Understanding assets and vulnerabilities is fundamental. An asset is what we protect—servers, data, networks. A vulnerability is a weakness in that asset. Think of it as a locked door (asset) with a broken lock (vulnerability).
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An asset is any data, device, or other component of the environment that supports information related activities.
Example: Customer database, web server, employee laptops, proprietary source code, network routers.
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A flaw or a weakness inside the asset that could be used to gain unauthorized access to it.
Example: Unpatched software, weak passwords, misconfigured firewall, SQL injection flaw.
⚠️ Relationship: Vulnerabilities exist WITHIN assets. An asset without vulnerabilities is secure. An asset with vulnerabilities is at risk.
Successful compromise of a vulnerability may result in data manipulation, privilege elevation, etc.