6 Steps for Your Personal Information Security Risk Assessment

2022 was an eventful information security year. We saw cyber attacks between warring states, whole states going offline after attacks of rogue cybercrime groups, and data breaches in all kinds of businesses (Twitter, Marriot, and Binance, among others). It’s clear that vigilance is vital in protecting against these attacks, and staying informed about the latest threats is crucial. To stay safe, it’s important to implement robust security measures, perform an internal security risk assessment, educate employees on how to spot and avoid dangers, and regularly review and update security practices.

And 2023 seems to be no different; social media scams are creating a new (a)social engineering battleground where adversaries and state-sponsored attackers leverage social engineering techniques as a first step (initial access vector) in large-scale campaigns. These are aimed at breaking into systems, spreading ransomware, or stealing sensitive information. Attacks on critical infrastructure are at an all-time high, deep fake attacks are becoming more and more convincing, and the rise of the metaverse will pave the road to new cybercrimes.

But not everything will be doom and gloom in 2023. A recent survey by ClubCISO shows that the shift to remote and hybrid work has had a positive effect on employee attitudes toward security. With ongoing security awareness training, the research indicates, a good security culture has become the norm for many organizations.

When working on information and cyber-security measures, organizations spend a lot of time assessing and mitigating security risks. Risk assessments help to protect against breaches, give an organization critical information about its security gaps, and help to guide security investments. But with the ongoing Work From Home trend, part of the responsibility for cyber-security may have shifted from the organization to the employees’ homes. Performing a personal information security risk assessment at home can help you identify and mitigate potential risks to your personal data and sensitive information. Here are some steps to follow when conducting a risk assessment:

Make a list of all the personal and work-related data and sensitive information that you store at home, including financial data, medical records, and personal identification information. Your asset list can include:

Identify potential threats to your data and sensitive information, such as malware, hacking, phishing, physical theft, loss, damage, and unauthorized access to your Wi-Fi network. Depending on your work-from-home situation, your list of identified threats may vary. There is much information available on the internet about cyber security threats (e.g. here). You should also take regional and local physical threats into consideration, like the possibility of an environmental disaster, or the crime rate in your area.

Identify potential vulnerabilities in your work-from-home environment, in your home network, and devices. These can be weak passwords, outdated software, and unsecured Wi-Fi networks. We already talked about possible vulnerabilities in a former post. A vulnerability list might include the following:

Evaluate the likelihood and potential impact of each identified threat and vulnerability to determine the level of risk. There are many tutorials on how to conduct a risk level determination. You can use a simple risk determination matrix to evaluate a risk rating to act upon. A typical 5×5 matrix is shown below, but you can define your own matrix that fits your personal needs.

You can evaluate the risk level by combining one axis (the likelihood of a certain incident) with the other axis (the impact an incident might have on you when happening). The risk level will be where both axes meet. The impact could be a monetary loss, legal or contractual obligations, or even the loss of your professional reputation. The result from the table tells us how urgently we need to address a recognized threat and vulnerability.

Develop a plan to mitigate identified risks by implementing security controls. NIST (the US National Institute of Standards and Technology), defines security controls as “the safeguards or countermeasures prescribed for an information system or an organization to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system and its information.” These include:

Your controls can be physical, like locks on doors, a safe, or any kind of physical access control. Your countermeasures can be technical, like improved authentication methods (MFA), antivirus and anti-malware software, and firewalls. Even things like attending a training or improving information security awareness still count as countermeasures.

Regularly monitor and review your security controls and countermeasures to ensure they are effective and up-to-date. In organizations, the effectiveness of established information security controls is verified by establishing security metrics (Top 10 Cybersecurity Metrics and KPIs), periodic vulnerability assessments and penetration tests, or internal audits. You can do a personal information security audit by reviewing and updating your assets, threats, and vulnerabilities lists. You can also easily perform penetration tests against your own network by using free services like Intruder. Depending on your experience level with software tools, you might find some advanced open-source options here.

It’s important to note that a security risk assessment should be an ongoing process, as new threats and vulnerabilities may arise over time. By performing regular risk assessments, you help protect your personal data and sensitive information from potential threats, online and offline.

Don’t let the hackers win — stay proactive in safeguarding your assets.