Cybersecurity attacks are on the rise, and so is the damage they do when they succeed. Despite this, only nine percent of company boards were very confident in their cybersecurity protection in 2021. This is caused by a perfect storm of rising threat levels, difficulty finding and keeping enough cybersecurity staff, and the need for quick introduction of new technology to meet changing consumer demands.
Implementing cybersecurity risk assessment procedures is an effective way of helping reduce and protect against risk, but the time-consuming nature of this work and the lack of enough trained staff to do it, make this a challenge. That’s where cyber risk management automation comes in. Many of the long and tedious tasks needed for cybersecurity can be automated with the right tools.
This article will look more closely at:
- The best security automation tools available and what they can do
- The methods available for cybersecurity automation
- The benefits of automation in cybersecurity
What Capabilities Matter Most in Automated Risk Assessment Tools?
So you’re sold on the idea of automating your risk assessment, but where do you start? Here are some of the vital capabilities you should look for in an automated risk management tool:
- Vulnerability Scanning
- Measurement of Current Risk
- Compliance Help
- Attack Simulations
Vulnerability Scanning
Just like you scan your personal computer with an anti-virus software, businesses should regularly scan their IT environment for vulnerabilities. Ideally this scan would include regular reports that could be used for compliance and alerts when new vulnerabilities are detected.
A full service tool for vulnerability scans will look at multiple aspects of your IT landscape. At Trava, we offer automated vulnerability scanning tools for:
- External Infrastructure
- Certificate
- Dark Web
- Cloud
- Microsoft 365
- Web Application
- Endpoint Agent
- Asset / Discovery
- Internal Network
- WordPress
Measurement of Current Risk
Because cybersecurity is such a complex task, being able to quickly see where your business stands matters. You want an automated cyber risk system that can give you an accurate, quantifiable risk score. This type of score shows where you stand now, and it lets you check in regularly to monitor improvement. This makes it easy to answer internal and external questions about the state of your cybersecurity posture. Trava’s free Cyber Risk Checkup is one option for this sort of functionality.
Compliance Help
Having the right security in place and proving it to the compliance agencies in your industry can feel like a full-time job. A risk management system should be able to help you understand the regulations, implement necessary solutions to meet them, and provide the documentation you need to stay up-to-date. Trava Security’s compliance solutions can guide you through your unique needs, and we even provide full support through our compliance-as-a-service offerings.
Attack Simulations
Testing your security through simulating attacks is a clear measure of how your defenses hold up. Ideally an automated risk tool would offer some common attack simulations to see how your protections withstand a strike. Trava Security offers various phishing attack simulators, including Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Google, and Microsoft.
What Is the Use of Automation in Cybersecurity?
Most of the tools and capabilities we’ve talked about so far could theoretically be used manually by a security team to manage risk. But automated tools offer so many benefits over manually performing these tasks that a security automation framework is more appealing to most businesses. These benefits include:
- The speed of automated cybersecurity processes over manual control
- The reduction of human error inherent in manual processes
- The financial savings of automation versus training and paying employees to manually do this work
- The lowered risk of a cybersecurity breach with error reducing automation
Trava Security: Embracing the Future of Risk Management
We know cybersecurity doesn’t have to be as complicated as it seems. Trava can help take the stress and uncertainty out of protecting your small to medium sized business from everything hackers might throw at it. We offer customized solutions for your unique needs, so contact us today to learn how we can help.