20 Vulnerability Management Interview Questions

Cybercriminals are getting smarter by the day, and new threats are popping up all the time. So, if you’re contemplating hiring a vulnerability manager, you’re on the right track. The better your hire, the fewer targets you dangle in front of opportunistic attackers.

Still, it can be hard to ensure your candidate is qualified for the position. This is where asking the right questions can make a big difference.

Here are 20 vulnerability management interview questions you should ask your next candidate!

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Strategic Vulnerability Management Interview Questions

General Vulnerability Management Knowledge

A basic understanding of vulnerability management involves understanding its value and how it differs from other cybersecurity roles.

How would you describe vulnerability management? Why is it essential for a company?
What sets a vulnerability manager apart from other cybersecurity roles, like a security engineer?
How do you ensure you’re up to date on the latest vulnerabilities and attack methods?

Technical Knowledge

Vulnerability managers and analysts should be comfortable using technologies that help them identify, prioritize, assess, and mitigate vulnerabilities.

While listening to the answers to these questions, it’s important to understand that there’s a range of different tools. Your candidate may be familiar with tech that you haven’t yet heard of.

Describe how you go about scanning for vulnerabilities.
Once you identify vulnerabilities, what’s the first step you take?
What have you found to be the most effective tools for assessing and managing vulnerabilities, and why?
How do you approach risk-based vulnerability management? Provide an example.
Describe two tools you have used and a situation in which one looks better than the other when it comes to managing vulnerabilities.

Remediating Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability remediation is at the heart of this expert’s job. A qualified vulnerability manager should cater their answers to your organization or what they know about your digital infrastructure.

Suppose you discover a critical vulnerability. Fixing it is time-sensitive, especially because so many team members use the vulnerable system. You immediately recognize that applying the necessary patch could suspend work for dozens of people. What do you do?
Describe a time when you remediated a vulnerability. How has this benefited the organization you worked for?
Our company has [X] for a patch management system. How would you work within that to ensure you limit vulnerabilities?
What kinds of forensic information would you gather in the wake of an attack that exploited a vulnerability?

Incident Management

A vulnerability manager should be comfortable working closely with both technical and non-technical colleagues to remedy incidents. Here are some vulnerability management interview questions you can ask to gauge their skills in this area:

What role does a vulnerability manager play when it comes to preparing an organization to manage future threats?
Suppose you discover a vulnerability that has caused a breach. It’s something you should’ve caught a long time ago. What do you do?
In the wake of an incident, it becomes clear that two systems need to be updated. The budget only allows for one upgrade. How would you work with the IT team to decide the best move?

Communication and Collaboration

Like other IT roles, vulnerability management doesn’t ‘exist in a silo. Managers need to be comfortable communicating and working with others, especially during tense or uncomfortable situations.

This is particularly true when a company has already been hit with attacks, the ripple effects of which may still be felt throughout the organization. Here are some questions you can ask to gauge some of a candidate’s interpersonal soft skills.

If an employee leaves their password hanging around and someone reports it, what steps would you take to remedy the situation? How would you communicate with the employee?
Imagine you have a critical patch you need to install on someone’s computer. The person claims to be too busy to let you install the patch in a timely manner. They also take their computers home with them every evening. How would you manage this situation?
Talk about a time when you had to team up with one or more teams and what you learned in the process.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received from a manager or colleague, and how did you go about applying it to your day-to-day work life?
Are you a strong leader, or are you more comfortable being a cooperative teammate? What would you do to improve in the other area?

Hire a Skilled Vulnerability Manager

It’s no simple task to find the best vulnerability manager for your team, but using our vulnerability management interview questions can help weed out less qualified candidates and find the experts you’re looking for.

Need more interviewing guidance? Download our Complete Guide to Interviewing Candidates. In this guide, you’ll discover: