Cybersecurity Ontology

Cetbix Cybersecurity Ontology

The Cybersecurity Ontology is a structured semantic model that defines the concepts and relationships used to represent cybersecurity, information security, governance, risk, compliance, and operational technology security domains. It provides a machine-interpretable framework for modeling security-relevant entities such as assets, threats, vulnerabilities, risks, controls, policies, incidents, compliance requirements, classifications, and evidence.

Purpose

The ontology defines a consistent conceptual model for security-related information, enabling standardized representation, classification, and linkage of entities across systems. It supports semantic interoperability between datasets, processes, and security domains.

Scope

The ontology models the following domains:

• Cybersecurity
• Information security
• Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC)
• Operational technology (OT) security
• Asset and information classification
• Risk and control management
• Policy and compliance mapping
• Incident and evidence modeling

Core Concepts

The ontology defines the following primary concepts:

• Asset: A system, application, device, dataset, or organizational resource.
• Threat: A potential actor, event, or condition capable of causing harm.
• Vulnerability: A weakness in a system, process, or control.
• Risk: The potential impact resulting from a threat exploiting a vulnerability.
• Control: A safeguard designed to reduce risk likelihood or impact.
• Policy: A formal set of rules governing security behavior.
• Incident: An event that impacts confidentiality, integrity, or availability.
• Compliance Requirement: A regulatory, legal, or contractual obligation.
• Classification: A labeling mechanism defining data sensitivity and handling rules.
• Evidence: Artifacts demonstrating control effectiveness or compliance.

Key Relationships

The ontology defines relationships such as:

• A threat exploits a vulnerability
• A risk derives from a threat and vulnerability affecting an asset
• A control mitigates a risk
• A policy governs one or more controls
• An incident impacts one or more assets
• A compliance requirement maps to controls and evidence
• A classification defines handling rules for information assets

Semantic Function

The ontology provides a controlled vocabulary and relationship model for representing security concepts in a consistent and machine-readable manner. It enables entity linking, structured reuse, and traceable mapping between operational, governance, and compliance domains.

Conceptual Example

A server may be modeled as an asset associated with an owner, exposed to multiple threats, affected by known vulnerabilities, protected by implemented controls, governed by relevant policies, documented through evidence, and subject to applicable compliance requirements. This allows representation as a connected semantic graph rather than an isolated record.

Knowledge Graph Integration

In systems implementing this ontology, it serves as the semantic foundation for domains such as information security management, risk analysis, compliance automation, audit intelligence, and operational monitoring. It enables consistent interpretation of security concepts and supports relationship-based reasoning across structured data.