In business and life, it pays to assess risk accurately. Doing so is the first step toward avoiding worst-case scenarios like costly cyberattacks. Learning where you’re vulnerable can keep your company safe, profitable, and on the path toward growth.
Cybersecurity risk assessments are a great place to start. A risk assessment takes an in-depth look at your company’s security efforts to see how well they’re working. It’s a proactive way to mitigate risks that might otherwise derail your plans for growth.
What is a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?
Risk assessments evaluate your organization’s cybersecurity defenses from top to bottom. They help identify potential vulnerabilities, threats, and weaknesses in your systems so you can fix them before they can be exploited by bad actors.
For example, your employees might use their own devices to access your internal databases from home. A risk assessment would tell you whether they’re doing so safely or if further controls need to be put in place.
Many businesses also use risk assessments in compliance. Both the SOC 2 and NIST frameworks require regular assessments. These certifications show clients that you value their privacy as much as they do, and you can market them to stand out from your competitors.
Steps to Conduct a Risk Assessment
The best way to complete a risk assessment is methodically, with a step-by-step plan. Here’s one that industry professionals often follow:
- Identify assets: List the systems, data, and processes that need cybersecurity protection.
- Identify threats: Consider what attack vectors a bad actor could use to breach the assets you listed in step one. Be sure to list internal and external threats, including hacking, malware, and insider attacks.
- Assess vulnerabilities: Find areas where your systems may be susceptible to attacks.
- Determine the impact: Consider how serious the consequences would be if your vulnerabilities were exploited.
- Evaluate likelihood: Answer how likely it is that the risks you’ve identified will be exploited.
Note that you should have a cybersecurity expert overseeing risk assessments. You need someone you can trust with specialized skills to paint a full picture of your organization’s cybersecurity risks.
Developing a Risk Mitigation Plan
You’re now ready to develop a plan for dealing with the threats you found during your assessment. The details will depend on your company’s risks and goals, but you can start with the following components.
1. Prioritize Threats Based on Likelihood and Impact
Your company doesn’t have unlimited dollars to spend on cybersecurity, so you may need to prioritize some vulnerabilities over others. Experts typically say to do this based on likelihood and impact.
You want to spend your money where each dollar decreases financial risk as much as possible. That means focusing on threats that are most likely to occur, as well as those that would be the most disastrous if they happened.
2. Use Diverse Risk Mitigation Strategies
There’s more than one way to deal with cybersecurity threats. For example, you can:
- Avoidance: Eliminate a risk entirely
- Reduction: Implement controls to reduce its likelihood of occurring
- Transfer: Transfer a risk by purchasing an insurance policy
- Acceptance: Accept the risk if it’s a low-priority concern
Each of these mitigation strategies has its place in a company’s cybersecurity readiness strategy. Using all of the tools at your disposal will help you maximize your budget.
3. Update Your Plan Regularly
Cybersecurity risks are constantly evolving as hackers find new ways to breach private systems. You should update your mitigation plan regularly to meet audit requirements and ensure that your plan is still working as intended.
The Role of Risk Assessments in Compliance
Risk assessments can play an important role in your compliance efforts. Some industries have to follow regulations that require them. But even if yours doesn’t, you may need to complete regular risk assessments to get valuable security certifications like the SOC 2 or NIST.
Auditors often ask for risk assessment results while doing their work. You can get the certifications you want faster if you have those readily available. The longer it’s been since your last assessment, the more thorough your next audit could become.
Get Your Free Risk Assessment for Proactive Compliance
Data shows that around 43% of cyberattacks are now aimed at small businesses. Completing regular risk assessments can keep your company from becoming part of that statistic. They’re also a great way to stay prepared for compliance.
Trava Security offers a free risk assessment that can get you started. You’ll get a risk score based on your domain and can schedule a follow-up consultation whenever you’re ready to take action.