Businesses today face serious dangers from the cyber domain. The FBI recently reported that cybercrime increased 24% last year. The time has come for businesses to get proactive and conduct a cybersecurity risk assessment. It focuses on identifying the threats and vulnerabilities facing an organization’s information assets.
Threats are forces that can harm organizations and destroy mission-critical data. Vulnerabilities are the pathways that threats can take to harm, steal, destroy, or deny use of information assets. Risks materialize when threats converge with vulnerabilities. Devastating losses can occur in a variety of ways.
A cyber risk assessment produces an understanding of the consequences associated with the unauthorized disclosure of an organization’s sensitive or mission-critical information. A business owner or government authority, with the results of a cyber risk assessment in hand, can decide to accept the risk, develop and use countermeasures, or transfer the risk.
The world is immersed in a massive asymmetric threat environment that is enabled by an untold number of vulnerabilities. Cybercrime is a growth industry that is low risk with high returns. Financial losses due to data breaches now exceed the dollar amount of the global illegal drug trade. Unfortunately, law enforcement cannot stop cybercriminals from attacking your business. Organizations are largely on their own.
One of the few ways a business can thwart cyber risks is to realistically assess its exposure and implement controls that reduce the chance of the risks materializing. Cyber security should be viewed as a business process that requires precise management controls similar to those found in accounting and finance.
How can an organization conduct cyber risk assessment?
Information assets must first be identified. Internal and external threats and vulnerabilities must be measured realistically and objectively. You need to understand the consequences of not offsetting the risk. Existing policies, procedures and controls must be aligned with security.
better practices. Risk mitigation strategies can be adopted, based on the organization’s priorities.
Organizations could then focus on increasing their information security efforts.
Failure to take additional information security measures can result in irreparable damage to the organization, violations of regulations, statutes, fines, lawsuits, and damage to the value of the company and customer base.
Directors of publicly owned corporations and privately owned companies must comply with multiple laws, regulations and take all prudent steps to prevent information security breaches. To do otherwise is irresponsible and is evidence of a lack of due diligence.
The findings of a cyber risk assessment can point the way for an organization to develop and follow an information security plan that secures mission-critical information.
Avoiding steps to correct weaknesses that are too well discovered will be considered a lack of due diligence.