May 03 2021

Risk-based vulnerability management has produced demonstrable results

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 7:44 am
Risk-based vulnerability management has produced demonstrable results

Risk-based vulnerability management

Risk-based vulnerability management doesn’t ask “How do we fix everything?” It merely asks, “What do we actually need to fix?” A series of research reports from the Cyentia Institute have answered that question in a number of ways, finding for example, that attackers are more likely to develop exploits for some vulnerabilities than others.

Research has shown that, on average, about 5 percent of vulnerabilities actually pose a serious security risk. Common triage strategies, like patching every vulnerability with a CVSS score above 7 were, in fact, no better than chance at reducing risk.

But now we can say that companies using RBVM programs are patching a higher percentage of their high-risk vulnerabilities. That means they are doing more, and there’s less wasted effort. (Which is especially good because patch management is resource constrained.)

The time it took companies to patch half of their high-risk vulnerabilities was 158 days in 2019. This year, it was 27 days.

And then there is another measure of success. Companies start vulnerability management programs with massive backlogs of vulnerabilities, and the number of vulnerabilities only grows each year. Last year, about two-thirds of companies using a risk-based system reduced their vulnerability debt or were at least treading water. This year, that number rose to 71 percent.

When a company discloses that their networks have been breached and that their data has been stolen or encrypted for ransom, there is a steady drumbeat of critics. The company, these critics contend, is somehow at fault. Its security team didn’t do EVERYTHING it could have to prevent the breach. The proof of this doesn’t lie in knowledge of what preventative steps the security team did, but in the fact that it got breached. Victim blaming was alive and well in cybersecurity.

Thankfully, this mindset is fading away. But when cybersecurity companies with risk-based approaches began entering the market, they faced headwinds from the security nihilism crowd who thought if you can’t fix everything, then “why bother?”

We can now say that, when it comes to vulnerability management – a complex, yet fundamental cybersecurity discipline – the risk-based approach has produced clear results. The proof is in the data.

Enterprises that use risk-based approaches to vulnerability management are getting faster and smarter at this foundational cybersecurity discipline. They are doing less work and seeing more impactful security improvements. It’s encouraging to see these year-over-year improvements and we believe this trend is likely to continue.

Risk Based Vulnerability Management 

Risk Based Vulnerability Management A Complete Guide - 2019 Edition by [Gerardus Blokdyk]

Tags: Risk-based vulnerability management

Mar 30 2021

Risky business: 3 timeless approaches to reduce security risk in 2021

Category: Risk Assessment — DISC @ 9:57 pm
Risky business: 3 timeless approaches to reduce security risk in 2021

Steps to reduce security risk in 2021

A summary of the tactical and strategic moves CISOs can make to reduce security risk:

  • Look to reduce your “haystack” of threat avenues through smart policy enforcement. Consider DNS as a vector – for both attack and detection
  • Ensure that your cloud adoption strategy is coupled with sound cloud security policy and design
  • Educate your leadership team. “We aren’t a target” is equivalent to sticking your head in the sand.

Are you doing enough? Do you understand your risks? What if the brightest aren’t always the best choice for your company?

The Smartest Person in the room
The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity by [Christian Espinosa]

Tags: reduce security risk

Mar 29 2021

Understanding Cyber Risk Quantification – A Four Minute Journey Into Your Future

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 10:56 pm

Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) is now viewed as a core pillar of any effective Integrated Risk Management program. This short explainer video walks you through and gives you a glimpse into your future as a top tier cyber risk management organization. 

A FAIR Approach

Tags: A FAIR Approach, cyber risk quantification

Mar 17 2021

Why is financial cyber risk quantification important?

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment,Vendor Assessment — DISC @ 10:13 am
Why is financial cyber risk quantification important?

In its 10th annual Risk Barometer, Allianz found that cyber incidents ranked third in a list of the most important global business risks for the upcoming year, coming in second behind risks stemming from the pandemic itself. We can expect cyber incidents to increase in frequency and sophistication as cyber criminals continue to leverage the various security lapses that accompany remote workforces.

However, something that has changed recently is how business leaders and boards of directors are viewing cyber risk. While previously seen as an issue solely for security and technology leaders to manage, executives are now pressuring security departments to financially quantify cyber risks facing their organizations.

