Critical Start has recently introduced new offerings in the form of Critical Start Vulnerability Management Service (VMS) and Vulnerability Prioritization. These services are designed to help organizations assess, manage, prioritize, and ultimately reduce their cyber risk exposure posed by vulnerabilities across their environments.
The Vulnerability Management Service provided by Critical Start is a fully managed service that allows security leaders to effectively run a vulnerability management program by relieving them of burdensome operational tasks. This service leverages Critical Start’s collaboration with Qualys and utilizes their end-to-end vulnerability management, detection, and response solution (Qualys VMDR).
Managed services engineers at Critical Start are responsible for executing vulnerability scanning, ongoing monitoring, and detailed reporting, all of which contribute to a comprehensive understanding of an organization’s exposure landscape. Customers receive expert analysis of vulnerabilities and potential exposures in their environment, along with contextualized vulnerability reports and concise directions for effective vulnerability management to help reduce cyber risk and minimize attack surfaces.
The Vulnerability Prioritization capability, which can be included as part of the Vulnerability Management Service or standalone, identifies high-risk vulnerabilities based on criteria such as CVSS scores, threat intelligence, exploit weaponization, asset criticality, and exposure settings due to security controls gaps. This prioritization is built on the Asset Visibility capability of the platform, which provides a unified asset inventory, calculates asset criticality, and identifies critical controls gaps to help security teams focus their remediation efforts on the most significant vulnerabilities.
Chris Carlson, the Chief Product Officer at Critical Start, emphasized the importance of effective vulnerability management in reducing cyber risk exposure. He highlighted how the new services provided by Critical Start enable security teams to easily identify, manage, prioritize, and address vulnerabilities that align with their organization’s risk tolerance, protection against threats, and overall exposure minimization.
Shailesh Athalye, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Qualys, expressed excitement about collaborating with Critical Start to integrate Qualys VMDR into their managed security service. This integration enables joint customers to identify and remediate vulnerabilities effectively, allowing them to focus on their core business operations while staying protected against cyber threats.
The key benefits of Critical Start’s new offerings include foundational asset visibility, turnkey vulnerability management program, clear risk visibility with actionable reporting, risk-based vulnerability prioritization, improved vulnerability outcomes, and integration with the Critical Start Platform. These services complement their existing Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services by addressing vulnerabilities proactively to prevent exploitation.
By providing comprehensive vulnerability management services and prioritization capabilities, Critical Start aims to help organizations strengthen their security posture, reduce cyber risk exposure, and protect against potential threats. The integration of Qualys VMDR and the unique approach to vulnerability prioritization offer a holistic risk reduction strategy that enhances overall security resilience for customers.