A 4-step Guide for an Effective Security Assessment for 2023

What is an information security risk assessment?

A security risk assessment is a process that identifies threats and vulnerabilities, assesses key assets, and implements important security controls in systems. This process also concentrates on preventing security defects and vulnerabilities within systems. 

Generally, the overall benefit of carrying out a risk assessment is that it helps an organization holistically review the security of systems and data. Being able to see security vulnerabilities from an attacker’s perspective allows organizations to make informed decisions in implementing security controls and allocating resources. Therefore, a security risk assessment is essential and should be a part of the risk management process of an organization. 

Organizations need to be aware that risk assessment isn’t a one-time security check but rather a continuous activity that is conducted periodically and built into the organization’s security policy. Performing continuous risk assessments helps an organization to stay current with cybersecurity trends and stay aware of cyberthreats. 

4 Steps for an Effective Information Security Assessment

1. Identification

Identify all of the critical assets within your digital infrastructure.

• Assets include but are not limited to servers, sensitive partner and client data, documents, and contact information.

• First steps involve working with users working within the organization and management to create a list identifying critical and valuable assets. 

• If an organization can only dedicate a limited amount of budget to risk assessment, then additional steps need to be taken to organize and prioritize assets according to monetary value, legal standing, etc.

The next step is to review the sensitive data that is stored or transmitted by these assets and make a risk profile for each. 

The final step of Identification is to recognize and pinpoint threats and vulnerabilities.

• Malware and hackers are the most common types of threats that organizations are facing, but there are other types of threats like hardware failures and natural disasters.

• Weaknesses that allow a threat to damage an organization are referred to as vulnerabilities. Common ways to identify vulnerabilities are through audit reports, data analysis, information security testing and procedures, and tools for automated vulnerability scanning.

2. Assessment

After Identification, an organization needs to assess the security risks that were identified for assets. Carry out an analysis to determine what impact an incident would have on assets due to loss or damage. Consider factors like what the purpose of the asset is and what processes depend on it, as well as what value the assets have within the organization and how sensitive the data is. 

Begin the assessment process with a business impact analysis (BIA) report. The purpose of this document is to determine what impact a threat could have on the organization’s digital assets. Examples of impact include loss of confidentiality and integrity. 

After the assessment process is complete, decide how to allocate resources towards risk mitigation efficiently and effectively.

3. Mitigation

Outline a mitigation process and place security controls for every risk. After asset assessment and high-risk problem area identification, move to establishing network access controls to mitigate insider threats. Many organizations are shifting to utilizing security systems like the Zero Trust method, which assumes no trust and grants role-based user access privileges.

Evaluate the security controls already in place or in the planning to minimize the risk of a threat penetrating a vulnerability. Digital security controls include encryption, authentication, and detection solutions. Other security controls include administrative and security policies and physical infrastructure. 

4. Prevention

Deploy processes and tools to minimize the risk and prevent threats and vulnerabilities from occurring in resources.

To finalize the risk assessment process, produce a risk assessment report to aid management when making decisions regarding policies, procedures, budget, etc. The report should contain risk assessment information for each threat and describe the vulnerabilities, assets, impact, occurrence probability, and security control recommendations.