Security risk assessments are now required by all federal and state regulations that include provisions for security safeguards as well as by all major cybersecurity frameworks and accepted cybersecurity standards. If your organization is governed by any of these regulations, frameworks, or standards, you should be no stranger to security risk assessments. The question is, what don’t you know?
One of the keys to an effective security risk assessment is frequency. Frequency requirements have tightened up and become almost universal in recent years as
Understanding your current cybersecurity posture is a vital step in strengthening that posture and resolving security weaknesses. The surest way to acquire this understanding is to conduct a thorough security risk assessment.
Our continuous global internet connectivity comes at a price. Intellectual property, financial data, and other business assets can be accidentally exposed to unauthorized parties, or can be leaked maliciously by an employee or third party supplier. Having your data in the wrong hands poses a significant and unnecessary risk.
A security risk assessment identifies your organization's IT assets, the risks associated with those assets, the mechanisms you have in place to manage those risks, and how those mechanisms are documented and monitored.
Your annual security risk assessment paints a complete picture of overall risks along with recommendations for addressing them. It provides an actionable, 360-degree view of the state of security in your organization—revealing things you didn’t know and helping in ways that might surprise you.
Security risk assessments consist of the following activities. Many can be conducted onsite while others may be completed remotely.
Annual security risk assessments are not just a matter of checking boxes and going through remedial motions. They are vital security tools that enable organizations to clearly understand the risks they face and the importance of resolving them. Assessments assist organizations in a variety of ways. As a few examples:
Compliance. You will learn where you stand with respect to the regulatory requirements that apply to your industry and business, as well as applicable cybersecurity frameworks and accepted cybersecurity standards. Complying with regulations is not optional, and not being aware of updates to regulations is not an excuse for non-compliance. If you engage a professional firm to conduct your assessments, you can generally count on them to know the latest versions and to be certified to assess against those updated requirements.
Cost Effectiveness. As you continue to perform annual security risk assessments, you will usually find fewer vulnerabilities each year due to the strong cumulative effect of remediation activities. This can reduce your assessment costs over time in addition to helping you avoid damaging security incidents that drain internal resources and distract from your primary business focus.
Continuity. Most organizations have developed plans to resume business operations in the event of disasters, including security incidents. Your annual assessment supports your business continuity plan by enabling you to identify problems that could disable operations and to address them before they can do so.
Cognizance. Another benefit you’ll derive from your annual security risk assessments is heightened awareness among employees of what constitutes a security risk, what actions they must take to reduce those risks, and why employee engagement is crucial. They should be able to define phishing, hacking, ransomware, and other common threats. Virtually every regulation that contains security provisos requires employee training on a regular basis, in most cases at least annually.
Three types of assessments are available to address an organization’s specific needs. All of them follow the essential steps outlined above.
Vendor Review. Supply chain security has made headlines in recent years due to the domino effect, when the breach of a supplier leads directly to the breach of the organization as well. As a result, most security rules now require holistic security assessments that include third parties who create, manage, transmit, process, store, or destroy data and information on your behalf.
Security Architecture Review. Elements of your organization’s security architecture range from networks and information systems, firewalls and servers, to end-user devices such as desktops and laptops, to security software and applications. Because security technology advances steadily, it’s a best practice to conduct periodic reviews of the security and vulnerability of this vital architecture.
Security risk assessments are now required by all federal and state regulations that include provisions for security safeguards as well as by all major cybersecurity frameworks and accepted cybersecurity standards. In most cases, risk assessments are required annually. Assessments identify your organization's information assets; the security gaps, vulnerabilities, and risks associated with those assets; the mechanisms you have in place to manage those risks; and how those mechanisms are documented and monitored. Assessments adhere to specific essential steps in order to be thorough and consistent. In addition to annual security risk assessments, several special reviews can address specific needs.
Annual security risk assessments deliver actionable information as well as substantial assistance in the areas of compliance, corrective action, cost effectiveness, business continuity, and employee cognizance. For best results, engage a professional firm specializing in cybersecurity and compliance whose staff are highly credentialed and have conducted hundreds of risk assessments. Build your assessment schedule into company calendars and budgets. And confirm the date of your last assessment in order to schedule the next.