A long list of defensive controls along with layers of vulnerability, compliance and event management systems have been implemented by most mature IT security organizations. A straightforward method of discerning their current standing in relation to real-world risks is however lacking with the top security professionals. They are also not able to communicate these indicators to the senior management in a simple and concise manner.

The latest version of Lumension Risk Manager, v4.2 has been released by Lumension. Part of the Lumension Compliance and IT Risk Management Solution, the latest version will help to bridge this existing gap existing between security professionals and senior management. An announcement in this regard has been made by the top company in endpoint management and security, Lumension.

Establishing and trending critical IT security metrics across the enterprise is known as security posture. Lumension Risk Manager or LRM helps security professionals with security posture. Key risk data can be gathered, correlated and measured across the enterprise with the powerful LRM.

A clear visibility into security posture within the company and across individual business units is therefore provided to IT security and operations professionals. The added visibility and trending scores required to understand how well internal security and external compliance policies have been applied is also provided by LRM.

In a press release, Jeff Hughes (News - Alert), director of solution marketing for Lumension, said, “The ability to track and benchmark an enterprise’s security posture on a continuous basis is vital to maintaining a protected network. Security posture trending offers key metrics about how secure a company is becoming. In tandem with this, IT security managers also need to know how well they are complying with internal policy mandates.”

Hughes added that as internal policies are not often tracked through software, this type of metric will not be easily measured with any degree of accuracy. The security posture information required by key security personnel can be easily provided by LRM. The security personnel need to communicate the IT risks to C-level and business unit leaders. According to Hughes, an organization will be able to benchmark security performance, risk and compliance from a single console with the tangible metrics provided by LRM.