THE NEED FOR SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENTS
While technological evolution has brought us many great initiatives, it has also brought about an unprecedented rise in cyberthreats. IBM Security estimates that companies, on average, take about 197 days to detect a breach
and 69 days to contain it.
Without regular IT Security risk assessments, you run the risk of not detecting a security breach until it’s too late. Besides, regular assessments can also help you get a comprehensive view of your network to make informed security decisions.
PROACTIVELY MITIGATE IT SECURITY THREATS
The best way to combat these threats is by gaining full information about the vulnerabilities in your applications and networks. Without measuring these vulnerabilities, you have no way of improving your security. This is where network and security assessments play a critical role. These assessments help you:
- Boost your network security
- Protect your valuable data
- Improve the security posture of your IT infrastructure
- Build a resilient risk management program
A network assessment analyzes various aspects of an organization’s IT infrastructure (hardware, software, network resources, etc.) to identify opportunities for improvement. Organizations can use network assessments to make informed business decisions to improve network performance and security.
Here is why a network assessment is crucial:
- A network assessment gives you an in-depth analysis of your IT environment to help you make informed decisions regarding system upgrades and overall maintenance.
- It gives you a clear roadmap to help you revamp your IT infrastructure, helping you save money and giving your team the time to focus on strategic activities.
- A strong network assessment gives you full visibility into your organization’s network to chalk out a proactive security strategy against global cyberthreats as well as end-user vulnerabilities.
- Network assessments expose loopholes in your current operations, presenting you with opportunities for improvement.
A network assessment should be seen as an invaluable tool for refining critical processes that even the most competent IT pro might have overlooked. However, to get the most out of a network assessment, one must take a holistic approach and include the following crucial components:
Network Assets
A network asset is any data, device or component that supports a company’s IT infrastructure such as hardware, software and physical devices. The assessment will help identify devices that are obsolete, vulnerable or nearing their end, which in turn will reveal devices that may not be meeting compliance requirements.
IT Security Framework
There has been a major shift in the cybersecurity landscape, with expert cyberthieves constantly on the prowl looking to exploit system vulnerabilities. This means organizations can no longer merely rely on antivirus and strong passwords. An assessment of the IT security framework helps companies find existing vulnerabilities in their systems and the subsequent security assessment report can help strengthen their infrastructure.
Performance Analysis
The aim of an IT infrastructure is to ensure the smooth flow of data. A network assessment helps identify over- or under-utilized technology that affects the overall performance of the network. Based on the analysis, IT pros can allocate resources to enhance system performance.
Cloud Setup
With organizations becoming increasingly dependent on the cloud, it is crucial that businesses leverage cloud computing technology. Whether you are using cloud-based services for backup, recovery and file-sharing, or to run cloud-based applications, building a solid security infrastructure is a must.
A network assessment is extremely valuable for IT departments to make more informed and strategic decisions with maximum cost-efficiency. The process can be performed manually by a team of analysts and engineers who will first need to create the assessment and then run tests to get a comprehensive understanding of the IT network. However, this can be tedious and time-consuming.
Through the use of automated network assessment tools, results can be achieved in the timeliest and most resource-efficient way, allowing you to take advantage of advanced capabilities. With an automated tool such as Network Detective Pro, you can scan a massive amount of network, cloud, asset and user data. Its non-intrusive scanners can scan and help you prepare hundreds of customizable reports within minutes without burdening your IT professionals.
A network assessment tool is a software solution that helps businesses streamline and automate network assessments. A network assessment tool has several easy-to-use features that help MSPs and SMBs save time and money, ensuring resources are used effectively. Here are some features to look for in a network assessment tool:
- The ability to non-intrusively collect detailed information on all network assets, including those not physically connected to the network.
- The ability to Identify risks from misconfigurations, network vulnerabilities and user threats.
- The ability to support all environments, from on-premises to remote, to the cloud, to work-from-home
- The ability to produce highly customizable value-proving reports.
Whether you are an MSP managing several clients or an SMB, a network assessment tool can help you build an efficient IT management plan. Here is how you can do it:
- Admins can use a network work assessment tool to evaluate the overall health of their client’s IT infrastructure and identify areas of improvement to further optimize performance.
- You can use a network assessment tool to ensure your business or your clients are in full compliance with necessary regulations by conducting regular network assessments, carrying out remediation efforts to fix the discovered issues and documenting the entire process.
- Companies can utilize network assessment tools to identify network configuration errors that can then be fixed to enhance the security of their network.
- While prospecting for new clients, MSPs can run non-intrusive scans to gauge the scope of work and generate insightful reports to justify the need for their service.
- Both MSPs and businesses can regularly run scheduled automated assessments as part of their IT management plan to maintain network and system health.