Root-cause attribution is the process of identifying the actual origin of a bug, failure, or security incident. It goes beyond the first visible symptom and asks what truly triggered the event: a bad configuration, a software defect, a malicious action, a dependency failure, or a chain of smaller problems.
In cyber security, this matters because wrong attribution leads to wrong fixes. If a service goes down, teams should not assume malware, AI tools, or an external attack until logs, crash data, change history, and network evidence support that conclusion. Attackers also benefit when defenders blame the wrong cause, because the real weakness stays open. Good root-cause attribution helps incident responders contain the issue, patch the right control, and prevent repeat failures.