Business plan

How to Manage Cyber Risk in Your Company

The risk of cyber threats is high when it comes to businesses that are operating in this digital age and it is quite common to have incidents such as data breaches, cyber attacks etc. It is very important to have effective cyber risk management in your company so that you are able to protect any sensitive data in the system and safeguard your reputation.

There are cyber security experts such as CyberCX that you can hire to understand the cyber risk landscape for your company. You need to be aware of the latest cyber threats so that you can stay ahead of emerging risks and take preventative action whenever possible. You need to conduct a risk assessment in order to assess potential threats to your company. The first step is identifying what your most valuable digital assets are. Some examples of this will be financial records, intellectual property and customer data. There will be weaknesses in your processes, systems and networks that should be identified. There will also be potential threats to your organisation so you need to evaluate the impact of these threats as well. You can use a risk assessment framework in order to calculate the risk that is associated with each threat.

There has to be a robust cyber security policy in your company.

There should be security guidelines in place for employees and contractors. There should be data protection measures, procedures for incident response, access control policies, password policies and guidelines to comply with regulations. The employees of the company should be provided training regarding these and be involved in awareness programmes so that they will take necessary steps to protectsensitive data against cyber threats. The foundation for your risk management will be created by the cyber security policy of your organisation. To protect the information and systems in your organisation, you need to have security controls in place such as firewalls., encryption, antivirus software, intrusion detection systems and regular updates. The firewalls should be configured according to the incoming and outgoing network traffic.

By regularly updating your antivirus

And anti-malware software, you will be able to scan the system for threats. Another method you can use is limit access to sensitive data using access restrictions, user identifications etc. By having all applications and software updated, you will be able to address any known vulnerabilities in the system. There should be an incident response plan that clearly outlines how your organisation responds when a cyber security incident takes place. There should be procedures to detect an incident and report it. Once detected, there should be steps that can be taken in order to contain the incident. You need to have an incident response team that understands their own responsibilities. There should be communication processes so that everyone is apprised of what is going on and there should be procedures put in place to recover and restore the system. You will also need to analyse the incident afterwards and carry out proper documentation. When you have a practised incident response plan, the effects of a cyber incident can be minimised.

Blane Sanchez
the authorBlane Sanchez