When battling a determined foe, combatants often try to simulate an enemy's plan of attack and prepare defenses and potential counterattacks. That's true for armies, boxers, and business-technology managers who must fend off hackers looking for new ways to attack computers and networks.

It's a tough challenge when more than 70 software vulnerabilities are discovered each week, and all a hacker needs to do to gain access is find one misconfigured server, an unpatched operating system, or a poorly designed application. Even with a full suite of security technology such as antivirus software, firewalls, patch-management applications, and network and software vulnerability scanners, it can be hard for security professionals to find all of the potential holes in their systems and know which vulnerabilities pose the greatest risk to their assets.

By George V. Hulme at Information Week.

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