As cyber risks become more complex, being able to effectively manage and remediate threats has become vital to business success. That said, many businesses lack an understanding of how to address cyber threats, leading to network breaches and increased levels of risk. Without the proper programs in place, it is difficult for organizations to identify and fix network vulnerabilities, which can have a devastating impact on business operations.
In order to actively address this growing threat, organizations must work to create risk remediation practices across the entire network ecosystem. This involves establishing a method of risk prioritization as well as developing reliable metrics to measure program success against. In this post, we will break down the process of threat identification and response and highlight how SecurityScorecard has helped various companies overcome threat remediation challenges
What is cyber risk remediation and why is it important?
Cyber risk remediation is the process of identifying and addressing cyber threats that can impact your business and network security. The key to effective cyber risk remediation is having continuous visibility into your internal and third-party network infrastructures. This allows you to quickly identify new threats so that they can be addressed before they are exploited. Failing to detect network gaps significantly lowers your chances of eliminating them so the quicker they are discovered, the better.
Without threat remediation, you are essentially leaving your network open to threat actors. This makes it difficult to identify a breach until after it has occurred. Failure to detect and contain a breach can have a significant financial impact on a business as the penalties for non-compliance with data regulations are often substantial. This can also seriously impact an organization’s reputation because, after a breach, it can be extremely difficult to regain customer trust.
For example, Yahoo was ordered to pay $50 million in damages as a result of continued data breaches experienced between 2013 and 2014. While larger businesses are often able to pay these fines, data breaches have a greater impact on small businesses. One study found that 60 percent of small businesses close within six months of a cyber attack.
4 companies leveraging SecurityScorecard for threat remediation
SecurityScorecard provides a range of solutions aimed at enhancing an organization’s ability to remediate threats. Our Security Ratings evaluate an organization’s cybersecurity risk using data-driven, objective, and continuously evolving metrics to provide visibility into security control weaknesses and vulnerabilities throughout the supply chain ecosystem. We also provide a suite of third-party risk management solutions that help provide continuous visibility into the cyber health of your third- and fourth-party vendors. This allows organizations to proactively engage with vendors and third parties, helping to strengthen business relationships and bolster overall security.
Below are four examples of businesses who have improved their cyber risk remediation capabilities with SecurityScorecard:
1. Truphone
As a major provider of mobile recording and other critical services for the finance sector, protecting client data is crucial for Truphone. They were challenged with the fact that their Chief Information Security Officer, Nuno Teodor, was holding numerous responsibilities including managing enterprise cyber risk, partner and vendor security, and data security. Ultimately, this was not sustainable, so they needed a solution to help their IT team streamline and scale their security operations.
Truphone turned to SecurityScorecard to help identify potential risk and enhance its firm’s continuous monitoring capabilities. For vendor onboarding and monitoring, SecurityScorecard provided Truphone with continuous visibility into third-party risks, helping to reduce the need for time-consuming yearly or bi-yearly assessments. This also helped to eliminate the need for point-in-time data gathering and questionnaires in preparation for compliance audits.
By partnering with SecurityScorecard, Truphone also improved its ability to win deals and RFPs by showcasing its competitive advantage through security. The company was able to streamline risk remediation using SecurityScorecard’s “high-level” dashboard that displays the most critical and common risk issues for the company, leading to increased engagement with key stakeholders.
2. RMS
RMS helps insurers, financial markets, corporations, and public agencies evaluate and manage global risk throughout the world. They are a multinational corporation with over 1,500 employees across 13 offices in the US, London, Bermuda, Zurich, India, China, Japan, Singapore, and Australia.
Dave Ruedger, Chief Information Security Officer at RMS explained that that the company’s security rating wasn’t where he wanted it to be. With aspirations to improve the program’s baseline, RMS leveraged SecurityScorecard solutions to quickly remediate weaknesses in the firm’s security posture. In addition, they also wanted to build a team that would oversee four strategic initiatives: Risk and Compliance, Governance and Auditing, Security Operations, and Application Security. Lastly, RMS needed to implement controls that measured the success of their team’s security efforts to justify security investments when reporting to the board.
Using SecurityScorecard ratings, RMS rapidly improved its security posture. RMS also utilized the SecurityScorecard platform to enhance their vendor risk management practices, resulting in a significant reduction in time to complete the assessments. Finally, SecurityScorecard’s Board Summary Reports made it easy for RMS to facilitate data-driven conversations to demonstrate return on cybersecurity investment.
In addition, RMS was able to map the firm’s security ratings to their cybersecurity frameworks, providing continuous assurance that the firm’s security controls were in line with industry regulations.
3. Axcient
Axcient provides business continuity and cloud migration solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). The Axcient Business Availability suite helps managed service providers build security technology stacks that ensure continuity in the event of security breaches, human error, and natural disasters.
Recognizing that the information stored in data backup and recovery clouds is vulnerable to malicious actors, Axcient needed visibility into their network in order to maintain security. Using SecurityScorecard Security Ratings, Axcient was able to build programs that allowed for continuous risk monitoring and remediation. This, in turn, helped to enhance their business operations and security risk synergies, resulting in more informed business decisions.
4. Horizon Media
Horizon Media, Inc. is a global leader in the performance-driven application of data and marketing insights. Specializing in content creation and distribution, Horizon offers a full range of services across all channels, from advertising concepts to execution and measurement. With access to client information, Horizon Media’s main challenge was improving their cybersecurity posture to ensure that customers’ sensitive data would be kept safe.
Horizon Media turned to SecurityScorecard for help creating a system that constantly monitors their firm’s online presence and digital infrastructure. Using Security Ratings, Horizon was able to gain visibility into the cyber risks they were facing, helping enhance threat prioritization and remediation across their client networks. This allowed them to improve their overall cyber hygiene and actively reduce reputational risk.
Enhancing cyber risk management with SecurityScorecard
As cyber risk remediation becomes increasingly important, the tools and resources provided by SecurityScorecard help you to take a proactive approach to threat management. Our Security Ratings allow you to continuously monitor the most important cybersecurity KPIs for your extended enterprise. That way, you can communicate your cybersecurity strategy and risk to the Board and C-Suite in an easy-to-understand ratings language.
The insights gained from SecurityScorecard also help you reduce financial risk, as you are able to perform more in-depth internal and external due diligence. This gives you the confidence to perform daily operations without the fear of violating compliance and security regulations.
Put simply, we allow you to see your security from the outside in so that you can prevent breaches before they even happen.
