How to Go Beyond Information Technology Security with Integrated Risk Management

Risk management is a critical core competency that allows organizations to deliver and grow stakeholder value over time. Effective risk management necessitates better data and information so that businesses can adapt to a constantly changing risk inventory.

The ability to monitor IT risk and understand how the many components of an organization's IT systems are connected is crucial to operational resilience. The ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, for example, had no direct impact on the pipeline's operation. The pipeline's operator, on the other hand, concluded that the wisest course of action was to halt operations until the extent of the cyberattack was understood.

The attack on the Colonial Pipeline, as well as the global shutdowns caused by the epidemic, have caused a shift in how people think about IT and digital risk. We discovered that approximately 75% of respondents expected their digital initiatives to accelerate as a result of the upheavals and shifts of the previous year, based on our experience as industry leaders and our research of customers in our 2022 Digital Risk survey. Read our report "The State of Integrated Risk Management" for key takeaways on the confluence of digital and traditional risk.

Third-Party Regulations and IT Risk

Regulators are increasingly requiring firms to conduct significant due diligence when selecting a third party for a service, as well as during the life of the third party's engagement. Treating third-party operations as an extension of the business retaining their services is not only mandated in many jurisdictions, but it is also good risk management practice for information technology services.

A third-party IT security lapse can lead to the compromising of a number of IT systems. For example, no matter how security-conscious the tens of thousands of enterprises that utilized SolarWinds Orion software to manage their information technology stack were, they were vulnerable to the SolarWinds security incident.

Implementing an Integrated Risk Management Approach in Your Organization

Three important outcomes emerge from moving from a governance, risk, and compliance-focused program to an IRM framework.

1# Creating a Culture of Risk-Taking

Recognizing that digitalization and the risks associated with it are enterprise-wide issues is a core component of a robust IRM system. Information security executives can assist alter the corporate culture to one that supports security best practices and helps mitigate risk with the right buy-in and training. When it comes to making this important shift to integrated risk management, culture changes are incremental, and information security leaders must play the long game.

2# Enhanced Visibility Within the Information Security Organization

The most major distinction between IRM and GRC is that IRM is the practice of holistically integrating cybersecurity and risk management. IRM solutions reconfigure governance, risk, and compliance modules and silos. This improvement in performance achieved through an integrated approach not only improves cyber posture but also improves business continuity and enables CISOs to engage more fluidly with the Board and CEO.

3# Putting Integrated Risk Management Solutions in Place

To enable a new approach, new tools are required. As a result, to administer a new program that is supported by a risk-aware culture and integrated cybersecurity teams, a fully integrated solution is required. Teams are frequently built around the solutions that their company uses. Changing to integrated risk management necessitates abandoning modular GRC solutions.?

By taking a holistic perspective of the company risk profile, this transformation increases the cybersecurity program's productivity and enables increased risk mitigation. IRM also allows for improved reporting to the Board of Directors and CEO, allowing them to incorporate cyber risk into the overall risk management program.

Using Integrated Risk Management to Take Action

Implementing integrated risk management strategies and processes is undoubtedly a long effort. In the digital age, however, all businesses will be forced to embrace some form of IRM in one way or another. The GRC era's silos and modules are rapidly disintegrating. Whereas IT companies used to be able to keep up with the trickle of new AI & ML development technology, the current torrent of new tools and platforms has irreversibly altered this for almost all enterprises. As a result, information security teams must adapt and adopt new approaches and frameworks in order to support this paradigm and strengthen their organization's cyber posture.

Challenges

The rise of information technologies, as we discussed in the preceding section, has had a significant impact on risk management. However, we must remember that each of the available technologies carries its own set of risks. As a result, when using technology, we must be aware of all possible flaws.

When storing company data on the cloud to use in the risk assessment process, for example, we may have a privacy concern, especially when using secret material like newly invented goods or strategic plans.

On the other hand, every firm needs IT specialists who are well-versed in order to address any risk associated with the usage of technology. Alternatively, the corporation must get into a contract with an outside IT firm, which may result in a data breach.

Summary

We provide a quick review of risk management, including methods, methodologies, and standards. Following that, we discussed the necessity of data collection in risk management. On the other side, we mobile application development company discussed some of the difficulties encountered when employing these technologies.

One of the future projects that might be undertaken is to investigate the risks posed by the use of information technologies in order to analyze the hazards in an organization and to determine whether the integration of many technologies is problematic.