What Are the Different Types of Cybersecurity Assessments?

Last Updated: December 18, 2025

Table of Contents

• What is a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?
• What Are the Benefits of Conducting a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?
• The 5 Types of Cybersecurity Assessments
• What is Cybersecurity Readiness?
• How Do You Perform a Cybersecurity Assessment?
• What Are the 5 Steps of Security Risk Assessment?
• What is a Compliance Readiness Assessment?
• What Is a NIST Assessment?
• What Are the 5 Cs of Cybersecurity?
• Assess Risk and Strengthen Your Cyber Readiness Now Before Cybercriminals Strike
• FAQ

Cybersecurity risk assessments have gone from a “nice to have” to a “must have” for businesses as more and more organizations across the globe face costly and damaging cyberattacks. Is your business prepared when it comes to cybersecurity and risk management?

The best cybersecurity risk assessment services and tools help companies evaluate their existing security landscape to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities. Your cybersecurity audit checklist starts with understanding how to build a cybersecurity strategy for small businesses.

What is a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?

In cybersecurity, a risk assessment helps businesses identify specific risks related to their information systems and take steps to respond to them before they become the gateway to a cyberattack. Learn more about how Trava Security helps with cybersecurity risk assessments.

What is Included in a Cybersecurity Assessment?

Many organizations rely on cybersecurity assessment tools to support critical parts of the assessment process, such as vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and third-party risk evaluation. Your organization will receive a tailored cybersecurity assessment that considers your industry, size, and regulatory exposure. 

Tools like automated risk assessment platforms help streamline these efforts by ranking vulnerabilities, analyzing risk, and providing actionable insights to strengthen your security posture.

What Are the Benefits of Conducting a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?

The benefits of conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment include identifying potential vulnerabilities, improving your business’s ability to respond to cyber threats, and maintaining compliance with industry regulations to reduce the risk of costly cyberattacks.

Even with strong protection, cyberattacks are inevitable. Research shows:

• 42% of organizations experienced a phishing attack in 2024.
• 59% of organizations faced a web-based attack in 2025.
• Nearly 55% of organizations lack an incident response plan.

A cybersecurity risk assessment framework gives you insight into:

• How prepared your team is to detect and respond to attacks.
• Whether security protocols are followed consistently.
• Where human error or tool failures may expose your systems.

This knowledge helps you build or improve an incident response plan, reducing damage and recovery time.

The 5 Types of Cybersecurity Assessments

There are five key types of cybersecurity assessments your business may want to implement. Cybersecurity professional services can help your business assess the following:

1. Baseline Risk Assessments

Baseline risk assessments, also called IT risk assessments, are a high-level evaluation of all technical assets. These assessments examine how your technical assets are managed and stored to help you identify where application security defects occur.

More narrow than an IT risk assessment, your business might also consider an IT audit to evaluate specific items of your technology infrastructure, including:

• Applications
• Data use and management
• IT policies
• IT procedures
• IT operational processess

2. Penetration Testing

Penetration tests, or pen tests, are simulated cyberattacks that examine your digital infrastructure and reveal vulnerabilities. They can evaluate the strength of firewalls and other aspects of a website. Pen tests are critical for high-risk industries and public-facing apps.

3. Red Team Testing

These assessments have a narrow scope. While pen tests provide a broad overview of identified vulnerabilities, red team testing focuses on accessing specific target data or systems.

4. Vulnerability Assessments

After all security issues have been identified, a vulnerability assessment evaluates recognized weaknesses. During this assessment, each vulnerability is quantified and prioritized. A vulnerability assessment will scan your systems, networks, and applications for known weaknesses. It can identify security flaws like outdated software or exposed services. You should run it periodically to stay ahead of evolving threats.

5. Compliance Assessments

This assessment evaluates your adherence to required cybersecurity frameworks. It will help you avoid fines, protect sensitive data, and prove trustworthiness to partners or customers.

Other types of cybersecurity assessments include social engineering assessments, ransomware simulations, and cloud security assessments. 

An incident response plan is essential for every organization, no matter how many employees you have. It tests your ability to detect, respond to, and recover from a cyberattack. Review your plan, escalation procedures, and training to ensure your team is prepared—not reactive. 

