Cybersecurity risk assessments assist organizations in understanding the cyber risks to their operations (e.g., mission, functions, critical services, image, reputation), organizational assets, and individuals.
A cybersecurity assessment is a process of evaluating system vulnerabilities and in-place security controls to examine the overall organization’s security infrastructure. This includes validating the organization’s preparedness against the known and unknown vulnerabilities, attack vectors in the digital cyber sphere, and business process to engage the remediating steps to lower the risk and attack surface.
The cybersecurity assessment scope varies and depends upon the business nature, objectives, organization size, and the compliance environment. With a suitable assessment, an organization can identify its cyber strengths and weaknesses and develop an appropriate roadmap to prioritize and resolve them.
A properly scaled cybersecurity assessment helps the organization to be proactive. It is important for organizations to foster the business with proper security controls and a better understanding of risk and threats by evaluating the following components:
Current IT assets (includes applications, network, systems, endpoints, etc.)
Data flows.
Vulnerabilities present in the assets.
Identify the attack surface.
Potential threats and risks.
Assets’ cyber resiliency
Business compliance with the relevant security regulations.
Conducting an assessment will often reveal the most important aspects of your cybersecurity system that you need to focus on and remediate. Understanding where you are now is the first step to getting where you want to be.
Perhaps it’s time for a cybersecurity assessment by a third-party expert. Think of an assessment as an annual doctor’s physical or dentist visit. We can all agree that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” according to Ben Franklin.
About AXIOTROP, LLC:
AXIOTROP’s mission is to make cybersecurity accessible, attainable, and sustainable for small and medium-sized businesses so they remain competitive and poised for growth. We simplify cybersecurity by working closely with businesses to right-size their program for their needs, resulting in client retention, business expansion, and reduced risk.