In fact, a recent survey of 100 senior security professionals found that 70% of respondents have received pressure to produce cyber risk quantification for their business. Further, half of the respondents reported they have a lack of confidence in their ability to communicate and report the financial impacts of cyber risks, with a quarter saying they do not have a cyber risk quantification technology deployed at their company.

Why are executives pressuring CISOs to start financially quantifying cyber risk for their business? This process allows CISOs to identify and rank risk scenarios that are most critical to their enterprise, based on factors such as which attacks would have the biggest financial impact, and how equipped the company is to defend itself against any given attack.

Automated risk quantification makes this process even easier, removing the guesswork out of these decisions and streamlining the process of getting to actionable information. The potential for human error and subjectivity are removed completely from the equation.

Previously, security leaders have relied on theoretical models of risk like the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Even with this system, it can be difficult to prioritize the vulnerabilities that rank highest in terms of severity. This is even more challenging for leaders across the enterprise who may be unfamiliar with this system. Cyber risk quantification provides security leaders with a way to communicate the most pressing cyber threats facing a company that do not rely on a scoring system that is incomprehensible to anyone outside of the security department.

By assigning a dollar value to potential cyber incidents, business leaders have better visibility into the most pressing – and costly – threats facing the enterprise. With this information, the business and security teams can align their efforts and prioritize the largest risks, rather than dedicating resources to lower priority risks.

Teams can focus their efforts on ensuring the business has adequate controls and processes in place to defend against the costlier risks and make additional investments accordingly. It can also make it easier for leaders and boards to justify spending more time or money to proactively defend against certain risks.

For CISOs, cyber risk quantification also provides an easier way to communicate the value of their work to leadership. Security leaders can calculate the return on investment of their tools and teams in the context of risk reduction for the enterprise. This gives leaders better visibility into the risks facing their organizations in terms that are understandable and actionable. Conversely, cyber risk quantification can help to identify any issues with an organization’s existing cybersecurity program and measure improvement over time.

Overall, shifting to this type of risk-led approach for cybersecurity will result in data-driven and actionable insights that will allow leaders across all business departments to understand and act on the most critical cyber risks facing their enterprise.

We know that attacks are going to continue, whether they’re state-sponsored or cyber criminals, and it is critical for an enterprise to have a comprehensive view into your risk landscape. Now is the time for security leaders to adopt cyber risk quantification and more easily demonstrate how cybersecurity organizations are protecting their business operations from disruption and catastrophic harm.

Why is financial cyber risk quantification important?

Cyber Risk Quantification A Complete Guide

Tags: cyber risk quantification

Mar 16 2021

Risk management in the digital world: How different is it?

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 3:33 pm
Risk management in the digital world: How different is it?

Prioritizing and communicating risk

Last year, the number of active phishing websites increased 350% from January to March alone. Now that employees are connecting to the office from their own remote networks and not through their office’s secure network, the chance of a security breach is higher than ever. While risk managers know this already, securing company data is essential to customer trust and longevity. To prioritize risk during remote work, risk managers need to involve executives and keep them updated and educated on potential problems and solutions. Prioritizing risk now will pay dividends in the long run.

Executive teams need to buy in — simply relegating all risk-related work to risk managers isn’t enough in the end. Investing time and money to form a risk-aware culture will better educate all employees on how to avoid common scams and prepare for larger-scale problems. Without prioritization and investment in risk, companies may not make it through the next major disruption and risk major security breaches.

A risk-aware culture can’t be created overnight. Risk managers and executives must first identify the risks and find out where the company stands, aligning risk culture with the existing company culture. Then, they can implement new risk management strategies that may require drastic changes, such as new software, revised policies and educational tutorials on risk. IT teams need to be on top of their game for virtual risks, educating employees and preparing them to ask the right questions. With phishing on the rise and data at a very vulnerable point, employees must be able to assess risk on their own.

Risk management in the digital world: How different is it?

Build a Security Culture

Tags: Risk management in the digital world

Feb 25 2021

Proven Use Cases to Start Quantitative Cyber Risk Management

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:05 am
Proven Use Cases to Start Quantitative Cyber Risk Management

With the growing interest in Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR™), we hear a lot from people who have read about FAIR or even taken FAIR training and are really excited about the potential power of cyber risk quantification for risk management –  but have come away with the impression that to actually bring a quantitative risk management program to life in their organization would be…

…a slow, evolutionary process.

