BLOG: Mitigating Risk Exposure – The Benefits of Cyber Risk Ratings for Small Teams

In the current era of extensive digital connectivity, the threat landscape for businesses, including small teams, has evolved into a realm of heightened complexity and sophistication. Cybersecurity risks pose a significant challenge, and it is crucial for organisations to adopt proactive measures to mitigate their exposure. Cyber risk ratings provide valuable insights into a company’s security posture and help identify areas of vulnerability. Below we will explore the benefits of cyber risk ratings specifically for small teams and highlight how they can effectively enhance risk mitigation efforts.

Cyber risk ratings are quantitative assessments that evaluate an organisation’s cybersecurity posture based on various factors. These ratings are typically derived from extensive data analysis, incorporating both internal and external security indicators. The process involves assessing an organisation’s technological infrastructure, threat intelligence, incident response capabilities, and overall security practises.

Benefits for Small Teams

Enhanced Visibility and Awareness

Small teams often face resource limitations when it comes to cybersecurity. Cyber risk ratings provide an objective and comprehensive view of their security posture, highlighting potential vulnerabilities and areas that require immediate attention. By gaining a better understanding of their risk exposure, small teams can allocate their limited resources more effectively and prioritise critical security investments.

Proactive Risk Mitigation

Cyber risk ratings empower small teams to take a proactive approach to risk mitigation. By identifying weak points and potential threats, organisations can implement targeted security measures and strengthen their defences. This proactive stance enables small teams to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals and minimise the likelihood of successful attacks.

Benchmarking and Comparison

Cyber risk ratings allow small teams to benchmark their security posture against industry standards and peers. By comparing their ratings with similar organisations, they can gauge their relative cybersecurity performance and identify areas for improvement. This insight enables small teams to implement best practises and enhance their overall security posture, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Support for Decision-Making

Cyber risk ratings provide small teams with actionable information to make informed decisions. Whether it is selecting a vendor, evaluating a new technology, or entering into partnerships, these ratings offer a reliable measure of the potential cyber risks associated with these decisions. By leveraging this data, small teams can make informed choices that align with their risk appetite and strategic objectives.

Facilitating Stakeholder Trust

Maintaining the trust of customers, investors, and partners is essential for small teams to thrive. Cyber risk ratings serve as an objective validation of an organisation’s commitment to cybersecurity and its ability to safeguard sensitive data. Sharing positive cyber risk ratings with stakeholders instils confidence and demonstrates a proactive approach to risk management, enhancing the organisation’s reputation in the market.

Small teams face unique challenges when it comes to mitigating cyber risks due to limited resources and expertise. Cyber risk ratings offer valuable insights and benefits to these teams by providing enhanced visibility, proactive risk mitigation, benchmarking capabilities, decision-making support, and the ability to build trust with stakeholders. Leveraging cyber risk ratings enables small teams to strengthen their security posture, better allocate resources, and safeguard their digital assets. By embracing this proactive approach, small teams can navigate the complex cybersecurity landscape with confidence and resilience in the face of emerging threats.

How can the Orpheus platform help?

At Orpheus Cyber, we understand the challenges faced by small businesses when it comes to managing cyber risks effectively. We offer comprehensive solutions that can help you navigate your unique risk landscape and allocate your resources where they matter the most. Here’s how we can assist your organisation:

• Gain Insights into Your Unique Risk Landscape: Unlike traditional approaches that focus solely on vulnerabilities, we leverage threat intelligence to provide you with a fuller view of your specific risk profile. Our intelligence-led risk management and rating platform employ machine learning to predict potential attackers, their methods, and the live vulnerabilities they are likely to exploit. This extends to third-party risk monitoring, allowing you to understand and assess your overall risk portfolio comprehensively.
• Single-Pane View of Your Risk Portfolio: Our platform provides a centralised view of your risk portfolio, enabling you to actively monitor and reduce associated risks. You can easily assess potential vendors and make informed decisions to mitigate risks effectively.
• Enhanced Cyber Risk Score: We have developed a proprietary score that examines the entities targeting your organisation, their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and maps them to your unpatched vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild. This score gives you valuable insights into your risk exposure and helps prioritise vulnerability patching efforts.
• Cyber Risk Reports: Our platform allows you to access summarised reports on your overall cyber risk. You can instantly identify areas where you can reduce your risk score and receive alerts on any alterations. Additionally, you can compare your organisation’s risk level against the sector average, gaining valuable benchmarks for improvement.
• Actionable and Predictable Vulnerabilities: Our solution helps you proactively patch vulnerabilities before they are exploited, with a remarkable accuracy rate of at least 94% when predicting future threats. This enables you to stay ahead of potential attacks and minimise the likelihood of successful breaches.
• Access to an Intelligence Database: By leveraging our platform, you can tap into a vast collection of live and historical data on dark web chatter, vulnerability records, threat actor profiles, and more. This rich intelligence database empowers you to make informed decisions and stay updated on emerging threats.
• Analyst Reports and Requests: We provide access to an existing analyst-written research database, covering a wide range of cybersecurity topics. Additionally, you can request bespoke reports tailored to subjects relevant to your organisation, ensuring that you receive the specific insights you need.

Benefits of Working with Orpheus Cyber:

• Monitor your consolidated risk profile, including third-party risks, from a single platform.
• Efficiently prioritise risks that directly impact the likelihood of a data breach, optimising your risk management efforts.
• Lower your cyber insurance costs by demonstrating a proactive approach to risk mitigation.
• Validate your security measures and demonstrate return on investment (ROI) to stakeholders.
• Monitor third-party risks independently, eliminating the need for manual spreadsheets or time-consuming due diligence forms.
• Proactively improve your organisation’s cyber maturity and that of your suppliers.
• Optimise internal resources and workload by focusing efforts on the most critical risks.

With Orpheus Cyber, your small business can benefit from comprehensive risk management solutions that enhance your cybersecurity posture, streamline your operations, and protect your valuable assets. Find out more here.