For organizations that handle sensitive data, outsourcing cyber risk management services helps manage security risks across IT infrastructure and mitigates potential data breaches. Investing in robust, proven cyber risk management services will optimize security ROI and strengthen overall cybersecurity. Read this blog to learn how you can take advantage of risk management.
How to Increase Your ROI with Cyber Risk Management Services
Investing in cyber risk management services will help identify vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure and optimize your defenses to mitigate threats before they become attacks.
Three strategies for increasing your ROI with cyber risk management services include:
- Optimizing threat and vulnerability management across your IT infrastructure
- Implementing regulatory compliance to manage cybersecurity risks
- Establishing and overseeing the implementation of a cyber risk management policy
Finding the best cyber risk management services will help you mitigate security threats and minimize potential risks to business operations and their continuity.
What is Cyber Risk Management?
Cyber security risk management involves identifying IT security risks across your organization and counteracting the potential for these risks to materialize into full-blown threats using effective safeguards. Most of the common IT security threats can be mitigated using standard cybersecurity solutions. However, some threats present more advanced risks to your IT infrastructure and may require optimized cyber security risk management.
How Can You Implement Cyber Risk Management?
The most effective way to ensure that your organization is sufficiently protected from security threats is to develop cyber risk management processes, implemented via a cyber risk management program. When matured, that program will protect you against a wide range of cybersecurity risks and optimize your security posture in the short and long term.
Developing a mature cyber risk management program will depend on how effectively you can:
- Inventory assets – Conducting routine asset inventories will help you:
- Identify critical assets across your IT infrastructure
- Establish risk assessment baselines for specific assets
- Categorize assets by potential security risks and vulnerabilities
- Detect vulnerabilities – Identifying changes to IT environments will help point out sources of vulnerabilities that could compromise assets, such as:
- Hardware devices (e.g., shared workstations, physical servers)
- Networks (e.g., local area networks (LANs))
- Cloud-based services (e.g., Software-as-a-Service (SaaS))
- Standardize procedures – Establishing standardized and clearly defined incident response protocols and procedures will help:
- Improve the effectiveness of incident response protocols to potential risks
- Minimize lapses in incident management
- Maintain business continuity during incident management
- Automate processes – Leveraging automation to develop faster and more effective risk management processes will help:
- Reduce the margin of human error in risk management
- Improve the responsiveness of your cyberdefenses to potential risks
When implemented within the framework of a mature cyber risk management program, cyber risk management services will help secure your infrastructure from all kinds of security threats, including advanced and persistent ones.
Common Types of Cybersecurity Risks
For cyber security risk management to be effective, you must also be aware of the types of security risks you face internally and externally. Common types of cybersecurity risks include:
- Gaps in cybersecurity – Any weaknesses in cybersecurity implementation across your organization lower the barrier to threat intrusion and increase the risks of cyber attacks. Lapses in cybersecurity are typically attributed to:
- Poorly implemented perimeter security (e.g., firewalls, web filters) that exposes sensitive data environments to external, potentially malicious traffic
- Failure to implement a high standard of regulatory compliance with industry-standard security frameworks
- A lack of established security policies to govern cybersecurity practices
- Third-party risks – Although your internal cybersecurity practices might be up to standard, the third-party individuals or organizations with whom you partner might introduce security risks, including:
- Poor access control management (e.g., use of weak passwords)
- Negligence when using personal devices on unsecured networks
- Targeted attacks – The most common form of targeted attacks are social engineering threats, which have the potential for widespread damage across an IT infrastructure. Social engineering threats include:
- Phishing to pretext individuals into providing sensitive information via email
- Waterholing to obtain user credentials via fake websites or web access points
- Baiting to gain physical access to sensitive IT environments
Working with a cyber risk management services provider will help you identify the common risks and devise effective strategies to counteract these risks and mitigate potential data breaches.
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Optimize Threat and Vulnerability Management
A critical aspect of cyber security risk management is developing a reliable and swift process of identifying and mitigating threats before a data breach occurs. Within a cyber risk management program, threat and vulnerability management is critical to addressing security risks early on in their lifecycle and preventing widespread threat intrusion across an IT infrastructure.
Threat and vulnerability management is best optimized with the help of a vulnerability monitoring framework, threat intelligence tools, and advanced threat detection tools.
Develop a Framework for Vulnerability Monitoring
Establishing a vulnerability monitoring framework helps you test assets for vulnerabilities, consistently, so you can stay up-to-date with rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats.
Monitoring cybersecurity vulnerabilities based on a framework will help you:
- Collect data from various critical assets and ensure:
- All assets and systems are continuously monitored
- Proper mechanisms for logging security events
- Analyze collected data to develop threat intelligence, ensuring:
- Classification of “real” incidents and “close calls” via extensive threat analysis
- Root cause analysis for vulnerabilities that did not result in data breaches
- Optimize real-time threat detection for critical threats
- Identify the leading indicators of vulnerabilities, such as:
- Third-party risks (e.g., compliance gaps following new vendor onboarding)
- Access control gaps (e.g., former employees retaining privileged access)
A vulnerability monitoring framework is critical to optimizing your cyber security risk management. With the help of a threat and vulnerability management partner, you can strengthen your cyber risk management program and effectively mitigate data breaches.
Leverage Threat Intelligence Tools
Threat intelligence is critical to streamlining threat and vulnerability management and improving overall cyber security risk management. You can maximize the effectiveness of cyber risk management services by leveraging threat intelligence tools to drive threat mitigation strategies.
