Why It's Important to Get a Vulnerability Assessment
Operating a business involves continuously being on the lookout for things that are causing the business to lose money and fixing these problems. Few problems are costlier to fix than a data breach, though. Even when someone sues your company or threatens to, it is usually possible to settle on a reasonable amount to pay to compensate the plaintiff for the money you caused them to lose. How do you compensate someone for their identity being stolen because of your negligence, though, and how do you compensate thousands of victims of identity theft? The least costly solution is to prevent data breaches and account takeovers before they happen, which means investing in cybersecurity. At Perspective Omni Media, we can help you work out the legal details of implementing your cybersecurity strategy.
How Vulnerability Assessments Work
In the spring of 2017, organizations in many countries fell victim to the WannaCry ransomware attack, causing substantial financial losses. The worst part is that these losses were preventable. Microsoft had released a patch in March of that year that would repair the ransomware's vulnerability, but most companies did not implement the patch in time. If they had conducted regular vulnerability assessments, they would have known that they needed the patch and been able to apply it in time.
A vulnerability assessment begins with your cybersecurity team taking stock of the hardware and software with which your organization's employees come into regular contact. It also assesses the value of the data stored on your systems and the points of vulnerability of the data. Only then can your cybersecurity team begin to strengthen protections at the weak points, starting with the highest risks and the most valuable assets.
How a Vulnerability Assessment Can Protect Your Organization from a Disastrous Data Breach
A vulnerability assessment, also known as a cybersecurity audit, is the first step to developing an effective cybersecurity strategy. Because cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving, you should conduct several vulnerability assessments per year. If this sounds like you are always fighting an uphill battle, consider all the other aspects of business that require ongoing improvement, such as market research. If you still aren't convinced that vulnerability assessments are worth the time and money it takes to conduct them, consider that more than two-thirds of cybersecurity vulnerabilities are due to insufficient or improper input validation; in other words, you can fix them just by improving your validation procedures.
Vulnerability assessments require the expertise of dedicated personnel or cybersecurity experts hired on an ongoing basis. Trying to interpret the results of the assessment when you don't have a background in cybersecurity will not lead you to useful decisions; think about how Googling your lab test results lead you to fear the worst, but your doctor has a more reassuring, or at least more actionable, interpretation of them.
It is better to contact us now about setting up a vulnerability assessment strategy than to call one later in a panic after your company experiences a data breach.