92%. That’s the number of Australian organisations hit by a phishing attack in 2021.

Cyberattacks are so rampant in Australia that a cyber incident is reported every ten minutes across the country! 

Now, as a small business owner, you’re particularly vulnerable to cybercrime, with 43% of cyberattacks specifically targeting small companies. And the thing is, 60% of small businesses experiencing a cyberattack go out of business within six months of the cyberattack. That’s because the average cost of a cyber breach is a whopping $3.35 million! 

But why has cybercrime become so prevalent in today’s world?

The exponential increase in the levels of connectivity, online traffic, and remote working, our ever growing reliance on technology, and the explosion of cloud services and third-party vendors, 

explain why the number of cyber incidents has skyrocketed around the world over the last decade.  And so does the lack of technical knowledge and awareness around cyber security risks.

And while cybercriminals use increasingly sophisticated techniques to hack companies, many organisations are ill-prepared to fight back. 50% of Australian businesses are exposed to cyberattacks, and 2 in 5 don’t spend any money protecting their networks and systems.

The reality is that implementing an effective and foolproof cyber security risk management process internally is more important than ever if you want to protect your business against devastating cyber incidents.

Now, knowing what to do when it comes to cyber security can be daunting and overwhelming at first as a business owner. 

That’s why to help you navigate this complex issue, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide. First, we’ll go over the definition of cyber security risk management. We’ll then highlight the best cyber security risk management process in 2022 before deep diving into how to develop an effective cyber security risk management plan.

‍

What Is Cyber Security Risk Management?

Cyber incidents are rarely random. They’re the results of carefully planned attacks.

Cyber security risk management is a strategic approach a business takes to prioritise cyber threats and prevent cyber incidents. More specifically, cyber security risk management aims to identify your organisations’ cyber security threats and analyse and assess them before addressing them effectively. 

Managing the risks posed by cybercriminals is an essential and ongoing part of any business operation. Unfortunately, many organisations feel a false sense of security after conducting an initial cyber security risk assessment.

The cyber security threat landscape is ever-changing, with new regulations being implemented, new exploits being discovered, and new potentially vulnerable devices being released. Add to this the rapidly changing technological landscape, the digitalisation of communication, and the increase of remote working due to COVID-19, and you get the perfect recipe for cyber security vulnerabilities! Therefore, bolstering your security should be an ongoing process.

Because cybercriminals will look for vulnerabilities in your networks and systems across your organisation, cyber security risk management isn’t just a matter for your cyber security team. 

Your business should build awareness and provide training for every single employee around cyber security threats and the cyber security risk management process.   

‍

What Are The Benefits Of Cyber Security Risk Management?

While there are many benefits of a robust cyber security risk management process, here are the main three.

• Prevent Revenue Loss

Let’s start with a powerful benefit; Cyber security risk management can save you from losing hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more) by preventing successful attacks and keeping your business running. As mentioned before, cyberattacks cost over $3 million to companies on average, and over 60% of small businesses don’t survive them. 

• Protect Your Business Reputation

A data breach can destroy your company’s reputation and forever break the trust your customers placed in you. 

Take the recent Optus data breach that saw millions of customers see their personal information at risk of being compromised. The telco company is currently facing a massive customer exodus following one of the biggest data breaches in the history of the country. Not only is it extremely costly to Optus financially, but it will most likely affect its reputation for years to come. 

• Gain a Competitive Edge

Stemming from the example we just provided, customers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their personal information. That’s why they’re looking for companies that take protecting their data seriously. 

Implementing a strong cyber security risk management plan and having a disaster recovery strategy that you can show to your customers will go a long way in helping strengthen the trust they have in your business. And ultimately, they’ll choose you over the competition if they know their data is safe with you. 

While things such as prices or customer service are typically assets that can make you stand out, a strong cyber security risk management plan is what can give you a competitive edge and increase your client base these days.

‍

What Are Cyber Threats?

Cyber threats typically fall into four main categories:

• Adversarial Threats

Adversarial threats stem from an individual, a collective, or an established criminal organisation looking to attack your networks and systems to harm your company. 

This could be:

• A third-party vendor
• A supplier
• A trusted insider
• A nation or a state
• Corporate espionage

This risk can be mitigated by creating a dedicated security operation center featuring highly trained security employees and top-notch security tooling.