The actionable insights generated from threat intelligence will inform:
- Threat hunting processes – Based on the intelligence obtained from internal and external sources, threat detection systems can identify threats based on their specific signatures. As a result, threat hunting is much faster and more adaptive to evolving threats.
- Risk management strategies – High-level risk management is also more effective when data from disparate sources across an organization is analyzed by advanced threat intelligence tools—aiding in faster identification of unique threat patterns.
- Incident management protocols – Threat intelligence also helps generate insights from previous security incidents and guides future incident response protocols, vulnerability remediation processes, and overall security risk management.
Working with a threat and vulnerability management partner will help you advance your threat intelligence capabilities and strengthen your cyber security risk management internally and externally.
Enhance Threat Detection with Penetration Testing
Penetration testing is a highly effective addition to cyber risk management services and will help evaluate the security of your IT infrastructure. Also referred to as “ethically hacking,” penetration testing helps identify gaps in your cybersecurity systems and points to potential security risks. Penetration testing can also help you determine the full extent of an attack, should one occur.
With the help of a penetration testing partner, you will be more prepared to identify and respond to potential security threats, staying ahead of cybercriminals. When fully optimized within a cyber risk management program, threat and vulnerability management will strengthen your security posture and secure sensitive digital environments from data breaches.
Maximize Risk Management with Regulatory Compliance
Besides threat and vulnerability management, compliance with regulatory standards is critical to cyber security risk management. You can maximize the effectiveness of cyber risk management services by optimizing the security controls stipulated by industry-specific regulatory frameworks.
Minimize Risks to Cardholder Data with the PCI DSS
To help organizations safeguard the cardholder data (CHD) they handle, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) stipulate 12 Requirements that guide security implementations for the collection, processing, and transmission of CHD.
The 12 Requirements in the PCI DSS v4.0 include:
- Requirement 1 – Implement controls to secure networks and systems
- Requirement 2 – Secure system components used to process CHD
- Requirement 3 – Safeguard any stored account data
- Requirement 4 – Secure CHD transmission across open, public networks
- Requirement 5 – Implement malware protections on all systems and software
- Requirement 6 – Safeguard systems and software in CHD environments
- Requirement 7 – Limit access to CHD and other system components by business need
- Requirement 8 – Implement user access controls for identification and authentication
- Requirement 9 – Secure physical environments of CHD
- Requirement 10 – Track user access to CHD and system components
- Requirement 11 – Conduct routine network and system testing
- Requirement 12 – Develop and implement PCI DSS security policies
The requirements stipulated in the PCI DSS serve as the minimum recommended controls for safeguarding CHD and maintaining its integrity. Organizations are expected to further optimize these PCI DSS controls to the levels necessary to address specific security needs and anticipated risks. When implemented in tandem with cyber risk management services and the advice of a PCI compliance partner, optimized PCI DSS safeguards will help safeguard CHD and minimize data breach risks.
Enhance Healthcare Data Security with HIPAA
The Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) aims to safeguard the privacy and sensitivity of protected health information (PHI) across organizations within and adjacent to the healthcare industry. HIPAA comprises three primary prescriptive Rules:
- Privacy Rule – Defines the requirements for the use and disclosure of PHI by HIPAA-subject organizations (i.e., covered entities and their business associates).
- Security Rule – Outlines three types of safeguards for securing the collection, transmission, and storage of electronic PHI (ePHI):
- Administrative safeguards to streamline high-level data security implementations
- Technical safeguards to enhance IT-based protections of ePHI
- Physical safeguards to restrict access to physical locations containing ePHI
- Breach Notification Rule – Stipulates the guidelines for reporting data breaches to the affected parties and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In addition, the fourth Rule details enforcement for non-compliance with the above three:
- Enforcement Rule – Outlines the process of HIPAA enforcement by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for potential criminal violations of HIPAA.
Although the HIPAA Breach Notification and Enforcement Rules guide HIPAA compliance when it comes to breach reporting and HIPAA enforcement, the Privacy and Security Rules list the minimum necessary safeguards to manage healthcare data risks. Optimizing cyber risk management services in healthcare is easiest with the guidance of a HIPAA compliance advisor, who can advise on best practices for HIPAA compliance and long-term healthcare data security.
Streamline Compliance with HITRUST CSF
The HITRUST CSF is a comprehensive framework that contains broad security controls to address cyber security risk management across multiple industry-specific standards.
More importantly, the HITRUST CSF is adaptive and can be tailored to organizations of all sizes, structures, and security needs. The journey to HITRUST CSF certification can also be streamlined via various assessments, depending on your desired security assurance.
The flexibility of the HITRUST CSF makes it a useful addition to cyber risk management services and helps organizations within and adjacent to healthcare achieve robust data security.
Establish a Cyber Risk Management Policy
Within a security program, a cyber risk management policy helps oversee the implementation of cyber risk management services. Cyber security risk management is also best achieved under the governance of a security policy tailored to the specific needs of your organization.
A cyber risk management policy will help guide:
- Data security practices
- Compliance tracking
- Threat and vulnerability monitoring
- Security awareness
Working with an experienced MSSP will help you establish an effective cyber risk management policy for any cyber risk management services you implement.
Increase Your Cyber Risk Management ROI
Cyber security risk management is critical to successfully safeguarding sensitive data from cybercriminal activity. As a leading MSSP, RSI Security will help you optimize cyber risk management services and achieve the greatest possible security ROI in the short and long term. To learn more, contact RSI Security today and get started with cyber risk management!