Importance of risk management in companies

Today with the different options we have with technology the subject of security has become more important for companies. Technology opens many doors but also opens windows where internal and external intruders can enter and perform wrongful acts that can be costly and harmful.

This is the reason why we should make it a very important subject in our companies. Many of the big companies have a department of security and operative risk that are responsible for these subjects and even with this protection they have had attacks such as the cases of Target and Sony we all have heard about. Therefore if these types of companies have been unable to shield themselves, what can we expect in small and medium companies?

I think the answer to that question is that they must try to protect themselves even if anyone is exempt that these problems occur. It is important that SMEs analyze the different risks they are dealing with. As in the cases I have mentioned, these doesn’t assure that they are not going to be attacked but they will be prepared to deal with them in the best possible way. They will be able to generate controls that diminish the probability that they are materialized.

We must start by understanding that every risk has a probability that it occurs and also an impact. The most dangerous risks for our companies are the ones that have a high probability and a high impact, therefor they are the ones in which we have to focus, create controls and action plans in order to mitigate them.

At the end there will be some risks that even if they have an important impact it is not very likely that they materialize, others that even if they materialize they don’t have an important impact, but there are others that if they occur they can end our business. That is the reason why we have to try to manage our risks even if we have a SME and also taking into account that new technological channels open windows for harm we must take care of.

To end this post I will like to mention a subject I heard a commander of the army of my country mention in a security forum I attended some days ago. Now wars aren’t going to be wined by the ones who have the best weapons but by the ones that can use the windows of their enemies. Therefor every country is trying to protect their cyber space. In the same way you should be worried about protecting your Internet channels.

Image taken from Flickr.com