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How to Conduct a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

Identifying weak spots today could shield your company from expensive invasions later. A cyberattack occurs every 39 seconds, according to a University of Maryland study. With every computer on your network being a target for cybercriminals to attack, gathering concrete data about your risk profile is an essential step. By conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment, you’re taking the initial steps toward a better understanding of the security weaknesses in your network and what needs to be done to fix them.

What is a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?

Cybersecurity risk assessments are used to determine your most crucial information and equipment, how a hacker would obtain access, potential dangers if your information were to fall into the wrong hands and your possible vulnerabilities.

A cybersecurity risk assessment first identifies the various IT assets that might be impacted by a cyberattack, including:

  • Hardware
  • Systems
  • Laptops
  • Customer data
  • Intellectual property

Businesses can leverage risk assessments to understand where there are vulnerabilities within their infrastructure and can analyze that information further to assess the various threats that might impact those assets.

How to Conduct a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

Regardless of how complex or simple your network is, the basic steps for conducting an assessment are the same:

1. Gather Information

Learn about your network’s security measures, weaknesses, and infrastructure. By answering a series of questions, you can uncover information about how secure or unsecure your infrastructure is.

2. Make a System Map

Once you’ve thought through how you will gather information, it’s time to map out your system. You should first figure out how your system operates, what purpose it serves, and who utilizes it, among other things.

3. Reduce the Impact of Human Error

Network vulnerabilities can also be brought on by human error. Employees who carelessly click on strange links or download attachments from phishing emails are one of the primary sources of data breaches.

4. Think about the possible hazards, their likelihood, and their effects

Along with the technical and human elements of cybersecurity, think about the potential threats that could impact your network and how likely they will be. You should include every potential avenue of attack that hackers could use to get access to your network and data.

You may discover obvious security issues when you become familiar with the network and how it functions. While this is always a good thing, a qualified cybersecurity consultant or firm may carry out a more quantitative risk assessment that can assist you in preventing significant data breaches brought on by some of the most recent and subtle attacks. To get started, you can use TPx’s free Risk Assessment Calculator to quantify your level of risk. For help getting detailed answers to your questions, you can talk with TPx today.

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