Why Should You Understand the Cybersecurity Risk of the Businesses You Work With?

The world of cybersecurity is rapidly evolving, and cybercrime is a growing threat. Organizations, now more than ever, need to be aware of not only their own cybersecurity posture, but also that of their third-party suppliers and partners.

The cybersecurity posture of an organization refers to its overall cybersecurity strength. This expresses the relative security of the IT estate, particularly as it relates to the internet and its vulnerability to outside threats. Hardware and software, and how they are managed through policies, procedures or controls, are part of cybersecurity and can be referred to individually as such. Referring to any of these aspects individually is talking about cybersecurity, but to understand the likelihood of a breach, a more holistic approach must be taken and an understanding of a business's cybersecurity posture developed. This includes not only the state of the IT infrastructure, but also the state of practices, processes and human behaviors. These are harder to measure, but can be reliably inferred from observation.