How can you identify the most critical assets to protect in your organization?

1 Define your assets

The first step is to define what constitutes an asset in your organization. An asset is anything that supports your business goals, processes, and functions. It can be tangible, such as hardware, software, data, or network devices, or intangible, such as reputation, intellectual property, or customer trust. You should create an inventory of all your assets and categorize them by type, location, owner, and function.

2 Assess your assets' value

The next step is to assess how valuable each asset is to your organization. The value of an asset depends on various factors, such as its contribution to revenue, productivity, efficiency, or innovation, its replacement or recovery cost, its legal or regulatory compliance, and its competitive advantage. You should assign a value score to each asset based on these criteria and rank them accordingly.

3 Evaluate your assets' impact

The third step is to evaluate how much impact each asset would have if it was compromised, lost, or damaged. The impact of an asset depends on its interdependence with other assets, its availability and reliability requirements, its effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty, and its potential for reputational or financial damage. You should assign an impact score to each asset based on these factors and rank them accordingly.

4 Analyze your assets' risk

The final step is to analyze how much risk each asset faces from cyberthreats. The risk of an asset depends on its vulnerability to exploitation, its exposure to attack vectors, its likelihood of being targeted, and its existing security controls and measures. You should assign a risk score to each asset based on these factors and rank them accordingly.

5 Prioritize your assets

After completing these steps, you should have a clear picture of which assets are the most critical to protect in your organization. You should prioritize your assets based on their value, impact, and risk scores and allocate your security resources and efforts accordingly. You should also review and update your asset inventory and assessment regularly to reflect any changes in your business environment, goals, or threats.

6 Implement your protection plan

Once you have prioritized your assets, you should implement a protection plan that covers the following aspects: identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery. You should identify your assets and their security requirements, protect them with appropriate security policies and tools, detect any anomalies or incidents, respond to them quickly and effectively, and recover from them with minimal disruption or loss. You should also monitor and measure your protection plan's performance and effectiveness and make any necessary adjustments or improvements.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?