We’re almost at the end of January, so hopefully this means you’ve taken some time to sketch out your cybersecurity New Year’s resolutions. If you’re still unsure about what steps you can take to improve your security, consider planning a security risk assessment. A security risk assessment can help you focus on your core vulnerabilities so that you are protecting your data safely. Approximately 78% of consumers say that they will stop engaging with a business after a data breach. With a security assessment, you can give your clients peace of mind knowing that you’re taking every measure to protect their data.

Source: Help Net Security

What is a Security Risk Assessment?

A security risk assessment is used to analyze and identify security defects and vulnerabilities within your environment. The purpose of a security risk assessment is to have organizations to be aware of their security risks so that they can take the necessary steps to fix any weaknesses.

Hiring an independent third party like Jolera to conduct a risk assessment will provide you with an impartial assessment by trained security experts. Risk management is a continuous process; there are several factors that can change your risk level such as new hardware and/or new threats. It’s recommended to conduct security assessments yearly, or whenever significant changes are implemented within your systems.

Do I Need a Security Risk Assessment?

If you want to ensure your organization has a good security posture, or if you fall under certain regulations (FISMA, PCI DSS, etc) then you absolutely do need a security risk assessment.

An effective security risk assessment will help you fill any gaps within your environment, make crucial business decisions and prevent data breaches. Security risk assessments will help bring attention to the most severe problems so that you can fix them as soon as possible.

What Can My Business Expect From a Security Risk Assessment?

1. Network Scanning: The thought of having your entire network under review might seem daunting and time consuming, but security assessments can be done with minimal impact to your business. There are several automated security tools that can scan your businesses in several hours. This helps reduce human and labour costs when it comes to scanning your environment.

2. Customized Reporting: Based on the compliance requirements your company falls under, your risk assessment can be customized. For example, a retailer undergoing a security assessment will want to make sure that their systems and operations are PCI DSS compliant. On the other hand, a healthcare organization will want to make sure they meet HIPAA requirements. Although each assessment will be looking at overall security, regulatory compliance adds a customized component for the risk assessment your company undergoes.

3. Comprehensive Understanding: Gain a deep understanding of your overall security posture. We will analyze your security policies and vulnerabilities based on the results of our testing. From there, we will make recommendations on what you can do to improve your environment.  With easy to read reports, you can see an overall snapshot of your network. This will help you justify your security spending so that you know you are investing in the right areas for your business.

To learn more about what Jolera can do for you, contact us for a security risk assessment. Whether your network is in AWS or Azure, or your networks are on-premise, we can perform the most effective security assessment for you.