If you’re like most business owners, you’re always looking for ways to keep your company safe from harm–and rightly so! There are a lot of things that could critically affect your business. From data breaches and cyber attacks to natural disasters, it’s almost impossible to predict which threat could occur next and cause downtime and other costly problems.
With the average cost of downtime per minute exceeding $1,400, leaving your business unprotected is no longer an option if it’s meant to stay productive.
You may have heard the term IT security assessment before, and wondered what it is and how it can benefit your business. If this is the case, and even if it isn’t, we’ll help you understand what they do and how they can protect your business and its employees. Let’s take a look at how they can help!
What is an IT Security Assessment?
An IT security assessment is a process created for identifying, analyzing, and responding to risks to your company’s information or IT systems. This assessment helps you understand where your network’s weaknesses are, and the necessary actions to mitigate risks that threaten your system. It focuses on prevention rather than reactive measures.
Carrying out an IT risk assessment allows a company to reduce the likelihood of an incident occurring and minimize the impact if one does occur.
How Does an IT Security Assessment Work?
There are different metrics within a company that can be evaluated in a security risk assessment. General assessments can be carried out through questionnaires or interviews with key personnel. A more comprehensive approach may require on-site observations and documentation review, or virtual visits that allow for a detailed analysis. Testing may also be necessary to verify the effectiveness of security controls.
Tips for Promoting a Successful Security Assessment
There are a few key markers that go into an assessment overview which help to carry out a successful IT security assessment:
Identifying Valuable Resources: The first step is to identify your company’s assets, including its people, information, systems, and facilities. You’ll also want to identify the threats and vulnerabilities that could potentially harm those valuable resources.
Assessing Risks and Threats: Once you’ve identified the risks and threats to your assets, it’s time to assess them. This involves analyzing the likelihood of a threat occurring and the potential impact if it does.
Alleviating Problems: After you’ve assessed the risks, you can start working on lessening the damage they can cause. This may involve implementing security controls or taking other measures to reduce the likelihood of an incident occurring.
Avoiding Issues Altogether: The final step is to put in place measures to prevent an incident from happening in the first place. This may include things like education and awareness, security policies and procedures, and physical security measures.
What Problems Does a Security Assessment Solve?
An IT security assessment can help solve a number of problems, including:
- Unsecured data: A security assessment can identify where your data is vulnerable and take steps to protect it.
- Lack of visibility into IT systems: An assessment can give you a better understanding of your IT systems and how they’re being used.
- IT system vulnerabilities: By identifying vulnerabilities, an assessment can help you mitigate them before they’re exploited.
- Poor security practices: A security assessment can help you identify poor security practices and help you put better ones in place.
How Axiom IT Can Help Your Business Stay Secure
At Axiom IT, we understand the importance of keeping your business safe from harm. That’s why we offer IT security assessments to help you identify risks and mitigate them. We’ll work with you to understand your unique needs and tailor our approach accordingly. Contact us today to learn more!