Four Ways to Formulate a Risk-Based Cybersecurity Strategy

Adopting a risk-based approach can help organizations categorize which of their assets shows the highest risk if jeopardized and prioritize resources accordingly.

Fremont, CA: Cybersecurity is a crucial business challenge that businesses face. This challenge arises because a lot of companies follow an old-fashioned approach to cybersecurity protocols.

As the number of data collected by companies increases, cybersecurity protocols also expand and slows down application development teams. Adopting a risk-based approach can help organizations categorize which of their assets shows the highest risk if jeopardized and prioritize resources accordingly. This is a versatile and smart approach in an environment where attackers are becoming more complex and advanced.

Here are four ways to create a risk-based strategy:

Connect High-Value Processes to Risk Assessment

Develop an organization risk map of the high-value processes and the risk levels they present. Some high-value functions may not be of many risks, while others may be present an enterprise-level risk.

Handle all of the business units' processes to identify which assets present a high risk and have a high value. These assets or processes need to be prioritized when it comes to threat identification and alleviation. It is also essential to map the dependencies of those processes.

Fully Embed Cybersecurity in the Risk Management Framework

Cybersecurity and cyber risk assessment need to be integrated into the core functions of the organizations. Instead of focusing on increasing awareness, focus on changing employee behavior instead. Perform collaborative workshops and fire drills that stress on the risks that an organization faces. This approach illustrates cybersecurity and integrates it into routine risk management protocols.

Track the Right Metrics

Many organizations monitor KPIs that evaluate the level of completeness in a project. Instead, analyze the degree to which the risk has reduced. Do not depend on KPIs and start thinking of combining them to important risk indicators or KRIs.

Security to be Communicated in an Easily Understood, Accessible Language

Regularly monitor the thread environment instead of depending on one-off tests alone. Combine both approaches to create a powerful security framework that decreases the risk of attack.