Cybersecurity Risk Management for C-Levels

Cybersecurity risk management is essential for protecting an organization’s digital assets, with C-Level-related assets being some of the most critical.

What is Cybersecurity Risk Management?

Cybersecurity risk management is an essential component of any information security strategy. It is an ongoing process that identifies, assesses, and mitigates the risks associated with digital threats to protect and preserve data integrity, confidentiality, and availability.

Firstly, risk management in cybersecurity involves identifying risks. This includes identifying valuable assets, such as customer databases, C-Level data, or intellectual property, and potential threats to these assets. These can be internal, such as misuse or neglect, or external, such as hackers or other types of malware.

Once identified, the risks must be assessed. This process consists of determining the probability of a threat materializing and its impact on the organization.

Risk assessment helps organizations prioritize their information security efforts.

One objective of risk management is risk mitigation. This involves implementing controls to reduce the likelihood or impact of a threat.

Controls can be preventive, such as firewalls and antivirus programs, reactive, such as incident response plans, or proactive, to detect and defeat them before they materialize.

Risk management must be constantly reviewed and updated to align it with the organization’s actual situation and the evolution of threats.

Cybersecurity Risk Management Process

As steps in the cybersecurity risk management process, we find:

Risk Framework

The risk framework provides a systematic structure for identifying, assessing, managing, and monitoring cybersecurity risks in an organization.

The first step in the risk framework is asset identification. Information systems and data that could be targets of cyberattacks are identified. This can include customer databases, email systems, web servers, etc.

Next, risks must be identified. Potential threats to these assets, such as phishing attacks, malware, or human error, and vulnerabilities that these threats could exploit are identified.

Once the risks are identified, a risk assessment is conducted. This involves determining the likelihood of a threat materializing and its impact on the organization.

Risk assessment helps organizations prioritize their information security efforts.

The next step is cybersecurity risk management. This involves deciding how to manage each identified risk.

Finally, the risk framework involves constant monitoring of risks. This ensures that the organization is aware of any changes in the threat landscape and can adjust its risk management accordingly.

This process is iterative and must be an integral part of an organization’s operations to ensure effective management of cybersecurity risks.

Risk assessment

Risk assessment is the process that determines the magnitude of existing risks related to information security. It determines the probability and impact of the identified threats on information systems.

The risk assessment process typically follows these steps:

1. Risk analysis Risks are analyzed to determine assets’ vulnerability to these threats and the potential impact that a successful attack could have. The vulnerability can be high if an asset is easily exploitable and does not have sufficient security measures. The impact refers to the negative consequences that an attack could have.
2. Determination of probability and impact. The probability of each threat materializing and its impact on the organization if it does is evaluated.
3. Risk prioritization. Based on likelihood and impact, risks are prioritized to determine which risks require immediate attention and which can be accepted or mitigated later.

Risk treatment

Risk treatment is implementing measures to address the risks identified during the risk assessment.

The risk treatment process generally follows these steps:

1. Evaluation of options. Different strategies to treat each risk are evaluated.

• Accepting risk involves acknowledging the risk but deciding not to take immediate action. This may be appropriate for low-impact risks or when the cost of mitigation outweighs the potential benefit.
• Risk mitigation involves implementing technical or administrative controls to reduce the likelihood or impact of risk.
• Transferring risk involves passing the risk to another entity, such as an insurance company.
• Risk avoidance is about changing business processes to eliminate risk.

1. Development and implementation of controls. Controls are developed and implemented to manage cybersecurity risks. Controls can be preventive (to prevent a risk from occurring), detection (to identify when a risk occurs), or response (to manage a risk after it has occurred).
2. Monitoring and review. Controls are regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure their effectiveness. If a control is ineffective, it may need to be adjusted or replaced.

Monitoring and Review

Monitoring and review are processes that ensure the effectiveness of the security measures in place and the organization’s readiness for emerging threats.

The monitoring and review process typically follows these steps:

1. Continuous monitoring. Risks and the controls in place to manage them are constantly monitored. This may involve conducting security audits, penetration testing, log analysis, etc.
2. Evaluation of the effectiveness of controls. The effectiveness of the controls implemented is regularly evaluated. If a control is not practical, it is adjusted or replaced.
3. Identification of new risks. As the threat environment changes and the organization evolves, new risks can emerge. These risks must be identified and assessed.
4. Review of the cybersecurity risk management framework. The risk management framework is regularly reviewed to remain relevant and practical as threats and organizational needs change.

Human Risk Management for C-Levels

Human risk management is critical to the protection of C-Levels in organizations. C-Levels, such as CEOs and CTOs, are often targets of cyberattacks due to their access to sensitive information. Therefore, organizations must implement measures to protect board members.

The first step is to foster a culture of cybersecurity. C-Levels must lead by example, receiving specific training and demonstrating a commitment to cybersecurity daily.

Security policies are another essential component. These policies should be designed with the particular relevance of C-Level-related assets to the organization’s security.

Access management is also critical to protecting C-Levels, as they have access to susceptible information. This involves using two-factor authentication, limiting access based on the principle of least privilege, and regularly reviewing access rights.

Specific protection for C-Levels

Cyber protection is crucial for any organization but especially relevant for C-levels. These senior executives are responsible for making strategic decisions and, therefore, have access to sensitive information and critical assets that can make them attractive targets for cybercriminals.

For this reason, C-levels face specific cyber threats, such as targeted phishing, and their protection must also be specific.

Cybercrime’s use of new technologies, such as AI or machine learning, forces organizations to shift the focus of cybersecurity strategies and incorporate these new technologies into them to stay one step ahead of cyberattacks when protecting their C-Levels.

Asset monitoring related to C-Levels has become a necessity for organizations. This practice involves continuously monitoring the places and repositories where cyber criminals look for information that allows them to design attacks and detect any suspicious or unauthorized activity related to the assets of the C-levels.

In addition, detecting breaches and exposures of C-level-related information and data is another essential component of cyber protection. Cybercriminals often seek to access this confidential information to use it as a basis for a cyberattack on the organization and to use it directly to carry out other illicit purposes that can indirectly impact the organization.

New technologies allow this specific protection for C-Levels based on monitoring and detection to be automated, continuous, and real-time. In addition, AI and machine learning empower next-generation cyber intelligence solutions to refine search results.

Improve the cybersecurity risk management of your C-Levels with Kartos by Enthec

Kartos XTI Watchbots, the Cyber Intelligence and Cybersecurity platform developed by Enthec, allows the organization to monitor beyond its IT perimeter to locate leaked and exposed C-Level-related assets, as well as open security breaches and exposed vulnerabilities related to them.

Thanks to Kartos, organizations can expand their cybersecurity strategy, providing specific protection for their C-Levels and digital assets.

Kartos by Enthec is the only Cyber Intelligence platform on the market that guarantees the absence of false positives in search results, thanks to its exclusive context tag technology, which uses Artificial Intelligence developed by the company.

If you want to know more about how Kartos by Enthec can help you protect your C-Levels, do not hesitate to contact us.