Imagine waking up to find your business’s sensitive data compromised. Scary, right? But what if I told you that taking the initial steps to prevent this doesn’t have to be expensive or painful?
The reality is that a well-executed risk assessment can be both affordable and painless. By taking a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating risks, businesses can significantly enhance their security posture without breaking the bank.
How Secure Is Your Business?
When we ask businesses about their security, we hear a variety of answers. Some mention the software tools and services they’ve deployed. Others believe that their type of organization or location makes them less risky.
Some think compliance with regulatory requirements is enough, while others trust the cloud for security. While these factors may contribute to good security, they don’t tell the whole story. If you’re only partially protected, you leave your business vulnerable to potential threats that could have devastating consequences.
When Was Your Last Risk Assessment?
Many businesses have never performed a comprehensive security risk assessment. Concerns about cost, time commitment, and fear of uncovering issues often hold them back. The idea of dedicating resources to a process that might reveal vulnerabilities can be daunting. Nevertheless, understanding and addressing these risks is crucial for the long-term security and success of any organization.
Some businesses operate under the false assumption that they are not targets for cyberattacks. They might believe that their size, industry, or location makes them less appealing to attackers. The reality, however, is quite different.
Cybercriminals often target small and medium-sized businesses precisely because they tend to have weaker security measures in place. In fact, 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses, highlighting the importance of proactive risk management.
Types of Assessments
There are many types of security assessments and audits, but let’s focus on three of the most common:
Vulnerability Assessment (or Vulnerability Scan)
A vulnerability assessment involves using a software tool to scan every device on your network, your firewall, and servers hosted on-site or in a cloud environment to identify vulnerabilities.
Typically, a vulnerability is a missing security update or a configuration issue that creates a risk for attackers.
Penetration Test
Penetration testing takes it a step further. The pen tester uses information from a vulnerability scanner and other tools to identify risky systems and then attempts to gain access to your systems in much the same way an attacker would.
Pen testers, or “ethical hackers,” conclude their engagement by reporting on what data they accessed, how they did it, and how to fix it.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessments are more comprehensive in scope but don’t go as deep as penetration tests. They may or may not include a technical risk assessment like a vulnerability scan. Typically, a risk assessment involves an interviewer asking objective questions about policies, procedures, technical configurations, and technology management practices.
These assessments often include a physical assessment and may also include a full vulnerability scan. The goal is to provide you with the information needed to make informed decisions about where to focus your limited budget and resources.
Why Risk Assessments Matter
How do you know what to be concerned about if you haven’t identified and measured your risks? A security risk assessment is the best way to start addressing this question.
It’s not an audit, and it doesn’t have to be expensive or painful. The intent is to objectively identify and measure areas of risk and then provide actionable information to plan for whether and how to treat those risks.
Many people think a penetration test is the first thing they need to do to assess their security. While a pen test is a valid and important part of a mature security program, it might not be the first step.
If your cyber insurance or regulatory requirements mandate it, then do it. But if you’re just starting to assess your organization’s security, a simpler and less costly approach is recommended. Before spending another dollar on security solutions, get a risk assessment to ensure you’re focusing on the right areas.
Loffler Risk Assessment Solutions
Our risk assessment consulting engagements provide a comprehensive evaluation of your:
- Administrative Controls: People, policies, and processes.
- Physical Controls: Door access, cameras, lighting, sensitive spaces, and more.
- Internal Technical Controls: Internal vulnerabilities affecting desktops/laptops, servers, cloud services, data, and more.
- External Technical Controls: Firewall, external vulnerabilities, publicly available data about your organization that might be used to trick employees.
These assessments are available in different levels of detail – Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced – to meet any organization’s level of interest, regulatory requirements (or lack thereof), budget, location, nature of business, and complexity.
The assessment is performed by an experienced and certified professional through scheduled interviews, a brief assessment of physical security (we can even do this remotely if needed), and a network scan to detect internal and external vulnerabilities.
The process is educational and interactive, allowing you to ask questions about why and how certain requirements can be met. At the end, we’ll give you a full report of findings and recommendations and set you up with a prioritized plan to address the risks that matter most to your organization.
Schedule Your Complimentary Cybersecurity Briefing
Let’s have a conversation about security concepts, common security concerns and requirements, risk assessments, and more. In just one hour, I guarantee you’ll learn something valuable.
Fill out this brief form, and we’ll contact you to schedule your complimentary one-hour cybersecurity briefing.
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Randy is a CISSP who leads the Cybersecurity and IT Consulting team at Loffler Companies. He is focused on applying his 25+ years of IT experience to help his clients measure, understand and manage information security risk through the vCISO managed consulting program.
