The Value of a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment
A doctor might have the best treatment for a virus in the world, but you won’t be convinced to use it if you don’t know you have it. But once you know, you will pay anything for the best chance to get rid of the virus.
How can you find out? You would get medical tests and receive a diagnosis from a qualified healthcare professional. Health assessments (or more commonly named physical check-ups) are essential and often the first step in identifying a health problem. Accurate and thorough assessments help identify the medical need of patients and help give the facts they must know to manage their risks.
This is why a risk assessment is the fundamental building block in every cybersecurity program. Before an organization can improve its cybersecurity posture, it must understand the threats and vulnerabilities that can endanger it.
What is Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?
A cybersecurity risk assessment is a proactive assessment that aims to identify potential vulnerabilities that threats take advantage of, predict the impact of such threats, and provide threat recovery options.
The Importance of Risk Assessment
You can’t determine what to protect and how if you don’t know your most vulnerable assets and the risks they face. A cybersecurity risk assessment uncovers the vulnerabilities within your system, network, software, or devices to help your business plan out what it will do to respond and manage the vulnerabilities.
How to Conduct a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment
The depth and breadth of a cybersecurity assessment depend on your business size, industry, risk threshold, timeline, and budget. Conducting a risk assessment is a complex process that requires considerable planning, specialist knowledge, and stakeholder buy-in to appropriately cover all the people-, process-, and technology-based risks.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework recommends following a seven-step process when assessing cybersecurity:
1. Prioritize and Scope
2. Orient
3. Create a Current Profile
4. Conduct a Risk Assessment
5. Create a Target Profile
6. Determine, Analyze, and Prioritize Gaps
7. Implement Action Plan
Your business can conduct its own cybersecurity assessments using an established and proven framework like the NIST CSF, which minimizes the chance of missing aspects of a risk assessment. However, doing it yourself can be like diagnosing and treating illness symptoms with WebMD. Empowered IT Solutions offers several cybersecurity risk assessments that provide an objective, expert opinion.
Why Choose Empowered IT Solutions for Your Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Needs?
Empowered IT specializes in risk management and compliance solutions, with a particular focus on cyber-resilience and data protection. We understand potential threats and know where to look to identify internal and external vulnerabilities. Working with Empowered IT will help you identify potential security gaps and benefit from expert input to improve your cybersecurity posture.
The Value of an Annual Risk Assessment
A cybersecurity risk assessment gives you an in-depth look at the essential steps for protecting your business from threats. Our experts will guide you through the assessment process and discuss the techniques used to identify cyber threats in this rapidly changing threat landscape. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity with Empowered IT Solutions’ team of industry leaders.