As businesses become increasingly reliant on digital technologies to run their operations, cyber-related attacks have taken a quantum leap in both number and sophistication, threatening to derail continuity and create long-term impact. According to Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report, 600 million cyberattacks occur around the globe every day. A single breach can devastate not only a company’s data privacy but also its reputation, potentially leading to regulatory fines and legal consequences that can take years to recover from.
While many attacks are the result of bad actors exploiting vulnerabilities, malfunctioning technology can also be at the root of unforeseen risk. Just over one year ago, people worldwide witnessed the largest IT outage in history. A CrowdStrike software update gone wrong disrupted airlines, banks, healthcare providers, and media across continents, resulting in 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices to crash. It’s reported that the glitch caused $5 billion in losses. It was an unfortunate wake up call to how dependent businesses are on digital systems.
To mitigate these risks and foster a greater sense of security within an organization, businesses should consider conducting regular risk assessments to help identify, quantify, and prioritize risk to strengthen defenses. We’ll explain the core elements of a security risk assessment, from vulnerability scans and penetration testing to employee training and recovery planning.
Risk Assessment Steps to Strengthen Your Defenses
- Identify and Classify Valuable Assets
To start, create a list of all the potential assets within your organization that could potentially be targeted; for example: sensitive client information, on-site and cloud servers, or intellectual property. Next, classify each asset according to their level of importance and sensitivity. This will help you determine what security mechanisms and processes will need to be put in place.
- Determine Possible Threats
After you’ve taken inventory of all your assets, consider what could pose a threat to them. Remember, threats could be driven by malicious intentions, but they could be caused by internal error, or even natural disasters. Threats result in system failures, cyberattacks, or accidental data loss.
- Assess Your Vulnerability
A vulnerability assessment will uncover any blind spots that could weaken your defenses and cause damage to your assets, including outdated equipment or software, unrestricted user access, or careless employees. Do you have any tools or processes in place to protect your assets from these vulnerabilities? Document your procedures and highlight any areas that are left exposed.
- Analyze the Impact of an Attack
This is an important step in the process because it will reveal the consequences of any damage to your assets. What financial losses, compliance violations, data loss, or legal penalties could be incurred? What is the likelihood it could happen? By systematizing the information, you’ll have a better understanding of what to prioritize in order of protection.
- Map Out a Plan and Test It
Now, it’s time to put a plan into action. As part of your risk management strategy, create an action plan to mitigate the identified risk exposure. This could include implementing stronger firewalls or encryption methods to secure networks, mandating multifactor authentication practices, or implementing activity and file monitoring systems. Additionally, applying network segmentation and least privilege access will reduce your attack surface and create layers of defense that attackers must sequentially bypass. Once you have employed these techniques, penetration testing can simulate real-world attacks to determine whether gaps still exist.
- Assess Regulations
Cybersecurity rules are often designed to strengthen the guardrails businesses rely on to protect client information. Familiarize yourself with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), and the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) to assess whether your business is following industry standards.
- Create a Response and Recovery Plan
Should your organization realize a threat, it’s important to have a plan in place to communicate and restore operations in the event of a cyberattack or unforeseen disaster. Consider key roles and responsibilities—who will do what, when? Put together communication for an automated response for attacks and be sure to include backup and recovery procedures for IT and security systems.
- Evaluate Vendor Compliance
The strength of your systems is only as strong as your third-party vendors. Because in today’s digital world, everything is connected. As we learned from the CrowdStrike example above, system failures can be caused by external factors, and a weakness in a single vendor’s system can ripple through and affect your entire organization. A thorough vendor assessment can not only identify risks but can also transform potential weaknesses into opportunities for enhanced security.
- Train Employees & Vet Remote Workforce
With employees working from home, businesses face an increase in the number of potential access points for cyberattacks. And many remote employees lack the same level of internet security as they would in an office setting, which could expose them to even greater risk. Assessing technical competency, conducting background checks, and providing ongoing training on the types of attacks they could be exposed to, from data breaches to ransomware attacks and phishing scams, will prepare them to recognize and respond to threats. In addition, implementing policies for secure remote access and clear data handling protocols are necessary to have in place to further reduce vulnerabilities.
- Perform Ongoing Risk Management
Cybersecurity requires ongoing attention. One risk assessment will be invaluable to improve operations and security, but it will not be sufficient to uphold defenses for an extended period of time. Regularly revisiting your security measures will provide the necessary network defenses and reduce your risk of becoming a potential target.
Next Steps
Taking proactive steps to prioritize cybersecurity will give you the visibility, prioritization, and assurance you need to safeguard your business against evolving threats. While some of the measures outlined here may involve costs, those expenses pale in comparison to the potential financial and reputational damage of a breach. R&A brings a deep background in building cyber resilience in today’s digital landscape. Contact us to learn more about how a Risk Assessment will help your business stay ahead.
Join our newsletter for insights and information that matter to you or your business