Well, it is a process of upward evolution from qualitative, opinion-driven, red-yellow-green risk analysis to critical thinking about risk in financial terms.  And yes, bringing your entire organization to a common way of thinking about risk as loss events instead of vague worries like “the cloud” is a great step forward.

Proven Use Cases to Start Quantitative Cyber Risk Management

Tags: Quantitative Cyber Risk Management

Feb 24 2021

Nmap Cheat Sheet

Category: Cheat Sheet,Network security,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 9:52 am

Nmap Cheat Sheet – Infographic by SANS Institute

Tags: Nmap, Nmap network scanning

Aug 18 2020

Advice for senior management on their responsibilities towards information risk

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 5:55 pm

IAAC Directors’ Guides

Source:Succinct advice for senior management on their responsibilities towards information risk, courtesy of the IAAC.




Oct 14 2019

The best practice guide for an effective infoSec function

Category: cyber security,Information Security,ISO 27k,NIST CSF,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 10:48 am

Building ISMS

The best practice guide for an effective infoSec function: iTnews has put together a bit of advice from various controls including ISO 27k and NIST CSF to guide you through what’s needed to build an effective information security management system (ISMS) within your organization.

This comprehensive report is a must-have reference for executives, senior managers and folks interested in the information security management area.

 

Practice Guide

Open a PDF file The best practice guide for an effective infoSec function.

How to Build a Cybersecurity Program based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDra0cy5WZI

Beginners ultimate guide to ISO 27001 Information Security Management Systems
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LytISQyhQVE

Conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment


Subscribe to DISC InfoSec blog by Email




Tags: isms

Oct 06 2019

A CISO’s Guide to Bolstering Cybersecurity Posture

Category: Information Privacy,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 8:24 pm

iso27032

When It Come Down To It, Cybersecurity Is All About Understanding Risk

Risk Management Framework for Information Systems

How to choose the right cybersecurity framework

Improve Cybersecurity posture by using ISO/IEC 27032
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX5RMGOcyBM

Cybersecurity Summit 2018: David Petraeus and Lisa Monaco on America’s cybersecurity posture
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8WGPZwlfj8

CSET Cyber Security Evaluation Tool – ICS/OT
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzuraQXDqMY


Subscribe to DISC InfoSec blog by Email




Tags: cybersecurity posture, security risk management

Jul 21 2019

When It Come Down To It, Cybersecurity Is All About Understanding Risk

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 12:11 am

Get two risk management experts in a room, one financial and the other IT, and they will NOT be able to discuss risk.

Source: When It Come Down To It, Cybersecurity Is All About Understanding Risk

An Overview of Risk Assessment According to
ISO 27001 and ISO 27005





Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner




Mar 17 2019

Risk Management Framework for Information Systems

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Compliance,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 9:32 pm

Risk Management Framework for Information Systems and Organizations:
A System Life Cycle Approach for Security and Privacy
NIST 800-37r2












Subscribe to DISC InfoSec blog by Email




Tags: Risk Management Framework

Mar 07 2019

How to choose the right cybersecurity framework

Category: Policies & Controls,Risk Assessment,Security Compliance,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 10:05 am

Does your organization need NIST, CSC, ISO, or FAIR frameworks? Here’s how to start making sense of security frameworks.

Source: How to choose the right cybersecurity framework





Nov 05 2017

Breach highlights the need for a cyber health check

Category: cyber security,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 8:13 pm

Cyber Health Check

 

Deloitte breach highlights the need for a cyber health check

Javier Brias

Deloitte, one of the world’s biggest accounting organizations, recently suffered a data breach that compromised confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients, according to the Guardian.

The hackers also had potential access to usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural designs and health information.

Deloitte has confirmed it was breached but said that only a small number of clients were affected.

This breach is even more unfortunate because Deloitte offers clients advice on how to manage risks posed by cyber attacks. Its Cyber Intelligence Centre states that it can “integrate state-of-the-art technology with industry insight to provide round-the-clock business-focused operational security.”

The problem with a solutions-based approach

The fact that Deloitte is a global consultant with interests in cyber security proves that no one is safe from a cyber attack.

In today’s cyber security market, technology vendors tend to focus on specific solutions, such as endpoint security, next-gen firewalls with IDS/IPS, email and web filtering, data loss prevention and identity access management. The problem is that mixing and matching solutions can cause interoperability gaps to materialise.