• Natural Disasters

Even though this is probably not what comes to mind first when thinking of a cyber incident, natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, or fire can lead to a loss of data and destroy a business’ physical and digital assets. 

This can be as costly for a business as malware.

This risk can be mitigated by distributing your company’s operations over multiple cloud resources and physical locations.

• Human Error

One of your employees could accidentally open a phishing email or download malware resulting in a data breach. In fact, 90% of cyber-attacks are made possible by human error! This means that you could mitigate this risk by regularly training your staff and implementing strong security controls.

• System Failure

System failure can be extremely costly and result in data loss and business interruption. To mitigate this risk, ensure your providers offer high-quality and timely support and that your most vital systems run on premium equipment.

‍

What Specific Threats Can Cyber Security Risk Management Help You With?

Implementing a cyber security risk management strategy will allow your business to identify, monitor, and eliminate the following cyber threats:

• Supply Chain Risks 
• Fraud 
• Phishing 
• Leaked Credentials 
• Dark Web Activity 
• Sensitive Data Leakage 
• VIP and Executive Risks
• Brand Risks
• Malicious Mobile Apps

‍

What’s The Best Cyber Security Risk Management Process?

An effective cyber security risk management strategy will enhance your digital protection by following the four pillars below:

• Risk Identification

The first step is to map out all the information assets to assess the attack surface and identify risks.

• Risk Assessment

The idea here is to evaluate the likelihood of specific threats successfully exploiting vulnerabilities and their impact. For instance, companies will scour the public and dark web to identify any mention of their name or digital assets and evaluate the risks based on their findings.

• Risk Treatment

The next step involves prioritising risks and implementing mitigation strategies to block and remove any threat to your digital assets.

• Risk Monitoring and Reporting

Effectively monitoring risks and reporting on them is key to an effective cyber security risk management process.

Now, knowing exactly how to implement this process and assess your risk levels can be daunting, especially for smaller businesses. The great news is that organisations such as the American National Institute of Standards (with NSIT CSF) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (with Essential Eight) have created useful risk management frameworks used by businesses in Australia to mitigate risks of data breaches and cyber security threats.

In fact, the Australian government recommends that all Australian businesses and organisations implement the Essential Eight risk management framework to bolster their security and prevent cyberattacks.  

‍

Frameworks That Provide Guidance On Cyber Risk Management

In addition to Essential Eight, there are a few other cyber security risk management frameworks that contain best practices for mitigating cyber risks.

Here are the top 3 Cyber security frameworks used by Australian businesses in 2022 :

• CIS Controls

Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls refer to a range of security efforts engineered to protect businesses against the most common cyber security threats. They’re typically designed to disrupt the lifecycle of a cyberattack.

In most cases, the lifecycle of a cyberattack is as follows:

• First penetration (think email phishing attack or social engineering)
• Escalate privileges (think servers or domain controllers)
• Data breach (think ransomware encryption or supply chain attack)

The CSI risk management framework is regularly updated to meet the ever-changing cyber threat landscape and recently launched version 8. It was designed to align with the quick digital transformation operated over the last three years, including remote working and hybrid working, more mobile endpoints, and increasing virtualisation of society in general.

They offer enhanced sensitive data protection, aren’t industry-related, and are therefore highly recommended for Australian companies.

• Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM)

CCM is a cyber security risk management framework specifically designed for cloud computing environments. It was engineered by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organisation committed to promoting best practices in cloud computing security and helping businesses protect themselves against cloud cyberattacks.

To make things as simple as possible, companies can use the CCM framework to surface security vulnerabilities and deficiencies and provide appropriate controls to mitigate or remediate them. And the great thing about CCM is that it caters to both cloud customers and cloud solution providers covering the entire cloud computing relationship.

• ISO/IEC 38500

ISO/IEC 38500 is the international standard for IT corporate governance. It’s designed to provide guidance to individuals whose role is to advise executives on the use of information technology within their company or organisation. 

In short, it ensures the integrity and security of management processes affecting the use of information technology within a company.

This framework encourages every party to take ownership and responsibility for a company’s security posture. This includes management, third-party vendors, suppliers, users with access to sensitive resources, and even auditors. 

Because ISO/IEC 38500 is an international standard, Australian businesses of all sizes should comply with the framework. 

‍

How To Develop An Effective Cyber Security Management Plan?

Now that we’ve established you need to take cyber security threats seriously and implement an effective cyber security management plan according to specific risk management frameworks, how can you go about it?

