6 Cybersecurity Assessment Benefits That Bring Simplicity, Stability, and Scalability to Your Organization

What are the benefits of a cybersecurity risk assessment? Beyond simply identifying vulnerabilities, a cyber assessment can put your organization on the offense when dealing with cyber threats.

This article will explain why this and other cyber risk assessment benefits can bring immense value to your company.

What Does a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Provide Your Organization?

In a word, clarity. 

A cybersecurity risk assessment can help you move from “I don’t know” to an informed position about your organization’s cybersecurity strengths and weaknesses.

This means knowing about gaps in your security where hackers and other threat actors can get in, compromise your systems, and lead to potential data breaches, ransomware attacks, or email phishing attacks. Information from the assessment arms you to evaluate the cost-benefit in options for making better decisions than an answer of “I don’t know.” (or “I’m just not sure.”)

Ultimately, a cybersecurity risk assessment will help bring simplicity, stability, and scalability, among other benefits, which you’ll learn more about below.

6 Benefits of a Cybersecurity Assessment

The benefits of a cybersecurity assessment are too numerous to count. However, the direct benefits can be divided into the following six core benefits.

1. Proactive Threat Identification

Even the most technologically sophisticated organizations suffer from vulnerabilities. The reality of modern technology and increasing connectivity is that threats are dynamic, and vulnerabilities can occur for a range of reasons, including:

• Outdated software
• Unsecured email
• Human error
• Unsecured networks
• Outdated Antiquated hardware
• Third-party vendor error

For companies with in-house IT teams, many of these vulnerability vectors are often overlooked as the day-to-day challenges of keeping operations going and fighting IT fires pile up.

This is where a cybersecurity risk assessment can benefit your organization, especially when performed by a professionally certified third party.

Uncovering Vulnerabilities Before They Are Exploited

Third-party cybersecurity assessments will help you understand all the vulnerabilities potential threat actors could use to enter your organization’s networks. 

All discovered vulnerabilities can be grouped based on risk level, with the highest-threat vulnerabilities scheduled to be patched first.

Addressing Evolving Cyber Threats

As noted, cyber threats are incredibly dynamic, and cybercriminals such as hackers and ransomware groups are constantly working on new ways to infiltrate your networks.

A cybersecurity risk assessment can reveal how prepared your organization is to tackle this evolving threat landscape. It will measure your current cybersecurity defenses and business continuity plan and examine how you detect and stay atop changing threats.

Detecting Risk-Prone User Behaviors

Another critical issue cybersecurity risk assessments help stakeholders understand is the risky activity that employees, contractors, and other network users engage in.

Even with the best intentions, human users will always be the weakest link in any organization regarding cybersecurity. 

Identifying risky user behavior, such as opening suspicious links in emails, scanning unknown QR codes, or visiting insecure websites, is critical to minimizing potential harm.

2. Enhanced Regulatory Compliance

For critical industries, such as healthcare, finance, and education, that require greater regulatory oversight, cybersecurity risk assessments are often requirements rather than just recommendations.

Because these industries have sensitive or valuable data, and they are prime targets for hackers and other threat actors, more intentional care is often needed to ensure vulnerabilities are patched, and industry standards are followed.

Adhering to Industry Standards (e.g., HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GDPR)

These industry standards are typically industry-specific regulatory frameworks meant to address the unique cybersecurity challenges faced by that industry.

A few examples of industry-specific challenges include:

• Protecting susceptible patient data
• Ensuring continuity of vital infrastructure (electric, water, etc.)
• Keeping financial account access information secure
• Ensuring the personal information of minors is secure

As you can deduce from the above examples, each challenge is vitally important but often requires specific solutions.

For this reason, different regulations and security frameworks have been created to address these industries, such as: 

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)
• Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

A cybersecurity assessment is often a yearly requirement for organizations covered by these frameworks and regulations.

Preparing for Audits with Confidence

The enforcement of the above regulations isn’t arbitrary and typically falls under the purview of specific government organizations, such as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for HIPAA or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for GLBA compliance.

A recently and professionally conducted cybersecurity risk assessment will be one of the things auditors look for.

While it can be tempting to fall back on internal IT teams to conduct these risk assessments, this can be a mistake. 

A reputable and experienced third party conducting regulatory cybersecurity assessments gives you better insight into potential issues and greater confidence that you will have the correct answers for auditors.

Avoiding Legal Penalties and Fines

The above regulations and others that weren’t listed typically impose fines and penalties against organizations that fail to comply.

