How to Conduct a Security System Assessment
Security system assessments are a critical piece of risk management for organizations of all sizes. A security system assessment is a review of your current security measures to determine areas that need improvement. The results help you and your team prioritize what measures you should focus on in order to safeguard your company from threats and risks. Security assessments usually involve an outside party coming into your company and giving it a once-over, so to speak, from the perspective of how well protected it is from cybercriminals, hackers, viruses, spies, or any other threat brought on by mankind’s darker side. There are many challenges with conducting an effective security assessment. Getting the right people involved, scheduling everyone’s time efficiently and identifying key risks in your network are just some of them. But don’t let that stop you from making sure your company is secure as possible before someone breaks in and steals all of your secrets (or whatever secrets you have). Let’s take a look at how you can assess your organization’s security system more effectively and efficiently than ever before.
Determine the type of assessment you need
The first step in conducting a security assessment is to identify what type of assessment you need. There are many different types of assessments, and each one is designed to provide you with a different piece of the security puzzle. Here are a few types, along with what each one covers. – Asset Inventory – This assessment looks at the physical security of your organization and how sensitive information is stored and accessed. This includes items such as servers, computers, network cabling, and other hardware. Asset inventories are commonly used in the healthcare and manufacturing industries. – Cybersecurity – This type of assessment is meant to identify areas of risk in your organization’s information security, including things like weak passwords or outdated software. It typically includes a penetration test, which is when an outside party attempts to break into the network to see how easy it is to get inside. – Risk Analysis – This assessment is meant to identify the threats to your organization and the likelihood of them occurring. It also determines the possible consequences of those threats actually happening. Risk assessments are commonly used in finance, government, and healthcare industries.
Decide who needs to be involved
An effective security assessment will include the input from several members of your company, including representatives from different departments, IT staff, security staff, and (ideally) upper management. Depending on the size of your company, you might need to recruit other key players, too. Once you’ve decided who needs to be involved, hold a meeting to go over the goals of the assessment and what everyone can expect. The more prepared everyone is for the security assessment, the more effective the results will be.
Choose the date and time for your assessment
A security assessment can be a long and tedious process that can consume a significant amount of time and manpower. It’s important to find a time when your organization is at a low point in terms of risk and threat. The best time to conduct a security assessment is when there is minimal activity on your network. This could be on a Saturday or Sunday when your organization is closed for the weekend. It’s also a good idea to avoid having the assessment on a major holiday, when many people are out of the office, or on an extremely hot or cold day when people are less likely to be working. Similarly, if you have a conference coming to your office, or a big event scheduled, it might be better to reschedule the assessment until later.
Find the right location for your assessment
Depending on the type of assessment you’re conducting, the location of your assessment can have a significant impact on the results. For example, if you’re conducting an asset inventory, you should conduct it at each location where your company stores information. If you have a distributed network (that is, people are working remotely), you might need to conduct the assessment at the main office where most of the data is stored. Regardless of the type of assessment you conduct, it’s important to choose a location that provides an accurate representation of your organization’s data. For example, if you’re conducting a cybersecurity assessment, you’ll want to conduct it in a location where you can plug in your equipment and effectively simulate a real-world situation.
Collect information about your network before the assessment
One of the most effective ways to prepare for a security assessment is to collect information about your network before the assessment is conducted. A good way to do this is to use a cybersecurity risk assessment template. This will help you plug in important information, such as your organization’s mission, IP addresses, router names and more. This information can help the people conducting the assessment understand your network and its unique challenges better. It can also help you identify key risks and areas that need improvement. Additionally, you can use this information to create your security plan after the assessment is concluded.
Run the Security Assessment
A security assessment is only as effective as the people conducting it. It’s important to select people who have the experience necessary to conduct a thorough assessment. If possible, try to find people who have conducted assessments for organizations similar to yours. If you’re conducting a cybersecurity assessment, make sure to give the team the freedom to conduct their tests thoroughly. Give them access to all the data and resources they need, but don’t get in their way. And be sure to follow their lead when they have questions or ask you to take specific actions. Finally, remember that a security assessment isn’t a one-time event. You should conduct them regularly (ideally every six months or annually) to ensure that your security stays up to date with the latest threats.
Identify key risks and improvement areas based on the findings
After the assessment is completed, it’s time to sit down and go over the findings. At this point, you should have a good idea of which areas need improvement. Now it’s time to decide what to do about it. Now is the time to identify key risks that were discovered during the security assessment and then devise a plan for how to address them. Once you know what needs to be fixed, it’s time to develop an action plan for addressing those risks. For example, if the assessment found that your organization’s firewall is outdated and can’t keep up with modern security threats, it’s time to formulate a plan for upgrading the equipment.