• Identify Cyber Security Risks

The first step of your plan should be to conduct a security risk assessment by creating an inventory of the organisation’s digital assets. Once you’ve mapped out all of your company’s digital assets, you should prioritise their importance by defining which ones are absolutely critical to your mission.

We’d recommend combining a quantitative and qualitative approach to map out the IT risks and potential impact on your organisation. While a qualitative risk assessment will provide tremendous insights into the impact of a cyberattack on productivity, a quantitative approach will help you understand the financial implications. 

Cyber security frameworks such as the NIST Special Publication 800-30 can provide useful information on strategic and tactical risk assessment.

• Prioritise Cyber Risks

The idea here is to define who can access what data and how this data could potentially be breached. Companies are increasingly relying on third-party services and shared infrastructures, meaning data loopholes can be found anywhere these days.  

So, once you’ve determined and prioritised the potential risks your organisation is facing, it’s time to identify the threat channels. Cyberattacks can occur in many forms, from software vulnerabilities due to human error or natural disasters to ransomware and external attacks.

That’s why you should consistently strive to identify networks and systems vulnerabilities by using a combination of scanning, penetration testing, and audit controls. 

• Identify Cyber Security Risk Management Strategies

By now, you should have mapped out all of your company’s information assets and identified potential threats. 

So, it’s now time to review the different strategies you can implement to prevent or mitigate these threats.

• Use Security Monitoring Tools

Security monitoring tools allow you to automate surveillance of your surface attack. For instance, deploying Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools with behaviour analytics can be an effective way to monitor the ever-changing threat landscape and allow you to adapt.

• Deploy a Patching Program

Implementing a patch management program should be one of your top priorities. That’s because patches identify gaps within applications and remediate them before cybercriminals exploit them. With a patch management program, your software will be kept up-to-date, and patches will be implemented every time they become available. 

As an additional tip, make sure to run updates on test systems. This will prevent unnecessary risks before actually implementing the patches. 

• Implement data-backup solutions

Data is the new gold, making data breaches one of the most rampant types of cyber threats. Now, as mentioned before, a data breach can be costly financially and in terms of reputation. So, you need to ensure that your critical data is backed up in a secure environment. Make sure to automate data backup and encrypt the backed-up data. 

Also, it’s recommended to use the 3-2-1 approach for highly sensitive data. This means that you should have three copies of the data in two different storage types, one of them which should be offsite. 

• Use a reliable managed security service provider

As the name suggests, managed security service providers specialise in handling security needs for their clients. They’ll be able to monitor and manage the security of your devices, networks, and systems on your behalf. 

The good thing about using a third-party provider for your security needs is that they’ll have a team of highly trained and experienced security staff and the latest generation tools and equipment, which can save you a substantial amount of money down the road while bolstering your security.

 To ensure you choose the right provider, check whether they comply with standards and adhere to system data security and compliance policies.

• Devise A Powerful Security Awareness Program 

Even after implementing all the strategies mentioned above, you might still experience data breaches if your employees don’t take security precautions. And for them to do so, they need to be trained and regularly reminded of your company’s cyber risk management process, plan, and strategies. 

As mentioned before, 90% of cyberattacks are enabled due to human error. So, developing a security awareness program is vital to protect your networks, systems, and devices against cyberattacks. You should therefore try to implement a culture of cyber security awareness and hold your employees accountable for not complying. 

‍

The Role Of Internal compliance and Audit Teams in Cyber Security Risk Management

Stemming from the last point, your employees are key in helping your organisation navigate and mitigate cyber threats. 

But even though every single employee should be aware of threats and specific mitigation strategies, dedicated internal compliance and audit teams can play a major role in preventing cyberattacks.

Here’s how they can help:

• Identify and assess IT risks
• Stress-test risks
• Identify controls and assert their effectiveness for each risk
• Map controls to critical standards
• Automate controls testing
• Flag and manage exceptions
• Report deficiencies and work on improving them
• Consistently monitor the threat landscape and seek ongoing improvement

What Tools Should You Provide Your Teams With?

To enhance your team’s efficiency and mitigate IT risks as much as possible, you need to provide them with a set of tools that will enable them to play their part in your cyber security risk management process. 

• Communication Tools

You need to streamline the communication process to facilitate collaboration. Every department and team across your organisation should have access at any time to clear records and guidelines, no matter their physical location and time zone.

