Vulnerability assessment
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Vulnerability assessment is the process of identifying and quantifying vulnerabilities in a system. The system being studied could be a physical facility like a nuclear power plant, a computer system, or a larger system (for example the communications infrastructure or water infrastructure of a region).
Vulnerability assessment has many things in common with risk assessment. Assessments are typically performed according to the following steps:
- Cataloging assets and capabilities (resources) in a system
- Assigning quantifiable value and importance to the resources
- Identifying the vulnerabilities or potential threats to each resource
- Mitigating or eliminating the most serious vulnerabilities for the most valuable resources
In relationship to computers, vulnerability assessment is also known as "white hat hacking"
See also: operations research, computer security