After 2020, more organizations began to rely on the Internet, especially with more employees working remotely. With the increased use of the internet, the amount of cyber security threats has grown tremendously.
During the pandemic, over eighty percent of organizations encountered a cyber risk, suffering tremendous financial losses with increased downtimes. A cyber risk is defined as an intentional or accidental threat made to steal sensitive data and disrupt the operations of an organization.
Because of these threats, more companies today are beginning to use cyber threat analysts to identify, repair, and create the most security to prevent a cyber attack.
As you continue reading below, we’ll discuss what a cyber threat analysis is and five ways your organization can conduct one.
What is a Cyber Threat Analysis?
A cyber threat analysis involves taking particular steps to prevent potential cybersecurity attacks. These steps, when paired with various strategies, can help your organization assess your company’s infrastructure, processes, and policies to detect any vulnerabilities in a potential cybersecurity attack before it occurs.
With an influential cybersecurity group, your company can know more about cyber threats, strategies, and how your infrastructure may be at risk by conducting a cyber threat analysis. A cyber threat analysis is one of the most essential ways to safeguard your organization and to maintain protection when faced with a cyber security threat.
Why You Should Conduct a Cyber Threat Analysis
A business will typically conduct a cyber threat analysis multiple times a year. The number of times an organization performs a cyber threat analysis depends on the level of your security your company needs and its goals. If your company is at high risk of a cyber attack, performing a cyber security analysis more frequently is recommended.
To conduct a thorough and accurate cyber threat analysis, you can use third-party resources to enable adequate security features.
Various Threats Detected in a Cyber Threat Analysis
You’ll find three threats in your report when conducting a practical cyber threat analysis.
1. Malicious
The first type of threat is a malicious threat, in other words, intentional. Multiple people conduct a malicious threat within a company or organization with the intent to gain access to sensitive data. While intentional threats don't occur frequently, they can create significant damage. Malicious threats also can cost the most to repair.
2. External
The most popular type of threat that many companies face is from external entities. External entities are called black hat hackers since their main goal is to cause damage to government agencies, medical institutions, and other organizations that have the most to lose. External threats often take advantage of an organization's vulnerabilities inside of its infrastructure.
While larger institutions do an excellent job of protecting their sensitive data, with the continuous advancements in technology, hackers are becoming more determined, successful, and dangerous when conducting an attack.
Cyber-attacks are becoming more dangerous by the minute, so cybersecurity workers are needed now more than ever. While cybersecurity costs can be expensive when having an entire staff on-site, outsourcing your cybersecurity team is a more affordable solution that your company can benefit from.
3. Accidental
Accidental threats are one of the main types of cyberattacks among companies today. Whether it’s from not following proper protocols or other types of accidents, unintentional threats can leave your organization’s infrastructure vulnerable. Human error can also occur from conducting efficient staff training or following company protocols.
By performing a cyber threat analysis, your organization can detect unintentional vulnerabilities before hackers can access them.
5 Ways to Conduct a Cyber Threat Analysis
Below are five ways your organization can conduct a cyber threat analysis.
1. Create an Inventory of Your Assets
The first way to conduct a cyber threat analysis is to create an inventory of your assets, such as endpoint devices and software. This can be completed by using inventory on your desktop computer. You may also use a diagram illustrating how your assets are connected and their entry points.
2. Collect Data
The second way to conduct a cyber threat analysis is to collect your data. With most of your data connected to your assets, hackers can access and view your network to exploit it. Hackers particularly like to focus on a company’s servers.
By monitoring your networks and conducting a network cyber threat analysis, you can collect data on any requests that are being transferred through your network to assist with monitoring.
3. Trigger
The third way to conduct a cyber threat analysis is by using a trigger. A trigger acts like a path for a cyber threat analysis professional to the area of your organization that has been attacked. By using several detection techniques, the compromised area is then placed under a scope to identify any red flags that may open up your company to a cyber attack.
To have the most effective way of searching for a threat, you should immediately begin to monitor any notifications or signs of an attack, evaluate your infrastructure conditions, and use the experience of current employees to guide you along the way.
4. Conduct an Investigation
The fourth way to conduct a cyber threat analysis is to conduct an investigation. During the investigation, a cyber threat analyst will investigate the attack and the compromised area(s). At CyberLynx, we use several types of technology, such as Endpoint Detection and Response.
With Endpoint Detection and Response, we’ll use various tools and techniques to stop hackers in their tracks at every endpoint, no matter where you have your computers located. Our Endpoint Detection and Response are backed by our around-the-clock operations center, which looks deeper into each unique situation and can detect additional threats when they arise.
In addition to Endpoint Detection and Response, we perform vulnerability scanning and remediation during a cyber threat analysis. Our cyber analysts will scan your systems for any vulnerabilities hackers may be intrigued by. With our findings, we will analyze and address any cracks before hackers can take advantage of them.
5. Create a Response Plan & Resolution
The final way to conduct a cyber threat analysis is to create a response plan and resolution.
With the use of automation detecting potential threats, you can remove malware, restore deleted files, update your firewalls, update security protocols, and configure your systems. After a cyber threat analyst conducted their investigation, they sent their reports further to use in the future when making a resolution.
Data found during the investigation is then used to predict when an attack may occur, prioritize vulnerable areas, and enhance security where needed. A cyber threat analyst will take every action to learn the hacker’s behavior, their methods, and what areas they target the most. A cyber threat analyst will also pay close attention to patterns within a company and eliminate any weaknesses to prevent a future attack.
What is the Difference Between a Cyber Threat Analysis and a Risk Analysis?
When researching cyber threat analysis, oftentimes you’ll receive results for a risk analysis which can often confuse those who are looking for its true definitions. A cyber threat analysis and risk analysis are two very different things. As you’ve read above, you already have a pretty good idea of what a cyber threat analysis is and how to conduct one.
Let’s take a look into risk analysis so you can get a better view of how the two are different. When dealing with a risk analysis, you’ll examine your company’s infrastructure and flaws. These flaws might include natural disaster recovery and operations of your hardware and software.
A risk analysis will analyze any area within your company that may disrupt the flow of your organization. In addition, a risk analysis will take a look at various ways to identify issues and how much damage they can inflict.
Final Thoughts
With the presence of cyber-attacks occurring every day, in an instant, an organization can be overwhelmed and left with costly damages. With the use of a cyber threat analysis, you can monitor your infrastructure more and create an excellent defensive strategy when it comes to protecting your company’s sensitive data.
To stop hackers in their tracks, it’s vital to know how dangerous a threat can be and how to come to a resolution when it occurs. Using a cyber threat analysis, you can strengthen your company’s infrastructure and eradicate threats.
What is a Cyber Threat Analysis? FAQ
1. What does a threat analysis do?
A cyber threat analysis focuses on a company’s security procedures, identifies cyber threats, locates vulnerabilities, and finds information about an attack before it occurs.
2. What are the 4 stages of threat analysis?
The 4 stages of a cyber threat analysis are to identify your assets, identify threats, take a closer look at vulnerabilities, and create security to protect your company against potential risks.
3. What is the process of threat analysis?
A cyber threat analysis is the process of identifying what areas of a system needs protection and helps determine what type of threats the system needs to be protected from.
4. What is threat risk analysis?
A threat risk analysis can pinpoint weaknesses in security and take the most challenging actions to reduce the impacts of a cyber threat and manage risks.