Design a Continuous Vulnerability Scanning Program

Client Background

A mid-size company runs vulnerability scans inconsistently and has no formal program. Design a continuous vulnerability management program covering scan scope, cadence, and ownership.

Business Environment

Cascade Logistics runs a 1,200-device estate mixing cloud workloads (AWS + Azure), on-prem warehouses, and hundreds of IoT/OT sensors on the warehouse floor. A three-person security team runs manual scans quarterly with no unified asset inventory or prioritization.

Security Incident

No breach yet; the engagement is proactive program design. The driver was a recent ransomware incident at a competitor traced to a 9-month-old unpatched CVE, escalating the board's demand for continuous, prioritized coverage rather than quarterly snapshots before a SOC 2 Type II audit.

Scope

Enterprise-wide vulnerability scanning program design covering all in-scope asset classes.

Objectives

• Define scan scope across internal and external assets
• Establish scan cadence and authenticated scanning practices
• Define severity-based SLAs for remediation
• Assign ownership and escalation paths

Required Deliverables