To understand the complexities of today’s IT infrastructure, companies need to have a strategic plan that takes a global view of the technological landscape and identifies the possible vulnerability points.

How Cyber Health Check fills the gaps

Our independent, three-phase Cyber Health Check service combines on-site consultancy and audit, remote vulnerability assessments and an online staff survey to identify your current cyber risks in the three key exposure areas of people, processes and technology.

This service will provide you with a concise report describing your current cyber risk status and critical exposures, and will draw on best practice – such as ISO 27001, 10 Steps to Cyber Security and Cyber Essentials – to provide recommendations for reducing your cyber and compliance risks. The report also provides feedback on basic cyber hygiene, cyber governance framework, policies and procedures, and technical controls.

The Cyber Health Check service identifies your actual cyber risks, assesses your responses to those risks and analyses your risk exposure. The result is a best-practice action plan to mitigate those risks effectively and in line with your business objectives.

For more information, visit our Cyber Health Check page.

Contact us for more information





Tags: Cyber Health Check

Oct 25 2017

Conducting an asset-based risk assessment in ISO 27001:2013

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:14 am

Conducting an asset-based risk assessment in ISO 27001:2013 – Vigilant Software

The nature of ISO27001 is that it is heavily focused on risk-based planning. This is to ensure that the identified information risks are appropriately managed according to the threats and the nature of the threats. While asset-based risk assessments are still widely regarded as best practice, and present a robust methodology for conducting risk assessments, it is no longer a requirement under ISO 27001:2013.  ISO 27001:2013 leaves it to the organisation to choose the relevant risk assessment methodology, i.e. ISO 27005, or ISO/IEC 31010.

It is commonly believed that an asset-based information security risk assessment provides a thorough and comprehensive approach to conducting a risk assessment, and this article will look at the steps to follow when conducting this type of risk assessment.

Where do you start when you embark on an asset-based information security risk assessment?

The first step would be to produce an asset register, which can be done through a series of interviews with asset owners. The ‘asset owner’ is an individual or entity that has responsibility for controlling the production, development, maintenance, use and security of an information asset.

Note: In the new standard, ISO 27001:2013, there is a stronger emphasis on the role of the ‘risk owner’, which pushes up the responsibility for the risks to a higher level within the organisation. However, since the approach we are following is an asset-based methodology, the asset owner would be the logical point to start in order to compile an asset register.

Once the asset register has been compiled, the next step is to identify any potential threats and vulnerabilities that could pose risks to those assets. A vulnerability / weakness of an asset or control can be defined as one that can be exploited by one or more threats.

Risk assessment & impact determination

Once the threats and vulnerabilities have been identified, then an analysis of the risks should be undertaken, to establish the impact level of the risks.  The impact value needs to take into consideration how the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of data can be affected by each of the risks.

It should also consider the business, legal, contractual and regulatory implications of risks, including the cost of the replacement of the asset, the potential loss of income, fines and reputational damage.

ISO 27005 presents a structured, systematic and rigorous process of analysing risks, and for creating the risk treatment plan, and includes a list of known threats and vulnerabilities that can be used for establishing the risks your information assets are exposed to.

vsRisk comes with an optional, pre-populated asset library.  Organisational roles are pre-assigned to each asset group, and the corresponding potential threats / risks are pre-applied to each asset. vsRisk also pre-assigns the relevant controls from Annex A to each threat. See sample below. View options to purchase vsRisk now.

Sample risk assessment

vsRisk™ provides key benefits for anyone undertaking an asset-based risk assessment.

By providing a simple framework and process to follow, vsRisk minimises the manual hassle and complexity of carrying out an information security risk assessment, saving the risk assessor time and resources. In addition, once the assessment has been completed, the risk assessments can be repeated easily in a standard format year after year.  The tool generates a set of 6 reports that can be exported and edited,  presented to management and audit teams, and includes pre-populated databases of threats and vulnerabilities as well as 7 different control sets that can be applied to treat the risks.