• Risk Management Frameworks

Encourage your internal compliance and audit teams to use third-party risk management frameworks such as Eight Essentials or NIST Special Publication 800-30. This can help guide risk assessment and allow them to perform a more thorough gap analysis between current operations and best practices and compliance requirements.

• Cyber security Analytics

Cyber security analytics refers to a proactive approach that uses data collection and enhanced analytics capabilities to detect and mitigate threats. The idea behind using cyber security analytics is to allow organisations and their teams to identify and assess potential threats and security incidents early on. This, in turn, enables businesses to prevent cyber criminals from successfully infiltrating network infrastructure and compromising critical data.

‍

How Can Cyber Insurance Help Protect Your Business?

In an increasingly interconnected world where businesses’ operations heavily rely on technology, opting for cyber insurance has become vital to protect your data and assets. 

Now, as a small business owner, you might be wondering whether you really need it. After all, you already have a lot of expenses, and adding the cost of cyber insurance to it could seem unnecessary. 

Well, we’d argue that if you want your business to thrive or even stay afloat, you need cyber insurance. 

As mentioned, almost half of the cyberattacks in Australia target small businesses, and 60% go out of business within six months of the attack because they don’t have a cyber security risk management plan in place and haven’t opted for cyber insurance.  

More specifically, the right cyber insurance can help you with the following:

• Data and application restoration costs
• Business interruption and loss reimbursement
• Cyber extortion defense
• Forensic support

Here’s an article we put together to help you better understand the benefits of getting cyber insurance. 

Now, when choosing your insurance provider, we’d recommend diligently checking their cyber policy to ensure it provides an adequate level of protection. Besides, you should also make sure that they’re used to working with small businesses and catering to their specific needs.

At upcover, we specialise in providing small business owners, start-ups, independent contractors, and sole entrepreneurs with tailored insurance policies to protect them from a range of claims due to their business operations and the devastating impact of security incidents.  

So, If you’re looking for the perfect cyber insurance policy to cover you and your business in the event of a cyberattack, we’d love to help. We’ve been working with hundreds of small business owners, and we know how much damage cyber incidents can inflict on smaller size companies.

Cyber Security Risk Management: Frameworks, Plans, & Best Practices

92%. That’s the number of Australian organisations hit by a phishing attack in 2021.

Cyberattacks are so rampant in Australia that a cyber incident is reported every ten minutes across the country! 

Now, as a small business owner, you’re particularly vulnerable to cybercrime, with 43% of cyberattacks specifically targeting small companies. And the thing is, 60% of small businesses experiencing a cyberattack go out of business within six months of the cyberattack. That’s because the average cost of a cyber breach is a whopping $3.35 million! 

But why has cybercrime become so prevalent in today’s world?

The exponential increase in the levels of connectivity, online traffic, and remote working, our ever growing reliance on technology, and the explosion of cloud services and third-party vendors, 

explain why the number of cyber incidents has skyrocketed around the world over the last decade.  And so does the lack of technical knowledge and awareness around cyber security risks.

And while cybercriminals use increasingly sophisticated techniques to hack companies, many organisations are ill-prepared to fight back. 50% of Australian businesses are exposed to cyberattacks, and 2 in 5 don’t spend any money protecting their networks and systems.

The reality is that implementing an effective and foolproof cyber security risk management process internally is more important than ever if you want to protect your business against devastating cyber incidents.

Now, knowing what to do when it comes to cyber security can be daunting and overwhelming at first as a business owner. 

That’s why to help you navigate this complex issue, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide. First, we’ll go over the definition of cyber security risk management. We’ll then highlight the best cyber security risk management process in 2022 before deep diving into how to develop an effective cyber security risk management plan.

‍

What Is Cyber Security Risk Management?

Cyber incidents are rarely random. They’re the results of carefully planned attacks.

Cyber security risk management is a strategic approach a business takes to prioritise cyber threats and prevent cyber incidents. More specifically, cyber security risk management aims to identify your organisations’ cyber security threats and analyse and assess them before addressing them effectively. 

Managing the risks posed by cybercriminals is an essential and ongoing part of any business operation. Unfortunately, many organisations feel a false sense of security after conducting an initial cyber security risk assessment.

