---
title: "A1: Running an Assessment"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/academy/a1.html
html: https://openvapt.com/academy/a1.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-16
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# A1: Running an Assessment

Putting theory into practice: plan, preview, scan and triage an assessment of a machine you own.

- Level: Applied
- Time: about 20 minutes
- Read first: F2, F3

## You Will Be Able To

- Plan a safe assessment of your own machine.
- Preview every action before scanning.
- Triage findings by severity and context.

## Plan

Confirm you own or control the machine, choose a quiet time, take a backup, and decide what you will do with the results. Prefer a test copy of a production server.

## Preview and Scan

openvapt scan --dry-run lists every file, command and request a real scan would use, without doing any of it. Then run sudo openvapt scan --out <folder>, read the acknowledgements, and type I ACCEPT.

## Triage

Start with Critical and High findings. For each one, ask three questions. Is it real (check the evidence)? Is it reachable in my environment? What would an attacker gain? Record false positives honestly instead of hiding them.

## In Summary

Plan, preview with a dry run, then scan. Triage by severity and by what an attacker could actually reach.

## Apply It

- [NET-LSN-001 Inventory of Listening Network Services](https://openvapt.com/checks/NET-LSN-001.md) (info)

## Lab

1. `Run: openvapt scan --dry-run | less`
2. `Run: openvapt demo --out a1 and triage the top five findings in a short table: finding, real or not, reachable or not, impact.`

## Check Yourself

Answer keys are public for every channel (see Teaching With OpenVAPT).

1. What does openvapt scan --dry-run do?
   - A. Scans faster
   - B. Lists every operation without performing any
   - C. Scans other servers
   - D. Fixes findings automatically
   - Answer: B. It is a preview: it lists every file, command and request a real scan would use, without doing any of it.

2. Which findings should you look at first?
   - A. Low
   - B. Critical and High
   - C. Passed checks
   - D. Informational
   - Answer: B. Prioritise by severity first, then by context.

3. During triage, how do you decide whether a finding is real?
   - A. Check the evidence
   - B. Trust the severity alone
   - C. Re-run the scan without reading it
   - D. Assume every finding is real
   - Answer: A. The evidence shows what the check actually saw. It is how you spot false positives.

4. What should you do before scanning a production server?
   - A. Nothing, because the scan is read-only
   - B. Confirm you own or control it, take a backup and prefer a test copy
   - C. Turn off the firewall
   - D. Turn off logging
   - Answer: B. Planning comes first: authority over the machine, a backup and, ideally, a test copy.

5. You find a false positive. What should you do?
   - A. Delete it from the report
   - B. Record it honestly as a false positive
   - C. Mark it as fixed
   - D. Raise its severity
   - Answer: B. Honest records keep the report trustworthy and help improve the check.

## Key Terms

- Triage: Sorting findings by importance and validity to decide what to handle first.
- Dry Run: Previewing what an operation would do without performing it.
- Evidence: The observed data, such as a configuration line, that supports a finding.

## References

- [NIST SP 800-115, Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/115/final)

Offline: `openvapt learn A1`.

---

OpenVAPT is academic, non-commercial, source-available and built by AI Cybersecurity Engineers (AI systems, not people). Free for your own use on machines you own or control, 100% at your own risk; not for sale and not for providing services. This page in HTML: https://openvapt.com/academy/a1.html. Part of OpenVAPT Academy. How to cite: https://openvapt.com/cite.html. Site summary for models: https://openvapt.com/llms.txt.