Tags: Risk Assessment

Jul 25 2017

Fundamentals of Information Risk Management Auditing

Category: Risk Assessment — DISC @ 1:49 pm

New information and IT risks seem to be everywhere, so it is essential that organizations address these risks in the context of enterprise risk management (ERM).
ERM is a practice that has become increasingly popular. It’s important that an organization’s information risk management specialist or auditor understands this practice because much of their work will need to be in the context of ERM.
Kick-start your career in information risk management with introductory guidance.

Fundamentals of Information Risk Management Auditing

Provides insight and guidance into information risk management and ERM, ideal for those considering a career in information risk management, for non-specialist auditors, and for managers.
This book will give you an introduction to:
Risk and risk management
Information security and management risks
Concepts of application controls

Gain an insight into the risks and controls/mitigations that you might encounter when performing or managing an audit of information risk.
Buy Now >>>

 

Author Podcast: Fundamentals of Information Risk Management Auditing, with Christopher Wright

In the podcast Christopher discusses Lean, Agile, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and ERM.
Listen now >>






Jun 29 2016

5 Must Read Books to Jumpstart Your Career in Risk Management

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:30 am

FAIR Institute blog by Isaiah McGowan

Read Books to Jumpstart Your Career in Risk Management

What are the must have resources for people new to operational and cyber risk? This list outlines what books I would recommend to new analyst or manager.

They’re not ranked by which book is best. Instead, I list them in the recommended reading order. Let’s take a look at the list.

hubbard_failure_of_risk_management_cover.jpg#1 – The Failure of Risk Management: Why It’s Broken and How to Fix It (Douglas Hubbard)

In The Failure of Risk Management, Hubbard highlights flaws in the common approaches to risk management. His solutions are as simple as they are elegant. (Spoiler alert: the answer is quantitative risk analysis). The Failure of Risk Management shows up as #1 because it sets the tone for the others in the list. First, understand the problems. With the common problems in mind you can identify them on a regular basis. The next book provides approaches to modeling the problem.

fair-book-cover.jpg#2 – Measuring and Managing Information Risk: A FAIR Approach (Jack Jones & Jack Freund)
In Measuring and Managing Information Risk, the authors communicate a high volume of foundational knowledge. The authors outline the FAIR-based approach to measuring and managing risk. They tackle critical concepts often overlooked or taken for granted by risk practitioners.

With that foundation in place, they move on to the FAIR approach to risk analysis. Finally, they lay out foundational concepts for risk management.

This book is not an advanced perspective on analyzing or managing risk. Instead, it provides a systemic solution to our problems.

Books #1 and #2 lay the foundation to understand the common risk management and analysis problems. They also provide approaches for solving those problems. The next two books are critical to improving the execution of these approaches.

Superforecasting_cover.jpg#3 – Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction (Phillip Tetlock & Dan Gardner)

We require Superforecasting. Risk analysis is always about forecasting future loss (frequency and magnitude). As practitioners, it is critical to learn the problems with forecasting. Knowing is half the battle. Superforecasting takes the audience through the battlefield by offering a process for improvement.

If there is one book you could read out of order, it is Superforecasting. Yet, it shows up at #3 because it will hammer home forecasting as a skill once the other books open your eyes.

Tetlock_expert_judgement_cover.jpg#4 – Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? (Phillip Tetlock)

Yes, another book by Tetlock appears in our list. Published first, tackled second. His work in understanding forecasting is tremendously valuable. Superforecasting builds on the research that resulted in publishing Expert Political Judgment.

Tetlock seeks to improve the reader’s ability to identify and understand errors of judgment. If we improve this skill, we will improve our ability to evaluate expert inputs in risk management.

Thinking_fast_and_slow_cover.jpg#5 – Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)

Rounding out the list is Thinking, Fast and Slow. Improving your understanding of thinking in general is the next best step. Take the time to read this book. Peel out nuggets of wisdom before tackling more advanced risk management and analysis concepts.

There it is…

This is my go-to list of 5. I recite it to anyone who has made or will make the leap into risk management and analysis. These books will set the foundation for thinking about risk. They will also push you down a path towards improving your skills beyond your peers.
What books would you have in your top 5? How does your mileage vary?

 





Tags: information security risk program, risk assessment program, risk management process, Security Risk Assessment

Nov 18 2014

Independent Risk Assessment

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 9:42 am

RA toolkit

The essential suite for undertaking an independent risk assessment compliant with ISO/IEC 27001; supporting ISO/IEC 27002 and conforming to ISO/IEC 27005, whilst providing guidance to multiple internal Asset Owners.

