A Guide to Cyber Security Risk Assessment Tools & Techniques

Cybercrime is more prevalent in today’s world than ever before. From 2022 to 2023, 32% of businesses and 24% of charities reported breaches or cyber attacks, and this number grows every year.

These days, almost all businesses use the internet in one way or another, and all of these businesses need to protect themselves. Having a robust cyber security strategy in place will help to keep your business, your employees, and your customers safe. There are various cyber security risk assessment tools that you can use that will help you ensure your system is secure.

Keep reading for a rundown of the different tools and techniques that make up cyber security risk assessment.

What Is a Cyber Security Risk Assessment?

There are a huge number of cyber security risks out there, and a cyber security risk assessment will show you how secure or vulnerable your business is. It will identify any potential threats that may face your systems, networks, or data so you can develop and implement an action plan.

Cyber security threats are constantly evolving, so you should conduct assessments regularly. This is vital if you want to protect business data and keep your company safe.

The average cost of a data breach or cyber attack in the UK is £4200, but it can be much higher than this. In some cases, businesses damage their reputation, suffer from financial loss and downtime, or end up going under as a result of cyber attacks.

Small businesses typically don’t have a suitable in-house team to properly monitor threats and establish security systems. Even in larger businesses, the needs are often greater than what the IT team can deliver. Third-party cyber security companies can help businesses with cyber security risk assessments, and then recommend the best steps to take to ensure their security is as strong as it should be.

Cyber Security Risk Assessment Tools

Due to the variety of threats that exist, there are also multiple types of cyber security tools. You’ll want to make use of all of these to ensure you have the right level of protection.

Security Ratings

Third and Fourth-Party Vendor-Provided Tools

A lot of vendors who provide supply network solutions also offer security tools that you can use to scan their products. It’s always worth asking about these when communicating with your vendors as they’re usually free to use. You can also find a range of tools online that can help in a similar way.

Vulnerability Assessment Platforms

A vulnerability assessment platform will look at your IT infrastructure and take inventory of (and analyse) the current security controls you have in place. They then produce a report that will help you understand the risk of any vulnerabilities it finds in your network.

You can prioritise these threats so that you know how you should proceed. It’s also possible to perform independent vulnerability assessments to evaluate vendor performance. This can help improve third-party relationships.

Penetration Testing

There are various types of penetration testing available, and they help to assess current security systems while maintaining compliance with regulatory standards such as HIPAA, FINRA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and FFIEC. Some of the weaknesses that penetration testing can expose are:

High-risk vulnerabilities
Feasibility of a customised set of attack vectors
Your network’s attack detection and incident response capabilities
The magnitude of potential business impacts from attacks
Forensic analysis of post-security incidents

Employee Assessments

Research has shown that 88% of data breach incidents (if not more) are the result of human error. As such, this is arguably the most important cyber security tool available. All it takes is one employee to absentmindedly click on an email link containing malware and your business could become a victim of a cyber attack.

It’s vital that you assess your employees to ensure they’re aware of the potential risks. The results from an employee assessment can show you if you need to conduct any employee cyber security training. Doing so will greatly reduce the level of risk your organisation is exposed to.

Ensuring Your Company Is Protected

At this point, ensuring your company has the right level of security is essential, and this will only become more important in the future. Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to exploit individuals and businesses. You need to keep your company’s security systems comprehensive and up-to-date through regular testing.

Sytech Digital Forensics is a leading digital forensics and cyber security company. We’ve been in business since 1978; longer than any other cyber security firm in the UK.

Our knowledge, expertise, and cyber security risk assessment tools help us offer the best services available. Get in touch with our team today to find out more about how we can help keep your organisation safe and secure.