Managing Digital Risks with Scheduled Assessments

The Importance of a Risk Assessment

The best way to start managing your digital risks is by performing comprehensive security risk assessments regularly. After all, how would you know what your current vulnerabilities or gaps are and where you biggest security challenges lie without an “under the skin” examination? With a risk assessment, you can measure your security posture against various internal and digital threats and determine how equipped you are to deal with these risks. When you perform a security risk assessment you can proactively:

•  Identify vulnerabilities: A risk assessment helps you identify which part of your digital environment is relatively weak against various security threats. You can identify which systems are likely to be targeted by attackers and incorporate measures to strengthen these systems. 
• Without the information presented by your risk assessment report, you don’t stand much chance of improving your digital security posture against various vulnerabilities.
• Review and bolster security controls: In most cases, security incidents occur due to a lack of controls in the process. For instance, without proper cybersecurity awareness training and best practices training, employees are unlikely to follow security protocols on their own, which could result in losses due to human errors. Based on the risk assessment, you can upgrade your securities and incorporate preventive measures against various risks.
• Track and quantify risks: To effectively manage various risks, you need to know the effect of these risks on your business. With a risk assessment, you can quantify these risks by identifying the potential losses posed by various threats. This helps you incorporate necessary risk mitigation strategies to prevent your exposure to various risks.

The Value of Risk Assessment

IT and security budgets are often difficult to explain to management. Everyone understands the consequences of not investing in correct security measures. However, it isn’t that easy or simple to put an exact ROI figure on security investments. The value of risk assessment is based on how you choose to act with the information you get from these reports.

 In this scenario, the real question is – what is the cost of not making this investment? Let us consider a major data breach for example. It is always about what you stand to lose in the aftermath of a breach. If your business is dealing with valuable customer data, a data breach can result in unrecoverable financial losses as well as reputational damage. Moreover, this might also result in regulatory non-compliance and attract heavy penalties from various regulators. In such cases, reviving a business after a major disaster can be almost impossible.

Here, the cost of investment in security solutions and cyber insurance is negligible since it concerns the survival of the business. You may not be able to measure the exact ROI of the airbags in your car but that does not mean that your survival is not dependent on them. Similarly, the information and insights gained from routine risk analyses are critical to the operation, resilience posture and long-term success of your business.

Assess Your Risks the Right Way

 Monitoring and managing your digital security risks is a continuous process that must be done regularly and should be a part of your ongoing operational strategy. To implement it the right way, you need to create a risk monitoring strategy that focuses on what risks need to be identified and how to identify them.

 Reach out to us today to perform a complete risk assessment of your digital infrastructure and help you build a resilient security posture against various threats.