While every department in an organization needs to perform risk assessments at some point, cybersecurity and information technology require greater insight. Depending on the industry, regulatory compliance may have a standard for the risk assessment or the data that needs to be protected. However, even organizations without a point-of-sale system need to protect the personally identifiable information (PII) for their users – whether that includes username, email address, age, or address. Even the smallest piece of malicious code on a website can trigger a long future of identity protection for the compromised user.
Learn The Full Extent Of Your External Attack Surface
From a cybersecurity perspective, you can only protect the assets you know about. An extensive assessment of your external attack surface gives you a current snapshot of every online asset, whether managed directly by your enterprise or by an nth-party vendor.
Because every company in your digital supply chain relies on third-party vendors for to operate their business, your organization faces risks from your vendors’ vendors. While these services are essential to growth as a company, a risk assessment ensures you have a clear picture of your vulnerabilities throughout this attack surface.
Analyze And Prioritize The Vulnerable Assets
Once you have that snapshot of your external attack surface, you need to analyze the data and prioritize the next steps in remediation.
Cyberpion’s External Attack Surface Assessment tool not only provides the snapshot but also prioritizes each risk so your team knows where to start. This information helps you meet regulatory standards and saves you time repairing breaches.
Protect Your Organization With A Routine Risk Assessment
The cybersecurity world is changing every day, and malicious attackers are becoming more and more sophisticated in their tactics.
Regular Vulnerability Scans
Cyberpion recommends a full external attack surface assessment scan every two weeks to stay ahead of vulnerabilities. In 2016, Marriott bought a third-party vendor whose server was compromised two years earlier. Without due diligence or continued assessment, they allowed the server to remain compromised for another two years.
For NIST compliance, risk assessment becomes part of security culture, not just a one-time occurrence.
Secure Physical Equipment
Cybersecurity risk comes from anywhere, and the next greatest risk is malware-infected employee devices. With many teams working remotely or using cloud services for their documents and communication, security may seem impossible. Regularly communicating best practices around WiFi usage, server access, permissions, and password sharing can keep security at the front of your employees’ minds.