timeframes
- Required report content
- Reporting responsibilities
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Program Structure:
- Scope definition
- Submission guidelines
- Legal safe harbor provisions
- Researcher recognition
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Response Process:
- Acknowledgment timeframes
- Triage process
- Researcher communication
- Disclosure coordination
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Program Management:
- Program oversight
- Performance metrics
- Continuous improvement
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Tracking System Requirements:
- Required data elements
- Integration with other security tools
- Retention requirements
- Access controls
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Vulnerability Lifecycle Documentation:
- Status definitions
- Required timestamps
- History maintenance
- Evidence requirements
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Reporting Requirements:
- Standard reports
- Reporting frequency
- Distribution lists
- Format standards
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Operational Metrics:
- Mean time to detect (MTTD)
- Mean time to remediate (MTTR)
- Patch compliance percentage
- Recurring vulnerabilities rate
- Age of open vulnerabilities
- Vulnerability density by system
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Program Effectiveness Metrics:
- Reduction in vulnerability count over time
- Reduction in average vulnerability age
- Percentage of systems scanned
- Scan coverage percentage
- Risk reduction over time
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Compliance Metrics:
- Compliance with remediation SLAs
- Exception rate and justification
- Age of exceptions
- Compliance with scanning requirements
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Trend Analysis:
- Vulnerability trends by system
- Vulnerability trends by type
- Recurring vulnerability analysis
- Root cause analysis
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Benchmarking:
- Internal benchmarking across teams
- Industry benchmarking
- Improvement targets
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Continuous Program Improvement:
- Lessons learned process
- Program maturity assessment
- Annual program review
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Vulnerability Scanners:
- Network vulnerability scanners
- Web application scanners
- Container security scanners
- Cloud security posture management tools
- Static application security testing (SAST) tools
- Dynamic application security testing (DAST) tools
- Mobile application security testing tools
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Tracking and Management:
- Vulnerability management platforms
- Security information and event management (SIEM)
- Bug tracking integration
- Metrics dashboards
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Intelligence and Research:
- Threat intelligence platforms
- Vulnerability databases
- Research resources
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Tool Selection Criteria:
- Coverage requirements
- Performance standards
- Integration capabilities
- Support requirements
- Cost considerations
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Tool Configuration Standards:
- Baseline configurations
- Scan profiles
- Authentication requirements
- False positive management
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Tool Maintenance:
- Update requirements
- Testing after updates
- Performance monitoring
- Access control
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Security Team:
- Program ownership
- Vulnerability scanning
- Risk assessment
- Reporting and metrics
- Coordination
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IT Operations:
- Infrastructure vulnerability remediation
- Patch management
- Configuration management
- Verification support
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Development Teams:
- Application vulnerability remediation
- Secure coding
- Testing
- Integration of security tools in CI/CD
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Business Units:
- Risk acceptance where appropriate
- Resource allocation
- Business impact assessment
- Prioritization input
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CISO/Security Director:
- Program oversight
- Resource allocation
- Executive reporting
- Risk acceptance approval
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Vulnerability Manager:
- Daily program operations
- Process adherence
- Coordination
- Reporting
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System Owners:
- Vulnerability remediation for owned systems
- Exception requests
- Status reporting
- Compliance with standards
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Security Analysts:
- Vulnerability scanning
- Triage and analysis
- Technical assistance
- Verification
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Industry Standards:
- PCI DSS vulnerability management requirements
- HIPAA security management requirements
- SOC 2 vulnerability management controls
- ISO 27001 vulnerability management requirements
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Government Regulations:
- Sector-specific requirements
- Regional/national requirements
- Contractual obligations
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Evidence Collection:
- Required documentation
- Evidence formats
- Retention periods
- Access controls
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Audit Preparation:
- Pre-audit assessments
- Documentation review
- Staff preparation
- Common audit questions
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Audit Findings:
- Finding remediation process
- Root cause analysis
- Remediation verification
- Process improvement
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Shared Responsibility:
- Provider vs. customer responsibilities
- Provider assessment
- Integration with provider tools
- Cloud-specific vulnerabilities
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Container Security:
- Image scanning
- Registry security
- Runtime protection
- Orchestration platform security
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Serverless and PaaS:
- Function/code scanning
- Configuration review
- Provider security features
- Limited access environments
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Platform-Specific Considerations:
- iOS security
- Android security
- Cross-platform frameworks
- App store requirements
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Mobile-Specific Vulnerabilities:
- Client-side vulnerabilities
- Insecure data storage
- Insecure communication
- Privacy concerns
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Limited Update Capability:
- Alternative protection methods
- Network segmentation
- Monitoring
- Lifecycle management
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Hardware Vulnerabilities:
- Firmware security
- Physical security
- Supply chain security
- Hardware security modules
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Pipeline Integration:
- Security tool integration
- Breaking build criteria
- Automated remediation
- Developer feedback
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Shift-Left Approach:
- Early vulnerability detection
- Developer security training
- Security champions
- Pre-commit hooks
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Continuous Monitoring:
- Runtime application protection
- Behavioral monitoring
- Anomaly detection
- Feedback loops to development