Modern IT environments face more security threats than ever before. From phishing to password attacks, there are numerous ways for hackers to break into IT systems. This is especially true if those systems are older—and if you’re not aware of the risks.
The answer is an IT security assessment. Whether you handle IT in-house, or you use managed IT services, an assessment is critical to protect your data, your users, and your customers.
But what goes into an IT security assessment? How do you find the right partner to conduct your assessment?
Here’s everything you need to know.
What is an IT security assessment?
An IT security assessment is a well-defined process for identifying security risks and vulnerabilities in an organization’s IT environment. Also known as a cybersecurity risk assessment, this process takes a highly systematic approach to dealing with IT security.
Global enterprises may have plenty of IT resources to conduct security assessments internally. However, midmarket companies typically engage a managed IT service provider to assess their environment for security risks. This way, you get an outside perspective and a well-defined process, ensuring you adhere to best practices.
But do you really need an IT security assessment? What do you get out of it?
Why assess your IT security risks?
IT security assessments come with significant benefits when they’re done right. Here’s what you get when you work with Corsica Technologies for your assessment.
1. You get comprehensive visibility of IT security risks
If your IT staff is already busy with daily responsibilities—or if you don’t have IT staff—then it’s tough to dedicate the bandwidth to an internal risk assessment. This leaves you with no visibility into your biggest vulnerabilities.
An IT security assessment solves this problem by overturning every stone. A rigorous methodology and a dedicated third party ensure you get a comprehensive approach. As cyber criminals turn to softer targets for their attacks, they find ideal targets in midmarket organizations with limited IT resources. This means IT security assessments are especially critical for this market segment.
2. You get a methodology for defining acceptable risk
It’s impossible to eliminate all security risks from your IT environment. To do so, you would have to shut down your essential systems permanently.
Rather than focusing on eliminating risks, an IT security assessment gives you a methodology for defining what levels of risk are acceptable on a quantified scale.
3. You get a clear roadmap for dealing with IT security risks
Since a good IT security assessment will help you define acceptable levels of risk, it also provides structure for the required risk mitigation efforts. This means you get a clear path for addressing any security risks uncovered in your IT environment.
4. You can implement “just enough” security
Believe it or not, it is possible to implement “too much” security. If you add too many speedbumps to your operational processes, you can create a negative impact on efficiency.
The key is to implement the right amount of security—or “just enough” security. This way, you don’t spend too much on risk mitigation efforts or end up with massive operational roadblocks due to new security measures. An IT security assessment is essential to this approach.
What can happen if you don’t assess IT risks?
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to answer this question with certainty. You don’t know what you don’t know.
However, an IT security assessment helps you prevent many types of incidents. Here are some of the most common.
An employee clicks a link in a phishing email
A phishing email appears to be legitimate, using an urgent message to get the user to click a link or download an attachment. If your employees haven’t been trained to recognize phishing emails, this is a significant risk affecting your IT environment.
Learn more here: Phishing Email Testing for Employees.
Hackers exploit a weak password to hold an IT system for ransom
Older IT systems are likely to have weak password rules—not to mention passwords that haven’t been updated in months or even years. These systems are at high risk of compromise through a credential-based attack.
Once a hacker gains access to your IT systems through a weak password, they can implement ransomware that encrypts data or locks down a system until you pay the ransom. Even if you pay the ransom—which you shouldn’t—hackers may not abide by their promises. They may take the money and run without actually unlocking your systems.
Hackers exploit an outdated server patch
Let’s be honest, are you really keeping up with patches on all devices—computers, servers, and network equipment? It’s challenging to do so.
Unfortunately, outdated IT systems are easy to exploit if a hacker knows how. An IT security assessment can evaluate the state of your patches, highlighting any systems that are vulnerable due to outdated code.
The IT security assessment process
There are many methodologies for assessing IT security risks. Here at Corsica Technologies, we use CIS RAM, one of the leading frameworks for auditing IT security. We like CIS RAM because it provides specific guidelines for modeling risks in different types of organizations. This provides great structure to the process, allowing you to benchmark yourself against best practices.
Here’s how our process looks for a CIS RAM assessment.
- Develop the criteria that we’ll use for risk assessment and risk acceptance.
- Model risks by evaluating the existing implementation of the relevant CIS Safeguards.
- Evaluate risks, estimating the expectancy (i.e. likelihood) and impact of a breach.
- Calculate a quantified score for each risk.
- Suggest implementation of the appropriate CIS Safeguards to reduce risk to acceptable levels.
- Analyze the proposed security controls, ensuring they won’t introduce unacceptable friction to operations.
What should you look for in an IT security assessment?
Not all service providers approach these assessments the same way. Some will provide the security assessment alone, with no plan to help you secure your IT systems.
If you have the staff resources to develop and implement your own plan, that may work just fine. However, most midmarket companies struggle to supply those resources. They need a provider who doesn’t stop with the assessment. Rather, they need a provider who also offers a clear path forward and can implement and maintain your security controls—or assist your team in doing so. That’s our approach here at Corsica Technologies.
The takeaway: Don’t wait to assess IT security risks
If you haven’t assessed your IT security recently, it’s time to see where you’re at. You can’t mitigate a risk that you don’t know about, and an assessment helps uncover every vulnerability. If you’re ready to get full visibility into your risks—plus a plan for addressing them—then contact us today. Let’s take your next step and secure your IT systems.
Ready to assess your IT security?
Reach out to schedule a consultation with our specialists.