There are many risk assessment tools and platforms available in today’s marketplace. A platform like Trava can help you perform risk assessment scans for a variety of applications, ranging from Microsoft 365 to external infrastructure. Trava can also help you achieve compliance goals, such as SOC2, or run various assessment types. 

The goal is to ensure all systems are secure and in compliance with established regulations and requirements. You can perform cybersecurity assessments for specific industries and businesses, including cybersecurity due diligence for private equity and venture capital.

What is Cybersecurity Readiness?

Cybersecurity readiness is how well your organization can prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber threats. It combines people, processes, and technology into a unified approach to assessing and managing cybersecurity risk.

A cybersecurity-ready organization:

• Has well-documented policies and procedures in place.
• Educates employees on threats and response protocols.
• Uses layered security controls, technical safeguards, and best practices.
• Actively prepares for incident response and disaster recovery with a thorough risk management focus.
• Maintains continuous compliance with applicable regulations.

A cybersecurity risk assessment checklist helps assess your IT infrastructure and identify potential weaknesses. Being “ready” doesn’t mean you’re immune to attack. It means you’re prepared to minimize damage, respond quickly, and adapt continually.

In the United States alone, cybercrime totaled $452.3 billion in 2024, and that cost continues to climb. Meanwhile, 97% of businesses report a recent AI-related security incident. Too many businesses lack regular IT security audits and don’t understand why a risk management framework (RMF) is essential.

What is the Importance of Cyber Readiness?

Cyber readiness brings together policies and procedures, technical safeguards, incident response plans, and training. 

Cyber readiness:

• Helps you proactively identify and mitigate cybersecurity threats to reduce risk.
• Protects your business reputation by ensuring you can effectively respond to cybersecurity incidents and minimize negative impact.
• Minimizes financial losses associated with a successful data breach, which can cost millions of dollars per incident.

What Are the Types of Security Testing for Software?

Trava Security provides application security testing. Application security testing is designed to protect software application data and code from cyber threats. 

The two main types of application security are:

• Static application security testing (SAST): This test increases software security by evaluating the source code to pinpoint vulnerabilities.
• Dynamic application security testing (DAST:) DAST evaluates web applications by simulating threats to test security strength and identify vulnerabilities.

Understanding how these security testing formats function is important for SaaS leaders who need to achieve and maintain SOC2 or ISO27001 compliance certifications.

Trava helps you identify and prioritize high-risk areas. Click to ensure your data and reputation are secure against cyber threats.

How Do You Perform a Cybersecurity Assessment?

A checklist is the best place to start when performing a cybersecurity assessment. The main objectives are to:

• Identify all potential consequences of an attack
• Evaluate threats and vulnerabilities
• Assess the risks associated with every threat and vulnerability
• Develop your risk management plan
• Build a strategy to monitor and handle risks

Cybersecurity Readiness Checklist

To see how ready your business is for cyber threats, a cybersecurity readiness checklist will help you understand the basics of cyber hygiene, risk management, response planning, and ongoing improvement.

Use this checklist as a starting point to assess your current posture and identify areas where your security strategy may need attention.

Governance and strategy (cyber readiness):

• A documented and updated cybersecurity policy exists.
• Assigned roles such as CISO or security lead are defined.
• Regular cybersecurity risk assessments completed.

Asset and risk management:

• An inventory of critical IT assets is maintained and updated.
• Data classification and sensitivity levels are defined.
• Third-party risk assessments are conducted regularly.

Technical controls (assessment checklist):

• Endpoint protection is deployed and active.
• Multi-factor authentication is enforced on all accounts.
• Firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems are configured and monitored.

Training and awareness (cybersecurity assessment checklist):

• Quarterly security awareness training is delivered to staff.
• Phishing simulations are conducted, and results are reviewed.
• Processes are in place for employees to report suspicious activity easily.

Incident response and recovery:

• An Incident response plan is in place, reviewed, and refined periodically.
• Tabletop exercises are conducted to simulate breach scenarios.
• Backups are tested regularly and securely stored according to the 3-2-1 principle (3 copies of data on 2 different media types, with 1 copy stored offsite).

