10 Aug How to Calculate Your Business’ Cyber Risk
Since the beginning of civilization, entrepreneurs and businesses have had to contend with particular risks to their products, establishments and finances. In centuries past, these risks were almost all of a physical nature: vandalism, theft and product degradation were all too common examples of the threats that business owners had to face. Today, however, many businesses have moved into the world of the internet, which creates an entirely new series of risks and threats that businesses must mitigate. In order to fight back against these potential risks, a business must first be able to calculate and determine their likelihood and existence. Below, we’ll outline what to consider in order to calculate your business’ overall cyber risk.
Professional Assistance
Many businesses do not possess the internal capabilities that will allow for a thorough assessment of enterprise IT security and risk. Because of this, turning to a professional firm or agency for assistance is commonplace. Entities such as Masergy not only assess the individual components of risk that can put your data and brand at risk of attack, but many also provide auxiliary services such as cloud hosting and analytics that will permanently keep your brand’s online presence protected and well-monitored. Even if a brand prefers to retain total control over their data and online presence, a professional evaluation of cyber risk may be necessary to identify individual elements of concern.
Define the Elements of Risk
The term risk can be defined in simplistic terms, but not when determining the amount of danger or threat that exists to a brand’s online presence. There are several elements that comprise risk assessment, including but not limited to the likelihood of a specific event occurring, the impact that a given breach of security or problem could have within the business, the ease of which a response to the problem can be rendered, and the amount of potential loss that can occur from such an event. In order to determine these elements, an understanding of how they impact network and infrastructure, customers and clients, and employees is also absolutely crucial.
Calculate the Risk
With all of the variables now defined, the ability to calculate risk becomes possible. Without a program or piece of cyber risk software to assist, it becomes very difficult to quantify each potential variable’s effect in the overall equation. Fortunately, there are utilities available to brands that can assist with this endeavor. These programs will provide ways in which to even run potential scenarios by calculating how select vulnerabilities can impact previously-mentioned variables. Through the inclusion of features that can simulate risk assessment logic, impact calculations, and provide insight into the probability of a security breach, risk calculation for businesses has never been easier.
Conclusion
The threat that many online businesses and brands face is very real. Without a proper understanding of the elements that threaten enterprise IT security even small businesses can find themselves the target of potential thieves and malcontents. By understanding the risks a business faces, appropriate actions can be taken to significantly reduce or outright eliminate the threat of cyber risk in the future.