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Vulnerability Management Lifecycle

Course Summary

This course provides participants with the foundational knowledge and practical skills required to design, implement, and operate a mature, continuous vulnerability management (VM) program. Participants will move beyond basic vulnerability scanning to understand risk-based prioritization, effective cross-team remediation, automation techniques (Vulnerability Management Tools), and advanced metrics for reporting security posture to executive leadership.

Prerequisites

To get the most of this session, participants should have:

  • Understanding of TCP/IP networking, operating systems, and common network services
  • Basic knowledge of common cyber threats and security controls
  • Familiarity with cloud computing concepts
  • A basic understanding of patch management workflows
  • Familiarity with ticketing systems (JIRA, ServiceNow)
     
Purpose
Gain skills and knowledge to design, implement, and operate a vulnerability management program
Audience
IT and Security Professionals desiring more advanced skills in the use of a vulnerability management program.
Role
Security Engineers | Security Analysts | IT Managers | System Administrators | DevOps Engineers | Compliance Officers
Skill level
Intermediate
Style
Lecture | Hands-on Activities
Duration
4 days
Related technologies
Networking | Cloud | Python | PowerShell

 

Learning objectives
  • Establish the continuous VM lifecycle
  • Design a comprehensive asset inventory program
  • Prioritize vulnerabilities using contextual risk factors
  • Develop effective cross-functional remediation strategies
  • Define and communicate risk metrics[JC3.1]
  • Ability to differentiate between vulnerability, exposure, and misconfiguration

What you'll learn:

In this Vulnerability Management Lifecycle course, you'll learn:

Cybersecurity Fundamentals and Asset Discovery

  • Introduction to Vulnerability Management (VM) Lifecycle
    • VM vs. Vulnerability Assessment vs. Penetration Testing
  • Cybersecurity Fundamentals
    • CIA Triad
    • Common attack vectors
    • Understanding the MITRE ATT&CK framework
  • Asset Discovery & Inventory
    • Defining the Attack Surface
    • Techniques for comprehensive discovery
    • Maintaining a Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
  • Vulnerability Databases & Scoring[JC5.1]
    • National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
    • Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS v3.x and v4.0)
    • Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)

Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis

  • Review of commercial and open-source Vulnerability Scanning Tools
    • Agent-based vs. network-based scanning
  • Scan Configuration & Execution
    • Credentialed vs. non-credentialed scanning
    • Best practices for scan scheduling and scope definition
  • Scan Results Analysis
    • Reading and interpreting complex scan reports
    • Identifying and validating False Positives and False Negatives
    • Baseline configuration review and identifying system misconfigurations
  • Threat Intelligence Integration[JC7.1]
    • Leveraging external threat feeds
    • CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog
    • The concept of Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (RBVM)

Threat, Risk, and Prioritization

  • Risk Assessment Methodologies
    • Integrating vulnerability data with business context
    • Determining Asset Criticality and Exploitability
    • Qualitative vs. Quantitative Risk Assessment
  • Prioritization Strategies
    • Moving beyond CVSS base scores
    • Prioritization models
    • Using exploit prediction scoring systems (e.g., EPSS)
  • Remediation Planning & Strategy
    • Service-level agreements (SLA) for remediation
    • Strategies: Patching, Configuration Change, Mitigation, and Risk Acceptance
  • Patch Management & Verification[JC9.1]
    • Maintenance windows and operational constraints
    • Testing and deploying patches
    • Verification

Management, Automation, and Governance

  • VM Management Tools
  • Automation and Orchestration
    • Using APIs to automate scanning, data ingestion, and ticketing
    • Building simple automation scripts for common tasks
    • Understanding Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) principles
  • Metrics, Reporting, & Governance[JC11.1]
    • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs)
    • Executive-level reporting
    • Compliance requirements   

Vulnerability Management Lifecycle

real world content

Real-World Content

Project-focused demos and labs using your tool stack and environment, not some canned "training room" lab.
expert practitioners

Expert Practitioners

Industry experts that bring their battle scars into the classroom.
experiential learning

Experiential Learning

More coding than lecture, coupled with architectural and design discussions.
fully customized

Tailored Outlines

Once-size-fits-all doesn't apply to training teams. That's where we come in!

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