Compliance and audit:

• Compliance checks for relevant regulations.
• Compliance readiness assessment is completed annually.
• Audit trails and metrics are tracked over time to measure improvements.

What Are the 5 Steps of Security Risk Assessment?

1. Determining the overall scope of the risk assessment. Determine how extensive your assessment needs to be. It might make sense to focus on a specific business unit, location, or aspect of your company.

2. Understanding how to identify cyber risks. Step two consists of three sub-steps:

a. Identify your current assets within the scope of this assessment. This includes taking stock of mission-critical, high-profile assets. This is important because it allows you to accurately estimate the risks of a cybersecurity incident. 

b. After you account for your assets, it’s time to move on to identifying threats. Using cybersecurity software tools like Trava can help identify threats, as well as the potential harm they may cause.

c. At this stage, you consider how threats could affect your infrastructure, customers, continuity of operations, and overall business success.

3. Analyzing potential risks and impacts. After assessing everything that could happen, this step identifies the most likely scenarios and the damage that could result. Consider three things: discoverability, exploitability, and reproducibility. In particular, think about how each of these factors pertains to vulnerabilities and threats. The digital world is always changing, which means historical risks and vulnerabilities are not necessarily good indicators of present and future risks.

4. Prioritizing risks. Determine which risks to address first. This may entail creating a risk matrix with risk level on one axis and likelihood on the other. Naturally, something that is high risk and highly likely should be a top priority. Similarly, actions that pose negligible risk or are deemed very unlikely might end up with lower priority.

5. Documenting risks. It is important to have a record of risks for current and future risk assessments. If you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every risk, don’t. Similarly, a log of documented risks can help you determine what has been addressed and what has been neglected, offering insight into your overall risk management process.

What is a Compliance Readiness Assessment?

Related to a cybersecurity readiness assessment, a compliance readiness assessment evaluates whether your company complies with regulatory and industry-specific cybersecurity requirements. 

During the assessment, a cybersecurity expert evaluates your cybersecurity measures against the relevant regulatory standards. Common cybersecurity regulations include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

Technical assurance in cybersecurity entails reviewing practices, policies, procedures, and technical controls to ensure they’re in sync with specific compliance requirements. Conducting a compliance readiness assessment helps identify gaps and deficiencies in your company’s compliance efforts and enables you to work toward full compliance. It helps you proactively address compliance issues, demonstrate a commitment to protecting sensitive data, and lower the risk of non-compliance penalties.

What Is a NIST Assessment?

Like other risk evaluations, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) assessment allows you to examine relevant threats to your organization. This includes internal and external vulnerabilities and threats. A NIST assessment is different because it must be performed according to the standards set forth by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

How Do You Perform a NIST Risk Assessment?

This assessment consists of:

1. Preparation: This involves identifying the purpose and scope of the assessment. It also includes determining the inputs, as well as the assumptions and constraints to use.
2. Execution: This is where you conduct the assessment. It involves identifying threats and vulnerabilities while determining their potential consequences.
3. Findings: Once the assessment is complete, you need to document and share the findings.
4. Maintenance: Now that the current assessment is complete, it’s time to set yourself up for continued future success. This requires continuously monitoring identified risks, as well as scanning for new ones.

What Is the NIST Cyber Risk Scoring Tool?

The NIST Cyber Risk Score (CRS) tool allocates a numerical value to an organization’s level of exposure to cybercrime and the potential damage to its IT infrastructure. Essentially, a CRS helps summarize, identify, and communicate a company’s risk in a valuable, easily digestible way. You can think of a CRS as a credit score for your company’s risk. It considers a handful of factors and calculates an overall risk score.

What Are the 5 Cs of Cybersecurity?

