Selected Options of Vulnerability Assessment – State of the Art in Literature Review

Abstract

The paper deals with the selected aspects of vulnerability assessment of systems. Historically, the vulnerability is recognised as one of the important aspects of system properties – system quality. The wide utilization of vulnerability can be observed in the IT area. Some approaches to vulnerability assessment are based on experiences and empiricism. For some other works it is necessary to have a quantitative value used for expressing vulnerability. In this paper we have applied the methods of analytical research, information search and a synthesis. They serve to introduce selected approaches expressing system vulnerability. The attention is paid mainly to the environmental and critical infrastructure systems. The results are presented in the form of definitions, equations or graphs. All these alternatives are further usable for assessing critical infrastructure elements. The results are also suitable for deeper development of a safety research scientific discipline.