Cybersecurity risks are a real and present danger for businesses of all sizes. In order to reduce business cyber risks, it is important to understand what they are and how to address them. In this blog post, we will discuss five steps that your business can take to reduce its cyber risk. By following these tips, you can help keep your business’ data safe from online threats.
Conduct A Cybersecurity Risk Assessment
The first step in reducing your business’ cyber risk is to understand what cyber risks your business is vulnerable to. The best way to find these vulnerabilities is to conduct a cybersecurity risk assessment. This will help you identify the specific risks that your business faces, as well as the potential impact of those risks. Once you have identified potential threats, you can then develop a cybersecurity plan and implement security measures to reduce business cyber risk.
The most effective means of determining security gaps is to consider all three elements of risk – threat, vulnerability, and consequence. Let’s dive into these three a little deeper to gain a better understanding of how they all play a part in your business cybersecurity.
Threats are considered events that can have negative consequences on a critical asset to your business. A few examples of business-critical assets can include:
- People
- Property or Monetary
- Continuity of Operations
- Business Data
- Your Business Reputation
Vulnerabilities are gaps within your current cybersecurity plan or weaknesses within your organization’s process to protect or prevent a cyber attack.
Consequences are the negative impact of a cyber incident on your business. A consequence could be loss of secure data, ransomware, brand reputation or worst your business not being able to continue operations
By looking at all 3 elements you are able to identify your areas of weakness and better develop an incident response plan on how to continue business operations in the event of a cyber threat.
Assess and Communicate Risks
After you have conducted a risk assessment, you will need to assess the risks and communicate them to decision-makers within your organization. This step is important because it will help you determine which risks are acceptable and which ones need to be addressed.
When assessing risks, you should consider the potential impact of each risk as well as the likelihood of it occurring. Once you have assessed the risks, you should communicate them to the decision-makers within your organization. This will help ensure that everyone is aware of the risks and can make informed decisions about how to address them.
Decide on Decision-Makers
After you have assessed and communicated the risks, you will need to decide on who will be responsible for making decisions about how to reduce business cyber risk. This step is important because it will ensure that there is someone responsible for addressing the risks.
There are a few different options for who can make decisions about risks. One option is to have a team of people responsible for assessing and reducing risks. Another option is to have one person responsible for making decisions about risks.
No matter who you choose to make decisions about risks, it is important that they are able to make informed decisions. This means that they should have a good understanding of the risks and the potential impact of those risks.
Make Informed Decisions and Re-evaluate Risks
Once decisions have been made about how to reduce the risks, you should re-evaluate the risks on a regular basis. This will help ensure that the strategies that you have put in place are effective and that new risks have not emerged.
Get the Organization Involved
The final step in reducing your business’ cyber risk is to get the entire organization involved. This includes both employees and management. Employees should be trained on how to reduce the risks that they face. This training should include information on how to identify risks, how to avoid them, and what to do if they are exposed to risk.
Management should also be involved in reducing business cyber risks. They should develop policies and procedures that will help reduce the risks that their employees face. They should also ensure that these policies and procedures are followed by all employees.
Praxis Offers Proactive Cybersecurity Solutions
Reducing your business’ cyber risk is an important part of protecting your business. By taking a proactive approach rather than reactive your business is better protected to stay secure in today’s current digital landscape. Cybersecurity is complex but our team of professionals are here to help. Reach out to Praxis to schedule your network vulnerability assessment today.
