Configuring Operational Technology Vulnerability Response

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configuring Operational Technology Vulnerability Response

    The Operational Technology (OT) Vulnerability Response application in ServiceNow allows you to configure assignment rules, remediation targets, risk calculators, and integrations to manage vulnerabilities in OT environments. The guided setup is available for users with thesnvul.vulnerabilityadminrole, simplifying the configuration process.

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    Key Features

    • Installation: Install the OT Vulnerability Response application from the ServiceNow Store, which includes demo data and necessary plugins.
    • User Role Assignment: Assign specific roles to admin users and OT Vulnerability Remediation Owners to control access and actions within the application.
    • Site Assignment Groups: Create assignment groups for each site in the Equipment Model Manager, enabling targeted visibility of vulnerable items.
    • Remediation Target Rules: Configure rules to assign OT vulnerable items to appropriate site-level groups and define remediation timeframes.
    • Risk Calculators: Set up risk calculators to assess and roll up risk scores for OT devices based on defined factors.
    • Integrations: Install certified integrations to enhance the functionality of OT vulnerability management.

    Key Outcomes

    By following the configuration steps, ServiceNow customers can effectively manage OT vulnerabilities, ensuring that remediation efforts are properly targeted and prioritized. The integration with the Unified Security Exposure Management (USEM) platform provides a comprehensive view of security exposures, facilitating real-time visibility and automated remediation. Customers can expect streamlined workflows and improved governance of their OT vulnerability response processes.

    Configure Operational Technology (OT) assignment rules, remediation targets, risk calculators, and risk rollup calculation then configure integrations to create vulnerable item records.

    Note:

    If you have the sn_vul.vulnerability_admin role, you can use the Industrial Guided Setup to lead you through the setup of the Operational Technology Vulnerability Response application.

    To access the Guided Setup, navigate to Industrial Workspace Admin > Guided Setup.

    Task Purpose
    1. Install Operational Technology Vulnerability Response from the ServiceNow Store. Install the Operational Technology Vulnerability Response application.
    2. Assign roles to admin users  or user groups, if needed. Assigns roles to control the actions that are available for each user.
    3. Assign roles for the OT Vulnerability Remediation Owner. Assigns roles to control the actions that are available for the OT Vulnerability Remediation Owner.
    4. Create assignment groups and assign users to sites and groups.
    1. Create an Operational Technology Vulnerability Response site assignment group for each site that you have in the Equipment Model Manager.
    2. Assign users who already have either the cmdb_ot_isa_viewer or cmdb_ot_isa_editor role to sites.
    3. Add users to the assignment group for their site.
    • Allows OT Remediation Owner users to see only vulnerable Items for their site.
    • Allows users to see the Vulnerability Items for the sites they're assigned to.
    5. Configure OT remediation target rules.
    • Assigns OT vulnerable items to site-level groups, or groups based on classification.
    • Defines the expected timeframe for remediating vulnerable items.
    6. Load the demo data records for the Operational Technology Vulnerability Response application. Calculates the remediation target for OT vulnerable items.
    7. Configure OT risk calculators. Determines which OT risk factors to use when calculating the risk of a vulnerable item on an OT device.
    8. Configure OT risk roll up calculator. Calculates the risk score of the OT devices at each level for the equipment model entity.
    9. Install Operational Technology Certified integrations for the Operational Technology Vulnerability Response application that are applicable to your environment. Integrates certified third-party applications that enhance functionality of OT vulnerability management.

    In tasks 5,7, and 8, the guided setup redirects you to the Security Exposure Management Workspace (SEM Workspace). The SEM Workspace is part of ServiceNow’s next-generation platform, Unified Security Exposure Management (USEM). USEM consolidates multiple security exposure applications—Vulnerability Response (VR), Application Vulnerability Response (AVR), Container Vulnerability Response (CVR), and Configuration Compliance (CC)—into a unified architecture. It provides a single source of truth for security exposure, enabling real-time visibility, streamlined workflows, and automated remediation through the SEM Workspace. The SEM Workspace is available for Security Operations Vulnerability Response from version 30.0.0.

    As Vulnerability Response is now consolidated under USEM, starting from Operational Technology Vulnerability Response version 2.0.0, users may be redirected to the SEM Workspace to perform some configuration tasks.