Cybersecurity Risk Assessment for small businesses

Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet expands Cybersecurity Skills Initiative with risk assessment aimed at smaller organisations

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(Image: ICT Skillnet)

16 May 2019

Few small businesses realise that they are particularly vulnerable to cyber attack. In fact, 65% of all attacks target small firms and of these two thirds go out of business after the attack. Defending against attack is therefore crucial, but the problem is that many small firms just don’t know where to start. They have no effective way to tell how vulnerable they are, what to fix, what steps to take to be prepared for and recover from an attack.

This is why the new service launched by Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet is designed specifically to help Irish companies fill that need.

The Cybersecurity Risk Assessment (CRA) is an online Risk Assessment and Management software tool (implemented and facilitated by training and online support) that allows enterprises to regularly check whether their cybersecurity profile is prepared for and resilient to cyber-attacks. It is a continuous improvement tool which gives enterprises the opportunity to improve their systems based on an informed analysis of their risk level allowing them to take timely action to mitigate those risks.

The process is based on internationally recognised cybersecurity standards including the Irish National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) 12 Steps to Cybersecurity framework, UK Cyber Essentials, USA National Cybersecurity Framework (NIST) and key parts of ISO 27001. The Assessment covers five areas:

(against cyber threats and attacks)
(of cybersecurity breaches, intrusions)
(to incidents)
(business continuity)

The initiative is aimed at businesses who do not have their own dedicated cybersecurity teams, and is suitable for owner-managers, technical staff, cybersecurity practitioners or consultants or anyone with cybersecurity responsibilities.

The CRA programme consists of a 12-month licence to the online CRA system plus an initial onboarding workshop, bi-weekly online group support sessions, and final one-to-one online session to complete the risk assessment.

Upcoming initial workshops are taking place across May and June in:

To find out more about the CRA programme and/or to book your place at the workshop please contact csi@ictskillnet.ie