Software vulnerabilities are inevitable, but you can reduce their impact by acting fast. Follow these zero day remediation tips if you think your organization might be vulnerable to a newly discovered zero day.
With zero day exploits behind half of the biggest vulnerabilities and a surge in headline-grabbing attacks such as SolarWinds, Log4j, and Kaseya, the threat of zero day vulnerabilities is an ongoing concern for security teams.
Businesses increasingly run on software, which, unbeknownst to its developers, can contain vulnerabilities that attackers often discover and exploit before a patch is available. This makes zero day attacks inevitable, but their impact can be reduced if you’re prepared to act fast.
Read More: Fundamentals of zero day attacks
What to do if your organization was affected by a Zero Day
The first thing you need to do when a new zero day is reported is to assess the prevalence of the vulnerability in your organization and within your supply chain. In other words, determine if your organization or your vendors are utilizing vulnerable versions of the software in question.
As part of your due diligence and ongoing reassessment processes, you need to make sure that your vendors are enforcing standards that keep your business safe. Should a zero day vulnerability appear, you need to be able to promptly:
- Identify vulnerable third party vendors in your supply chain
- Ask them how they are planning to react and mitigate the vulnerability
- Update your requirements and request additional assurances
This would be difficult to achieve on a one-on-one basis, which is why these actions need to be conducted as part of a centralized, standardized third party risk management process (TPRM), as opposed to chasing vendors via email with spreadsheets.
5 zero day vulnerability remediation tips
1. Patch your systems
Vendors and makers usually act fast to issue a patch once the zero-day vulnerability is discovered. Install it as soon as it becomes available.
2. Assess risk exposure
Identify vulnerable third party vendors in your supply chain and check if your own organization is vulnerable.
3. Update your requirements
Ask your third parties for additional security requirements and assurances, and add them to your upcoming vendor contracts if needed.
4. Show your posture
If you are a vendor to other organizations, share an update of your security posture to let them know you already took the necessary steps.
5. Track, report, and conclude
Vulnerability management includes identifying, analyzing, remediating, and reporting phases; make sure everything is documented.
How ThirdPartyTrust can help
ThirdPartyTrust is a third party risk management (TPRM) automation platform where enterprises and vendors connect to complete risk assessments, exchange security documentation, track, and monitor risk, increasing efficiency and eliminating repetitive tasks in vendor management programs.
With flexible fit-for-purpose features, the tool adapts to help you stay ahead of zero days or unexpected vulnerabilities like Log4j, SolarWinds, Kaseya, and more.
The ability to continuously monitor your vendors’ security posture will raise timely alerts when an indicator goes beyond your security standards. In addition, a comprehensive and categorized third party inventory will make it easier to understand where to focus your attention when a zero day occurs.
When it comes to zero day response, the ability to rapidly create and distribute a simple questionnaire among your vendors to assess exposure and manage potential threats can make the difference between business as usual and business continuity issues.
If one of your vendors is vulnerable, you can use the ThirdPartyTrust TPRM platform to immediately ask them for additional requirements and assurances, and easily track them. You can also update their category or change their classification (i.e. more or less critical, more or less impactful for the business).
Benefits include:
- Streamlining and automating the security questionnaire process
- Identifying issues and acting proactively on your third party cyber risk
- Getting an objective security rating for every vendor and comparing it to industry averages across a number of security vectors
