Setting Up A Cybersecurity Assessment Schedule

3 minute read

June 2021

by Sophia Corsetti

Building an Informed Cybersecurity Assessment Schedule

Managing a cybersecurity program demands regular reviews of key program components to ensure regulations and standards are met. Cybersecurity programs can develop a cybersecurity assessment schedule to stay on top of these objectives. The first step in creating a cybersecurity schedule is to understand the key elements that need to be evaluated regularly.

  • Assets: What are your organization’s crown jewels? Your top assets—applications, systems, facilities, and third parties—need to be featured prominently in the cybersecurity schedule, and appropriate owners need to be assigned. Your assets should be grouped based on criticality to help determine review frequency and depth. 
  • Threats: What threats are most relevant to your organization, and how resilient is your organization to the documented threats? Questions like these are crucial to understanding how your organization can keep pace with today’s evolving threat landscape. Regularly scheduled threat reviews that assign metrics to threats and identify trends over time should be a part of every cybersecurity schedule and help guide strategic decisions. 
  • Risks: Maintaining a finger on the pulse of your organization’s security posture is a top CISO responsibility. By establishing a schedule of reviews that identifies, evaluates and reports on risk, CISOs always have the data necessary to see where the risks lie, along with a clear holistic view into the enterprise’s security posture needed to mitigate risks.  
  • Third Parties: Third-parties, vendors and suppliers are a key cybersecurity risk for any organization. Your cybersecurity is only as strong as your weakest vendor. Programs must understand which assets and data their third parties have access to, and if the third parties’ security practices are in line with the organization’s standards. Successful cybersecurity programs regularly identify, monitor and remediate cybersecurity risks posed by third parties. 

Deep Knowledge Required for Your Organization’s Cybersecurity Schedule 

Managing a comprehensive cybersecurity schedule requires a deep understanding of cybersecurity objectives, strategic organizational coordination and a considerable time investment. Using software that leverages expert knowledge and best practices to help maintain your organization’s schedule will result in a more comprehensive, efficient review cadence – not to mention time and resources saved.

The Cybersecurity Program Management Solution 

ProcessUnity Cybersecurity Program Management (CPM) automatically scopes your program to map your organization’s threats, risks, controls and regulations and self-configure an annual review schedule, complete with pre-built content, workflow triggers, notifications and reminders. Through automation, ProcessUnity Cybersecurity Program Management manages your scheduled activities throughout the year, alerting stakeholders at appropriate times to make sure all tasks are completed, and all evidence is captured. 

Leveraging a metaframework based on the Secure Controls Framework (SCF) and mapped to the most common security frameworks, like NIST and ISO. ProcessUnity CPM intelligently selects from a library of more than 950 supported control standards to ensure comprehensive coverage for your organization. You have the option to specify the cadences of cyber-related activities including threat, risk, and control-rating reviews; assets and third-party assessments; and training program verification. 

ProcessUnity CPM makes recommendations for your cybersecurity review schedule based on your industry and organization’s priorities and unique needs. Highly flexible, ProcessUnity CPM allows you to customize your schedule and focus on the threats, risks, controls and policies most important to your organization.  

Schedule Dashboard 

Managing a successful cybersecurity program requires a smart, strategic schedule of activities and the ability to execute those activities and track issues and projects to completion. The Schedule Dashboard displays all planned review and assessment activities related to your cybersecurity risk program in one screen for better planning and resource allocation. With ProcessUnity CPM’s schedule dashboard that details all upcoming cybersecurity-related asset reviews, Hazard Vulnerability Awareness (HVA) assessments, control reviews, risk reviews and evidence collection planned, the CISO is always in the know.  

For a deeper dive into setting up a smart, powerful schedule of cybersecurity activities and efficiently managing those activities with real-time insight, schedule a Cybersecurity Program Management demonstration today.  

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About Us

ProcessUnity is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for risk and compliance management. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations the control to assess, measure, and mitigate risk and to ensure the optimal performance of key business processes. ProcessUnity’s flagship solution, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management, protects companies and their brands by reducing risks from third-party vendors and suppliers. ProcessUnity helps customers effectively and efficiently assess and monitor both new and existing vendors – from initial due diligence and onboarding through termination. Headquartered outside of Boston, Massachusetts, ProcessUnity is used by the world’s leading financial service firms and commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.processunity.com.