Most companies know how to engage in a security risk assessment. However, the first step in the security assessment process should be engaging in a data risk assessment. While the two sound similar, they provide different insights. This guide to performing a data risk assessment explains what it is, why it’s important, and how to engage in one.

This week, the popular web host GoDaddy reported that it experienced a serious data breach impacting 1.2 million customers. Is your organization at risk, and what should you do? Here’s what you need to know.

Often it's not a question of if your business will experience a data breach, but when. Hackers are always looking for new ways to take advantage of weak networks or trick employees into falling prey to their schemes. And if your business operates computer systems or handles sensitive data regularly, you are at risk. Having the right insurance coverage to provide aid in the event of a cyber attack can save your business from expensive lawsuits and reputational damage.

Cybersecurity threats are on the rise. Over the past year, we’ve observed a 148% increase in ransomware attacks and an 85% increase in phishing attacks targeting remote users. Worse still, these attacks are growing increasingly sophisticated, with threat actors using eight or more vectors in the same attack, often deploying multiple vectors within minutes of one another.

On July 19, 2021, The Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released their proposed interagency guidance around third-party risk management. SecurityScorecard submitted comments in response to the proposal urging the agencies to include the adoption of security ratings to mitigate the cyber risk to financial institutions introduced by third-party vendors and suppliers.

Digital transformation was well underway before the pandemic and in order to enable remote work and e-commerce, organizations have been adding new digital offerings at an unprecedented rate. Businesses are growing increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure with the expectation to secure a shifting cloud while managing a hybrid workforce and a growing IoT.

Organizations are increasingly concerned about cybersecurity risks and with good reason. Risks are constantly changing; take this last year, for example, the pandemic lockdown meant many knowledge workers went remote, which in turn increased the vulnerability of remote desktop services by 40%, saw criminals targeting end-users, and caused phishing and ransomware scams to boom. And then there’s the bottom line.

At SecurityScorecard, we believe that making the world a safer place means transforming how organizations view cybersecurity. For us, this means that companies must take a holistic approach, protecting systems not just from the inside, but also knowing what an organization’s vulnerabilities look like from the outside-in to see what the hackers are seeing.

The possibility of a data breach at your organization can be anxiety-inducing. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach is $3.61 million, and it’s on the rise; the average data breach cost is up 10% over last year and remote work is a contributing factor: Ponemon found that breaches caused by remote work were $1.07 million more expensive than those that weren’t. This may have your organization wondering if you’re protecting your data in every way you can.

While business partnerships require trust, security requires verification. In a world where business relies on data security, vendor risk management is mission-critical to financial success. Organizations rely on vendor security assessment questionnaires as part of their due diligence processes. However, manual questionnaire processes are burdensome and time-consuming, so many organizations are turning to automation to reduce operational costs.