The way we operate our businesses has changed dramatically over the past several years.  From ultra-competitive markets to advanced threats targeted our organizations.  Defending our data, systems and people are becoming a part of our everyday life.

Managing Risk from those threats can seem like a daunting task and knowing where to start can be hard to wrap your mind around.  If you haven’t assessed your cyber risks or thought of doing so in the coming months, then you cannot properly manage those risks and your business becomes reactive and left exposed.

A cyber risk assessment process should align with your business goals and help you cost-effectively reduce inherent risks.

Cyber Risk assessments can be performed on technology, operations, people, processes and policies within your organization to help you determine methods to manage or resolve data Security risks and risks to the organization.  Identifying the security framework that fits the size, scope, and complexity of your organization is one of the first things you need to decide on.  This involves identifying internal and external systems that are critical to your operations and how you process, store, or transmit protected or sensitive data.

Companies that put cyber risk assessments on the back burner or neglect it all together will quickly find themselves in hot water with the authorities when their business experiences a cyber breach.  States and Regulated industries and now implementing a breach notification law which requires anyone that experiences a security breach will need to notify the authorities and the public within a certain amount of time.    If your business is in a regulated industry, failing to satisfy regulatory requirements can disrupt business continuity and set yourself up for investigations, fines and damaged reputation.

Regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley (Sox) and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLBA) acts, not only contain references as to how organizations should protect different kinds of data, but they require regular security assessments.  Regular security assessments are a critical part of an effective cyber defense plan and to see the results provided in clear answers about the risks associated with using information systems or types of sensitive data.

Changing the Company Culture, starting with a Risk Assessment

The time is now, start the process to develop a cyber security program, which over time, will change how employees conduct their business on the company network along with tightening up how the overall business conducts themselves.

What kind of benefits should I received from doing a cyber risk assessment? 

• Meet compliance requirements – Assessing your risks and then working towards minimizing and eliminating most of that risk will help you work towards compliance.  Remember, compliance doesn’t equal security.
• Partner with a security vendor – Whether you partner with ChannelSOC or another third-party security company, having an experienced team in your corner can help you quickly meet your compliance needs and meet aggressive timeline demands.
• Receive a comprehensive assessment – Reports should be comprehensive and user-friendly so that all levels of management can grasp and understand the scope of the risks. Practical results and recommendations can help you jumpstart your compliance initiatives and manage associated regulatory risk.
• Experience a personalized level of service – During your assessment, your key personnel should be interviewed to gain an understanding of your company’s operations and ensure the analysis is tailored to your business.
• Clarify and manage regulatory relationships – Performing an independent assessment and implementing a remediation plan will put you on track to enhance the security of your organization and manage regulatory risk.
• Enhance security – You have security obligations that include securing the data that resides on your systems. Failure to do so can be costly to your business, its stakeholders, and your reputation.  You want recommendations that will enhance the overall security of your systems.

 You can never be sure of your security posture unless you’re conducting periodic security assessments.

At ChannelSOC, we recognize the key to successful Cyber Risk Assessments and Data Breach Prevention is achieving and maintaining the right security level for your organization.

Find out more information on our site or email us at:  [email protected]

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