Basics
Vulnerability and vulnerability assessment
What is a vulnerability?
A vulnerability is a flaw or misconfiguration in software, hardware or settings that lets an attacker into a system. A vulnerability assessment searches for these points systematically and rates their risk.
Publicly known vulnerabilities get a globally unique identifier, the CVE number, and a severity score under the CVSS scheme. Both are freely available. Attackers work from the same public sources as auditors do.
The practical lever is installing security updates. Just as important is documenting the systems that fall outside the update process, such as machine controllers or old industry software. Those systems need a conscious decision and protection at the network level.
All terms in the knowledge base
Legal notice: We are engineers, not lawyers: we cannot and will not make any statements on legal questions. This entry is purely technical, reflects the state of knowledge to the best of our understanding, and is not legal advice; it does not replace review by a qualified lawyer. No guarantee is given as to correctness or completeness; liability arising from the use of this information is excluded to the extent permitted by law. What counts is always the version currently in force at the responsible body, for example dsb.gv.at, nis.gv.at or enisa.europa.eu. AI transparency: parts of this entry may have been created with AI assistance, so errors are possible despite review: please report errors here · how we create content.
From the term to practice
Where does your business actually stand?
The IT Check reviews your IT across 8 audit areas with more than 100 individual checks and delivers documented findings with a prioritised action plan. From 1,299 € excl. VAT.
office [at] vetosec [dot] at · vetosec.at/contact/
