Application Control Prioritization Index for Risk Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Financial institutions and other organizations face challenges in identifying, measuring, and prioritizing application control risks due to a siloed approach, leading to inadequate resource allocation for addressing vulnerabilities, with available resources often being allocated to low-risk items.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using an application control prioritization index that receives application data, determines potential vulnerabilities, and generates a prioritization score based on impact severity, allowing for resource allocation to high-risk applications and facilitating remediation and retirement decisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a siloed approach is used for reporting and addressing application control gaps, then organizational structure is maintained, but risk identification and prioritization effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple application control assessments into a single unified Application Control Prioritization Index that aggregates findings across different assessment types (security assessments, compliance assessments, vulnerability scans) into one comprehensive risk prioritization framework, eliminating the need for separate siloed reporting structures
2Reliability
If all application control defects are addressed equally, then comprehensive risk coverage is achieved, but resource allocation efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating risk prioritization at the individual application level, where each application receives a customized prioritization score based on its specific control gaps, business criticality, and vulnerability profile, allowing resources to be allocated proportionally to actual risk levels rather than uniformly across all applications
3Productivity
If resources are allocated to low residual risk items, then resource utilization is maximized, but overall security posture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring application control effectiveness and updating the prioritization index based on remediation progress and new vulnerability information, ensuring that resource allocation decisions are based on current risk states rather than static assessments, thereby preventing misallocation to low-risk items
4Measurement precision
If detailed application assessments are performed on all applications, then measurement precision is improved, but assessment time and cost deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by performing different levels of assessment depth based on the prioritization index results, where high-priority applications receive comprehensive detailed assessments while low-priority applications receive streamlined assessments, thereby achieving sufficient measurement precision for risk management without uniformly applying excessive assessment effort to all applications
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for using an application control prioritization index are disclosed. In one embodiment, in an information processing apparatus comprising at least one computer processor, a method for using an application control prioritization index may include the following: (1) receiving application data for a plurality of computer applications in a computer application portfolio; (2) receiving control data defining a plurality of application vulnerabilities; (3) determining a potential application vulnerability for each computer application based on the control data; (4) receiving a plurality of application attributes for each computer application; (5) determining an impact severity for the application vulnerability based on the application attributes; (6) generating an application control prioritization index score for each computer application based on the potential application vulnerability and the impact severity for the application vulnerability; and (7) generating an application portfolio view for the computer application portfolio based on the application control prioritization index scores.