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Cyber Risk Quantification Time to Value

The stark reality of today’s cybersecurity threat landscape is that the traditional approach to managing risk is insufficient. Security leaders need a process that can drive value quickly and deliver results. Cyber risk quantification (CRQ) has emerged as a leading approach to many cybersecurity programs within the past few years. At Axio, we believe that CRQ is a critical component to success in solving cyber risk challenges.

Yet, many CISOs and other risk leaders balk at the mention of implementing CRQ, and it has developed a bad reputation in some circles. Some software vendors or CRQ practitioners would have you believe that you need specialized expertise and/or endless professional services to get ahead with your program, and many end-users have had bad experiences with stalled-out CRQ projects that take too long to deliver results. Whether due to executive sponsorship, staffing, or a specific CRQ model, slow ROI and overall frustration with CRQ is a legitimate trend we’ve observed through our experience working with customers and other risk leaders.

The value of CRQ lies in its ability to quickly provide transparent data that business leaders can use to make prioritized spending decisions. If your approach to CRQ produces unclear or difficult-to-interpret data, drawn-out implementation times, or cost overrun, it’s not working for you. As champions of the CRQ practice, our goal is to explore and understand the concerns that many cyber risk practitioners have about CRQ. Here, we examine how we can meet them where they are in their cybersecurity journey and help them get immediate ROI. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to use CRQ, but when leveraged in a way that fits your business, it can significantly reduce your risk exposure without taking forever to deliver results.

Restructure your approach to make CRQ work for you

In a recent blog post, Axio’s Co-Founder, David White, writes, “there is a diverse range of perspectives and opinions about how to examine cyber risk quantitatively. Diversity is a good thing. Customers ultimately fare better when they have options from which to choose.”

For users that need fast results, CRQ can be a process that drives value quickly. This doesn’t necessarily mean CRQ is simple, easy, or even DIY, but our approach focuses on quantifying risk quickly, transparently, and in a way that all stakeholders understand. Some considerable differences in our approach include:

Risk analysis – We bring stakeholders together with easy-to-understand data and reporting. Our methods are clear and digestible for end-users. Our goal is to facilitate strategic business decisions by providing data that is accessible to all audiences. With customizable and transparent formulas, our reports deliver the clarity around your business’ risk exposure that you need to drive organizational alignment.

Risk assessment – With a top-down focus, Axio enables data-driven decisions in the context of overall risk, and identifying and prioritizing the highest risks first is critical. Some CRQ methods use a bottom-up approach that focuses on assets, but this method can divorce business context from quantification. Our process is based on the impact on your business, not the inventory of assets. We understand that cyber risk evaluation must take place in the context of potential effects on the company, especially fiduciary impacts, and we offer the steppingstones to get there.

Risk quantification – In the past, most quantification efforts have consisted of tedious, asset-by-asset analysis, taking months to sort out data and probabilities. Ultimately, these probabilities are often “best guess” estimations that miss the full potential risks to the business. This doesn’t work for organizations that need results quickly, and most do. With our pre-filled and customizable formulas, we get you results in days, not weeks or months. Additionally, we account for the dynamic conditions of the cyber risk landscape by calculating a range of potential losses that could affect your business.

Summary

Our approach to CRQ allows you to rapidly quantify risk in financial terms without the need for specialized expertise. With Axio and CRQ, you will see actionable results faster than the legacy approach to CRQ or other software vendors, and you’ll be able to initiate meaningful dialogue with non-technical business leaders. When leveraged strategically, CRQ is a way for security leaders to analyze the unique risks to their business and determine their exposure in financial terms. It enables users to quickly align security initiatives with their organization’s risk tolerance and calculate how various scenarios will affect their bottom line.

CRQ is a powerful weapon against cybercrime, and we can help ensure you’re using it to fit your business needs. Like any cybersecurity project, the objective of using CRQ is to protect sensitive data and guard business assets. Axio’s CRQ platform helps business leaders understand potentially crippling attack scenarios in dollar terms, allowing you to optimize investments and keep things moving. Contact our Sales team or sign up for a free demo to learn more.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Axio authored by Axio. Read the original post at: https://axio.com/insights/cyber-risk-quantification-time-to-value/