Hackers using sophisticated technologies such as artificial intelligence can find and exploit cyber-defense weaknesses with frightening speed. As a result, businesses are relying more heavily on proactive measures such as penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to stay ahead of the bad actors. Students in the Master of Science (MS) in Cybersecurity Management online program from the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) gain the skills and knowledge needed to excel in the high-growth cybersecurity field.
In October 2024, IBM issued a warning about the shortage in trained professionals and the high cost businesses are paying for breaches: “As we’ve seen across the industry, cybersecurity teams are consistently understaffed. This year’s study found more than half of breached organizations faced severe security staffing shortages, a skills gap that increased by double digits from the previous year.”
What Is Vulnerability Assessment?
The Cyber Resilience Review defines vulnerability assessment as a systematic process aimed at identifying, assessing and prioritizing security weaknesses in an organization’s systems, applications and networks. This structured, cyclical process ensures continuous improvement and helps organizations stay resilient against evolving threats. A typical vulnerability management workflow includes:
- Defining the scope: Identify the assets and services to be assessed, determine the operational environment and set clear objectives.
- Identifying stakeholders: Involve key internal and external parties such as IT, management and compliance teams, ensuring alignment with organizational needs.
- Gathering legal and regulatory requirements: Collect pertinent compliance obligations, service-level agreements and any other legal considerations.
- Assigning roles and responsibilities: Clearly define who is responsible for monitoring, discovery, recording, prioritizing, remediating and reporting.
- Conducting training: Ensure all personnel involved are trained in the assessment process.
- Executing the assessment: Perform automated scans, manual testing and evaluation of physical and digital assets to discover vulnerabilities.
- Documenting: Systematically record discovered vulnerabilities, classifying them based on risk and potential business impact.
- Prioritizing and managing remediation: Address the most critical vulnerabilities first, track resolution and verify effectiveness.
- Reporting findings: Create detailed reports recommending corrective actions and track risk mitigation progress.
How Are Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing Related?
While there are distinct approaches, proactive cybersecurity, vulnerability and pen testing are deeply connected. Vulnerability assessments lay the groundwork by identifying broad areas of concern. The process is automated, fast and can be performed frequently, offering organizations a wide-angle understanding of their potential risk landscape.
Pen testing, on the other hand, is a manual, focused simulation of a real-world attack on the vulnerabilities identified in assessments and attempts to actively exploit them. The objective is to provide factual evidence of what an attacker could achieve, revealing the depth of the security issue and the potential consequences of a successful breach.
Integrating the two approaches into a broader cybersecurity strategy creates a comprehensive, proactive security posture: assessments inform ongoing risk management, while pen testing validates controls and prepares organizations for real-world threats.
Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessment — an advanced course in the UIS online curriculum —equips students with critical, real-world skills that are in high demand across the cybersecurity industry. This course emphasizes practical techniques for securing corporate networks. Exploring commonly used reconnaissance methods, hacking techniques and widely adopted scanning tools, students build a deep understanding of how attackers operate and how to strengthen organizational defenses.
Why Are Companies Adopting Proactive Cybersecurity More Quickly?
Vulnerability assessments have become essential for protecting businesses. Current trends, however, are pushing businesses to scan for vulnerabilities and conduct pen tests more frequently. They include:
- Cyberattacks Are Increasing at Alarming Speed: In 2024, cyberattacks increased by 75% compared to 2023, when hackers launched an average of 1,876 attacks per week. Major ransomware attacks now happen 20-25 times every day, compared to just five per year in 2011, according to
- Hackers Work Faster: About 28% of security vulnerabilities that hackers discover get attacked within just one day of being discovered, NordLayer reports. This means companies have very little time to fix problems before criminals try to exploit them.
- More Things to Protect: Companies now use more cloud services, mobile devices and internet-connected equipment, Strobes Each new device or service creates more ways for hackers to get in.
- Real-world Impact: Regulatory penalties associated with breaches and detection costs contributed to a 9.9% increase in the price tag per breach — an average of $10 million — in the United States, IBM
Gain In-demand Expertise With an MS in Cybersecurity Management From UIS
As cyber threats continue to increase at a rapid pace, demand for cybersecurity experts is also growing and companies are willing to pay a premium to professionals who can successfully protect their systems.
The online MS in Cybersecurity Management program from UIS blends innovative technical skills with advanced business strategy, skills graduates can leverage into C-suite and senior management roles.
With project-based learning in areas like penetration testing and digital forensics, and a focus on policy and strategic planning, the program equips students with in-demand expertise and management acumen. Students graduate with a competitive advantage, ready to excel in a high-growth field that offers strong earning potential and robust opportunities for advancement.
Learn more about the University of Illinois Springfield’s online Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management program.
