CompTIA CySA+ Practice Test

Which of the following must be combined with a threat to create risk?

1. Malicious actor

2. Mitigation

3. Vulnerability

4. Exploit

The correct answer is: Vulnerability

The correct answer is based on the fundamental relationship between threat, vulnerability, and risk in the context of cybersecurity. For risk to exist, there must be a combination of a threat and a vulnerability. In this scenario, a threat refers to a potential danger that could exploit a vulnerability to cause harm or loss to an organization. A vulnerability is a weakness or gap in a system that can be exploited by a threat. Without a vulnerability present, a threat cannot lead to a risk, as there is no weakness to exploit. Thus, when assessing an organization's security posture, it is crucial to identify both the threats they face and the vulnerabilities in their systems that could be targeted. Mitigation refers to the efforts taken to reduce or eliminate risk, and a malicious actor denotes an individual or group that could pose a threat, but neither of these alone can create risk without the presence of both a threat and a vulnerability. An exploit describes a method or technique used to take advantage of a vulnerability, but again, without the vulnerability itself, a threat cannot manifest into risk. Therefore, combining a threat with a vulnerability is essential for defining and understanding risk in cybersecurity.