Overview

TechWatchAlert is a vulnerability monitoring platform. You tell it what you run (web servers, databases, libraries, desktop software, public-facing sites); it continuously watches published vulnerabilities (CVEs), exploitation signals, end-of-support dates and certificates, and warns you only when something affects you. You then follow each vulnerability through to its fix, automate the response, produce reports and, if the directive applies to you, support your NIS2 obligations.

This guide describes the application screen by screen, with annotated screenshots. This page is the map: the concepts, how they fit together, the typical journey and the table of contents.

The application at a glance

1. Active project: almost everything you see (stack, alerts, dashboard, workflows) belongs to the project selected here.
2. Stack: the project’s inventory, which decides which alerts you get.
3. Alerts: the CVEs that affect the project’s stack. The red badge counts the ones you have not read.
4. Priority CVEs: on the dashboard, the project’s vulnerabilities ranked by risk, with their signals (exploited, CERT-FR, PoC, EPSS) and the status of their case.
5. End of Life: versions of your components that no longer receive fixes, or soon will not.
6. Workflows: what happens when an event occurs (create a case, send an email, call a webhook…).
7. Reports: summaries to share (PDF, exports).
8. NIS2 compliance: the area that supports the NIS2 directive (registers, incidents, board report).

For every part of the screen, see Finding your way around.

The concepts

Organisation

Your workspace: a company, a team, a client. It holds the subscription (the plan), the members and their roles, groups, the CVE prioritisation policy, SSO and API keys. An account can belong to several organisations.

Project

A monitored scope within an organisation: an application, a website, a fleet of machines. Each project has its own stack, URLs, tracked end-of-life dates, alerts, workflows, dashboard and, if you switch it on, NIS2 compliance.

Stack

A project’s inventory: vendors and products (nginx, OpenSSL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft…), with their version when you know it. Each entry is matched against the public product catalogue (CPE); an entry that is not in the catalogue raises no alerts.

CVE

A published vulnerability, with its identifier (CVE-2021-44228…), its severity (CVSS), its exploitation probability (EPSS) and its known-exploitation signals (KEV, EUVD, CERT-FR). The CVE database lets you look up any of them.

Alert

The signal that a CVE affects an entry in the project’s stack. It is raised when the CVE matches the inventory and passes the prioritisation policy (by default: CVSS 7 or above, or any exploited vulnerability). One alert per project and per CVE, shared by the team; only the read or unread state is personal.

Case (handling)

The follow-up of a CVE in a project, from “To do” to “Resolved”, “Risk accepted” or “Not applicable”, with notes, a comment thread, history and deadlines. A single case per project and per CVE, shared by the whole team. Case management is included from the Team plan.

Workflow

A “trigger → conditions → actions” automation. Every notification goes through a workflow: each project gets five when it is created (new CVE, CVE that becomes exploited, end of life, end of active support, new releases), which you can edit, switch off or add to.

End of life

The date on which the vendor stops fixing a version (end of support, end of life). A component that is out of support will get no more security fixes: TechWatchAlert flags it and warns you before the deadline.

NIS2

The NIS2 compliance area supports part of the directive’s obligations: national sources, accepted risks, remediation deadlines, inventory reviews, suppliers, incidents, board report. It provides evidence; it does not make anyone “compliant”. Included in the Pro and Business plans.

Partner space

For managed service providers (Partner plan): a Partner space that brings together all your clients, most exposed first, their alerts, a PDF summary, and your branding (your logo on your clients’ PDF reports and in their sidebar).

How they fit together

• An account (a person) is a member of one or more organisations, with a role in each.
• An organisation contains projects; its subscription sets what is included (modules, number of projects, members, stack entries, URLs).
• A project holds everything else: its stack (shared by the team), its alerts and their cases, its workflows, webhooks, reports and settings. The stack is continuously checked against published CVEs and end-of-life dates.
• When a CVE matches the stack and passes the prioritisation policy, a workflow fires: the one created by default opens the follow-up of the alert (its case), then sends the in-app notification, the email and the project’s webhooks, according to each member’s preferences.
• Cases feed the dashboard, statistics, reports and, where the project is in scope, the NIS2 registers.
• A managed service provider (Partner plan) follows its clients’ organisations from the Partner space.

