Businesses in London are frequently targeted by hackers and malicious actors, meaning robust cybersecurity for any London-based business is highly important.
With the increased commercial activity there is added interest from those looking to gain unauthorised access to companies’ networks and steal the data held within.
Acora reports that during a 12-month period from June 2022 to May 2023, there were 38,000 reports of cybercrime in London, costing a total of £895 million in financial losses for businesses based in London.
For this reason, any business based in London needs a robust defence against data breaches with a good vulnerability scanner in place.
Qualys is widely recognised as one of the top vulnerability management tools but is it worth the hype and is Qualys a vulnerability scanner that meets the needs of businesses based in cyber crime hotspots such as London City Centre?
Overview of Qualys
Qualys VMDR is an all-encompassing risk-based vulnerability management solution that quantifies cyber threats, giving businesses in London a vital insight into their risk posture and providing clear remediation steps to take action.
Qualys VMDR also has the added bonus of providing a single shared platform for both IT departments and cybersecurity teams to operate from and collaborate on their work.
Qualys VMDR Console
The Qualys VMDR cloud portal is neat and user-friendly, providing a detailed graphical readout of your vulnerability posture in real time.
With dynamic widgets, it is easy to personalise the custom visualisation to your own tastes, setting up as many views as you want, with the option to preview each widget before you add it to the main dashboard.
The menu options are quite straightforward and easy to navigate with the menu bar across the top of the UI giving clear drop-down menus for different vulnerability types and functions.
Another useful feature of the Qualys VMDR dashboard is the ability to assign tags to various assets and arrange them into groups showing the effect on business operations. They can be set up during cloud agent creation or using dynamic rules Qualys can automatically assign tags based on queries, IP address ranges, or specific details.
Qualys VMDR Vulnerability Management Functions
As Qualys is a modular solution, each component is neatly integrated into the same cloud-based platform, giving users a good overall view of vulnerabilities, along with their affected assets and whatever action for remediation would be required.
The asset management function provides good visibility into the IT environment, which is crucial for strong cybersecurity. With agents installed on the endpoints, network ranges can be scanned with passive sensors installed on network segments to detect new assets as they connect.
Qualys also provides a risk prioritisation report showing affected assets with the option to deploy any necessary patches directly from the report itself. This makes managing remediation and updates much more streamlined and easier for the user.
Are There any Limitations or Negative Aspects of Qualys VMDR?
As Qualys VMDR comes with a wide range of features and options, this is certainly useful for London businesses looking to secure their vulnerabilities and manage cyber-related risks.
However, simply due to the large amount of features present in the software it can be a little over-facing at first and can take some time to fully familiarise yourself with the layout and functionality of the tool.
Some users have reported that the speed of the console itself, and flipping between multiple pages, can be a little slow at times. There is also a slight issue with the support team not being particularly responsive or proactive.
With Qualys, modules need to be licensed, which means licensing costs can build up as more modules are introduced into the system.
Overall, however, there is little to complain about Qualys and most of its users have reported the software as being user-friendly and effective, providing a range of vulnerability scanning solutions that have helped their businesses.
Support with Qualys
One issue with Qualys being a software-based solution is that the help desk teams are often lacking in their presence and users have been left in the dark, wondering what they should do when a problem occurs.
With Lyon Tech Vulnerability Management, you get all the software-based vulnerability scanning tools your business needs twinned with dedicated experts who are on hand to provide support in real time and work through any issues with you.
These support teams encompass security engineers and researchers, risk analysts and data breach experts, rapid response cybersecurity teams and security system auditors, along with 24/7 help staff and cyber training providers.
At Lyon Tech, we operate some of the most sophisticated cloud-based cybersecurity technology, although our main strength lies in the teams of industry experts we deploy to manage and run these technologies effectively.
Rather than just being handed a piece of software and left to get on with it, our advisors can help guide you through any setup process, assess your existing risk profile, offer advice on what are the best steps to take for your business and be a point of contact in case of emergency or any queries that may arise.
During the operation of the security and vulnerability scanning system, our security professionals are constantly monitoring the live data as it comes in, continually checking every endpoint and component in the network, with intrusions and unauthorised access being automatically flagged for our response teams to take immediate action.
Contact Lyon Tech
If you are looking for an all-encompassing vulnerability scanning solution for your London business that combines top-of-the-range security scanners and professional support and advice from cybersecurity experts, get in touch with our advisors today.
We can assess your current operational setup, risk profile, and business needs, then provide a detailed report into which vulnerability scanners and solutions would match the requirements of your London-based business.
Take a look at some of our excellent case studies where we have helped businesses in London to create a robust defence against cybercrime.
