Assessing security risks in your business – where to start

Some thieves will smile and wave at a security camera, while others are as sly as a fox, attempting to sneak in and out undetected. 

Five years ago, your business may have installed the best security equipment in town. But unfortunately, technology is ever-changing, and so is crime, with new types always emerging. As a business grows, it is only natural that cracks will begin to appear in your security strategy. Assessing potential risks is critical as it outlines the probability of attacks occurring, and allows you to keep up with a new breed of criminal. A security risk assessment identifies a company’s most critical assets as well as its biggest vulnerabilities. Once completed, it enables owners or managers to make more informed decisions about employing new tools and/or reallocating resources to tighten security. 

6 ways to approach assessing security risks in your business

1. Physical security assessment
   Consider how easily criminals could physically access your assets. Security at the entrances to the building, logging visitors, and installing cameras in sensitive locations are all deterrents. Try physical penetration testing, which simulates a real-world threat. An actor attempts to compromise physical barriers and gain access to systems and assets. KEYper’s iDter security camera, Niō, uses intelligent guardian nodes to detect an intruder and activates deterrence features such as flood lights, red and blue strobes, piercing sirens, and audio communications – while offering instant notification, visibility and control through iDter's mobile apps.
2. IT security assessment
   Assess the strength of your IT infrastructure and the network-level defenses in place. These assessments look broadly at your IT structures, communication pathways, and overall health. But note that they do not look specifically at particular applications or data storage facilities.
3. Insider threat assessment
   Insider threats are not limited to employees trying to steal information or damage systems. Outdated hardware not subject to a BYOD policy can lead to attacks. Negligence is as dangerous as a malicious threat, such as easy-to-guess passwords. Attackers commonly use phishing emails to access business networks and become insiders by remaining undetected for a long time. Careless or uninformed employees also make easy targets. KEYper’s electronic key management systems help businesses protect their keys using multiple authorization options (PIN, biometric, and proximity cards) to make it harder for attackers to gain access.
4. Prioritize risks for long-term savings
   You can also save money long-term by prioritizing security risks and focusing on the main areas of control. It goes beyond comparing the costs of an assessment to a security breach. Consider how simple investments in physical resources could help prevent cybercrime and save money on any future digital breach. Take note that the faster you act, the more money you save.
5. Mitigate and protect against breaches
   A security risk assessment should recommend specific actions to help defend businesses against attacks. They should inform companies how to plug security gaps and tighten their systems. They should also highlight problems that appear problematic but are rare and require no action. 
6. Employee training
   Inform your employees about how they can adopt better security practice to help strengthen the business and protect against threats. It is vital to build a work culture based on this awareness. Security risk assessments help companies identify what training to provide employees to understand their mistakes, change their actions and reduce their chance of being targets. Using KEYper's GO tool, administrators can easily manage users and the inventory with ease, check system and assets status, view transaction history and reservation requests, and much more.

Utilizing asset management solutions for business security

You can use key asset management solutions to improve your overall business security, reduce security risks and give you greater peace of mind. Our MX Electronic Key System, with 16-gauge powder-coated steel cabinets, has the brawn – for physical protection – as well as the brain; the integrated touchscreen only allowing access to authorized users. It protects against employee negligence in the form of easy-to-guess passwords by offering three methods of authorization: entering a unique pin code on the touch screen, fingerprint recognition, and a card reader. This intelligent system recognizes a returned fob, automatically logging users out when they close the cabinet door.

It also records every transaction, providing a detailed audit trail over key activity. Business managers can identify who has an item checked out, contact them at the press of a button, control access, run detailed reports, and even transfer ownership of keys using their smartphone. It means that, no matter where they are, they will always know who has their keys, when they took them, and why.

On top of this, our monitoring solution, Niō, can deter 98% of intruders using smart technology to take immediate action. As well as activating its deterrence features discussed above – flood lights, red and blue strobes, piercing sirens – it offers instant notification, visibility, and control through iDter's mobile apps. If intruders remain undeterred, iDter personnel issue a video-verified alert through redundant 5 Diamond TMA Certified & UL listed central alarm stations for dispatch of the authorities.

Don’t rest on your laurels

Businesses must know how to review their internal security risks as criminals will continue to abuse emerging technology while manipulating cracks in existing security systems. The pandemic presented new opportunities for criminals to exploit companies as they quickly introduced new online systems to support employees working from home. No one knows what is around the corner, so companies must anticipate and prepare for any possible attacks, whatever form they might take.