A Strategic Approach to Business Risk Forecasting

If you make technology investment decisions for your company, you probably face a deluge of cybersecurity solutions from vendors that promise to deliver the proverbial silver bullet. But, before making any investment, your company should first clearly define its strategic priorities, understand its risk profile, and test its assumptions against real-world data.

This approach is similar to how your financial advisor will select stocks, bonds, and other investments based on market forecasts, financial models, and your investment objectives. If you have a short time horizon and little appetite for risk, your advisor will help you select the funds that are least likely to lose value, even if they don’t have as much upside as other investment options.

Unfortunately, some technology decision makers still approach cybersecurity like someone who is taking stock tips from his or her dentist, bartender, and old college buddies. At Bridge Partners, we believe that the first step to protecting critical corporate assets is to understand your risk profile and vulnerabilities.

With these in mind, you can create cyber threat forecasts that illuminate the most efficient and cost-effective risk mitigation tactics and technology solutions. That is why we teamed up with Silicon Valley’s Neo Prime Solutions to provide C-Suites, Boards, and IT leaders with a risk assessment and cyber forecasting tool. Together, we are giving companies insight into how they can make cyber defense investments grounded in sound strategy and advanced analytics.

Earlier this summer, we conducted a Business Risk Forecasting and Vulnerability Assessment for Snohomish County PUD (SnoPUD), the nation’s 12th largest public utility. Our Business Risk Forecasting and Vulnerability Assessment helped SnoPUD leadership determine:

• The likelihood that SnoPUD would suffer a range of cyber-related losses over specific periods of time
• How different security control options could reduce their expected losses, in what timeframe, and at what cost
• What known threats were impacting their networks
• How threats to their corporate assets were contributing to their overall risk profile
• How to prioritize their investments and resources (people, tools, processes) to have the greatest and most measurable impact on their overall cyber risk

With cyberattacks on the rise, your organization has two options. Either blindly throw money at the problem and hope that you’ve chosen the right technology vendors, or develop a strategic, data-driven approach, grounded in an accurate understanding of your risk profile and vulnerabilities. For organizations that are committed to building sustainable, long-term success, the choice is clear.