Vulnerable item age calculation and display
Summarize
Summary of Vulnerable Item Age Calculation and Display
The Vulnerability Response application now displays the age of vulnerable items (VIs) in a detailed format (Days/Hours/Minutes). This enhancement is designed to improve the management and reporting of VIs, allowing for more precise configuration and analysis.
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Key Features
- Age of VIs is shown in Days/Hours/Minutes format in the Age column on the Vulnerable Items list view and the Age and Age closed fields on VI records.
- Improved accuracy for configuring Auto Delete Rules to manage VI records effectively.
- Scheduled jobs calculate and update VI age on demand, enhancing system performance, especially in instances with numerous VIs.
- Enhanced Age column is added automatically upon installation or upgrade of the Vulnerability Response application.
- Access to age data is restricted to users with specific roles such as vulnerability managers and IT remediation owners.
Key Outcomes
By utilizing the enhanced age display, customers can:
- Refine reporting and analysis through Performance Analytics with specific details.
- Create targeted filters and prune list views for better visibility of VIs.
- Manage user access and visibility through persona and granular roles.
- Efficiently track the activity duration of VIs, aiding in overall vulnerability management.
For any issues with the age display post-upgrade, refer to KB0749231 for resolution steps.
The age of vulnerable items (VIs) is displayed in the Vulnerability Response application with more detail.
- Configure rules in the Auto Delete Rules module to target and delete specific VI records by Days/Hours/Minutes. Removing records with more accuracy may increase your performance, especially if you have a large number of VI records in your instance.
- View reports with more specific details in the Performance Analytics for the Vulnerability Response application.
- Create filters that identify only the VIs you want.
- Prune list views to display only the VIs you want.
- Dot-walk more easily.
A scheduled job calculated age and updated all active VIs. In instances with large numbers of VI records, this process could be slow and negatively impact performance. VI age is calculated more efficiently on-demand and displayed with more significant digits with an enhanced Age column. The enhanced Age column is automatically added when you install or upgrade the Vulnerability Response application.
The age column and fields are not editable. A vulnerability manager with the sn_vul.vulnerability_read permission or the Vulnerability admin persona can view this value, and IT remediation owners with the sn_vul.remediation_owner role can view it on records assigned to them.
Persona and granular roles are available to help you manage what users and groups can see and do in the Vulnerability Response application. For an initial assignment of the persona roles in Setup Assistant, see Assign the Vulnerability Response persona roles using Setup Assistant. For more information about managing granular roles, see Manage persona and granular roles for Vulnerability Response.
VI age is displayed as shown in the following images.
Vulnerable items list
As shown in the following figure, on the Vulnerable Items list view, Age is displayed in the Age column in Days/Hours/Minutes (21 Days 17 Hours 17 minutes) only for active VIs. Active VIs are VIs in any states other than 'Closed'. This age value represents the number of days the VI has been active.
The age is not displayed for VIs in the ‘Closed’ state. For VIs previously in a ‘Closed’ state and then reopened, the value represents the number of days the VI has been active since the date it was last opened.
Age on VI records
On the VI records, the value of Age column in the list view is visible for active VIs in the Age field.
The value of the Age column is not displayed for VI records in the ‘Closed’ state.
Age on the Vulnerable items list and VI records when a VI is updated
When a VI is in the ‘Closed’ state, the Age field is not displayed. When the VI transitions to ‘Closed', the value in number of days from the Age column is displayed in the Aged closed field (9) as shown in the following figure. This value represents the number of days the VI was active before it transitioned to ‘Closed.’ For example, in the following image, this VI was active for 9 days, 18 hours, and 29 minutes, but only the number of days (9) is displayed on the closed record.
If this VI is reopened, when the VI state transitions back to ‘Open’, the Age closed field is reset to 0. Because the VI is active again, the age in Days/Hours/Minutes is displayed in the list view in the Age column and on the Age field on the VIT.
For more information on how to customize the Age and Age closed calculations, see the KB1703270 article.