It’s important to clarify that it does not necessarily mean that an organization in one of these industries hit with a cyberattack will face fines or penalties. Instead, these fines and penalties are intended to address organizations deemed negligent in their compliance with these regulations.

Cybersecurity risk assessments are a requirement for many regulations, such as HIPAA. They can help demonstrate that your organization has not been negligent in cybersecurity efforts, which can help you avoid fines and penalties.

3. Increased Organizational Awareness

How do you fix what you don’t know is broken?

As mentioned a few times, internal IT teams are busier and more resource-strapped than ever. This typically means that critical cybersecurity activities or potential vulnerabilities can go unnoticed.

A properly conducted cyber risk assessment can help stakeholders within your organization understand where vulnerabilities are present and develop a path toward mitigating these risks.

Identifying Risks Across Various Departments

It’s always crucial that the right hand knows what the left is doing, and this is vital when it comes to organizational enforcement of cybersecurity standards.

Suppose your internal IT team will enforce proper cybersecurity protocols and protect customer data. Still, your sales team is entering that data into non-secure software or public large language models (LLMs) used by generative AI tools more broadly available today. In that case, you will fail compliance audits.

This is why third-party cybersecurity audits are critical. They can often reveal specific organizational issues that may dwell or lurk in systems and process undetectable to leadership or internal IT teams.

Educating Employees and Leadership on Cybersecurity

How do you fix human-based cybersecurity vulnerabilities within your organization? Through continued training and evaluation to ensure the problems are fixed or mitigated.

Training is often the last step after assessing cybersecurity needs and is not within the scope of the cybersecurity risk assessment itself. 

However, the cyber risk assessment answers will advise what training needs to be conducted and allow for enhancing current policies and procedures to patch up these human-behavior-based vulnerabilities.

4. Improved Incident Response Capabilities

Continuing on the above idea of augmentation, the results of your organization’s cybersecurity risk assessment will better equip your people to deal with an incident if one does occur.

In an ideal world, a cybersecurity assessment alone guarantees you never suffer from an attack. 

However, threats are constantly evolving, and for critical industries such as banks or hospitals, there is always the chance that highly skilled threat actors will target you.

With this in mind, a cyber risk assessment can present specific recommendations that your organization can use to develop a business continuity plan if a breach occurs.

Developing Robust Response Plans and Procedures

A business continuity plan can mean the difference between a quick and smooth response to a cybersecurity event or a sloppy and disorganized response that worsens the situation.

If a cyberattack does occur, operations will be disrupted. However, prior planning and a fully understood and practiced business continuity plan will minimize these disruptions.

An example of the types of issues a business continuity plan can address includes:

• Does your organization have offsite backups that hackers can’t access (air-gapped)?
• Do you have a plan to ensure service delivery (accessing client/patient/customer records)?
• Do you have a backup data center?
• Do you have a chain of command identified for quick response?

A cybersecurity risk assessment is the starting point for answering these questions, and it can be used to develop a complete business continuity plan.

Accelerating Detection and Mitigation of Security Incidents

How long would it take for your IT and cybersecurity team to discover and address a cyber attack?

You might be surprised to learn that some cyber-attacks are not discovered until long after the damage is done. Detection and mitigation of network intrusion aren’t always immediate. 

Ensuring every member of your organization understands what a cyber attack would look like, how one might occur, and the chain of command for reporting suspicious activity can help shorten the time between detection and mitigation.

Knowing what training needs to take place and helping your team better understand weak links in your chain of command is another critical point a cyber assessment will help to identify. 

Minimizing Downtime and Financial Impact During Attacks

How much money would your organization lose if you couldn’t operate for a day? What about a week?

Organizations without business continuity plans without proper cyber risk assessments can expect longer downtimes, increasing losses to your organization.

This is all before getting to other associated costs, such as:

• Payouts due to lawsuits from impacted clients and customers
• Legal fees
• Fines levied by regulatory bodies
• Restoration costs
• Third-party consulting in the event of ransomware
• Long-term reputational damage

Cyberattacks are expensive. However, reducing detection and mitigation time can help minimize losses and reduce the overall expenses incurred from the attack.

5. Cost Savings Through Risk Mitigation

A cybersecurity assessment can help reduce costs associated with a breach beyond direct financial losses. 

Conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment can provide a legal shield and serve as an essential step toward getting cyber insurance, ultimately leading to cost savings for your organization.

