7 Powerful Reasons for an Operational Risk Management Framework Now

What is Operational Risk Management Framework?  Wikipedia provides a definition for Risk Management as first of all the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks.  Using tools and resources minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of an unfortunate event.  I would venture to say your thoughts about Risk are probably way different now than December of 2019.

In the beginning of 2020, majority of businesses sent their workforces home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Not only did the pandemic increase risk to the success of a business but cyberattacks leveraging the pandemic worries increased as well.

No business today is 100 percent secure from cyberthreats and more businesses wake up to this reality every day.  The cybersecurity investment in 2020 pegged to grow by 5.6 percent to reach nearly $43.1 billion in value.¹ With cyberattacks surging due to widespread remote work and increased online interactions during the pandemic, it seems likely this trend will continue to grow further.

While 58 percent of IT leaders and practitioners consider improving IT security their topmost priority, nearly 53 percent of them find cybersecurity and data protection to be among their biggest challenges as well.² Some customers at first think one assessment will be enough.  However, once we bring to light current issues, our clients ask for further validation that vulnerabilities found were resolved.

Through the course of this blog, you will understand the definition of a cybersecurity risk assessment and why you must undertake and monitor them regularly to keep your business’ cybersecurity posture abreast with ever-evolving cyberthreats. By the end of it, we hope you realize the value of an operational risk management framework.

 

Understanding Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

In rudimentary terms, a cybersecurity risk assessment refers to the act of understanding, managing, controlling and mitigating cybersecurity risks across your business’ infrastructure.  Implementing a risk assessment on a continual basis will create an operational risk management framework.

In its Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) states that the purpose of cybersecurity risk assessments is to “identify, estimate and prioritize risk to organizational operations, assets, individuals, other organizations and the Nation, resulting from the operation and use of information systems.”

A cybersecurity risk assessment helps key decision-makers take informed decisions to tackle prevalent and imminent risks. Ideally, an assessment answers the following questions:

• What are your business’ key IT assets?
• What type of data breach would have a major impact on your business?
• What are the relevant threats to your business and their sources?
• What are the internal and external security vulnerabilities?
• What would be the impact to business processes if any of the vulnerabilities were exploited?
• What is the probability of a vulnerability being exploited?
• What cyberattacks or security threats could impact your business’ ability to function?

The answers to these questions will help you keep track of security risks and mitigate them before disaster strikes. Now, imagine periodically having the answers to these questions whenever you sit down to make key business decisions.  If you’re wondering how it would benefit you, keep reading.

Why Implement an Operational Risk Management Framework?

Due to today’s cyberthreat landscape, risk management needs to be operationalized.  In one assessment, your business might seem protected and all systems patched to the latest versions.  However, many businesses who consistently review their environment find new vulnerabilities.

We put together seven reasons how an operational risk management framework will help your business survive the cyberthreats in today’s world:

Reason 1: Keeping Threats at Bay

Most importantly, an ongoing operational risk management framework strategy will help you keep threats, both prevalent and imminent, at a safe distance from your business; especially ones you usually do not monitor regularly.  When was the last time your network switches were fully updated?

Reason 2: Prevent Data Loss

Theft or loss of business-critical data can set your business back a long way, leading to loss of business to competitors. Ongoing risk management can help you remain vigilant of any possible attempts at compromising your business data.

Reason 3: Enhanced Operational Efficiency and Reduced Workforce Frustration

As a business owner or key decision-maker of your organization, you would be amazed how consistently staying on top of potential cybersecurity threats can reduce the risk of unplanned downtime. The assurance that hard work will not vanish into thin air will surely keep the morale of your employees high, thereby reflecting positively on their productivity.

Reason 4: Reduction of Long-Term Costs

Identifying potential vulnerabilities and mitigating them in time can help you prevent or reduce security incidents, which in turn would save your business a significant amount of money and/or potential reputational damage.  Small businesses without an operational risk management framework implemented increase their risk.

Reason 5: One Assessment Will Set the Right Tone

You must not assume that there should only be one fixed template for all your future cybersecurity risk assessments. However, in order to update them continuously, you need to conduct one in the first place. Hence, the first few assessments will set the right tone for future assessments as part of your ongoing risk management strategy.

Reason 6: Improved Organizational Knowledge

Knowing security vulnerabilities across the business will help you keep a keen eye on important aspects that your business must improve on.

Reason 7: Avoid Regulatory Compliance Issues

By ensuring that you put up a formidable defense against cyberthreats, you will automatically avoid hassles with respect to complying with regulatory standards such as HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, etc.

Join Hands With the Right Partner

While we certainly wish we could say that you have plenty of time to mull over this, the unfortunate reality is you do not. If you snooze, it’s very likely that you will lose to a nefarious cybercriminal.

Stay tuned right here at Cloudz Biz to learn more how you can improve the resiliency of your small business.

 

Article curated and used by permission.

 

Data Sources:

1. Global Cybersecurity 2020 Forecast Canalys
2. 2020 State of IT Operations Survey, Kaseya