No matter how small or how large a company may be, there is always at least one cyber security risk that is present. The significance of this cyber security risk does relate to the size of and the resources available to the company. Hackers have many options as to how they will target and attack a corporation. A properly constructed cyber security risk management plan from a complete security company puts a strategy in place to help protect against and mitigate the damage from cyber security attacks.

Cyber Security Risk Assessment

A cyber security risk assessment is a process which identifies the critical assets of a company and the cyber threats which could impact those assets. The first step is to identify the company’s critical assets, such as information storage devices, confidential documents, and sensitive data. Next, all individuals who have access to the critical assets need to be identified and documented. Then, threats to the critical assets must be identified by researching how the information is stored, how the data is protected, and the current procedures in place to protect these assets. Finally, consequences of a successful cyber-attack are forecasted to determine the potentially detrimental impact to the company.

Cyber Security Risk Elimination and Mitigation

Successful cyber security risk management plans focus on three key areas when working to eliminate threats and mitigate consequences from attacks: prevention, resolution, and restitution. The prevention stage focuses on solutions, policies, and procedures which need to be put into action in order to reduce the risk of threats. The prevention stage, when equipped with the proper security personnel and services, can help eliminate many of the existing cyber threats.

With a solid cyber security risk management plan, many attempted cyber-attacks can be eliminated; however, the world is not a perfect place and some might still manage to be successful. In the event of a computer or network security breach, the resolution stage focuses on the plans and procedures that determine the resources available to react to and recover from a threat. Finally, the restitution stage focuses on maintaining the trust of partners, employees, clients, and other shareholders so that damage to business operations does not become a long term problem because of one attack.

What are the Chances? Is it worth the Risk?

If you are a business owner, then you have probably asked yourselves these two questions regarding cyber security services. Fact of the matter is, all companies are at risk and the smaller companies are actually at a higher risk for cyber threat frequency than the larger corporations. Having a security company perform a cyber security risk assessment is a great first step to answering these questions. When dealing with cyber threats, it is a gamble because they are unpredictable in nature. Resources might be limited for many companies, especially the smaller ones, but the best cyber security companies will always find a way to create a cost-efficient cyber security risk management plan for their clients.