Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)

The primary vulnerability management goals of SCAP are to automate compliance, manage vulnerabilities, perform security measurements, and evaluate policy compliance for standards such as FISMA.

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a standard around how computers communicate vulnerability information and the content of that information via the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP). SCAP is a method for using specific standards to enable automated vulnerability management, measurement, and policy compliance evaluation (e.g., FISMA compliance). The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) is the U.S. government content repository for SCAP.