In today’s digital age, cyber threats are evolving faster than ever. Astonishingly, in 2023, 60% of incidents investigated by Arctic Wolf® Incident Response involved exploiting vulnerabilities over two years old. These were well-known vulnerabilities that organisations had ample time to patch. This alarming statistic highlights a critical issue: many organisations lack visibility into their environments and struggle to stay updated with necessary patches due to limited resources or reluctance to take systems offline.
This is where cyber risk assessments play a pivotal role. By identifying, evaluating, and reducing risks across your organisation’s attack surface, these assessments ensure policies address crucial areas like vulnerability scanning, patch management, and adherence to security standards. They empower businesses to mitigate known threats before they escalate into security incidents.
What Is Cyber Risk?
Cyber risk refers to the potential loss of data, confidentiality, or control within an organisation due to a cyber incident. It’s a dynamic metric influenced by:
- External factors: Emerging threat actors and attack types (e.g., ransomware, data exfiltration).
- Internal factors: An organisation’s cybersecurity practices, policies, firewalls, and monitoring platforms.
Understanding cyber risk as a probability helps gauge the likelihood of falling victim to threats such as:
- Phishing
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Insider threats
- And more
Because cyber risk is continually changing, it’s crucial for every organisation to assess their risk levels and proactively address them.
What Is a Cyber Risk Assessment?
A cyber risk assessment is a thorough evaluation of your organisation’s processes, people, and technology to understand your overall cyber risk level, focusing on the likelihood and impact of a cyber incident.
These assessments are built on three main actions:
- Assess your processes, technology, and people concerning cybersecurity.
- Prioritise identified risks to determine which need immediate attention.
- Communicate assessments and recommendations to stakeholders, including compliance regulators and cyber insurance providers.
Cyber risk assessments can be conducted internally or with third-party assistance.
Steps to Conduct a Cyber Risk Assessment
Conducting a cyber risk assessment is a detailed process involving multiple stakeholders. Since both risk and security postures are fluid, these assessments should be performed regularly to strengthen your organisation’s defences continually.
1. Set Clear Parameters and Goals
Define which parts of your IT environment will be assessed and establish clear metrics. Understanding what will be measured, how it will be measured, and the desired outcomes sets the foundation for a successful assessment and subsequent risk reduction efforts.
2. Choose an Appropriate Framework
Select an industry-standard cybersecurity framework to guide your assessment:
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0: Integrates leading practices into a simplified framework.
- CIS Critical Security Controls: Offers overarching cybersecurity measures.
- Essential Eight (Australia) and NIS2 (European Union): Provide robust global guidance.
Aligning your assessment with these frameworks helps identify key risk factors and weaknesses.
3. Inventory All Assets
Visibility is crucial. Create a comprehensive inventory of all critical assets, applications, identities, access points, and endpoints. This helps map existing risks and potential spread in case of an incident, allowing for more effective protection measures.
4. Identify Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Risks
Examine all parts of your attack surface for threats and vulnerabilities, including:
- Web-based applications
- Cloud services
- IoT devices
- Identity and access management structures
- Cybersecurity tool configurations
A comprehensive analysis prioritises risks and necessary actions.
5. Document and Prioritise Risks
After identifying security gaps, document the findings and collaborate with key stakeholders to determine next steps. Prioritise risks based on business and security goals, and develop a plan for risk reduction, which may include implementing new solutions, patching vulnerabilities, or transferring risk through cyber insurance.
6. Implement New Cybersecurity Controls
Translate your assessment findings into actionable steps. Not all controls need immediate implementation; prioritise based on factors like business objectives, resource availability, and acceptable risk levels.
Common controls include:
- Patching vulnerabilities
- Enhancing identity and access management
- Updating software and endpoint security measures
- Installing monitoring, detection, and response solutions
- Conducting security training programs
Benefits of Conducting a Cyber Risk Assessment
Regular cyber risk assessments offer numerous advantages:
- Identify Internal Security Gaps: Uncover vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
- Establish a Cyber Risk Baseline: Monitor changes over time.
- Communicate Risks Effectively: Provide documentation to stakeholders.
- Develop Governance Capabilities: Strengthen policies and procedures.
- Improve Security Posture: Implement ongoing improvement initiatives.
- Enhance Cyber Insurability: Lower risk levels for better insurance terms.
A key factor in obtaining cyber insurance is demonstrating reduced risk levels and effective cybersecurity processes. Organisations must understand their risk tolerance and decide how much risk they are willing to accept.
Simplify Your Assessment with Arctic Wolf Cyber Resilience Assessment
For organizations lacking resources to conduct internal assessments, the Arctic Wolf Cyber Resilience Assessment offers a streamlined solution. This tool provides:
- Transparent scoring index
- Insurability rating
- Easy-to-understand results
Part of the Arctic Wolf Cyber JumpStart suite, it helps organisations advance their security journey and better manage cyber risk.
Learn more about the Arctic Wolf Cyber Resilience Assessment.
Discover how implementing a security operations platform can further enhance your ability to assess, mitigate, and transfer cyber risk. Learn more about Arctic Wolf and how we can help fortify your data and IT infrastructure.