Cyber Security Assessment: Your Secret Weapon for Uncovering Hidden Vulnerabilities

Your business depends on IT systems and other technologies to operate efficiently but this can also mean exposing your business to vulnerabilities. Cybercriminals look for vulnerabilities to gain access to your sensitive data. You’ll want to complete cyber security assessments regularly to stave off cyber attacks. These help identify cyber risks and mitigate vulnerabilities while creating a robust cyber security plan.

Understanding Cyber Risk and Vulnerabilities 

Recognizing both cyber risks and vulnerabilities is essential for strengthening your cyber security posture. Cyber risks are the potential for events like phishing, data breaches and other cyber attacks to disrupt your business. These risks also represent the likelihood and impact on your business. 

Vulnerabilities are the specific weaknesses in your system that criminals can exploit. These can include everything from outdated software to weak passwords. While vulnerabilities are flaws, cyber risks are the chance that these flaws will be targeted. A cyber risk assessment will find both. 

What Is a Cyber Security Assessment?

A cyber security assessment is the process designed to identify, evaluate and prioritize risks and vulnerabilities to your organization’s IT infrastructure and data. Many frameworks guide this process. One of the most common ones was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST provides your organization with a solid foundation for assessing and managing risks and vulnerabilities.

While conducting an assessment, many key questions will need to be addressed. One is identifying critical IT assets, understanding the impact and evaluating the likelihood of the threats facing your business. Your organization can develop robust security controls and strategies when doing the assessment.

Why Should You Perform a Cyber Security Assessment?

There are many benefits to performing a cyber security assessment, such as:

• Cost reduction: When you identify and address the potential issues before they occur, you’ll save on costly security incidents and the reputational damage that comes along with cyber attacks. 
• Enhanced knowledge: When you understand your organization’s specific vulnerabilities, you’ll be able to create a roadmap to enhance your overall cyber security posture. 
• Regulatory compliance: You may need to adhere to compliance regulations. Failing to do so can lead to severe penalties.
• Preventing data breaches: A data breach can have devastating financial and reputational consequences, which an assessment will help you avoid.

How to Conduct a Cyber Security Assessment

Step 1: Determine Information Value

Start by determining the value of your organization’s assets. It is crucial to focus on your most critical assets before moving to less important ones. You’ll want to consider business importance, financial impact if the information was lost or stolen or legal implications. 

Step 2: Identify and Prioritize Assets

Once you’ve determined your critical assets, you’ll need to identify which ones need to be assessed. You’ll need to collaborate with users and management to create a list of all the valuable assets. This should include software, data, hardware and more. Then prioritize these based on their importance to your organization.

Step 3: Identify Cyber Threats

Next, identify the cyber threats that your business faces. It can also include human errors or natural disasters. This step helps you anticipate and prepare for possible security breaches. 

Step 4: Identify Vulnerabilities

Once you know the threats your business faces, the vulnerabilities will start to be identified. Tools to help you mitigate risks include audits, vulnerability databases and security analyses. You’ll want to update software and patch vulnerabilities quickly.

Step 5: Analyze and Implement Controls

Controls are measures put in place to reduce or eliminate risks. These can be technical, like encryption and intrusion detection, or non-technical, like policies and physical security measures. Implementing the right mix of controls is vital for protecting your organization.

Step 6: Calculate Likelihood and Impact

What is the likelihood of these risks? What is their potential impact on your organization? Answering these questions will help you allocate resources for preventing data loss effectively.

Step 7: Prioritize Risks

Not all risks and vulnerabilities are made equal. Prioritize them effectively. Higher priority risks require immediate action and lower priority ones can be addressed in a more measured manner.

Step 8: Document the Results

Lastly, you will want to document your findings in a report. With thorough documentation, managers and executives can make informed decisions about handling the vulnerabilities and how often to conduct cyber security assessments.

We’ll Take Cyber Security Assessments Off Your Plate

Cyber security assessments are vital for any organization that wants to keep its digital assets safe. However, the process can be time-consuming and many organizations may not have the time to conduct them properly. That’s where we come in. We can complete cyber security assessments to ensure your business is safe from vulnerabilities. Book a meeting with us to get started.