Here is Everything You Should Know about Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

A cyber security breach can cause a lot more than a loss of fortune for a company. They cause the loss of intellectual and proprietary data that can hamper with the company image, stakeholder confidence and may also cause litigation if any of the sensitive data is compromised. Cybersecurity attacks are attempts for breaching the security parameters of a network. Albeit, these attacks tend to differ in technique and complexity, they are classified as:

  1. Reconnaissance
  2. Incursion
  3. Discovery
  4. Capture
  5. Exfiltration

Many incursions are overlooked, as a matter of fact, companies are notified about data breaches after the sensitive data has been breached on the dark web. Leaders must comprehend that risk based decisions must be taken to balance the multiple effects of systems with the risks of those systems vulnerable to the exploitation. This can be tackled by:

Risk Framing

  1. Risk assumptions: This is how your company believes in risk factors like weaknesses, threats, losses, consequences, and exploit probability.
  2. Risk constraints: Limitations of the company like resources and unable to take any risk.
  3. Risk appetite: The amount of risk being embraced by the company
  4. Risk tolerance: The willingness of the company to accept the risk after integrating all the controls as well as the countermeasures.
  5. Priorities: The vitality of core/critical business functions.

Company’s response to the risk

  1. Acceptance: Company’s tolerance with the risk.
  2. Avoidance: When the risk is more than the risk tolerance. This happens when countermeasures and safeguards are not available or maybe the cost of implementation is more than the anticipated profit.
  3. Mitigation: reduction of risk via the controls, improved safety features, using technical safeguards or using countermeasures.
  4. Transfer: AKA risk sharing. Risk transfer takes place when the companies reassign the responsibilities and liabilities to other aspects.

Risk monitoring

Risk is quite dynamic in nature and the risk environment tend to change in a plethora of ways. Every company should come up with a Risk Monitoring Strategy. The strategy must centralize on effectiveness, program compliance, monitoring frequency and addressing to the changes in internal as well as external environment. The outcome from the monitoring efforts will evoke an urgency to fix the company’s Risk Management Strategy. Maybe the best part of the Risk Management Process is its cyclical nature. if the entire process has been frozen and integrated successfully in the company’s processes, cultures etc. then the entire process can be repeated with ease.

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