They scream CRITICAL at everything and walk away like they've done their job.

Assessing is where Vulnerability Management becomes emotional damage control.

This is the phase where:

  • Asset teams are tired
  • Engineers are angry
  • Dashboards are red
  • And everyone just wants one vulnerability to go away

What People Think Assessing Is

Most people think assessment means:

  • Check CVSS
  • Confirm vulnerability
  • Approve or reject
  • Close ticket

Simple.

In reality, assessing is:

"Please tell me this is false so I can sleep tonight."

The Scene: Vulnerabilities Land in ServiceNow

The scanner finishes its job. ServiceNow gets flooded.

Assets are mapped. Owners are notified.

And suddenly:

  • People stop working
  • Teams panic
  • Teams Meetings light up
  • Someone types: "Is this real???"

This is when ASSESS begins.

Asset Teams Don't Decide. They Beg.

Important rule in our world:

👉 Asset teams do not mark things as FP or Risk Accepted 👉 They raise a ticket 👉 They attach proof 👉 And they wait… nervously

At this point, asset owners are not engineers. They are hopeful humans.

They send:

  • Logs
  • Screenshots
  • Vendor emails
  • Long explanations written at 2 AM

And then they wait for us.

False Positives: When Approval Feels Like a Blessing

Most FP requests sound like:

  • "This is already patched"
  • "Vendor confirmed it's not exploitable"
  • "Scanner doesn't understand our setup"
  • "This exists, but it can't be abused here"

And here's the truth:

When we approve a False Positive, someone's day gets better.

Teams messages stop. Tickets close. People breathe again.

For a brief moment, the world makes sense.

Until the next scan.

Risk Acceptance: Hope With an Expiry Date

Sometimes it's not false.

Sometimes the vulnerability is real. And unfixable.

That's when Risk Acceptance comes in.

But let's be clear: Risk Acceptance is not mercy.

It means:

  • No fix available
  • No mitigation exists
  • Vendor has nothing
  • Change freeze is active
  • Business reality wins (for now)

And the rule is simple:

Risk Acceptance lasts only three months.

Three months of peace. Three months of pretending. Three months before reality knocks again.

After that? Same vulnerability. Same ticket. Same discussion. Same pain.

Assessment at Scale: We Can't Save Everyone

With thousands of assets and millions of findings, we don't assess everything.

We assess:

  • What blocks teams
  • What hurts production
  • What people are desperate enough to raise tickets for

This is not cold. This is survival.

If someone takes time to raise a ticket with evidence, it means:

  • Their dashboard is on fire
  • Their manager is asking questions
  • Their life is worse because of this vulnerability

That's where we step in.

What ASSESS Really Is

Assessment is not about CVEs.

It's about:

  • Saying "Yes, you're right"
  • Saying "No, this is real"
  • Saying "Not now, but later"
  • Saying "This ends today"

Every approval removes weight from someone's day. Every rejection adds it back.

That's power. And responsibility.

One Honest Line to End With

Scanning creates suffering. Assessing decides who gets relief.

For at least three months.