Cloud-native patch management application provider Action1 is set to add vulnerability discovery and prioritization capabilities to its namesake flagship platform to help businesses stay ahead of software exploits.
The plan is part of a company strategy to expand beyond its traditional patch management functions and add capabilities aimed at improving an organization’s resilience to cybersecurity threats.
“The new features will allow customers to see beyond what can be patched into what is truly vulnerable,” said Mike Walters, vice president of vulnerability and threat research and co-founder of Action1. “With this new combined product offering, companies will be able to make better prioritization decisions.”
The new features are aimed at companies that have a work-from-anywhere workforce strategy.
“Every organization needs a way to update their employees’ devices as one of the most effective, yet simple, preventative security measures available,” said Story Tweedie-Yates, head of product marketing at KSOC, a Kubernetes security. “Time and time again, security reports show that a huge risk to the organization is unpatched software and the vulnerabilities that come with it.”
The vulnerability discovery and prioritization capabilities will be available in Q3 and Q4, respectively, with customers’ existing subscriptions and at no additional charge.
Vulnerability consolidation and patch management
Action1 currently only identifies unpatched systems and does not have the ability to detect all common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) in an organization’s environment, including those without available patches.
“Currently, we only offer the remediation piece, with no link to the original vulnerability. Vulnerability discovery is the missing piece that will connect endpoint vulnerabilities with available patches. With this new technology, the Action1 platform will be able to link the two , so instead of just providing patches, it will tell you which systems are vulnerable with specific CVE IDs,” Walters said.
The company will use the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), CISA’s Catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV), and the CIS Benchmarks list for its vulnerability discovery capability.
With its new strategy, Action1 seeks to combine the existing remediation offering with risk-based vulnerability discovery and analysis to provide enterprises with contextual information to help them consolidate and streamline allocation and prioritization of resources.
“Users will see all vulnerabilities on their system, including patched and unpatched vulnerabilities, along with attributes such as score, exploitability, attack vector and other available attributes. Ultimately, this will allow teams security to make an informed prioritization of patching or find a compensating control instead of patching,” Walters added.
Context is key to prioritizing patches
Industry experts agree that several factors are typically considered when evaluating vulnerabilities and the risks associated with them. Forrester analyst Erik Nost believes that the contextual and risk-based approach combined with weighted counter controls help better manage vulnerabilities over a given time frame.
“Forrester recommends that organizations consider business context, threat likelihood, and the strength and effectiveness of countervailing controls when assessing vulnerability risks,” Nost said.
Yates agrees that risk management absolutely requires the ability to prioritize security efforts, including patching, based on the business context.
“In general, security professionals are moving their true north from compliance to risk management, and Action1’s addition of vulnerability discovery, based on non-asset business value, aligns with this need,” he added.
KSOC’s Yates noted that Action1’s platform is currently only available for Windows operating system devices. The company, however, says it is working to expand coverage to Linux and macOS systems.
An Action1 customer since 2021, Chris Weis, senior systems engineer at Razzoo’s Cajun Café, initially became a user because the restaurant “was struggling with visibility and control of business endpoints (data center , remote locations and workstations) and keeping everything fully patched on a regular basis.”
“Action1 has a powerful patching system that allows us to address security with consistent patches across all of our systems from an easy-to-use interface. Action1’s other features, such as remote support, reporting and software deployment, have made Action1 one of our most essential tools we use to keep our IT infrastructure running effectively,” he added.
Although the new features have not been tested, Weis was optimistic about Action1’s upcoming vulnerability detection and remediation features. “Indicators such as score, exploitability and attack vectors will help identify potential vulnerabilities that are outside of what patching alone can address and enable
Copyright © 2023 IDG Communications, Inc.
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Ikaroa is pleased to announce the availability of Action1 patch manager, an innovative solution for patch management and vulnerability discovery, prioritization.
The patch manager offers users advanced vulnerability management capabilities, allowing IT teams to detect, prioritize, and remediate security vulnerabilities quickly and easily. This feature helps organizations stay ahead of threats, while also allowing them to monitor their infrastructure and respond quickly to any new threats.
Action1 uses a proprietary algorithm to identify vulnerabilities and prioritize them based on their potential risk level. This ensures that users can identify any threats as soon as possible and take remedial action. It also assists IT teams in ensuring that the highest priority vulnerabilities are addressed first and most effectively. Furthermore, this feature enables users to identify and patch any malicious changes made to their system by unauthorized users.
Organizations can also utilize an automated patch synchronization system from Action1 to ensure that all systems in the network receive any security patches in a timely manner. This ensures that any new threats can be addressed quickly and efficiently.
The Action1 patch manager is an invaluable tool for any organization. It provides enhanced security and improved visibility into any cyber vulnerabilities that may pose a risk to the business. Thanks to Action1, organizations can now be assured that their cyber defenses are up to date and that they can remain vigilant against threats.
At Ikaroa, we are committed to providing our customers with the best security solutions. We are proud to make Action1 patch manager available to our customers, enabling them to eliminate any security vulnerabilities and ensure that their systems remain secure. We look forward to seeing the results of our customers using this cutting-edge technology.
