Do you know your Cyber Risk Score?
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Are you protected from cybersecurity threats?
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Are you protected from cybersecurity threats? The Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook found that 80% of U.S. companies have successfully been hacked. If you have not experienced a cyber threat yet, you will experience one sooner or later.
But how do you know if you are ready for an attack? It can be hard to gauge your preparedness since hackers can break through many different types of security systems. That is where the cybersecurity score comes in.
As one of the available cyber risk assessment tools, a cybersecurity score is a number that represents the state of your security system. It is designed to help you understand the strength of your security program.
There are many different security scores you can find from different providers. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers something similar to a cyber security score called the NIST Cybersecurity Metrics or Cybersecurity Measurement. This metrics program will offer guidelines, tools, and resources for organizations to quantify and manage their cybersecurity risk.
As another option, the ISS Cyber Risk Score allows organizations to assess and manage their cyber risk by delivering actionable information that reveals their cyber breach risk exposure. The score takes a broad range of raw data and compiles it into an easy-to-use metric.
Yet, those possibilities barely reach the surface of cybersecurity scores. You have hundreds of options to choose from. However, you should probably understand the basics of a cyber security scorecard and the risk calculations before you look for a way to assess your cyber security system.
Keep reading to learn the ins and outs of a cybersecurity score!
Your destination may be achieving compliance in industry certifications such as SOC2 or ISO27001, but it doesn’t stop there. With Trava, our modern tools can help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be by giving you the control to assess your risk, repair the most vulnerable areas, and transfer risk through insurance.
When you begin to search for a cybersecurity score, you may find that many companies offer a cybersecurity scorecard. This scorecard is a way to provide objective and quantitative measures of an organization’s security performance. It is basically a means to show an organization its cybersecurity score and other data related to its security systems.
There are many security scorecard competitors you could choose from, all of which offer slightly different ratings and data. But you must make a security scorecard valuation of each option you find. You know your business’s situation and what risk data would be most helpful, so you can choose what cybersecurity score card best matches your company’s informational needs
Or you could make your own cyber security scorecard. This scorecard should detail your organization’s current state of security in a factual and unbiased manner and guide the company to improve its cyber security. Jeff Wagner, the Chief Information Security Officer for the Farm Service Agency, has a helpful PowerPoint covering a cybersecurity scorecard template and how to make your own.
Of course, it will be a lot more time-consuming to make a scorecard, but you can do it if you feel none of the available options meet your cyber risk management needs.
To derive the results that you receive on your cybersecurity scorecard, companies will use a cyber risk score calculation. This cyber risk calculator is typically a formula that takes data from your present security system and determines your cyber risk. One generic formula to calculate your cyber risk is Cyber Risk = Likelihood x Vulnerability x Impact.
But some companies may use a cyber security risk assessment matrix instead to calculate a cyber risk score. This matrix will compare the probability of the risk occurring and the severity of the risk’s impact to quantify your cybersecurity risk. Typically, a matrix has three categories: Green for acceptable risk, Yellow for a risk that is as low as reasonably possible, and Red for unacceptable risk. To view a cybersecurity risk assessment example, see page 16 of CSA’s Guide to Conducting Cybersecurity Risk Assessment for Critical Information Infrastructure.
Those are just two possibilities. Different risk assessments use other algorithms to calculate your risk score. For example, the FICO Cyber Risk Score is calculated from an assessment of your network assets and some advanced algorithms that compile that data into a metric.
However, you should have some general knowledge of a few of the ways that cyber risk scores are reported and calculated. So, now we can explore your actual cyber score.
You know generally that a cyber score is a number reporting the level of your organization’s security. But what is a cyber score more specifically?
You can think of a cyber score as similar to a credit score. A credit score collection information on your credit—how much money you are loaning and how often you pay the money back on time. So, a cyber score is a collection of data on your exposure to cyber threats and any vulnerabilities you have in your security system. It can be expressed as a number or as a percent of what risks have been satisfied by risk controls.
To receive this cyber score, you can use a service with a cyber risk calculator. The service will assess your organization’s security, looking at cloud data, current and planned controls, the value of assets, and other security aspects to find security vulnerabilities. With the data collected, the system will calculate your cyber security score.
Depending on the service you choose, it may function similarly to the CISA National Cyber Incident Scoring System—a mechanism for objectively evaluating the risk of a cybersecurity incident in the national context.
Some cybersecurity score services will perform a cyber skills test on your employees as well. Designed to examine the human element of vulnerability in your organization’s security system, this cyber skills test may include phishing detection tests or overall cybersecurity knowledge exams.
But regardless of the matter the specifics, a cyber score will give your organization the information you need to understand your current cybersecurity and enhance it for the future.
You can't protect yourself from risks you don't know about. Enter your website and receive a completely free risk assessment score along with helpful information delivered instantly to your inbox.
The final aspect of cybersecurity scores we will look at is a cybersecurity risk profile. This profile is the result a system will produce after computing your cyber score, and it’s called a profile because it describes your company’s security in a snapshot.
A cyber security risk profile lays out your cybersecurity score and the detailed information that the system used to derive your score. But never fear, the information is typically laid out in a user-friendly, easy-to-understand format on a nice dashboard or online report. Sometimes the report will include a cyber security risk assessment matrix or a cyber security scorecard depending on the type of system you elected to use.
Whatever data display method it uses, your cybersecurity risk profile should show you what your greatest risk is and how you can adjust your systems to mitigate that risk and secure your business from harm.
If you want a cybersecurity risk profile example, you can visit the Trava Solutions for SaaS Leaders page or schedule a demo with us. We would be happy to show you our version of the cyber security risk profile.
After reading all that information on your cybersecurity score, you may feel brain dead. It is a lot to learn all at once. But it is crucial information to know because you need to get a cyber score or some type of cybersecurity risk assessment framework for your business.
If you do not assess the risk you have in your cybersecurity network, you will not know if your system is working properly. You could be exposing yourself to hundreds of cyber threats a day and not even realize it. Oblivion may be bliss until your company is hacked and your sensitive data is in the wrong hands. You can’t protect yourself from dangers you don’t know about, so we can’t stress the importance of risk assessment in cyber security enough!
To start assessing your cybersecurity today, you could follow a cybersecurity risk assessment template. NIST has a helpful template called the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Or you could try the Center for Internet Security’s Risk Assessment Method.
But there is a simpler way. You can contact Trava and have us assess your security and determine your risk score. We will listen carefully to your needs and assess where your company is at right now. Then, we will develop a strategy with regular automated scans to get the data and results your business needs.
We offer comprehensive security scans including scans for external infrastructure, the Dark Web, the Cloud, Microsoft 365, WordPress, and your Internal Network.
But we won’t leave you with new vulnerabilities to manage. We will help you set up mitigation tools to repair those vulnerabilities and secure your business for the long run. Finally, we align you with the right cyber insurance so you can transfer the remainder of your cyber risk to someone else. And just like that, your business is secured.
Take the first step in protecting your company from harm. Contact Trava today!
