Rajat Sharma

expert panel

Vulnerability management used to depend on a familiar rhythm: A new flaw was disclosed, public databases added analysis and security teams worked through the queue by severity. That model is now straining under its own weight. Vulnerability disclosures keep climbing, but the National Vulnerability Database has faced a significant operational breakdown: Beginning in early 2024, NIST sharply slowed enrichment of new CVE entries, and in April 2026, NIST formally announced it would no longer enrich all CVE entries, moving to a triage model that leaves the majority of submissions without scores, metadata or supporting analysis.Security leaders need to rethink defensive strategies, from monitoring to remediation. Even with the help of automation, teams with limited resources can’t approach every vulnerability with equal urgency, and waiting for more complete information can leave a business exposed while attackers keep moving. Security teams must learn to weigh new vulnerabilities in terms of the organization’s real environment, operational priorities and potential business impact. In a world of incomplete signals, security leaders need a sharper sense of which risks matter now, which can wait and which require a different kind of control altogether. Members of the Senior Executive Cybersecurity Think Tank are leaders in enterprise cybersecurity strategies, data breach prevention, risk management and modern security architecture. Below, they share how organizations can rethink vulnerability risk assessment as public data becomes less complete and focus attention where it can have the greatest protective impact.