Tip

Changing the active project changes almost the whole application. If a page looks empty or does not show what you expect, check the project selected at the top of the sidebar first.

The typical journey

1. Create an account on the sign-up page, then confirm your email address with the link you receive. See Account and sign-in.

2. Create your organisation: at your first sign-in, a two-step wizard asks for the organisation’s name and the CVE prioritisation model. See First steps.

3. Create your first project in the same wizard (or later from the project selector). See Projects.

4. Declare your stack: a few components typed by hand, a ready-made preset, an imported file (manifest, SBOM), a connector or detection from a URL. Only new vulnerabilities, published since the project was created, become the project’s alerts; older ones can be browsed in the CVE database. See Stack and Imports, connectors and scans.

5. Receive and handle alerts: triage them, open the case, move it forward until it is fixed, or accept the risk. See Alerts and Handling an alert.

6. Automate: adapt the workflows (who is told, on which channel, under which conditions), connect Slack, Teams or a webhook. See Workflows and Notifications and channels.

7. Report: monitoring reports, statistics, handling indicators. See Reports and Statistics.

8. Support NIS2 compliance, if your organisation is in scope: activation, registers, incidents, board report. See NIS2 compliance.

Note

Want to see what TechWatchAlert would find before creating an account? The Try without an account page analyses a list of components or a manifest in seconds. See Try without an account.

Every page of the guide

Getting started

Account and sign-inSign-up, email verification, sign-in, two-factor authentication, forgotten password, trying without an account, invitations.

First stepsThe start-up wizard, the “Getting started” card, the first project, the first three components, who receives alerts.

Finding your way aroundSidebar, active project, search, notifications, user menu, assistant, theme, language, mobile.

Monitoring

DashboardWidgets, the period, customising the dashboard.

AlertsThe project’s alert list, filters, sorting, reading.

Handling an alertA CVE’s case: statuses, comments, deadlines, tickets.

CVE databaseSearch and read any CVE, with its exploitation signals.

ArticlesCybersecurity news monitoring.

Inventory

StackDeclare vendors, products and versions; per-entry thresholds.

Imports, connectors and scansManifests, SBOMs, connectors and scans to fill the stack.

Monitored URLsDetected technologies and HTTPS certificates of your sites.

End of lifeEnd-of-support and end-of-life dates for your components.

Automate and analyse

WorkflowsTriggers, conditions and actions; the default workflows.

Notifications and channelsEmail, Slack, Teams, webhooks, each person’s preferences.

ReportsMonitoring reports and exports.

StatisticsCVE database trends and handling indicators.

NIS2 compliance

Overview and activationSwitching NIS2 on for a project, the area’s overview.

RegistersAccepted risks, deadlines, inventory reviews, suppliers.

IncidentsDeclaring and following an incident.

Settings and board reportRoles, deadlines and the report to the board.

Administration

ProjectsCreating, configuring and archiving a project.

OrganisationsOrganisation settings, prioritisation, SSO, API keys, audit.

Team, roles and groupsInviting people, assigning roles, managing groups.

Plan and billingThe plans, what they include, changing plan.

Account settingsProfile, security (password, 2FA), notifications, preferences.

Partner space

Partner spaceAccess, dashboard, context selector, client banner.

ClientsAdd, attach, invite contacts, detach.

Alerts and reportsAll clients’ alerts, the PDF summary.

Team, billing and brandingTechnicians, Partner subscription, logo.

Reference

GlossaryCVE, CVSS, EPSS, KEV, PoC, CPE, SBOM, EOL, CERT-FR… in plain words, with where they appear.