The savings from these two points can more than makeup for the upfront costs of conducting a proper cyber assessment.

Reducing Legal Expenses

We spoke above about negligence concerning cybersecurity and how this ultimately affects your organization’s liability in case of a breach or regulatory compliance.

A cybersecurity risk assessment can demonstrate a good-faith effort by your organization to mitigate cybersecurity risk.

If a breach does occur, this could mean the difference between a class action or individual lawsuits being brought against your organization and having a legal shield to protect you.

Ultimately, this will help lower your legal expenses by reducing your exposure to ongoing, costly litigation related to the breach.

Lowering Insurance Premiums

Another area of savings associated with a cybersecurity risk assessment is your cyber insurance premiums. 

Insurance companies tend to reward activities that reduce risk. Conducting a cyber security assessment demonstrates a proactive effort to minimize vulnerabilities in for your cyber insurance underwriter.

An assessment can also be the starting point for obtaining a cyber warranty from a company like Arctic Wolf. These warranties can help you transfer risk and further lower your cyber insurance premiums.

Protecting Organizational and Personal Reputation

The costs associated with a security breach often extend beyond operational losses and legal expenses.

In our interconnected world, it’s easier than ever for people to find news and information about companies and individuals. This means the news of your organization’s data breach will be available years after the attack.

Imagine that every time someone enters your business into Google, news of a cybersecurity breach shows up on the first page or under the news section. Not a good look.

While we’ve established that cyber attacks aren’t 100% preventable, certain activities, such as a cyber risk assessment, can benefit decisions that help minimize your risk.

Being able to address a cyber attack and knowing that your organization has done everything possible to prevent it can go a long way toward helping mitigate long-term reputational damage. 

6. Building Customer Trust and Confidence

Your cybersecurity risk assessment can serve as a reference point for improving customer trust and strengthening your reputation.

It’s a tool that lets potential customers know your organization cares about their interests and is actively protecting their data.

Showing Commitment to Data Security

Your organization’s annual third-party cybersecurity risk assessments signal that data security is taken seriously and that you can demonstrate an active effort to implement the assessment recommendations.

This can be a public relations opportunity to let people know that your organization doesn’t just pay lip service to data security but prioritizes protecting client and customer data. 

Enhancing Brand Reputation and Fostering Client Loyalty

Ultimately, the goodwill you generate by demonstrating a commitment to data security and preventing cyber attacks can solidify your brand’s reputation. This is doubly true if your competitors suffer from a cybersecurity breach.

Activities such as cybersecurity assessments then move beyond business costs into assets that generate goodwill toward your brand and present a value proposition you can communicate to current and potential clients.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cybersecurity Assessment Benefits

Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about cybersecurity assessment to help you better understand its benefits.

How often should our organization conduct a cybersecurity assessment?

Ideally, your organization should conduct an annual cybersecurity risk assessment. For some companies, this is a minimal requirement for regulatory compliance.

However, even if your organization isn’t required to perform a cyber assessment for regulatory purposes, staying on top of cybersecurity issues is essential.

Remember that threats are evolving, and new vulnerabilities can present from month to month.

An annual cyber risk assessment will ensure new vulnerabilities are found and patched each year. It also helps to assess whether ongoing training is having an impact and allows you to make sure business continuity plans are up-to-date and effective.

Are cybersecurity assessments necessary for small businesses?

Absolutely. While larger organizations often present a more attractive target for cybercriminals due to the higher reward potential, small businesses are usually easier to hack into.

This is because many small business owners haven’t conducted cyber risk assessments and don’t know what vulnerabilities exist until it’s too late.

For small business owners, the losses sustained due to a successful cyber attack could mean quitting business.

Conducting a cybersecurity assessment can help mitigate significant vulnerabilities and make your business no longer an easy target for cybercriminals, meaning they move on to more lucrative targets.

Final Thoughts On Cybersecurity Assessment Benefits

Over 2,000 successful cyber attacks occur worldwide every day. Taking a head-in-the-sand approach to attack prevention and hoping everything works out is no longer a viable strategy.

Your organization must proactively prevent cyber-attacks and safeguard client and employee data, minimizing liability and potentially saving your company from financial ruin.

The starting point for this is a third-party cybersecurity risk assessment.

Don’t wait until it’s too late and hackers are within your networks, stealing data and holding it ransom. Become proactive in preventing data breaches by getting a cybersecurity risk assessment for your organization.