Why Every Business Needs a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

Given the widespread array of potential threats, the increasing rate of attacks and schemes, and the cost associated with an incident, every business should engage a cybersecurity firm for a risk assessment. These assessments are both a critical tool and a foundational piece for any comprehensive cybersecurity plan.

The need for risk assessments has been heightened by the ongoing conflict in Europe, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led many to expect an increase in cyberattacks on organizations both within and beyond the region. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), intelligence reports indicate the Russian government is exploring potential cyberattacks as a response to the economic sanctions levied by the United States and its allies and partners.

If that wasn’t reason enough to consider a risk assessment, common security issues like email phishing ploys and social engineering attacks, unauthorized remote access to your network and/or data, and the ever-looming threat of ransomware remain top of mind for most organizations. These attacks can come from anywhere at any time and your organization’s size and location has little bearing on if it becomes a target.

For instance, you might think your company is safe from disruption or attack, but can you say the same for your supply chain or every critical vendor you deal with? Attacks on other parties can have effects that ripple across your own organization. A cybersecurity risk assessment can help you identify potential vulnerabilities.

It’s also clear that conducting risk assessments is essential for all businesses, no matter their size. Small to midsize businesses (SMBs) are quickly becoming popular targets for cyberattacks. In 2020, more than 70% of ransomware incidents were targeted attacks on companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Given their size, SMBs typically don’t have the dedicated internal IT teams and resources for cybersecurity or their larger brethren and present an ‘easy money’ target for malicious actors.

No company is too small, or too large, to ignore these issues. But many organizations simply don’t know where to begin addressing such concerns. Cybersecurity risk assessments help you fill in the blanks. What needs to be protected? What are the biggest threats? What are the solutions I can use?

Go Deeper with Inversion6: The invasion of Ukraine has led to increased concern about cyberattacks from the region. What do you need to know to prepare? Inversion6 Technologies has you covered.

Craft a Blueprint for Moving Forward

When it comes to cybersecurity, you need to identify what you need to protect, what threats are most dangerous, and then institute solutions. Cybersecurity risk assessments help identify all those facets within your organization. It’s critical you use that information before a cybercriminal finds it and exploits it.

A proven, highly-qualified partner will apply a risk assessment through a process that covers a series of distinct phases to give you a complete profile of your security vulnerabilities, and how to address them.

Identification

What are your most important assets? What are your vulnerabilities? Do you have proprietary data that needs to be protected? What would be the primary targets that a hacker might find particularly enticing? Which vendors or third parties do you work with that provide either potential security gaps or valuable information?

Assessing

What controls do you already have in place? What type of threats are you most susceptible to? What is your company doing today to safeguard critical assets, or address vulnerabilities?

Mitigation

What solutions will help address some of your current security gaps? Do you need an email filtering system? Do you have incident response plans in place? Do you have safe, encrypted backup data available offline?

Prevention

What further tools, policies, and protocols can minimize risk moving forward? What controls could limit business email compromise issues? What can you add that would minimize future risk from everything from viruses to ransomware?

With the process completed, the company now has a complete snapshot of where they stand currently and, perhaps most importantly, a blueprint to chart out its next steps. With a cybersecurity risk assessment you can develop a heat map of your biggest threats, and then develop a corresponding project list to address them. The information gathered can validate or reinforce the recommendations of your own internal IT team, or uncover aspects previously overlooked. With a complete assessment, you can prioritize or allocate funding and future spending knowing exactly what you need to address and how to reduce the most amount of risk.

If you’ve been pondering an investment in your security controls, conducting a risk assessment will give you actionable insights about how and where to spend those dollars. The solutions implemented can then be used to move your organization toward compliance with CMMC and other regulatory requirements.

These are processes and aspects that can benefit every organization. Remember, no business is too small to escape notice from cyber criminals. Likewise, every company benefits from an assessment to learn where to prioritize precious security resources.

Learn more with Inversion6: Risk assessments can aid in learning what’s needed to secure or renew cyber insurance policies. Get a look at the current cyber insurance market here.

Why Inversion6 Technologies is Best Positioned to Execute your Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

As an extension of your team, Inversion6 Technologies provides customized security solutions to support your security efforts. Whether you’re looking for a risk assessment, fractional CISO, MSSP, or security software guidance, Inversion6 Technologies partners with you to keep your company safe. Dedicated to long-term service, Inversion6 Technologies will work to protect your organization relentlessly — every hour of every day — by investigating and detecting potential threats, then communicating those concerns and finally, eliminating security issues.

For more than 30 years we’ve helped our customers ensure their networks are built to scale and keep their data safe, secure, and compliant. This experience isn’t just deep, it’s also broad. We bring many different perspectives to the table and our personnel come from various backgrounds; Many members of our team have been in your shoes, looking for efficient and effective solutions to cybersecurity concerns.

Our experts know what questions to ask, where to probe for answers, and where to dig deeper in measuring your preparedness or potential weaknesses. And because we work as an extension of your team — and less like a consultant — we’ll collaborate with you while conducting any cybersecurity risk assessment. We understand every business is unique and no one solution will suit every organization. That’s why we give you actionable recommendations based on your specific circumstances.

Connect with Inversion6 today to learn more about what we do, and how our risk assessments are the first step toward securing your most valuable assets.