Risk assessment is the core competence of information security management. This toolkit provides essential information, guidance & tools YOU NEED to undertake an effective ISO 27001 risk assessment.

The No 2 Risk Assessment Toolkit has the added benefit of supplying five soft cover versions of Risk Assessment for Asset Owners: A Pocket Guide. This enables you to provide a copy of the pocket guide to each member of staff involved in the ISO 27001 implementation, so that they can understand the risk assessment process.

 

What’s included?

Information Security Risk Management for ISO 27001/ISO 17799 (eBook): provides comprehensive guidance on risk management, in line with the requirements of ISO 27001. It is essential reading for anyone undertaking an ISO 27001 risk assessment.

The requirements for an ISMS are specified in ISO27001. Under ISO27001, a risk assessment has to be carried out before any controls can be selected and implemented, making risk assessment the core competence of information security management.

This book provides information security and risk management teams with detailed, practical guidance on how to develop and implement a risk assessment in line with the requirements of ISO27001.

 

vsRisk™- the Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Tool : vsRisk is a unique software tool designed to guide your organisation through the process of carrying out an information security risk assessment that will meet the requirements of ISO 27001:2005.

The contents of this toolkit provide clear, practical and comprehensive guidance on developing a risk management methodology that meets the requirements of ISO27001, the information security management standard, and how to carry out a risk assessment that will help achieve corporate risk management objectives.

 

The Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Tool which:

  • Automates and delivers an ISO/IEC 27001-compliant risk assessment.
  • Assesses confidentiality, integrity &; availability for each of business, legal and contractual aspects of information assets – as required by ISO 27001.
  • Supports / conforms / complies to ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27002, BS7799-3:2006,ISO/IEC TR 13335-3:1998, NIST SP 800-30 and the UK’s Risk Assessment Standard.
  • One year of support get all software updates and unlimited telephone and email support for a year.

vsRisk™ – the Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Tool comes in two forms – Standalone or Network-enabled (single user licence). vsRisk Network-enabled (single user licence) has exactly the same functionality as the vsRisk Standalone version – but can be installed on a network.

 

Risk Assessment for Asset Owners: A Pocket Guide (eBook):
This Pocket Guide to the ISO27001 risk assessment is designed to assist asset owners and others who are working within an ISO27001/ISO27002 (ISO17799) framework to deliver a qualitative risk assessment.

The contents of this toolkit provide clear, practical and comprehensive guidance on developing a risk management methodology that meets the requirements of ISO27001, the information security management standard, and how to carry out a risk assessment that will help achieve corporate risk management objectives.

Benefits of a risk assessment

  • Stop the hacker. With a proper risk assessment, you can select appropriate controls to protect your organisation from hackers, worms and viruses, and other threats that could potentially cripple your business.
  • Achieve optimum ROI. Failure to invest sufficiently in information security controls is ‘penny wise, pound foolish’, since, for a relatively low outlay, it is possible to minimise your organisation’s exposure to potentially devastating losses.
  • Build customer confidence. Protecting your information security is essential if you want to preserve the trust of your clients and to keep your business running smoothly from day to day.
  • Comply with corporate governance codes. Information security is a vital aspect of enterprise risk management (ERM). An ERM framework is required by various corporate governance codes, such as the Turnbull Guidance contained within the UK’s Combined Code on Corporate Governance, and the American Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, and standards such as ISO310000.

 

Related articles




Oct 18 2013

10 Steps To Assess Cyber Security Risk

Category: cyber security,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 9:00 pm

cyber attack ... Economic Pearl Harbor Will S...

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month and it is an opportunity to engage public and private sector stakeholders – especially the general public – to create a safe, secure, and resilient cyber environment. Everyone has to play a role in cybersecurity. Constantly evolving cyber threats require the engagement of the entire nation — from government and law enforcement to the private sector and most importantly, the public.

National Cyber Security Awareness Month

A cyber security risk assessment is necessary to identify the gaps in your organisation’s critical risk areas and determine actions to close those gaps. It will also ensure that you invest time and money in the right areas and do not waste resources where there is no need for it.

Even if you have implemented an ISO 27001 Information Security Management System, you may want to check if your cyber security hygiene is up to standard with the industry guidelines. 