The cyber security threat landscape is ever-changing, with new regulations being implemented, new exploits being discovered, and new potentially vulnerable devices being released. Add to this the rapidly changing technological landscape, the digitalisation of communication, and the increase of remote working due to COVID-19, and you get the perfect recipe for cyber security vulnerabilities! Therefore, bolstering your security should be an ongoing process.

Because cybercriminals will look for vulnerabilities in your networks and systems across your organisation, cyber security risk management isn’t just a matter for your cyber security team. 

Your business should build awareness and provide training for every single employee around cyber security threats and the cyber security risk management process.   

‍

What Are The Benefits Of Cyber Security Risk Management?

While there are many benefits of a robust cyber security risk management process, here are the main three.

• Prevent Revenue Loss

Let’s start with a powerful benefit; Cyber security risk management can save you from losing hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more) by preventing successful attacks and keeping your business running. As mentioned before, cyberattacks cost over $3 million to companies on average, and over 60% of small businesses don’t survive them. 

• Protect Your Business Reputation

A data breach can destroy your company’s reputation and forever break the trust your customers placed in you. 

Take the recent Optus data breach that saw millions of customers see their personal information at risk of being compromised. The telco company is currently facing a massive customer exodus following one of the biggest data breaches in the history of the country. Not only is it extremely costly to Optus financially, but it will most likely affect its reputation for years to come. 

• Gain a Competitive Edge

Stemming from the example we just provided, customers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their personal information. That’s why they’re looking for companies that take protecting their data seriously. 

Implementing a strong cyber security risk management plan and having a disaster recovery strategy that you can show to your customers will go a long way in helping strengthen the trust they have in your business. And ultimately, they’ll choose you over the competition if they know their data is safe with you. 

While things such as prices or customer service are typically assets that can make you stand out, a strong cyber security risk management plan is what can give you a competitive edge and increase your client base these days.

‍

What Are Cyber Threats?

Cyber threats typically fall into four main categories:

• Adversarial Threats

Adversarial threats stem from an individual, a collective, or an established criminal organisation looking to attack your networks and systems to harm your company. 

This could be:

• A third-party vendor
• A supplier
• A trusted insider
• A nation or a state
• Corporate espionage

This risk can be mitigated by creating a dedicated security operation center featuring highly trained security employees and top-notch security tooling.

• Natural Disasters

Even though this is probably not what comes to mind first when thinking of a cyber incident, natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, or fire can lead to a loss of data and destroy a business’ physical and digital assets. 

This can be as costly for a business as malware.

This risk can be mitigated by distributing your company’s operations over multiple cloud resources and physical locations.

• Human Error

One of your employees could accidentally open a phishing email or download malware resulting in a data breach. In fact, 90% of cyber-attacks are made possible by human error! This means that you could mitigate this risk by regularly training your staff and implementing strong security controls.

• System Failure

System failure can be extremely costly and result in data loss and business interruption. To mitigate this risk, ensure your providers offer high-quality and timely support and that your most vital systems run on premium equipment.

‍

What Specific Threats Can Cyber Security Risk Management Help You With?

Implementing a cyber security risk management strategy will allow your business to identify, monitor, and eliminate the following cyber threats:

• Supply Chain Risks 
• Fraud 
• Phishing 
• Leaked Credentials 
• Dark Web Activity 
• Sensitive Data Leakage 
• VIP and Executive Risks
• Brand Risks
• Malicious Mobile Apps

‍

What’s The Best Cyber Security Risk Management Process?

An effective cyber security risk management strategy will enhance your digital protection by following the four pillars below:

• Risk Identification

The first step is to map out all the information assets to assess the attack surface and identify risks.

• Risk Assessment

The idea here is to evaluate the likelihood of specific threats successfully exploiting vulnerabilities and their impact. For instance, companies will scour the public and dark web to identify any mention of their name or digital assets and evaluate the risks based on their findings.

• Risk Treatment

The next step involves prioritising risks and implementing mitigation strategies to block and remove any threat to your digital assets.

• Risk Monitoring and Reporting

Effectively monitoring risks and reporting on them is key to an effective cyber security risk management process.

Now, knowing exactly how to implement this process and assess your risk levels can be daunting, especially for smaller businesses. The great news is that organisations such as the American National Institute of Standards (with NSIT CSF) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (with Essential Eight) have created useful risk management frameworks used by businesses in Australia to mitigate risks of data breaches and cyber security threats.

In fact, the Australian government recommends that all Australian businesses and organisations implement the Essential Eight risk management framework to bolster their security and prevent cyberattacks.  

