Information security is one of the most important aspects of any organization today, especially with the rise in digital transformation and stricter data privacy regulations. This is because cyberattacks have become one of the biggest threats to a company and its information. To understand how to counter these attacks effectively, companies need to find out the source and nip it in the bud.
The two most common ways of understanding threats to a company’s information are risk assessments and vulnerability assessments. They are both extremely crucial in understanding where the dangers and threats are and also ways in which companies can detect, prevent, and manage these threats.
Risk Assessment
Companies use risk assessment to identify all hazards and risk factors that can cause harm to the company. This is also known as hazard identification. The risk assessment includes the analysis and evaluation of the risk that comes with the hazard and then coming up with strategies to eliminate or control the risk when it cannot be eliminated.
A recent survey conducted by Gartner with 388 strategic initiative leaders stated that it cost a total of $5 billion in loss of opportunity because of untimely risk responses for their projects. This is why assessing risks in a timely manner so that companies can prevent or manage them is important. It helps prevent the loss of revenue.
So What Exactly is a Risk Assessment?
To put it simply, a risk assessment looks at the workplace thoroughly to identify different situations or processes that could harm the employees or the company itself. After identifying the risks, the risk assessment process helps employees properly analyze and evaluate the severity of the risk to help them decide the next steps in managing or eliminating the risk.
Why is Risk Assessment Important?
A risk assessment helps create an awareness of different underlying hazards and risks to the company. This way, companies can properly identify what (or who) in the organization is at risk and then see if there are any tools necessary to take care of those risks. This creates the need to improve all existing controls and strategies to prevent the risks from happening in the future as well, so the organization remains secure. A risk assessment also helps companies stay compliant with all regulations and policies. This is because faulting on these can cost the company a lot of money in fines and penalties, making them a risk.
What is the Goal of Risk Assessment?
Risk assessment is involved evaluating all hazards to an organization and then removing the threat altogether or minimizing these threat levels with different control methods. This creates safer and smoother operations across the company. The goal of risk assessment is to understand the consequences of the risk when it occurs fully, and the likelihood of the threat taking place. It also helps team members come up with different strategies that they can employ to reduce all risks and keep watch of any future threats.
When Should Companies Perform a Risk Assessment?
It is always important to identify the risks beforehand, so it is advised for companies to conduct a risk assessment before introducing any new processes or starting a new project. Risk assessment should also take place if there are any changes made to the existing processes and projects. Also, if an organization identifies a threat or hazard, conducting a risk assessment will help in identifying the severity of this risk and further action that needs to be taken.
Risk Assessment Techniques
Some of the most widely used risk management techniques are the following:
- Brainstorming
- Creating risk checklists
- Conducting Monte Carlo simulations
Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerability assessments also deal with understanding threats to the company and managing them. Instead of looking at external threats like risk assessments do, a vulnerability assessment takes care of identifying internal vulnerabilities that could turn into threats. A vulnerability assessment defines, identifies, classifies, and then prioritizes all the vulnerabilities that exist in various applications, network infrastructures, and computer systems within the company.
What are the Types of Vulnerability Assessments?
- The host assessment is the assessment of all critical servers in the company that needs to be regularly tested to make it invulnerable to attacks.
- A network and wireless assessment is an assessment of policies and practices in the company to prevent all unauthorized access to the company’s networks.
- A database assessment assesses all the big data systems in the company to check for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. It also classifies sensitive data in the company’s infrastructure.
- Application scans are used to detect vulnerabilities in web applications used by the company and the sources.
Why is Vulnerability Assessment Important?
A vulnerability assessment helps companies identify all the vulnerabilities in the organizations of the system used to protect their network. This is why they need to be scanned regularly. A vulnerability scan can also help in confirming whether or not all the changes made to configure systems in the organizations are safe and that there were no critical patches missed. It also helps in properly configuring all systems in the company to improve their operational efficiency and guard against any mistakes in case new hardware or software is being deployed.
A vulnerability assessment also checks whether or not a company’s hired third-party IT managed service providers are working efficiently and maintaining the organization’s systems optimally. Another added benefit to conducting periodic vulnerability assessments is that it gives the stakeholders involved with the organization the assurance that their data is protected and as safe as it can be with a strong cybersecurity program in place.
How Does One Conduct a Vulnerability Assessment?
All business assets of an organization are scrutinized to check for any gaps that could pose a threat. The process of a vulnerability assessment can be divided into the following steps:
- Conducting initial assessments to identify assets
- A system baseline definition where all information about the organization is collected before the assessment
- Conducting a vulnerability scan to identify vulnerabilities and attempting exploitation
- Creating vulnerability assessment reports to summarize findings and the impact of the vulnerabilities along with recommended ways to handle the situation
Final Thoughts: Assessing Risks and Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability assessment and risk assessment go hand in hand to secure any organization’s information securely. To conduct both thoroughly, the employees need to be educated and informed about the proper processes and ways in which risk and vulnerability assessment takes place so that there is no room for error. To identify and address threats and vulnerabilities efficiently, proper training is required in popular IT Security and Governance certification courses. Regular vulnerability and risk assessments are crucial to information security and data protection and should become the norm in every organization.
Some of the popular IT Security and Governance certification courses that individuals and enterprise teams can take up are:
