What Does Operationally Critical Threat, Asset and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) Mean?

An Operationally Critical Threat, Asset and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) is a security framework for identifying, addressing and managing information security assessments and and risk-based planning. It consists of tools, technologies and procedures for helping organizations identify and evaluate the security risks they face. OCTAVE is primarily targeted at organization-related security risks rather than technological risks.

Techopedia Explains Operationally Critical Threat, Asset and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE)

  • Building an asset-based threat profile
  • This involves the identification and selection of different critical assets and the security requirements for each one of them. A threat profile for all identified assets is created.
  • Indentifying infrastructure vulnerabilities
  • This phase involves identifying network access paths, classifying technology components related to critical assets and the extent to which those components are secure against network vulnerabilities and attacks.
  • Develop a security strategy and plan
  • Based on the data collected in previous phases, a formal plan is created to address the risks associated with each critical asset.