From Canva.Much like your personal health, our day-to-day cyber technology requires routine check-ups. It’s the only way to understand risk in tech. Without them, they could experience unwanted wear and tear, for example, cyber-attacks. Businesses continue to slowly reopen across the country with new health and safety guidelines at the forefront.
It’s more important than ever to understand the risks in tech.
But an increase in cyber-attacks and email phishing scams can mean trouble for any enterprise. Hackers can compromise your entire IT infrastructure while you’re away for the holidays.
Unfortunately, most companies can neglect the health of their IT services, especially during tough times. Cyber problems often come last when understanding risk in tech.
In response, profound change bridges the gap between forgotten services that will become more important with time. A Deloitte study found that when innovation leads through the lens of marketing, the regulations needed will follow.
Though some companies may have robust internal IT departments that can constantly monitor your IT infrastructure, others may need some support to drive efforts as they welcome employees back into the office, whether hybrid, remote or onsite.
Understanding Risk
Risk is a frequently used business concept that assesses the implications or loss of any particular action/decision on a scale of zero, low, medium, or high.
While risk does not numerically evaluate itself, it is possible to determine risk logically. Critical thinking is a vital part of understanding the risk you are considering. How many assets are available but priceless to your company matters to all infrastructure. Consider the following steps for assessing IT risk quickly.
Determine and rank assets
Assets are not just physical hardware. Think of computers and servers containing assets such as the data housed in the hardware. Included is also various software for financial purposes or confidential documents. What does your business need? Identifying assets and prioritizing their need is where you start when taking a risk assessment.
Identify Threats
Some companies may not recognize it, but a global pandemic still risks tech industries across the country. It’s not just economic threats that are a concern. There is also a threat to data security in the form of a breach. Common threats come from hackers or unintentional employee errors. But natural disasters and other system failures have consistently exploited IT vulnerabilities.
Pinpoint Vulnerabilities, Threat Impact, or Incident Likelihood
Hackers can spot any weakness in your security systems through back-end tests, audits and analyses. Things like updating software and keeping hardware away from potential environmental threats can significantly reduce your vulnerabilities and risk.
Evaluate the Security Measures/Controls
What kinds of updated security controls do you already have in place? Most technology can implement controls within them. There are also controls, like computer-use policies, that reduce risk when working online. Evaluate both technical and non-technical measures that exist for your business.
Prioritize Threat Risk, Establish Solutions and Record Results
Using a scale, rank the risks based on likelihood, impact and existing security controls. Sometimes, finding the risk in tech takes more than technical management and password security to get an IT problem under control. In that case, you may want to consider additional measures, like a certified IT professional, to assist with mitigating these risks.
These are five steps you can use to assess the health of your IT systems and determine the risk to your business and employees. A managed IT service provider, like 1R Technologies, can run a thorough assessment to offer uniquely curated solutions for your company. For a free consultation about our service offerings as a premier Managed Service Provider, contact us at 1RTech.com.