Executive Summary
Cyber risk quantification has often been viewed with scepticism, dismissed as simplistic, static, or out of step with real-world attacks.
Yet this perception is not the result of an inherent flaw in scoring itself—it’s the consequence of outdated approaches that failed to keep pace with a world where threats evolve daily and complexity scales exponentially.
Cyber Tzar was built from the ground up to change that. Combining automated vulnerability assessments, dynamic threat intelligence, and contextualised risk analysis, the Virtuous Triangle, Cyber Tzar transforms cyber risk scoring from a blunt instrument into a precise, actionable strategy.
This paper explains why risk scoring was criticised in the past, and how Cyber Tzar makes it work consistently, at scale, and in the real world.
1. The Traditional Critique of Cyber Risk Scoring
Over the past decade, respected publications such as The Economist, Time, and The New Yorker have voiced consistent concerns about risk scoring:
- Oversimplification: Reducing complex threats to a single number can mask nuance.
- Lack of Data: Historical data is scarce compared to mature fields like credit risk.
- Subjectivity: Assessments are often inconsistent between auditors and tools.
- Static Snapshots: Emerging threats can render scores obsolete overnight.
- Interdependencies: Supply chains and third parties are usually ignored.
These critiques were fair… until platforms evolved to address them.
2. Why Cyber Tzar is Different: The Virtuous Triangle
At Cyber Tzar, we recognise that risk is never static.
Every new CVE, phishing campaign, or misconfiguration reshapes your exposure. That’s why our platform is designed to continuously automate three interlocking disciplines:
- Vulnerability Assessment: What’s Broken, Misconfigured, or Exposed?
- Threat Intelligence: What’s Being Actively Exploited?
- Risk Assessment: What Matters Most and Why?
We call this the Virtuous Triangle. When these elements are integrated at scale, they produce reliable, prioritised, actionable risk scoring.
2.1 Vulnerability Assessment: The Raw Inventory
Traditional Limitation Addressed: Cyber scoring lacks specificity.
Our Approach:
Cyber Tzar has scanned over 130,000 organisations, assessing:
- Web apps (SAST & DAST)
- DNS configurations
- S3 buckets
- TLS certificates
- Known breach exposures
- Certification
- Forgotten legacy infrastructure
We map findings to trusted frameworks (OWASP Top 10, MITRE ATT&CK, NIST, CWE, WASC).
Outcome:
This creates an empirical, continuously updated inventory of exposures—far beyond the guesswork of traditional scoring.
2.2 Threat Intelligence: The Dynamic Context
Traditional Limitation Addressed: Scores don’t reflect live threats.
Our Approach:
Threats aren’t hypothetical. They are adversarial, evolving, and opportunistic.
Cyber Tzar fuses:
- Curated threat intel feeds
- OSINT sources
- Breach data
- Automated dark web scraping
We correlate this intelligence with your unique footprint:
“Your SPF record misconfiguration matters because active phishing campaigns are targeting your sector.”
Outcome:
Every score reflects not just the theoretical risk, but the real-world threat environment.
2.3 Risk Assessment: Prioritisation and Clarity
Traditional Limitation Addressed: Scores are subjective and disconnected from business priorities.
Our Approach:
Cyber Tzar risk assessments answer the critical question:
“What do I fix first—and why?”
We combine:
- Likelihood (is it being exploited?)
- Impact (what would the business consequence be?)
- Industry relevance (are you in a targeted vertical?)
- Exposure footprint (how widespread is the problem?)
And we do this automatically, consistently, and at scale.
Outcome:
Risk is prioritised, quantified, and contextualised—so decisions are clear, evidence-based, and defensible.
3. How the Virtuous Triangle Addresses Traditional Critiques
| Criticism | Cyber Tzar’s Answer |
|---|---|
| Oversimplification | Multi-dimensional scoring, with linked narrative explaining each risk. |
| Lack of Data | 130,000+ organisations scanned; benchmarks continually updated. |
| Subjectivity | Automated, transparent methodology with clear impact and likelihood matrices. |
| Static Snapshots | Real-time threat intelligence fused with vulnerability data. |
| Supply Chain Blind Spots | Integrated third-party risk management and portfolio scoring. |
This is not theory… it’s operational reality, running at scale.
4. Why It Works: Automation, Intelligence, Impact
Cyber Tzar’s Virtuous Triangle works because:
- Vulnerability data gives you what’s wrong
- Threat intelligence shows why it matters now
- Risk assessment defines what to prioritise next
In other words:
What → So What → Now What
That clarity empowers security teams to stop firefighting and start managing cyber risk as a strategic function.
5. Conclusion
Cyber risk quantification used to be simplistic and brittle.
Today, Cyber Tzar has proven that when vulnerability assessment, threat intelligence, and risk scoring are seamlessly integrated, scoring becomes an indispensable tool for:
- Clarity
- Prioritisation
- Confidence
- Continuous improvement
Cyber Tzar doesn’t just assign scores—it delivers context-rich, evidence-led, actionable insights that scale with your business.
6. Learn More
Ready to see how Cyber Tzar’s Virtuous Triangle can help you operationalise cyber risk management with confidence?
Visit www.cybertzar.com or email contact@cybertzar.com to schedule a demo.
