The Evolution of Vulnerability Remediation: From RBVM to Security Remediation Platforms

Meny Har, Co-Founder & CEO

December 21, 2023

5 min read

Over the past couple of decades, Vulnerability Management has seen remarkable growth. The unprecedented speed of technological evolution and the corresponding growth in the role and responsibilities of security have resulted in a growing and urgent need to redefine and re-imagine the way remediation is conducted across organizations.

‍

From Vulnerability Management to RBVM

Vulnerability Management was initially introduced as a means to merely identify vulnerable machines across a network. At the time, vulnerability numbers were relatively low and patching “everything” was a realistic approach, so this strategy proved to be effective.

As the number of vulnerabilities identified began to significantly increase, Risk-Based Vulnerability Management tools introduced a pivotal transformation in the handling of vulnerabilities. Departing from a blanket approach of addressing all vulnerabilities, RBVM suggested a refined strategy of prioritization based on the potential impact of vulnerabilities on an organization's security posture. By contextualizing vulnerabilities using factors like business-criticality and threat intelligence, RBVM empowered IT and security teams to distinguish critical vulnerabilities from the rest of the findings. For bigger organizations, this shift in focus optimized resource allocation, enabling a more strategic and risk-oriented approach to remediation, relevant only for centralized IT or security teams.

‍

Security Postures - One Too Many

With the introduction of new technology tenants such as SaaS and cloud-native architectures, organizations were faced with a growing number of new attack surfaces. These new surfaces added more complex tenants (and tools) into what was once a “simple” organizational security posture. Examples include Cloud Security, Application Security, attack surface management and more. Suddenly, the organizational security posture had a much larger footprint, from numerous and sometimes overlapping tools, to multiple security teams now leading remediation across their respective areas and with widespread engineering teams often becoming a major part of day-to-day remediation efforts.

‍

Cultural and Operational Implications

This transition from one attack surface to many not only represents a new technological reality but also a tremendous cultural shift. This evolution denotes a necessary transition in the fabric of security teams, often going from a central, one-size-fits-all, control-oriented mindset to that of a Risk Orchestrator, shaping a broader security culture across organizations. This evolution created a real need for effective, cross-organizational collaboration between security, IT and engineering teams for organizations of all sizes, ensuring clearer visibility and actionable risk reduction while reducing the time spent on remediation for all concerned.

‍

The Emergence of Security Remediation Platforms

This new reality included a multi-faceted attack surface and a new cross-organizational focus on remediation, but it necessitated a full transformation into a specialized Security Remediation Platform to effectively drive risk reduction efforts across this new, dynamic security landscape. These platforms transcend the conventional boundaries of IT vulnerability identification and prioritization. Embracing a fusion of people, processes, and technology, they act as centralized hubs orchestrating remediation efforts across entire organizations. Offering prioritization across diverse attack surfaces, Security Remediation platforms provide consolidation, prioritization and orchestration, while also focusing on bridging the gap between security findings and the teams tasked with addressing them.

‍

Traditional RBVM vs Security Remediation Platform

‍

From Identification to Remediation

With remediation now being a main part of the organization’s vulnerability management effort, the operational reality of driving remediation has become a key tenant of security remediation platforms. These platforms go beyond visibility and prioritization. They are also responsible for operationalizing remediation itself, by automatically tracking down remediation owners, introducing an efficient remediation lifecycle with corresponding operational workflows and ensuring consistency across any attack surface, while providing in-depth reporting to stakeholders at any organizational level

‍

Looking Ahead

The evolution of Vulnerability Management to RBVM and the advent of Security Remediation Platforms signifies a redefinition of the organizational security posture and the risk reduction process. Organizations now need a full suite of remediation services - a platform approach that not only identifies vulnerabilities but also enables their efficient and strategic remediation. These platforms foster effective collaboration that unifies people, processes, and technology, ushering in a new era of operational security.

See the Opus Platform in Action

Cybersecurity Consolidation: The Key to Stronger Security

February 13, 2025

SSVC Explained: How It Transforms Vulnerability Prioritization

February 5, 2025

How to Achieve and Maintain FedRAMP Compliance

February 2, 2025

Cloud-to-Code Integration: Enhancing Security from Cloud to Codebase

January 25, 2025

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM): A Comprehensive Guide

January 14, 2025

Remediation as Security Immunization: Protecting Against Exploits, Malware, and Ransomware

January 25, 2025

Security Remediation Insights - Looking Back at 2024, Ahead to 2025

January 15, 2025

No-Code Automation in 2025: Choosing and Implementing Tools

January 14, 2025

Build vs. Buy: A Guide for Security Remediation Platforms

January 14, 2025

How To Design an Effective Vulnerability Management Program

January 14, 2025

Exposure Assessment Platforms (EAPs): A Cybersecurity Essential

November 20, 2024

NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation: Key Compliance Steps

January 14, 2025

Is Python the Right Tool for Your Cyber Security Strategy?

