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  Remediation Solution Selection

 

Selecting cybersecurity remediations requires a thoughtful and strategic approach to effectively address identified vulnerabilities or weaknesses in a system's security posture. Here are some key steps to consider:

1.Prioritize Based on Risk: Remediations should be prioritized based on the risk they pose to the system or organization. Identify vulnerabilities or weaknesses that have the highest potential impact in terms of severity, likelihood of exploitation, and potential consequences. Consider the potential for data breaches, financial loss, reputational damage, or operational disruptions as highlighted in terms of historically-loss-based probability, mapped to your own business and controls status condition, as shown in your Risk Profile, when prioritizing remediations.

2.Follow Industry Best Practices: Consider established industry best practices and standards, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, CMMC, CIS Critical Security Controls, or NIST 800-53. These frameworks provide guidelines for identifying and prioritizing cybersecurity vulnerabilities and offer recommendations for remediation. Your Risk Profile provides your current status in relation to these best practices.

3.Consider Feasibility: Evaluate the feasibility of implementing each remediation based on technical and operational considerations. Consider factors such as the availability of resources (e.g., budget, skilled personnel), impact on system performance, compatibility with existing infrastructure, and potential disruption to normal business operations.

4.Keep Up with Threat Landscape: Stay informed about the latest cybersecurity threats and trends. Threat intelligence can help prioritize remediations by identifying vulnerabilities that are actively being exploited in the wild or are likely to be targeted by attackers in the near future.

5.Conduct Risk Assessments: Perform regular risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the system. Use risk assessment techniques such as vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and security audits to identify areas that require remediation. Your Thrivaca Risk Profile provides regular and recurring Risk Assessments, and tracks these over time, showing progress and risk remediation results over the short and long term.

6.Involve Stakeholders: Involve key stakeholders, such as IT teams, security teams, executives, and business owners, in the decision-making process. Consider their input and perspectives to ensure that the selected remediations align with the organization's overall risk tolerance, business goals, and operational requirements. Providing the objective, data-driven results in the Risk Profile allows all stakeholders to have the same body of knowledge, and illustrating the Thrivaca-derived financial impacts of risk, allows stakeholders to see the results in financial terms.

7.Monitor and Review: Continuously monitor and review the effectiveness of implemented remediations. Regularly assess the impact of remediations on the overall security posture and adjust priorities based on changing threats, vulnerabilities, and business priorities. Often, running your Thrivaca Risk Profile monthly, if not weekly, will provide more frequent and meaningful monitoring than the traditional annual, consulting-based risk assessment.

By following a risk-based approach, considering industry best practices, assessing feasibility, keeping up with the threat landscape, involving stakeholders, and monitoring effectiveness, organizations can select and prioritize cybersecurity remediations that are most relevant and effective in mitigating risks and protecting their systems and data from potential cyber threats.