Cloud-based vulnerability management solutions have the advantage of being up and running quickly and are often more cost effective than in-house solutions.
Here is a round-up of five of the best:
Offering a wide range of managed IT security services, Dell SecureWorks is ideal for companies of any size that need a high level of scaleable security. It can provide protection across the network, safeguarding data, remote users, customers and critical internal assets. The Dell SecureWorks offering includes a raft of options depending on the customer’s needs ranging from managed and 24/7 monitoring of intrusion prevention or detection systems, firewall management, log monitoring, log retention and web security services. A key component is its vulnerability management service, which provides internal and external scanning managed by security experts to identify and remediate potential issues. Dell SecureWorks is also able to provide actionable information about emerging threats and risks from its in house Counter Threat Unit research team. In a nutshell, a comprehensive offering providing full analysis and assessment for clients.
Suitable for business of all sizes, including those with less than 50 employees, an ImmuniWeb web application security assessment combines managed vulnerability scanning with manual penetration testing performed by security auditors. Using this hybrid security testing technology it’s able to detect complex threats more quickly than a more classic approach, and will provide customers with a manually-written, personalized report offering solutions. The scanning can detect the OWASP top ten risks, test application logic, check your server security, discover hacking activities, validate SSL encryption and help sustain PCI compliance. The assessment can be ordered and managed online 24 hours a day, and can either be accessed as an on-demand service, or as an ongoing, continuous monitoring plan for larger enterprises requiring a 24/7/365 continuous security testing package. ImmuniWeb is used by the UN to ensure that the governmental websites of member states are secure. If it’s good enough for them…
IBM’s cloud-based services scan your internal and external infrastructure to quickly identify and classify any vulnerabilities. If threats are found, IBM will send a detailed report outlining the top risks and offer steps to solve the problems. Its advanced scanning capabilities can detect security weaknesses across a network device, server, web applications and databases so businesses can reduce any risks and better manage compliance. Accurate scanning means you can keep up with known and emerging security threats that might put systems and data in danger. IBM’s offering also helps companies understand how and why attacks happen. Its automatic integration with correlation and analytics will help identify successful breaches and unsuccessful attacks on patched devices helping to future proof your security.
This cloud-based, external vulnerability assessment solution gives an enterprise an attacker’s-eye view of their IT perimeter. Providing security assessments of public-facing network infrastructure and web applications it delivers clear and easy to follow reports to help identify threats and understand the potential impact of these threats. It provides external network scanning of an unlimited number of IP addresses, black-box web application assessments, unlimited user accounts and can provide scheduled or ad-hoc testing. It can assess network devices, operating systems, ports and applications against an extensive and constantly updated vulnerability database and additionally measure PCI DSS compliance. If additional products are needed for internal scanning, BeyondTrust can also provide Retina Network Security Scanner and Retina CS for a more comprehensive service.
McAfee SaaS Vulnerability Management
Well known for its anti-virus software, McAfee’s cloud-based solutions provide an effective measure of protection for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Delivering daily, non-disruptive vulnerability scanning and actionable reporting, McAfee SaaS Vulnerability Management helps customers to quickly rank risks and gauge compliance against industry standards. The scans can detect more than 55,000 known vulnerabilities and the offering includes comprehensive technical support from certified data-security professionals. The McAfee Security Center provides total visibility with 24/7 accesses to an easy-to-use, online dashboard to view user protection and generate download reports. This product is part of a suite of security services McAfee offers businesses covering email, endpoint and web security with reporting and management all hosted on the McAfee infrastructure.
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Mark Mayne is a freelance IT journalist. He is an experienced senior publishing professional with more than 15 years’ experience managing teams with a digital emphasis. Previously website Editor of the UK's biggest multi-platform consumer technology brand, T3 and news editor for SC Magazine UK. Mark has a background in daily national news and pureplay digital publishing, copywriting, consultancy.