As you continue to think about cybersecurity and your company’s current landscape, it’s important to understand the 5 Cs: 

• Change: This refers to an organization’s constantly changing circumstances, including technological advancements, market shifts, new competitors, financial fluctuations, and more. When it comes to cybersecurity, agile and adaptable organizations tend to be more successful. Whether it means changing your own robust systems or keeping up with new technologies, adjusting on the fly can reduce your risk of cyberattacks.
• Compliance: Along with governance and risk management, compliance is a main cybersecurity goal for most companies. Your business should transparently measure and report on how well security measures are being followed.
• Cost: Naturally, cost is a main concern for every company. To provide value to customers and maintain a healthy organization, your business must focus on investing in meaningful products and services. Evaluate cost in the context of what you are getting in return, whether that’s a platform, a services team, or peace of mind that your company is secure.
• Continuity: Unfortunately, no matter how many preventive measures a company takes, disaster can still strike. Whether it’s a malware attack or a hurricane, your response time makes all the difference for your long-term success. Within cybersecurity, this often means having multiple backups of data, on-premises as well as off-site. But it’s not enough to simply have backups. A company also needs to understand:
  • How accessible those backups are
  • How up-to-date they are
  • How long it will take to get back to mission-critical business operations
• Coverage: The size of your business’s IT infrastructure can also be referred to as coverage. Generally speaking, the greater the coverage (the larger your IT infrastructure), the more susceptible a company is to cybersecurity threats. Naturally, as your business grows or downsizes, its coverage might also change. It’s important to take these changes — and how they might impact your vulnerabilities — into consideration.

Assess Risk and Strengthen Your Cyber Readiness Now Before Cybercriminals Strike

Cyber threats aren’t slowing down — but your response doesn’t have to be reactive. At Trava, we help businesses find their weaknesses. We strengthen their defenses and keep them ahead of cybersecurity compliance needs. If you’re ready to take the next step toward confident cybersecurity and risk management, we’re here to help.

Contact Trava today to learn more about a cybersecurity risk assessment to protect and support your business.

FAQ

1. What is a cybersecurity risk assessment?

A helpful tool for analyzing your business’s current cybersecurity infrastructure and policies. They are used to identify specific risks related to information systems to enable a response before they become a gateway to a cyberattack.

2. What is cybersecurity readiness?

Cybersecurity readiness is how well an organization can prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber threats. It combines people, processes, and technology into a unified approach to managing digital risk to minimize damage and adapt.

3. What is a cybersecurity readiness checklist?

A structured list of key areas an organization should assess to evaluate how well it can prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats. It includes technical safeguards, policies, incident response plans, compliance measures, and employee training.

4. What are the 5 steps of a security risk assessment?

1. 1. Determine the scope.
   2. Understand how to identify cyber risks.
   3. Analyze potential risks and impacts (considering discoverability, exploitability, and reproducibility).
   4. Prioritize risks (creating a risk matrix).
   5. Document risks for current and future needs.

5. What are the 5 types of cybersecurity assessments?

1. 1. Baseline risk assessments (high-level evaluation of all technical assets)
   2. Penetration testing (simulated cyberattacks to reveal vulnerabilities)
   3. Red team testing (simulated cyberattacks focused on specific target data)
   4. Vulnerability assessments (quantifying and prioritizing recognized weaknesses)
   5. Compliance assessments (evaluating adherence to regulatory frameworks)

6. How often should a cybersecurity assessment be performed?

Most organizations should conduct a cybersecurity assessment at least once a year, or more frequently if they’re in highly regulated industries or undergoing rapid digital changes. They help identify new vulnerabilities and keep your defenses aligned with evolving threats.

7. What is the difference between a cybersecurity assessment and a risk assessment?

A cybersecurity assessment evaluates your overall security posture, while a risk assessment specifically identifies and prioritizes threats based on the potential impact to your business. Risk assessments are often a subset of a cybersecurity assessment.

8. What are the 3 core benefits of a cybersecurity risk assessment?

1. 1. Determine vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
   2. Gain insight into your ability to mitigate cybersecurity threats and improve incident response planning.
   3. Determine if your business meets compliance regulations.

9. What are the 5 Cs of cybersecurity?

The 5 Cs is a framework to understand the scope of enterprise risk management: change, compliance, cost, continuity, and coverage.

10. What are the two main types of application security testing?

The two main types are Static application security testing (SAST) and Dynamic application security testing (DAST).

11. Is cybersecurity readiness only for large enterprises?

Not at all: 43% of cyberattacks target small and medium-sized businesses. Cybersecurity readiness is critical for organizations of all sizes to protect sensitive data, maintain operations, and meet compliance standards.