Performing a business cyber review is an essential process to identify potential cyber risks and vulnerabilities, and to ensure that your business’s systems and data are secure. Here are six ways someone could perform a business cyber review:

1. Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment

There is a new attack somewhere on the web every 39 seconds. Every business should be performing security reviews across all their infrastructure, from end-point devices to cloud platforms.

A risk assessment involves identifying potential cyber threats and vulnerabilities, assessing the likelihood and impact of each threat, and developing risk mitigation strategies. The main steps to a cybersecurity risk assessment are:

1. Identifying risk
2. Analysing and evaluating risk
3. Prioritise severity levels of risk
4. Document all risks

There are loads of free resources and templates to help businesses perform their own risk assessments, including one of the UK government's website.

2. Review access controls

A user access review (or audit) evaluates all permissions and accesses of every personnel in your company. The aim of this review is to make sure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data and systems. Reviewing access controls involves evaluating the effectiveness of existing controls and identifies any areas where employees can obtain access to more sensitive data than they require for their work.

Don't just look at internal access. Do your third-party suppliers or vendors have access to company data? If so, it's important to evaluate what they have access to and the level of risk associated to each third-party access.

3. Perform vulnerability assessments

This is the process of defining and identifying all vulnerabilities in your organisation's computer systems, applications and networks. Once you've performed this, you can categorise each vulnerability and prioritise them based on both the likelihood of an attack and the severity of the impact it would cause.

Vulnerability scanning is a low-cost way to automatically look for the most common security issues without needing to employ specialist security testers. There are all sorts of vulnerability scanning tools and services on the market. The NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has published a handy and detailed guide to vulnerability assessments.

4. Review security policies and procedures

Every business should have documented security policies and procedures in place that outline how employees should handle sensitive data, what security measures are in place, and what to do in case of a security incident. Your company's cyber strategy must be clear of jargon and easy to understand so it can engage with all the teams across the business. Reviewing these policies and procedures helps ensure they are up to date and effective, as well as ensuring vigilance around your staff towards cyber security and protection.

5. Conduct Penetration Testing

Sometimes known as 'pen testing', a penetration test is an ethical cyber hack of your computer systems systems and network to identify security vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The simulated cyber hack goes through the exact same process and uses the same techniques that a hacker would, producing a breakdown of all the vulnerabilities that a hacker could exploit.

6. Review Backup and Disaster Recovery Plans

A business continuity (or disaster recovery) plan ensures a company can still operate after a major disruption or disruption, such as a fire, network outage or a cyber security incident. The step-by-step process ensures your business is well prepared to deal with unexpected events and continue running efficiently and you can recover lost or stolen files.

A business's backup and disaster recovery plans should be reviewed and tested regularly to ensure that they are effective and, when the day comes, you will come out the other side.

These six ways to perform a business cyber review will help identify potential cyber risks and vulnerabilities and ensure that the business's information systems and data are secure.

PSP's cyber professionals have 40 years of combined experience developing IT and cyber strategies for businesses. Click here to find out more about our Cyber security service where we can provide your organisation with a clear understanding of your cyber risks and an easy to understand cyber protection plan for your business.

PSP also features as a top agency for DesignRush's ecommerce security directory.