Digital Risk Management (DRM) is the next evolution in enterprise risk and security for organizations that increasingly rely on digital processes to run their business.
A Business Issue
Digital risk is risk associated with digital business processes. Digital risk is a business issue, not just a technology issue. Industry leaders Secnic Consultancy Services will find that digital risk management needs to be owned by the C-suite rather than by IT.
Quantification of Digital Risk
DRM defines a foundation for managing digital risk across various business functions (line-of-business, IT, security), by relying on the quantification of the business impact of digital risk.
Business-Defined Risk Balance
DRM enables business executives and their organizations to understand the digital risk profile of their operations from a business perspective and equip them with knowledge and a decision-making framework that allows them to balance the need to protect their organization with the need to run the business.
Digital Resiliency
The ultimate objective of digital risk management is to build digital resiliency, where an organization’s systems and operations are designed to detect digital threats and respond to events to minimize business disruption and financial losses.
Goals and Objectives of a Risk and Vulnerability Assessment
Some of the more common goals and objectives of conducting a risk and vulnerability assessment are as follows:
- Organizations can have an accurate inventory of IT assets and data assets.
- Risks, threats, and known vulnerabilities can be identified and documented for the IT organization’s production, infrastructure, and assets.
- Risks, threats, and known vulnerabilities can be prioritized based on impact or criticality of the IT asset or data asset that it impacts.
- The vulnerability window can be identified and minimized according to the organization’s minimum acceptable tolerance to being vulnerable.
- Remediation or mitigation of the identified risks, threats, and vulnerabilities can be properly budgeted and planned according to the prioritization or criticality of IT assets and data assets.
- Com-pliancy with new information security laws, mandates, and regulations can be achieved by first conducting a risk and vulnerability assessment.
- Identification of the gaps or voids in the organization’s IT security architecture and framework can be found with specific recommendations for closing the gaps and voids.
- A risk and vulnerability assessment identifies the exposures, risks, threats, and vulnerabilities that the organization is subject to and assists the IT organization in justifying the cost of needed security countermeasures and solutions to mitigate the identified risks, threats, and vulnerabilities.
- A risk and vulnerability assessment provides an IT organization with an objective assessment and recommendations to the organization’s defined goals and objectives for conducting the risk and vulnerability assessment.
- A risk and vulnerability assessment assists IT organizations with understanding the return on investment if funds are invested in IT security infrastructure.