The benefits of a continuous assessment mindset of your cybersecurity posture

Crucial to securing an IT environment is having independent security experts validate your current measures and guide you through the steps towards  a robust security posture. These assessments optimize the effectiveness of an organization’s security controls, policies, and configuration. When performed at regular intervals it is called a continuous assessment. 

A one-time assessment is a snapshot of an organization’s security posture at a given moment. But the rapid rate of change means that assessments can quickly become obsolete. Daily IT operations with their constant stream of (security) measures & controls, reconfigurations and creating new apps or users all affect an assessment’s outcome and action points. Continuous assessments and prioritizing risks are a requirement to adapt to your ever-changing environment and priorities

Continuous assessments can cover user access, application permissions, device & server health, configurations, open threats, and risks which expose an organization. By identifying these vulnerabilities and risks, a cybersecurity assessment can help an organization take proactive steps to reduce the likelihood of a successful attack. A hidden feature of the continuous assessment is they often help track changes and measure evolutions which in turn determines future business actions.

At Toreon, we recommend a quarterly, a half-year or annual assessment of critical assets with a higher impact and greater likelihood of compromise. Assessments for full environments (e.g., cloud, on-premises networks, developing environment, security & risk strategy) are minimally recommended to have an assessment yearly, implemented recommendations can be more easily followed up to finetune and manage outcomes.

Scenarios that also benefit from additional assessments: 

• A new service, IT system or networkdeployment
• New available security controls
• Major update of an IT system or security component
• Switching or upgrading Operating System on a device/server
• New major business initiatives
• New major IT initiatives
• Merge or acquisition of an organization

Because IT and security change constantly, regular assessments matter——especially if you want security that protects and performs.