When it comes to security assessment, the needs of companies vary because the needs of a multi-national corporation cannot be compared to a mid-sized business. However, all companies regardless of size will always try to minimize the amount of risk it undertakes. To do this, risk assessment is a procedure they cannot do away with.

Luckily, risk management does not have to be complicated. It can be broken down into these steps:

Come Up With A Risk Management Plan

Even if you’re good in cyber security, you can’t be everywhere at once. You need a team to back you up and help you gain insights to the total risk of your company. Businesses are usually composed of departments and all of them work differently. Therefore it is important to have a team that can work cross-functionally not only to communicate risks but also to come up with holistic analysis. A good team should have:

• Senior management to provide oversight.
• Chief information security expert (or its equivalent) to check network architecture.
• Marketing to discuss stored information.
• Product management to guarantee product safety as it undergoes development cycle.
• Human resources to provide insight to employee information.
• Manager for each significant business line to take care of all data at this level.

You want to make sure that business objectives are aligned with security goals which is why you need a cross-functional team so that you can get the desired results.

Catalog Information Asset

Interdepartmental risk management is important because it allows you to catalog all information assets. Let’s say that some things won’t escape your notice such as information your business collects, stores and transfers but the same can’t be said with different Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) used by other departments.

Departments might not also realize that they can put information at risk by using some SaaS vendors. In fact, 3^rd party vendors are usually the source of data breach risks. There are questions you need to ask yourself to help you understand the different information collected, stored and transferred by your company. These include:

• Types of data collected by department.
• Where is it stored?
• What is the transmission process?
• Why are you collecting this information?
• Which vendors does each department use?
• Which info is accessed by vendors?
• What is the authentication process for info access?
• What devices are used by the workplace?
• What are the networks utilized to process these information?

Answers to these questions will give you a clear insight as to what your business is dealing with.

Risk Assessment

Importance of information varies in every organization because some are more critical than others. This is also the reason why not all vendors are secure. After taking a look at your information assets you should now turn your attention to the possible risks posed by vendors.

• Identify networks, system and software crucial to your business.
• Identify information that should have management confidentiality, availability and integrity.
• In case of data loss, which devices are at high risk?
• What are the chances of data breach or corruption?
• Determine the system, network and software that are vulnerable to data breach by cyber criminals.
• What is the potential financial reputation in the case of a data breach?

Risk assessment is not easy and takes time. However, it can be made easier by making a catalog out of your information assets and identifying areas that are easily accessible by cyber criminals. Therefore it is important to go over every information, data, software, network, system and device to understand risks they pose.

Risk Analysis

Risk analysis is the next step to assessment. The way information is secured is not always risk-free. Therefore it is important to consider:

• Probability of cyber criminals accessing data.
• Financial, reputational and operational impact of a data breach.

Determining the probability of impact will help you determine risk tolerance level. This way you can accept, transfer, mitigate or refuse a risk.

Come Up With Security Controls

Coming up with risk tolerance will give you ideas on security controls. They should include:

• Network segregation.
• Password protocol.
• Workforce training.
• At-rest and in-transit encryption.
• Vendor risk management program.
• Anti-malware and anti-ransom software.
• Firewall configuration.
• Multi-factor authentication.

These are just examples of some controls. The most important thing is to always remember to align business goals with security needs.

Monitor and Review Effectiveness

Cyber security is always a hot topic. Somebody will always try ways to come up with methodologies to compromise security controls. This means that businesses need to maintain a risk management program and monitor IT environments regularly for any new threats that could arise. Make sure that your risk analysis is flexible to adjust to new threats. An unbreakable IT security profile is something that can evolve with any risk that comes along the way.

The post How To Perform A Cyber Security Assessment appeared first on Creativ Digital.

Brute force attacks are some of the lowest level attacks your site will face. Basically hackers use automated methods to try to gain access to a WordPress site by trying to login with commonly used usernames and passwords.

Attackers build a list of hundreds of commonly used usernames and passwords and try each one on your site. The attack script will do this over and over until it gains access or the list is exhausted.

Unless you have preventive measures in place it only takes minutes before attackers gain access. Here’s what you can do to prevent these types of attacks.

Change Login Page URL

Attackers gain access to your login page by trying the default settings first. For WordPress this means going to www.YourSiteName.com/wp-admin or /wp-login.

Thankfully WordPress is smarter than hackers because you can use a plugin called WPS Hide Login. It allows you to change your login URL to whatever you specify.

Use A Secure Web Host

Most website owners choose a host based on performance and cost. However, security also needs to be one of the determining factors when choosing. A reputable web host pays attention not only to strengthening internal solutions but in advising their customers as well.

A good web host deploys security and also helps clients resolve security issues when their sites are hacked. If you’re hesitating because changing hosts is a hassle, it’s easier than you think. Aside from security measures, many good hosting providers also help clients migrate websites for free.

Testing Website Regularly

Aside from putting up measures to prevent attacks, you should also test them regularly. Security experts and security audits are expensive but tools like WPScan is free and easy to use. A good alternative is Hacker Target, a vulnerability scanner.

Install Security Plugin

Security plugins like Malcare can provide against multiple types of attacks. This tool is very comprehensive and offers enterprise-grade features at affordable prices. It offers basic as well as brute force protection and enables you to carry out activities like IP blacklisting, website hardening, and firewall management.

Use Complex Passwords

Even after experts warn against using “username” as a username and “password” for a password, using them are still pretty common. Since hackers use commonly used passwords, it makes sense to make your passwords complex.

Ideally it’s best to have a complicated username and password. A mixture of uppercase, lowercase and special characters as well as numbers is advised.

Using 2-Factor Authentication

2-factor authentication or 2FA is a good and easy way to double security on your website. As the name implies, it requires users to checking login credentials twice.

For example after providing the correct username and password the system will send an authentication code to an email or cellular phone number that you will need to login.

This is a good way to prevent brute force attacks against your site.

Use reCaptcha

Using a reCaptcha is a good first line of defense against cyber-attacks. BestWebSoft is a good reCaptcha provider which makes sure that you’re human by asking you to perform additional tasks before you are allowed to login.

For instance it might ask you to type an image-based authentication code. This method is a good way of preventing automated script attacks.

Setting-up CloudFlare CDN

CloudFlare is a Content Distribution Network (CDN) that stores your site’s content from multiple servers. It has an interesting side effect against hackers because it makes your website more resilient against brute force attacks. It also has features like rate limiting which block users block users from sending too many login requests within a certain time frame.

WordPress security is often neglected before it’s too late. This is mainly because it is online and not physical so few owners see the need for additional security measures.

However, aside from potentially losing control of your site poor security can also lead to it being used against a tool against others. This means securing your website is your primary responsibility.

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