Cyber Security ToolKit  | Cyber Security Standards | Cyber Security Books

Cyber security risk assessment:

Use an in house qualified staff or an experienced consultant(s), who will work with your team to examine each of the ten risk areas (described below) in sufficient detail to identify strengths and weaknesses of your current security posture. All this information can be consolidated and immediately usable action remediation plan that will help you close the gap between what you are actually doing and recognized good practice. It will enable you to ensure that your cyber risk management at least matches minimum industry guidelines.

The ten risk areas that will be examined are:

Do you have an effective risk governance structure, in which your risk appetite and selected controls are aligned? Do you have appropriate information risk policies and adequate cyber insurance?

Do you have a mobile and home-working policy that staff have been trained to follow? Do you have a secure baseline device build in place? Are you protecting data both in transit and at rest?

Do you have Acceptable Use policies covering staff use of systems and equipment? Do you have a relevant staff training programme? Do you have a method of maintaining user awareness of cyber risks?

Do you have clear account management processes, with a strong password policy and a limited number of privileged accounts? Do you monitor user activity, and control access to activity and audit logs?

Do you have a policy controlling mobile and removable computer media? Are all sensitive devices appropriately encrypted? Do you scan for malware before allowing connections to your systems?

Do you have a monitoring strategy? Do you continuously monitor activity on ICT systems and networks, including for rogue wireless access points? Do you analyze network logs in real time, looking for evidence of mounting attacks? Do you continuously scan for new technical vulnerabilities?

Do you have a technical vulnerability patching program in place and is it up-to-date? Do you maintain a secure configuration for all ICT devices? Do you have an asset inventory of authorized devices and do you have a defined baseline build for all devices?

Do you have an appropriate anti-malware policy and practices that are effective against likely threats? Do you continuously scan the network and attachments for malware?

Do you protect your networks against internal and external attacks with firewalls and penetration testing? Do you filter out unauthorised or malicious content? Do you monitor and test security controls?

Do you have an incident response and disaster recovery plan? Is it tested for readily identifiable compromise scenarios? Do you have an incident forensic capability and do you know how to report cyber incidents?

Related articles




Jun 25 2013

Risk management – ISO 27005 could be the cure

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 9:30 am

English: ISMS activities and their relationshi...

English: ISMS activities and their relationship with Risk Management (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

By Catherine Thornley @ ITG

Risk management in information security management and how ISO/IEC 27005 can help you tackle it effectively.

Risk is arguably one of the most commonly used words in business, but what does it actually mean?

There are many English dictionary definitions, many centered around “a situation involving exposure to danger” and whilst some people talk about up-side or positive risk, it is generally accepted that in business, the risk is all about the chance that something will go wrong, and how badly.

But of course there is uncertainty in everything we do; and therefore risk. Sometimes there is uncertainty about whether something good will happen, but that just means that there is also a chance that it won’t; which is bad.

Risk and corporate governance

The big thing about risk in business today is corporate governance. People responsible for running companies are simply not allowed, when something goes wrong, to say “we didn’t think of that”, or “it never happened before”. Those are two quite common responses both when something has gone wrong and also when it hasn’t; when senior managers are asked to do something about risk management.

For many, when they do finally look at risk, thinking switches immediately from chance to result. The likely impact of a risk dominates thinking where previously it was the probability of a threat materialising that was the dominant factor.

Many organisations assess risk intuitively; that is to say they simply decide whether an activity, or situation, is very risky, not very risky, or somewhere in between.

This intuitive approach can be applied to information security risk – but it can be very difficult to evaluate risk effectively in this area. The challenge is two-fold; understanding what information security actually is and knowing how to assess and respond to the related risks in a logical way, that will stand scrutiny should the worst happen.

Information security managers, and those doing the job as part of a broader role, often need some help in identifying the most effective way to manage this specific set of risks, which is where ISO 27005 can help.

How ISO 27005 can help

Where ISO 27001 presents a broad blueprint for dealing with information security, ISO 27005 takes it much further and delivers the detail of information security risk assessment, in a way that the results integrate easily into an ISO 27001 compliant information security management system (ISMS).

ISO 27005 provides a detailed and valuable insight into effective information security risk management. And since ISO 27001 calls for a risk based approach, there cannot be a better basis for it!

 5 reasons why vsRisk v1.6 is the definitive risk assessment tool

Related articles




« Previous Page — Next Page »