A cybersecurity analyst reviewing quarterly vulnerability management reports notices a steady increase in the number of unpatched 'critical' vulnerabilities on the company's external-facing web servers, despite patches being released by vendors. Which of the following is the most significant conclusion the analyst can draw from observing this trend?
The current patch management process is failing to remediate critical vulnerabilities in a timely manner.
The web servers are legacy systems that can no longer be patched.
A zero-day exploit is actively targeting the company's web servers.
The organization's vulnerability scanner is likely reporting a high number of false positives.
A consistent increase in high-priority, unpatched vulnerabilities over time strongly indicates that the existing patch management process is not effective at remediating vulnerabilities within an acceptable timeframe. While other options could be possible, the trend data directly points to a systemic process issue. Analyzing trends is key to evaluating the effectiveness of security programs like patch management.
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Why is it important to identify patterns in vulnerabilities over time?
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How does analyzing vulnerability trends improve remediation strategies?
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What tools are commonly used to track and analyze vulnerability trends?