What is cyber risk monitoring?

Cyber risk monitoring is the ongoing process of examining and evaluating an organisation’s security posture to identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Threats can arise at any moment, and continuously monitoring the entire network allows organisations to promptly detect and address them. Rather than focusing on incident response, the monitoring of cyber risk is a proactive approach to cybersecurity that seeks to detect and eliminate security threats and vulnerabilities before they cause damage.

Cyber threat monitoring is valuable for all stakeholders involved in an organisation’s IT infrastructure, including providers and vendors, and enables security teams to stay ahead of cybercriminals. This proactive approach measures and benchmarks the organisation’s specific security posture. It can also provide daily updates and standardised terminology and metrics, which bridge the gap between technical security details and business objectives.

How does cyber risk monitoring work?

Cyber risk monitoring works by continuously analysing vast amounts of real-time system data and integrating threat intelligence to identify early warning signs of cyberattacks. By detecting abnormal patterns, such as unusual network traffic or malicious activity, organisations can proactively identify and respond to threats.

Digital threat monitoring can involve going beyond isolated incidents, spotting patterns over time and correlating multiple different anomalies to uncover more sophisticated attacks.

This involves several key steps:  

  • Data collection – Gathering information about the organisation’s IT infrastructure, systems and networks  
  • Risk assessment – Analysing collected data to identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses
  • Threat intelligence – Monitoring for emerging threats and vulnerabilities in the cyber landscape  
  • Continuous monitoring –Using tools and technologies to constantly scan for signs of suspicious activity or breaches  
  • Risk prioritisation – Evaluating the potential impact of identified risks and prioritising remediation efforts

By following these steps, organisations can better identify and address cyber risks, reducing the likelihood of successful attacks.

Cyber risk metrics to monitor

Cyber risk metrics enable organisations to assess their security health over time to identify potential issues early on, measure the effectiveness of security controls and make data-driven decisions to improve their overall security posture.

The metrics used in cyber threat monitoring can vary depending on the organisation, but may include:

  • Quantitative metrics – The percentage of patched vulnerabilities, Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) a system after disruption or frequency of phishing attempts
  • Asset status – Understanding compromised systems and vulnerable assets, such as botnet infections, potentially exploited machines and malware servers
  • Threat intelligence – Monitoring for external threats and breaches to provide critical input for measuring cyber risk
  • Vulnerability management – Comparing an organisation’s cybersecurity hygiene data (managing open ports, patching cadence and TLS/SSL certificate status) against best practices
  • Vendor risk management – Evaluate the security posture of third-party vendors to determine the number of high-risk vendors and potential need to assess new vendors
  • Business impact – Assess the potential financial and reputational impact of identified risks to prioritise cybersecurity efforts based on what matters most to the business

Difference between cyber risk monitoring and cyber risk management

Cyber risk monitoring is the ongoing process of actively tracking and analysing an organisation’s IT environment for potential threats and vulnerabilities. It provides real-time visibility into your security posture, enabling rapid response to incidents.

Key benefits of continuous monitoring of cyber risk include:

  • Proactive identification and remediation of vulnerabilities
  • Early detection of cyberattacks
  • Enhanced incident response capabilities
  • Leveraging threat intelligence for informed decision-making
  • Measurable security performance metrics
  • Effective management of third-party risks
  • Continuous evaluation of security controls

Cyber risk management is a broader strategic approach to identifying, assessing and prioritising potential threats to an organisation’s sensitive data, systems and networks. It involves developing and implementing strategies to mitigate these risks.

The core components of cyber risk management are:

  • Risk identification and assessment
  • Risk analysis and prioritisation
  • Risk mitigation strategies
  • Ongoing monitoring and review

Cyber risk monitoring is the operational component that delivers real-time insights and informs effective risk management. Cyber risk management turns information into action. Together, they form a comprehensive approach to protecting an organisation from cyber threats.

FAQs

What is monitoring in cyber security?

Cybersecurity monitoring is the ongoing process of examining an organisation’s IT systems to proactively identify and address potential threats. By continuously watching for vulnerabilities and suspicious activities, organisations can prevent cyberattacks before they cause damage. This proactive approach helps protect sensitive data and maintain business operations.

How to monitor cyber security risks in the organisation?

Monitoring cyber security risk involves continuously analysing vast amounts of real-time system data and integrating threat intelligence to identify early warning signs of cyberattacks. The main steps to cyber security monitoring include gathering information about the organisation’s IT infrastructure, monitoring threat intelligence for emerging threats and vulnerabilities and assessing weaknesses and signs of suspicious activity or breaches.

How do you assess cybersecurity risk?

Assessing cybersecurity risk involves measuring your organisation’s security health by analysing various factors. This can include identifying vulnerabilities, understanding the threats you face, evaluating the impact of potential breaches and monitoring the performance of your security measures.

How is cyber risk measured?

Cyber risk is measured by quantifying vulnerabilities, monitoring external threats and evaluating the impact of potential breaches, and measuring the effectiveness of security controls. By analysing factors like the rate of successful attacks, the speed of system recovery and the security posture of third-party vendors, organisations can understand their overall risk level and prioritise mitigation efforts accordingly.

Cyber risk monitoring and Silobreaker

Organisations often struggle to understand the ever-shifting threat landscape and proactively detect and respond to threats. Silobreaker provides powerful insights on emerging risks and opportunities in real-time. It automates the collection, aggregation, accurate analysis and dissemination of data from open and dark web sources in a single platform, so intelligence teams can produce high-quality, actionable reports in line with priority intelligence requirements (PIRs).

Sifting through large volumes of data and false positives to identify genuine threats can be time consuming and ineffective. Silobreaker enables your organisation to track the constantly evolving tactics of cybercriminals and the increasing complexity of fraud schemes by monitoring for compromised credential leaks, card fraud, brand abuse and impersonation, initial access brokers and new fraud techniques. Early detection and prevention of threats helps to mitigate negative impact and financial loss, protecting sensitive data, intellectual property, brand reputation and loyalty.

Likewise, Silobreaker helps you to identify common TTPs, attacker motivations and IOCs based on the industry and region in which your organisation operates. This enables organisations to recognise emerging threats and develop a proactive cyber defence strategy to stay ahead of adversaries. It also improves incident response efforts – enhancing security awareness and minimising the likelihood of successful attacks.

Gain a comprehensive understanding of vulnerabilities through synthesis of structured feeds, vendor reporting, research, open-source reporting and underground chatter to support risk evaluation and patch prioritisation. This helps prevent disruption, ensuring resilience and business continuity through effective and timely resource allocation to proactively address risks posed by security weaknesses.

Monitoring cyber risk with Silobreaker enables global enterprises to make intelligence-led decisions to safeguard their business from cyber, physical and geopolitical threats, mitigate risks and maximise business value.

Find out how Silobreaker’s threat intelligence platform can enhance cyber risk monitoring for your organisation and provide greater visibility of the evolving threat landscape to stay ahead of emerging risks.