January 14, 2025

What Is DORA Compliance? A Practical Guide

January 14, 2025

Opus' Ownership Detection & No-Code Workflow Builder

November 5, 2024

Remediation vs. Mitigation: Key Differences Explained

November 7, 2024

What Is Vulnerability Remediation & How It Works

January 14, 2025

Vulnerability Assessment: Definitions, Methodology & Tools

November 7, 2024

Wrapping Up Season One of "30 Min on: Vulnerability Management"

October 21, 2024

CVE and CVSS: Vulnerability Assessment & Severity Ratings

October 29, 2024

CVSS Scores: How They Enhance Vulnerability Assessment

February 12, 2025

What CVE Scores Mean for Your Cybersecurity Strategy

October 29, 2024

The 2025 Guide to Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

January 12, 2025

Secure SDLC: Why and How to Integrate Security In Your Development Life Cycle

October 20, 2024

Application Security Posture Management (ASPM): How It Works & Top Tools in 2025

January 12, 2025

How to Prioritize Vulnerabilities Effectively in 2025

January 12, 2025

The Opus Multi-Layer Prioritization Engine: What is it All About?

September 10, 2024

EPSS Score: Improving Vulnerability Prioritization in 2025

January 12, 2025

Opus Platform Explained: Cloud-Native Vulnerability Remediation

October 20, 2024

It’s Time to Get Proactive About Vulnerability Remediation

October 29, 2024

The Vulnerability Strikes Back - TABLETOP PART TWO

August 13, 2024

Opus Security Joins CrowdStrike Marketplace

September 29, 2024

Cloud-to-Code Integration for Comprehensive Remediation

January 15, 2025

Understanding CTEM: How Opus Security Can Help

September 22, 2024

This Is What Your Security Champions Program Is Missing

September 29, 2024

Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (RBVM) in a Cloud-Native World

October 7, 2024

How Business Impact Analysis Facilitates Effective Remediation

October 20, 2024

[Case Study] How Opus Solved the Puzzle of Disparate Tools and Alerts

October 7, 2024

It’s Time for Security Operations to Ditch Excel

February 13, 2025

Security Remediation Budgeting - Everything You Need to Know

October 20, 2024

How to Achieve More Effective Vulnerability Management?

August 13, 2024

Checklist: Tracking Down Key Stakeholders for Effective Security Remediation

October 2, 2024

Streamlining Security Remediation: The Convergence of CTEM and ASPM into a Single Operating Platform

September 22, 2024

How to Locate Key Stakeholders for Security Remediation

October 7, 2024

The Evolution of Vulnerability Remediation: From RBVM to Security Remediation Platforms

September 29, 2024

Practical Vulnerability Remediation - When Should You Act?

October 20, 2024

The Ultimate Remediation Lifecycle for Vulnerability Management

September 22, 2024

Global Leader in Content Solutions Streamlines Remediation with Opus

August 13, 2024

Opus Security helps Global Technology Company Connect Security Tools for More Effective Security Remediaiton

August 13, 2024

Opus Security's VP of Marketing shares her thoughts on B2B marketing in a recent DemandBase podcast.

August 13, 2024

Opus Security Wins 2023 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Award

October 20, 2024

Vulnerability Management - A Story

September 22, 2024

6 Ways Orchestration Reduces Cloud Security Risk

October 2, 2024

Move Beyond Shift Left and Shift Smart

October 20, 2024

3 Tips for Bridging the Remediation Developer/Security Gap

October 2, 2024

WAF With EKS, Using Only k8s Controllers

August 13, 2024

Opus Recognized in the 2023 Gartner® Emerging Tech: Security — The Future of Cyber Is Automated Moving Target Defense report.

August 13, 2024

Wiz identifies, Opus fixes.

August 13, 2024

Writing your Cloud Opus: A Deep Dive into Orchestrating your Cloud Security

August 13, 2024

Snow in April, Alert Monsters, and Connect Four: 5 Takeaways from our SecOps Chat

August 13, 2024

Security in Sync: How Security Teams Can Make Cloud Remediation Less Painful for Engineers

October 20, 2024

Why We Need a New Approach to Remediation in the Cloud

August 13, 2024

Introducing Opus: Orchestrating Remediation and Reducing Risk in the Cloud

September 29, 2024

The Evolution of Vulnerability Remediation: From RBVM to Security Remediation Platforms

Read next

See the Opus Platform in Action