‍

Frameworks That Provide Guidance On Cyber Risk Management

In addition to Essential Eight, there are a few other cyber security risk management frameworks that contain best practices for mitigating cyber risks.

Here are the top 3 Cyber security frameworks used by Australian businesses in 2022 :

• CIS Controls

Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls refer to a range of security efforts engineered to protect businesses against the most common cyber security threats. They’re typically designed to disrupt the lifecycle of a cyberattack.

In most cases, the lifecycle of a cyberattack is as follows:

• First penetration (think email phishing attack or social engineering)
• Escalate privileges (think servers or domain controllers)
• Data breach (think ransomware encryption or supply chain attack)

The CSI risk management framework is regularly updated to meet the ever-changing cyber threat landscape and recently launched version 8. It was designed to align with the quick digital transformation operated over the last three years, including remote working and hybrid working, more mobile endpoints, and increasing virtualisation of society in general.

They offer enhanced sensitive data protection, aren’t industry-related, and are therefore highly recommended for Australian companies.

• Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM)

CCM is a cyber security risk management framework specifically designed for cloud computing environments. It was engineered by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organisation committed to promoting best practices in cloud computing security and helping businesses protect themselves against cloud cyberattacks.

To make things as simple as possible, companies can use the CCM framework to surface security vulnerabilities and deficiencies and provide appropriate controls to mitigate or remediate them. And the great thing about CCM is that it caters to both cloud customers and cloud solution providers covering the entire cloud computing relationship.

• ISO/IEC 38500

ISO/IEC 38500 is the international standard for IT corporate governance. It’s designed to provide guidance to individuals whose role is to advise executives on the use of information technology within their company or organisation. 

In short, it ensures the integrity and security of management processes affecting the use of information technology within a company.

This framework encourages every party to take ownership and responsibility for a company’s security posture. This includes management, third-party vendors, suppliers, users with access to sensitive resources, and even auditors. 

Because ISO/IEC 38500 is an international standard, Australian businesses of all sizes should comply with the framework. 

‍

How To Develop An Effective Cyber Security Management Plan?

‍

Now that we’ve established you need to take cyber security threats seriously and implement an effective cyber security management plan according to specific risk management frameworks, how can you go about it?

• Identify Cyber Security Risks

The first step of your plan should be to conduct a security risk assessment by creating an inventory of the organisation’s digital assets. Once you’ve mapped out all of your company’s digital assets, you should prioritise their importance by defining which ones are absolutely critical to your mission.

We’d recommend combining a quantitative and qualitative approach to map out the IT risks and potential impact on your organisation. While a qualitative risk assessment will provide tremendous insights into the impact of a cyberattack on productivity, a quantitative approach will help you understand the financial implications. 

Cyber security frameworks such as the NIST Special Publication 800-30 can provide useful information on strategic and tactical risk assessment.

• Prioritise Cyber Risks

The idea here is to define who can access what data and how this data could potentially be breached. Companies are increasingly relying on third-party services and shared infrastructures, meaning data loopholes can be found anywhere these days.  

So, once you’ve determined and prioritised the potential risks your organisation is facing, it’s time to identify the threat channels. Cyberattacks can occur in many forms, from software vulnerabilities due to human error or natural disasters to ransomware and external attacks.

That’s why you should consistently strive to identify networks and systems vulnerabilities by using a combination of scanning, penetration testing, and audit controls. 

• Identify Cyber Security Risk Management Strategies

By now, you should have mapped out all of your company’s information assets and identified potential threats. 

So, it’s now time to review the different strategies you can implement to prevent or mitigate these threats.

• Use Security Monitoring Tools

Security monitoring tools allow you to automate surveillance of your surface attack. For instance, deploying Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools with behaviour analytics can be an effective way to monitor the ever-changing threat landscape and allow you to adapt.

• Deploy a Patching Program

Implementing a patch management program should be one of your top priorities. That’s because patches identify gaps within applications and remediate them before cybercriminals exploit them. With a patch management program, your software will be kept up-to-date, and patches will be implemented every time they become available. 

As an additional tip, make sure to run updates on test systems. This will prevent unnecessary risks before actually implementing the patches. 

• Implement data-backup solutions

Data is the new gold, making data breaches one of the most rampant types of cyber threats. Now, as mentioned before, a data breach can be costly financially and in terms of reputation. So, you need to ensure that your critical data is backed up in a secure environment. Make sure to automate data backup and encrypt the backed-up data. 

