Quantitative Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

Cybersecurity risk assessment

Your organization has many great security controls in place. But you wonder are you missing something? You know you need a quantitative cybersecurity risk assessment. Where should your medium-sized organization turn for an economical solution?

Even after you find a cybersecurity risk assessment solution, there are still challenges. Will your executive management and staff accept the results of the assessment? What exactly does “High” risk mean again? How do you compare this risk with other risks in your organization?

Quantitative Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

A quantitative cybersecurity risk assessment is a systematic process of evaluating risks arising from threats. There are many frameworks and methodologies for conducting such a risk assessment.

Today, many in the industry, including Fractional CISO, use the NIST CSF framework for evaluating an organization. It provides a flexible toolset for evaluating the current state and setting a roadmap for the future state.

Once the criteria for evaluation are selected, there are still many options for a cybersecurity risk assessment. How will the results be determined? Will they be qualitative “high, medium, low” or more quantitative in nature?

Many organizations get bogged down in qualitative results where it is unclear what the appropriate course of action is. What do you do when you have a medium risk? What does that mean? A far better result is arriving at the conclusion that there is a 10% chance of an event occurring that will result in $1 million dollars of expected loss.

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Quantitative methodology

Fractional CISO has a quantitative method for understanding your organization’s risk profile. Our QuantiShield quantitative risk assessment displays the results in an unambiguous manner. There is no doubt about where the organization should focus to reduce institutional cybersecurity risk.

Executive management in your organization is used to responding to all sorts of risks. Our methodology measures risk in dollars and probability. By presenting the results in percentages and dollars, you can make appropriate risk-based decisions.  It becomes much easier to decide what you should remediate and in what order.

Fractional CISO follows Douglas Hubbard’s “How to Measure Anything in Cybersecurity Risk” framework. These mathematical models allow for quantitative conclusions to vexing cybersecurity problems. We apply our extensive cybersecurity experience to enhance these models. The results are more relevant to today’s threat landscape and your operating environment.

Next steps

If you are struggling to decide which cybersecurity projects deserve investment, then we can help you solve your problem. You will find our quantitative cybersecurity risk assessment to be a valuable tool to make better decisions.

Are you interested in learning more? Then please call us at 617.658.3276 or email us at [email protected].

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Frequently Asked Questions about Quantitative Cybersecurity Risk Assessments

What is a quantitative risk assessment in cybersecurity?

A quantitative risk assessment in cybersecurity is a systematic process that assigns numerical values to various cybersecurity risks in order to quantify the potential impact and likelihood of security incidents. This method helps businesses obtain a more precise understanding of their overall risk posture.

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative assessment cybersecurity?

Qualitative assessments rely on subjective judgments, descriptive scales, and expert opinions to evaluate risks based on their qualitative characteristics. On the other hand, quantitative cybersecurity risk assessments involve numerical values, statistical analyses, and measurable data to provide a more precise and objective measure of cybersecurity risks. Qualitative assessments are often more subjective and less precise, while quantitative assessments offer a more quantitative and data-driven approach.

How do you quantify cybersecurity risk?

You can quantify a cybersecurity risk by considering the actual threat, the degree of vulnerability, and the likelihood of that threat being carried out. The rough formula for this is:
Expected Loss = Loss Probability x Damage from Incident (in Dollars)
For example: a risk that has a 10% chance of occurring and would cause $1 million in damages would be quantified as being a $100,000 risk.

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Only 1/3 of cyber insurance policies actually pay out in incidents. Most companies have cyber insurance policies that insure too little, or too much, and have absurdly low caps and silly exclusions.

To learn more about cyber insurance and determine if you have the right coverage for you, join us for a free vCISO Office Hours session on Tuesday, April 18 at 1 p.m. eastern time. Bring your questions!

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