Security Glossary
Clear definitions of key terms in cyber asset management, attack surface management, and security operations.
Attack Surface Management
The ongoing process of discovering, cataloging, and reducing the total set of assets and entry points exposed to potential attackers.
Asset Attack Surface
The total collection of assets — endpoints, servers, cloud instances, and services — that could be targeted by an attacker.
CAASM
Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management — a category of security tools that aggregate asset data from multiple sources into a unified inventory.
CMDB
Configuration Management Database — a repository that stores information about IT infrastructure components and their relationships.
CAASM vs CSAM
Two related but distinct security categories: CAASM focuses on asset aggregation and visibility, while CSAM emphasizes asset lifecycle and governance.
Cyber Asset Inventory
A complete, continuously updated catalog of all hardware, software, cloud resources, and services in an organization.
Compliance Drift
The gradual deviation from established compliance baselines as systems change, configurations evolve, and new assets appear.
Shadow IT
Hardware, software, or cloud services used within an organization without IT or security team knowledge or approval.
SOC 2 Asset Management
The asset management requirements within SOC 2 compliance — maintaining a complete inventory and demonstrating controls over every system in audit scope.
12 terms defined
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