Vulnerabilities and attacks[edit]
Main article: Vulnerability (computing)
A vulnerability is a system susceptibility or flaw, and many vulnerabilities are documented in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database and vulnerability management is the cyclical practice of identifying, classifying, remediating, and mitigating vulnerabilities as they are discovered. An exploitable vulnerability is one for which at least one working attack or "exploit" exists.
To secure a computer system, it is important to understand the attacks that can be made against it, and these threats can typically be classified into one of the categories below: