About Gridwatch Brief

Gridwatch Brief is a weekly newsletter from Outland Labs for people who keep small networks running: solo admins, small security teams, and managed service providers.

The idea is simple. Thousands of vulnerabilities are published every year, but only a small fraction are ever exploited. CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog lists the ones with confirmed exploitation in the wild, and FIRST's Exploit Prediction Scoring System estimates which are most likely to be hit next. We combine the two, rank them, and link every item to its fix.

Who writes it

Issues are produced by The Gridwatch Desk, the editorial name of Outland Labs. Drafts are generated by automation from public data and reviewed before they go out. We publish under a house name so the focus stays on the data, not on a personality.

How we rank

P1, patch now: known ransomware use, an EPSS exploit probability of 90% or more, or a CISA due date within 3 days or already passed (overdue, counted for 30 days after the deadline). P2, this patch window: an EPSS probability of 10% or more, or a CISA due date within 7 days. P3: everything else in KEV, which is still exploited somewhere. Items past their CISA due date carry an Overdue tag. Within a tier we sort by EPSS, then EPSS percentile, then due date.

Our standards

• Every item cites its source: the KEV catalog version and the EPSS score date.
• No sponsored placements inside the ranking.
• Corrections are noted in the next issue.

Contact

Email desk@gridwatchbrief.com. We read everything; replies may take a few days.

Gridwatch Brief is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by CISA, FIRST, or any vendor mentioned.