In a perfect world, businesses wouldn’t have to worry about cybersecurity. Instead of worrying about becoming the next “Massive Data Breach at…” headline, they would be able to focus solely on growing their market share. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.
Every day, malicious actors seek to leverage gaps in a business’ network security to carry out an attack. So, I have a question for you: Is your business in danger because of an unknown security gap?
Before you answer that question, it’s important to know how to identify security gaps in your network security so you can perform some vulnerability management.
What is a Security Gap Analysis?
The basic tool for identifying cybersecurity vulnerabilities is to perform a security gap analysis. What is a security gap analysis? To boil the term down to “brass tacks,” a security gap analysis is a comprehensive check of an organizations’ network security measures, policies, and procedures to verify whether they meet compliance requirements and industry best practices.
The methodology behind this security evaluation may vary from one checkup to the next. This is because the network security checkups and evaluations may be based on different compliance standards from one organization to the next (or even from one department in a business to another). Network security measures that are sufficient to protect a small office might not be suitable for a financial company.
How Security Gap Analyses Help with Vulnerability Management
A cybersecurity gap analysis has a strong potential for helping companies of any size with their vulnerability management. Simply by identifying gaps in the company’s security policies, procedures, and protections, work can begin on remediating these vulnerabilities—many of which prove to be old, well-known issues.
Without some form of network security checkup, these vulnerabilities could continue to go undetected—giving malicious actors more opportunities to exploit them.
By detecting vulnerabilities sooner rather than later, businesses can circumvent cyber threats before they strike. This, in turn, can save enormous amounts of time, money, and difficulty on data breaches.
Why You Should Check for Security Gaps in Your Business’ Network
There are many reasons your business should run a security gap analysis as soon as possible:
- To Close Potential Avenues of Attack. Many cyberattack strategies target old vulnerabilities. By finding these vulnerabilities and eliminating them, businesses can avoid data breaches and their consequences before they happen.
- Because You’re Already Under Threat. No business is 100% safe from cyber threats. There is no organization too small to be a target, or too big to be affected. Failing to check for security gaps is like trying the cross a busy highway while blindfolded—you won’t see the threats coming until it’s too late.
- To Identify Compliance Issues. Another major reason to check up on your network security measures, policies, and procedures is to identify areas where compliance with industry regulations might be lacking. This, in turn, can help you make corrections—hopefully, before they result in an official sanction.
- To Eliminate Redundant Security Measures. Do you have multiple security solutions that all do the same thing, and actively interfere with business operations? If so, it may be helpful to consolidate excessive or outdated security tools and replace them with other solutions. Security evaluations can help identify useless or extraneous security devices that may be causing more harm than good.
- Because a Major Security Evaluation Helps Raise Cybersecurity Awareness. A large-scale and visible review of your company’s cybersecurity policies and procedures can have the benefit of getting employees thinking about network security practices—and how well they're following them. When paired with a training session or reminder about the importance of following cybersecurity best practices, a security gap analysis can do wonders to increase cybersecurity awareness throughout the organization.
Need a security gap analysis to identify vulnerabilities in your own organization? Compuquip is here to help! Sign up for our network security checkup at the link below:
