Use a framework when making your risk assessment.  

Do you know where your business is struggling in security? Are you compliant with all government and financial mandates? Do you  know where to get started?

While risk assessments are a good place to start in securing your business’s data, many businesses aren’t sure where to start with even a risk assessment. It can be difficult to put together a list of all possible risks a business may have in an organized, understandable document.

SecurityMetrics noticed this problem and looked into what could be done to help businesses put together their risk assessments quickly and efficiently. That’s where the NIST 800-30 Risk Assessment comes in.

This is a framework created by the NIST to conduct a thorough risk analysis for your business. It meets the requirements for many compliance mandates, like PCI DSS, HIPAA, EI3PA, GBLA, FISMA, and SOX.

SEE ALSO: The Basics of a Risk Assessment: Why Your Business Needs One

How does the process work? 

To effectively manage and address risks in your business, having this assessment will guide your efforts in moving forward.
Here’s a quick look at the NIST 800-30 risk management process.
  1. Prepare for Assessment – Identify the purpose and scope of the assessment. Determine how and where sensitive data is created, transmitted, and stored 

  2. Threat Sources and Events – Identify the type of threat sources your organization faces (e.g. adversarial, accidental, structural, environmental) and the events the sources could trigger (e.g. phishing, power outage, etc.)

  3. Vulnerabilities and Predisposing Conditions – Through identifying threats, you find vulnerabilities, which can be associated to information systems or environments where those systems operate. This will also identify predisposed conditions to consider during the risk assessment
  4. Determine Likelihood of Occurrence – Using different tiers, determine the likelihood of threat events occurring and causing adverse impacts

  5. Determine Magnitude of Impact – Once likelihood of occurrence is determined, use tiers to determine the impact of threat events 

  6. Risk Determination – Combining the likelihood and the magnitude of the impact of a threat determine the risk to the organization 
  7. Informing Risk Response (Communicate Results)–Ensure the appropriate people inside the organization know the appropriate risk-related information to inform and guide decision-making 
  8. Maintain Assessment – Monitor risk factors identified in the risk assessment and update the risk assessment as threats, vulnerabilities, and risks change 

Why choose SecurityMetrics?

When you come to us for your NIST 800-30, you get additional benefits, including:
  • Compliance Vendor –We have expertise in PCI assessments, forensic incident response, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, card data discovery, security appliances, PA-DSS application security assessments, P2PE assessments, HIPAA assessments, training, and consulting. SecurityMetrics is one of only a few companies that hold credentials for all aspects of PCI 
  • Open and Ongoing Relationship – Whenever compliance questions or worries arise, SecurityMetrics’ compliance professionals will work with you to address your concerns 
  • Accurate and Understandable Results – SecurityMetrics gives you the facts on every aspect of your assessment through an easy-to-understand online reporting console 

  • Single Point of Contact – To keep communication lines open and eliminate confusion, SecurityMetrics assigns a single point of contact for each assessment

Need help in getting your business secure? Talk to us!