Also, it’s recommended to use the 3-2-1 approach for highly sensitive data. This means that you should have three copies of the data in two different storage types, one of them which should be offsite. 

• Use a reliable managed security service provider

As the name suggests, managed security service providers specialise in handling security needs for their clients. They’ll be able to monitor and manage the security of your devices, networks, and systems on your behalf. 

The good thing about using a third-party provider for your security needs is that they’ll have a team of highly trained and experienced security staff and the latest generation tools and equipment, which can save you a substantial amount of money down the road while bolstering your security.

To ensure you choose the right provider, check whether they comply with standards and adhere to system data security and compliance policies.

• Devise A Powerful Security Awareness Program 

Even after implementing all the strategies mentioned above, you might still experience data breaches if your employees don’t take security precautions. And for them to do so, they need to be trained and regularly reminded of your company’s cyber risk management process, plan, and strategies. 

As mentioned before, 90% of cyberattacks are enabled due to human error. So, developing a security awareness program is vital to protect your networks, systems, and devices against cyberattacks. You should therefore try to implement a culture of cyber security awareness and hold your employees accountable for not complying. 

‍

The Role Of Internal compliance and Audit Teams in Cyber Security Risk Management

Stemming from the last point, your employees are key in helping your organisation navigate and mitigate cyber threats. 

But even though every single employee should be aware of threats and specific mitigation strategies, dedicated internal compliance and audit teams can play a major role in preventing cyberattacks.

Here’s how they can help:

• Identify and assess IT risks
• Stress-test risks
• Identify controls and assert their effectiveness for each risk
• Map controls to critical standards
• Automate controls testing
• Flag and manage exceptions
• Report deficiencies and work on improving them
• Consistently monitor the threat landscape and seek ongoing improvement

What Tools Should You Provide Your Teams With?

To enhance your team’s efficiency and mitigate IT risks as much as possible, you need to provide them with a set of tools that will enable them to play their part in your cyber security risk management process. 

• Communication Tools

You need to streamline the communication process to facilitate collaboration. Every department and team across your organisation should have access at any time to clear records and guidelines, no matter their physical location and time zone.

• Risk Management Frameworks

Encourage your internal compliance and audit teams to use third-party risk management frameworks such as Eight Essentials or NIST Special Publication 800-30. This can help guide risk assessment and allow them to perform a more thorough gap analysis between current operations and best practices and compliance requirements.

• Cyber security Analytics

Cyber security analytics refers to a proactive approach that uses data collection and enhanced analytics capabilities to detect and mitigate threats. The idea behind using cyber security analytics is to allow organisations and their teams to identify and assess potential threats and security incidents early on. This, in turn, enables businesses to prevent cyber criminals from successfully infiltrating network infrastructure and compromising critical data.

‍

How Can Cyber Insurance Help Protect Your Business?

‍

In an increasingly interconnected world where businesses’ operations heavily rely on technology, opting for cyber insurance has become vital to protect your data and assets. 

Now, as a small business owner, you might be wondering whether you really need it. After all, you already have a lot of expenses, and adding the cost of cyber insurance to it could seem unnecessary. 

Well, we’d argue that if you want your business to thrive or even stay afloat, you need cyber insurance. 

As mentioned, almost half of the cyberattacks in Australia target small businesses, and 60% go out of business within six months of the attack because they don’t have a cyber security risk management plan in place and haven’t opted for cyber insurance.  

More specifically, the right cyber insurance can help you with the following:

• Data and application restoration costs
• Business interruption and loss reimbursement
• Cyber extortion defense
• Forensic support

Here’s an article we put together to help you better understand the benefits of getting cyber insurance. 

Now, when choosing your insurance provider, we’d recommend diligently checking their cyber policy to ensure it provides an adequate level of protection. Besides, you should also make sure that they’re used to working with small businesses and catering to their specific needs.

At upcover, we specialise in providing small business owners, start-ups, independent contractors, and sole entrepreneurs with tailored insurance policies to protect them from a range of claims due to their business operations and the devastating impact of security incidents.  

So, If you’re looking for the perfect cyber insurance policy to cover you and your business in the event of a cyberattack, we’d love to help. We’ve been working with hundreds of small business owners, and we know how much damage cyber incidents can inflict on smaller size companies.

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