Secureworks has released the Secureworks Security Maturity Model, a pragmatic methodology that organisations of all sizes can use to evaluate their level of cybersecurity maturity relative to inherent risk.
Secureworks is releasing the model in response to its research which shows that more than one-third of US organisations (37%) face security risks that exceed their overall security maturity. Within that group, 10% face a significant deficiency when it comes to protecting themselves from the threats in their environment.
To increase global awareness of the gaps between cybersecurity maturity and risk, Secureworks is offering a complimentary evaluation that organisations can take to benchmark their maturity using the Secureworks methodology. Cybersecurity leaders who complete a simple online tool with the support of a Secureworks security expert will receive a report that scores the organisation’s capabilities and behaviours across five essential cybersecurity domains. The report also assigns a current security maturity tier and compares the organisation’s results to peer benchmarks. Intuitive charts and graphs throughout the report can be used to identify a desired future state of maturity, prioritise next steps in the journey and support more confident discussions about cybersecurity risk management with the board.
“Business executives tell us they’re looking for ways to determine whether their cybersecurity capabilities and investment are in line with their business risk profile,” says Hadi Hosn, Consulting Practice Leader, Secureworks. “Our recent study suggests that misalignment between security activities and actual risk is common enough to warrant a more pragmatic model that can help organisations both identify those gaps and adjust their security maturity goals accordingly.”
Secureworks’ Security Maturity Model is a holistic, risk-driven approach that incorporates elements of well-known frameworks like National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and ISO 27001/02 with insight from Secureworks’ global threat intelligence, analysis of more than 1,000 incident response engagements annually and observed best practices across 4,300 clients. Organisations who evaluate their maturity against this methodology are scored in the cybersecurity domains of: security organisation and governance, security operations, cloud security, incident management and threat intelligence.
“Most frameworks come up short in helping you define the right journey to cybersecurity maturity because they don’t account for inherent risk to begin with,” says Hosn. “Instead of relying on checklists, the Secureworks Security Maturity Model blends the best of industry best practice frameworks with our proprietary knowledge and experience to help organisations invest precious resources more wisely.”
Key Findings: Secureworks Security Leadership Study, 2018
Secureworks’ proprietary security maturity evaluation methodology considers which security capabilities a company currently has in place as well as organisational behaviour. In Secureworks’ 2018 Security Leadership study, guarded companies, the least mature, were lacking the same processes that are commonly shared by resilient organisations, the most secure 7 percent of the respondents. The most divergent practices between resilient and guarded organisations include:
- Aligning and prioritising vulnerability assessments based on business goals (56% for resilient organisations vs. 2% for guarded, the least mature group)
- Conducting real-time automated security analysis of business partners (36% vs. 2%)
- Employing customised endpoint protection based on user profiles (84% vs. 3%)
- Including both technical and business teams in Incidence Response tabletop sessions (92% vs. 45%)
- Working with IR partners under retainer agreements (56% vs. 18%)
- Integrating threat indicators, with enhancements, into security and workflow controls (80% vs. 6%)
About Secureworks
Secureworks® (NASDAQ: SCWX) is a leading global cybersecurity company that keeps organisations safe in a digitally connected world. We combine visibility from thousands of clients, artificial intelligence and automation from our industry-leading Secureworks Counter Threat Platform™, and actionable insights from our team of elite researchers and analysts to create a powerful network effect that provides increasingly strong protection for our clients. By aggregating and analysing data from any source, anywhere, we prevent security breaches, detect malicious activity in real time, respond rapidly, and predict emerging threats. We offer our clients a cyber-defense that is Collectively Smarter. Exponentially Safer. ™ www.secureworks.com
