Why Cyber Risk Management Is Key To Uncovering Security Holes in Your Network
A comprehensive cyber risk management approach is the most effective way to understand the potential consequences of company activities and to identify any security flaws that cybercriminals might exploit. Let’s explore how organizations can implement an effective cyber risk management strategy.
As cyberattacks continue to rise, organizations must carry out risk assessments to understand what areas of their network are most vulnerable to cybercrime. Here, George Patsis, CEO of Obrela Security Industries, details how organizations can implement a successful cyber risk management strategy.
Risk is a four-letter word that can create a tsunami of different emotions. One person may associate risk with extreme sports, while others may think about relationships, but one thing that most people will learn in their lifetimes is that everything we do carries some form of risk.
However, this could not be truer than for enterprises, where risk can impact their very survival.
Over the last decade, information as an intangible asset has become a very valuable resource. The world is tightly constructed to use information as an element for progress and innovation, and as a result, businesses now treat data as a new form of currency, with its value growing exponentially every year. Corporations use information every day as a very important part of their business; it can be seen as a competitive advantage, key-enabler, and a leading factor in an organization’s success.
However, as data becomes the world’s most valuable resource, the risks targeting it increases.
Cybercriminals see data as the crown jewels and will stop at nothing to get it. In fact, research from Cyber Security Ventures has predicted that cybercrime will cost organizations over $6 trillion in 2021, and we will see companies falling victim to ransomware attacks every 11 seconds. This essentially means that while organizations are trying to protect their most valuable asset, their risks coming under attack are greater than ever.
To protect against the attacks targeting an organisation’s data, a comprehensive risk management strategy is one of the best lines of defence.
Learn More: Lessons From the Pandemic: Cyber Risk Management Gains Critical Importance
Understanding Risk Profile Is Key to Preventing Cyber Threats
Today, the information created, processed and used by an organization is one of its most valuable assets, but the disclosure, compromise or unavailability of this asset can severely impact an organization, resulting in a breach of laws or regulations and negatively affect its brand.
Cyber risk management is the process of identifying and assessing an organization’s risk profile according to its assets.
To fully understand how likely an organization is to fall victim to attack and the potential impact an attack could have, IT teams must first fully assess their assets to identify weaknesses, exposing their data. This will allow them to identify where they are weakest and what they stand to lose if a successful attack occurs. They can then build a security model to support their risk assessment, where the most sensitive data and critical assets are protected the most comprehensively.
Cyber Risk Management in real-time is the strongest weapon towards our goal to ensure trust, security and safety. The greater the power to anticipate and understand, the larger the potential for prevention or containment. By capitalizing real-time risk management capabilities, organizations can implement dynamic security models and consequently identify and prevent foreseen cybersecurity threats and provide the ground for effective response and containment, achieving robust protection against emerging and advanced persistent threats.
An organization’s security outfit must be tailored to its risk profile, the operating environment, and the business model; only then can a robust protection against emerging and advanced threats be achieved. Proprietors and decision-makers must understand their information security program’s current status to make well-founded judgments and investments that appropriately mitigate risks to an acceptable level.
To survive, organizations must come through the existing shortcomings and adopt new security models that integrate cyber risk management as part of their decision-making process. Regulators must enforce security policies that embrace agility as a key attribute. The security industry has to deliver products and services that must come inexpensive and be more efficient.
Learn More: Rise in Digital Risks Call for a Smarter Approach to Risk Management
Conclusion
Data is an organization’s most valuable asset today, but the risks targeting it increases every day. To fully understand these risks, organizations must carry out risk management assessments and build the process into all company activity.
A comprehensive risk management strategy is the best way to understand the potential consequences of company actions and to identify any weaknesses in an organization’s security posture which cybercriminals could exploit.
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