Vulnerability Management: Find It, Fix It, Prove It

A vulnerability scan is an automated, non-exploitative process that identifies known weaknesses in your systems by comparing your configurations against a database of known vulnerabilities. It tells you what vulnerabilities exist. A penetration test goes further — a skilled tester actively attempts to exploit those vulnerabilities to demonstrate actual impact and identify attack paths a scanner would miss. Both serve different purposes: vulnerability scanning is an ongoing operational hygiene process, while penetration testing is a point-in-time adversarial assessment. Most frameworks require both.

PCI DSS requires quarterly external scans at minimum, with internal scans after any significant network change. NIST and most cyber insurance carriers expect at minimum monthly scanning across internal systems, with continuous or weekly scanning for internet-facing assets. Higher-risk environments — those with sensitive data, public-facing applications, or compliance requirements — should run scans weekly. We configure scan cadence based on your risk profile, not a one-size-fits-all schedule.

Critical vulnerabilities (CVSS 9.0+, especially those with known active exploitation) trigger an expedited response. We notify your designated contacts immediately, assess whether the vulnerability is exploitable in your specific environment, and initiate emergency patching outside normal maintenance windows if warranted. If a patch is not yet available, we implement compensating controls — firewall rules, network isolation, configuration changes — and document the exception with a remediation timeline. You receive a written record of the finding, the action taken, and the current status.

Yes. We work alongside your internal IT team or existing MSP. Our patch management service can be scoped to specific systems — servers only, endpoints only, or network devices — without requiring full managed services engagement. We provide the scanning, prioritization, reporting, and compliance documentation; your team or your MSP handles the actual patch deployment, or we can handle that too. The scope is defined by what you need covered.

Increasingly, yes. During underwriting, carriers ask about vulnerability scanning cadence, mean time to remediate critical vulnerabilities, and the percentage of systems patched within defined SLA windows. Some carriers require attestation that critical patches are applied within 30 days and that no critical known-exploited vulnerabilities (KEV) remain open. After a claim, carriers review whether a breach resulted from an unpatched, known vulnerability — and some policies exclude coverage for breaches caused by vulnerabilities that were disclosed and patchable before the incident. A documented program with metrics is both an underwriting requirement and a coverage protection.