Imagine you are in charge of maintaining data for some of the most secretive government offices and powerful business entities globally. You have a significant investment in your security apparatuses protecting that knowledge. For years you haven’t had a single blip or incident to cause any suspicion. Then the unthinkable happens, and from a single weak point, your entire network is compromised by malicious code hidden in an innocuous update.

Now stop daydreaming because this is no fairytale. It’s the briefest of summaries for the SolarWinds supply chain attack that left private, confidential data for over 250 US governmental agencies and global enterprises laid bare. It is also one of many growing costly and painful examples of why vulnerability management has become critical for business success.

Before we offer up a collection of excellent options for managing and fixing your vulnerabilities, let’s dive into exactly what the process is and why it is so important.