IT and OT risk assessment
The same technical flaw. Different business consequences.
Vulnerability, exposure and criticality provide asset context.
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Risk starts with asset context.
Cyber risk assessment connects threats and weaknesses with asset exposure and organisational importance. Vulnerability counts or a high CVSS score alone are not enough to determine the order of action.
Armis provides technical context: asset profiles, communications, vulnerabilities and observed behaviour. Teams add process criticality, ownership and operational constraints. This helps priorities reflect the actual environment.
From information
to action.
Exposure
Review where an asset sits, what it communicates with and which weaknesses need validation.
Operational importance
Connect technical findings with service or process criticality defined by the organisation.
Action priority
Choose the next step: investigation, exposure reduction, remediation or an informed risk acceptance.
How to start?
- Define the assessment goal and criteria: asset scope, critical processes and acceptable risk levels.
- Combine asset and vulnerability data with exposure, threat information and business criticality.
- Validate priorities with owners, assign actions and agree how risk will be reassessed after changes.
Requirements and limitations
A technical assessment using Armis data is not, by itself, a formal ISO 27001 audit, a NIS2 compliance assessment or a guarantee of legal compliance. Results require interpretation, good data and agreed business criteria.
Illustrative use case
The same vulnerability.
Different implications.
Compare device contexts
The same vulnerability on both devices
Hover over or select a device to compare its context.
Two devices have the same vulnerability. Before deciding the order of action, the team checks their exposure and importance to the process.
What informs the priority?
Selected context: production
Process importance and cross-segment connections need to be considered when assessing exposure.
Selected context: testing
A constrained environment changes the context. The team still needs to validate its boundaries and the asset’s importance.
Exposure
Review the asset’s accessibility and communications.
Process consequences
Assess the consequences for the organisation’s operations.
Order of action
Set priorities after validating both devices’ contexts.
Related topics.
Your questions.
Clear answers.
How does risk assessment differ from vulnerability scanning?
Scanning provides information about potential weaknesses. Risk assessment also considers exposure, exploitability, controls and organisational consequences. Scanner findings are an input rather than the entire assessment.
Is CVSS enough for prioritisation?
CVSS describes technical vulnerability severity. Action priority should also consider the specific asset context, threats and process importance.
Who defines business criticality?
The organisation, typically involving process owners, IT, OT and security. A tool can provide data and scoring mechanisms, but cannot know every business consequence without that context.
Does an Armis report confirm NIS2 compliance?
No. Asset and risk data can support documentation of security activities. Compliance assessment requires a broader organisational and legal review.
Let’s talk about
your environment.
From where you are to what comes next.