We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.
The cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ...
Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.
Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.
January 13, 2025
Do you have an internal IT team? Having in-house technicians who can keep up with your software needs, troubleshoot networking problems and install new hardware is invaluable. They often have deep expertise on all the information systems and devices that keep the office humming. But are they the right people to bring the critical objectivity to the process of assessing cyber risk? Whether they are conducting one, or participating with a third-party vendor, the answer isn’t always what you think.
IT people without relevant, updated cybersecurity training are not who you want participating in a cyber-risk assessment. There are many reasons why, and we outline them below;
Complete Objectivity
If they’ve been doing this for any length of time, or working there for a while, they’ve likely configured a lot of equipment under pressure and are balancing priorities against budgets. It was probably not their responsibility to consider all the security implications of complex configurations, nor is it likely to be what they’re trained to do. Sometimes when their asked to help pinpoint problems, their default behavior can be defensive, or even combative. They can, on occasion, be complacent when asked about the state of cyber hygiene, and demonstrate reluctance, overconfidence or even minimize the importance of cybersecurity. This is understandable, as cybersecurity may compete with other IT priorities for attention, budget etc. They’re frequently the members of the team with the most vested convictions in common cybersecurity myths.
Fresh Relevance
IT folks may have some familiarity with cybersecurity issues, but they’re not often knowledgeable about the most recent methods and exploits used to cause cyber chaos in companies like yours. That’s because cybercriminals have gotten smarter and more sophisticated in their attempts to take down your business. Protecting organizations against ransomware, phishing, malware and website attacks is now a 24/7 job. Cybersecurity is an emerging field with its own knowledge base, best practices and regulatory requirements.
Domain Expertise
A good IT person can resolve hardware & device issues, optimize your software, manage the audio/visual devices and more, but usually isn’t focused on security vulnerabilities. IT people are not always knowledgeable about cyberthreats, nor are they familiar with the processes and solutions needed to create an effective cybersecurity framework.
Yet executives often assume their IT staff can handle cybersecurity. It’s a big mistake, because you can find yourself on the wrong end of a cyberattack and your business crippled as a result. In the end, your assumption was at fault.
Consider an Independent Assessment
Cybersecurity professionals view your networks and devices from a different perspective. They’re not concerned with how smoothly your system runs. They care about whether bad actors can penetrate it and how to block malicious activity. It’s a whole different type of events monitoring.
A cyber risk assessment looks at the procedures and controls you currently have and whether they’re performing as they should. Are you properly safeguarding your customers’ data? Are you complying with cybersecurity regulations and laws? Do you have a written plan for responding to an incident or breach? Increasingly boards and lenders are requiring independent assessments to meet their due-diligence responsibilities.
An assessment also helps you qualify for optimal coverage cyber insurance. Insurers offering technology risk products have been tightening their underwriting requirements, which means you need to have some basic controls in place to get coverage. An assessment identifies the problems you need to fix to become insurable. It also can provide an insurer with independent confirmation that you’re following best practices.
Look at it this way: There are lots of bad guys out there figuring out all the different ways people are lax in their security. It’s a full-time job staying ahead of them. If you don’t have the right solutions, they’ll discover a way to hack into your networks pretty fast. Most do not, and an attack is a matter of when, not if. Its best to focus on layered defenses than total prevention, and create a goal of resilience rather than perfection.
The only way to stay ahead of cybercriminals is to know your vulnerabilities. That’s where an independent assessment comes in. Relying on internal IT staff, who already have their hands full taking care of your software and hardware needs, probably isn’t the best strategy. Do you really want to take a chance that they might miss something?
Learn more about how your firm can be part of a safer, more secure insurance world. Write us at info@TEKRiSQ.com, call us at +1.855.TEK.RiSQ, or find our contact form here.