The world has witnessed an upward trend in the number of cyber attacks over the past few years. According to Embroker, cyber-attacks were labeled the 5th top-rated risk in 2020. The Statista report further reveals that there were nearly 24,000 cyber security incidents across the world between November 2020 and October 2021. With 6,358 reported cyber incidents, private and public administration were the most targeted sectors globally.
Considering the number of cyber-attacks organizations face daily, a coherent methodology for addressing cybersecurity risks is an undeniable need of the hour. Organizations often try to apply best practices, wondering if what worked for another firm will work for them too. However, this approach is not a rational strategy for protecting confidential information or assets, asserts the IT solutions provider CDW-G.
Adopting the Cybersecurity Risk Management approach is the most viable way to keep cyber attacks at bay. This article will provide five steps to performing a cybersecurity risk assessment. Check them out!
5 steps to perform a cybersecurity risk assessment
This five-step cybersecurity risk assessment will assist you in helping your organization prevent and reduce cybersecurity incidents.
Evaluate information volume
Most organizations have a fixed budget for information risk management, so determining the scope of the most critical business assets is the best option. To deal with them accordingly, you can classify these business assets into critical, major, or minor. You can determine the value of acquisitions based on the level of impact they could result.
Identify cybersecurity risks
It is impossible to protect the assets you are unaware of, right? So, the first step towards securing the organization’s acquisitions is identifying them. You can create an inventory of all the assets that are within the scope of the risk assessment. Now it’s time to identify threats to each asset and determine the type of protection it needs.
Analyze risks and determine the potential impact
Now that you have identified the threats to an asset, it is time to evaluate the impact on the organization if an attack happens. Cyber threats can breach security, steal confidential data, or harm an organization’s reputation. Vulnerabilities can be assessed through vulnerability analysis, vendor data, software security analysis, and many more.
Determine and prioritize risks
You can also classify each risk scenario to determine the risk level. Segmenting it into Likely or Highly Likely contexts can help you prioritize treatment levels. Suppose a risk outweighs the advantages. Discontinuing an activity is a more viable option. You can also deploy security measures to mitigate the risk if you cannot avoid that activity.
Documentation of all risks
A risk register should be maintained at any cost to document all identified risk plots. This register should be viewed regularly to ensure it is up to date and avoid mishaps.
Need a course?
You can enroll in a cybersecurity risk management course to gain knowledge about protecting your ecosystem from the risk of threats. You can consider a diploma in cybersecurity risk management in Canada for a cutting-edge curriculum.
