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Cyber Security

What Cybersecurity Risk Management Entails

By February 19, 2021No Comments

Any cybersecurity endeavor’s primary goal involves two objectives: thwarting attacks and emphasizing the need to train people and systems to recognize infiltration in time. This means properly evaluating organizational risk and implementing strategies to manage risk in the most optimal way possible.

The ISO 27001 outlines five primary pillars required to manage cybersecurity and information security risk:

  • Risk Identification
  • Vulnerability Reduction
  • Threat Reduction
  • Consequence Mitigation
  • Enable Cybersecurity Outcome

It also requires an organization to define the acceptance criteria for risk, as well as the criteria for performing cybersecurity security risk assessment. So, with that in mind, we’re going to explore what cybersecurity risk management entails. Let’s get right into it.

Risk Identification

Risk is best understood as a potential event or incident, anticipated or not, that may negatively impact an institution’s capital, earnings, or reputation.

Risk management entails a process that involves identifying risk, assessing said risk, and taking steps to reduce it to a level that is acceptable. Risk is understood in categories, one of which is operational risk.

Operational risk is loss or failure resulting from failed or inadequate systems, people, or processes. Both internal and external events can contribute to operational risk. Internal events include misconduct, human error, or insider attacks. External events include new competitors, cyberattacks, natural disasters, changes in market conditions, new laws or regulations, new litigation, and new technologies.

How to Treat Risks

Effectively treating risk as part of a risk management strategy include the following approaches:

  • Avoidance: Avoidance entails altering plans to eliminate risk. This tends to be good for risks that have the potential to impact a project or business significantly.
  • Transfer:This approach is applicable to projects involving multiple parties. It’s also called “risk-sharing.”
  • Mitigation: This approach works to limit the risk’s impact, meaning if an issue occurs, it’ll be easier to fix the problem. Mitigation is the most commonly used approach. It’s also called “risk reduction” or “optimizing risk.”
  • Exploitation: There are certain risks that are beneficial to the organization. For example, the risk of extremely high popularity of a product or service that the sales staff cannot keep up. Exploiting this risk would mean employing more sales employees.

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