Does your organization invest in regular IT risk assessments?
IT risk assessments are an essential aspect of your overall cybersecurity posture and technology management. Some businesses are unclear as to what is involved in a risk assessment, how it can benefit their business or even what a risk assessment is. We’ve broken down the top ten questions we often get around IT risk assessments so you can understand what they mean for your organization.
1. What Is an IT Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment is the process of assessing and identifying IT security risks, to enhance an organization’s overall security posture. Oftentimes compliance regulations, such as CMMC, HIPAA and GLBA will require regular risk assessments.
There are three main elements of the assessment– administrative, physical and technical.
- Administrative assesses what policies the organization has in place – password requirements, or end user training, for example.
- Physical involves the physical security, such as locks on doors, logs of who enters various parts of the property and more.
- Technical includes the technological elements you use to protect your organization from threats, such as your organization’s firewall, or your intrusion detection.
In terms of deliverables, your organization will receive a document detailing where your security is currently, and, if applicable, specifically how to improve your security standing. This document will typically list the high, medium and low risks to your organization, as well as solutions to mitigate these risks. It will outline the who, what, when, where and why of these action items, so you have a clear plan and budget going forward on how to improve.
It is best practice to have an assessment done on a recurring basis. This will vary depending on your particular organization, but typically a risk assessment needs to be annual at minimum. NetGain’s Director of Security Scott Logan recommends assessments every 12-16 months on average.
2. How Will a Risk Assessment Help My Business?
The main benefit for your organization is that a risk assessment identifies potential security threats to your business. Staying on top of your cybersecurity strategy is essential, and a risk assessment can help with this.
The assessment gives your organization a long-term plan, with a list of improvements to be made, even if you can only execute or budget for a few at a time. This document can be leveraged until the next risk assessment is done, which gives you a highly valuable deliverable even after the assessment is over.
3. What Industries Need an Assessment?
The answer – all industries!
Although some industries such as those in healthcare and the financial sector are required to have them, a risk assessment will benefit any organization. At minimum, the assessment ensures your organization is covering the basics of IT security. It can also identify regulations a business needs to follow that they may not even be aware of, especially for industries that are not as highly regulated as verticals such as the healthcare and financial sectors.
Although smaller businesses or those that are less regulated may not think they are at risk, hackers target vulnerable organizations, which means any small business is at risk of an attack. And finally, the risk assessment identifies issues within any organization’s environment so those issues can be resolved, regardless of industry.
4. What Is the Hazard Behind Not Having a Risk Assessment?
If a risk assessment is not done, issues and vulnerabilities with your IT security may not be found. Although your organization will identify problems piecemeal throughout daily operations, having a risk assessment done gives a dedicated project to finding and improving areas of weakness in your cybersecurity strategy. his allows your organization to go beyond the basics and ensure you are optimizing your security, as well as addressing the essentials. This can be the difference between identifying a vulnerability and preventing an attack and having an unknown backdoor for a hacker to enter.
5. How Do I Execute a Risk Assessment?
Running and audit and gathering all information about your technological environment is a good first step. With a cybersecurity assessment checklist, you can identify potential security hazards and analyze what could happen if a disaster or hazard occurs. Vulnerabilities can look like weaknesses in building construction, security and protection systems, as well as and loss prevention programs. Based on your identified vulnerabilities, you can then begin to develop an action plan. Engage a third party that has many years of experience performing security assessments, as well as one that can help you plan and possibly execute your strategy post-assessment. For more information, read our risk assessment white paper.
6. Who Needs to Be Involved in the Risk Assessment?
Involve multiple parties in your risk assessment. A descriptive and thorough risk assessment should involve key stakeholders from IT, security, compliance, and leadership to address all potential vulnerabilities and business impacts. Department heads or business unit leaders should also participate to provide insight into departmental processes and assets. Human resources and legal teams may be involved to ensure alignment with regulatory and employee considerations. Based on the assessment results, all employees—especially those in high-risk roles—should be included in follow-up training to increase awareness and reduce human error.
7. When & How Frequently Will Assessments Be Conducted?
The best time to conduct a risk assessment is before major changes, such as implementing new technology, processes, or compliance requirements. If you’ve never had a risk assessment, now is the best time! Perform a risk assessment at least annually, with additional reviews when significant business changes or security incidents occur.
8. What Should a Risk Assessment Include?
A good risk assessment should include a comprehensive review of assets, threats, vulnerabilities, and potential impacts. It should identify and classify critical systems, data, and operations. Then, you should discuss the likelihood and potential consequences of various threats. Threats can include cyberattacks, data breaches, natural disasters, and human error.
Examples of what an assessment should cover:
- Technical controls: firewalls, access controls, and encryption
- Administrative controls: policies, training, and procedures
- Physical controls: facility access and hardware security
An assessment should also evaluate existing mitigation strategies and outline recommendations to reduce risk to an acceptable level, based on your business needs.
9. How Long Does a Risk Assessment Take?
The length of a risk assessment can vary based on the size and complexity of your organization. Typically, an assessment takes anywhere from a few days to several weeks. Planning should include defining the scope, assembling the right team, gathering documentation, and scheduling interviews or audits. To ensure a smooth implementation, it’s important to allocate time on calendars for key stakeholders. Set clear deadlines and allow time or follow-up meetings to review audit findings and discuss action plans. Prioritizing the assessment in your planning cycle or business objectives helps prevent delays and ensures meaningful outcomes across departments.
10. When Should Your Risk Assessment Be Reviewed?
The cyber threat landscape is constantly changing and evolving. Review and reassess you risk assessment at least once a year to stay current with new threats and business changes. Update your risk assessment any time there’s a significant change within your business. Changes could include new technology adoption, organizational restructuring, regulatory updates, or a security incident. Regular reassessments can ensure mitigation strategies remain effective and aligned with your organization’s risk posture.
Start Assessing Risk Today
A risk assessment is an extremely valuable analysis of your cybersecurity environment. It can take your security posture from good to better. The deliverable is useful for the entire period between your current and future assessment and can provide good structure for your cybersecurity strategy roadmap. You might believe assessments are only for enterprise level business or those with strict regulations. Risk assessments benefit any business that wants to stay protected from the constantly evolving landscape of cyber threats.
NetGain supports businesses of all sizes, across all industries, perform various technology assessments. As a managed security service provider (MSSP), our team can deliver valuable and insightful security risk assessments. Beyond security, we have a full project services team that can deliver anything from wireless assessments, telephony audits, and infrastructure analyses. No matter your need, assessments are great tools to understand your business and operational readiness for planned and unexpected events.
For support with any of your technology audits and assessments, reach out to us today!
