Developing a Cyber Risk Management Framework

Cyber Risk Management Framework

Cyber risk is a broad term that encompasses a variety of threats that may impact your organization. These risks can be internal or external, and include security breaches, malware attacks, fraud, hacking, ransomware, data theft, corporate espionage, cybercrime and other forms of intrusion.

The cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving. People adopt new devices, software applications change and cyber criminals use new strategies. These changes can cause your security protections to fall behind and compromise sensitive information. Your organization should develop a cyber risk management framework to assess, monitor and respond to cyber risks. This framework will help you to ensure that your organization is proactively protected against threats that could impact its operations, assets and customers.

A risk management framework includes the following elements: defining the cyber risk, understanding the business context of the cyber risk, assessing your organization’s risk tolerance and developing key performance indicators (KPIs) that are aligned with the organization’s underlying KPIs. The business context is important because it helps you to understand what your risk-based decision-making should be focused on, including the type of organization you are, how you assess and manage risk, and the types of risks you need to consider.

Developing a Cyber Risk Management Framework

A company’s cyber risk profile is a list of the threats that it faces and the information that is at risk to the company. This should include sensitive information, such as customer financial details, employee personal information, corporate intellectual property and critical operational systems. It also includes non-sensitive information that is of interest to the company or could be valuable to a malicious actor.

The cyber risk profile is critical to understand what information you have that is of value or importance to an attacker, what type of data you are holding and where it is stored. This information should be categorized based on its sensitivity level, strategic importance and legal requirements you may be subject to.

A cyber risk appetite enables companies to balance the benefits of cybersecurity measures against the cost to implement them. This allows businesses to operate within a range of cyber risk thresholds, while maintaining their business strategy.

It is vital to quantify the cost of cyber risk in order to better communicate to your executives and stakeholders the importance of your cybersecurity program. By doing this, you can show your leaders that their efforts to support it are not only worthwhile, but that they have a tangible ROI. A strong cyber security culture will help your company reduce your risk by establishing and maintaining consistent standards and practices. It will also help you to respond faster to potential incidents and breaches.

Your business should establish a cyber security culture that promotes open communication and shared knowledge throughout the organization. This will also help you to build a cyber security team that is knowledgeable, dedicated and committed to the success of your company’s cybersecurity program.