How to manage cyber risk: Keys to reducing threats, protecting assets, and eliminating vulnerabilities

By Sebastián Peralta

In the field of cyber risk management, we tend to focus on tools, processes or technologies, but we overlook a critical factor: our own assumptions and biases. These biases can distort the analysis and create a false sense of security.

The real challenge is achieving an objective analysis that allows leaders to make well-founded decisions.

What is risk and how is it formed?

The risk arises from theintersection between three fundamental components.

• Threats: Internal or external agents capable of causing harm.
  
  
• Assets: Information, systems or resources that have value to the organization.
  
• Weaknesses that a threat can exploit to affect assets.

When one of these three elements disappears, the risk is also reduced or eliminated.

How to reduce cyber risk from its three dimensions

1. Eliminate vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities represent open doors for a threat to act. To mitigate them:

• Perform vulnerability scans regularly.
  
  
• Apply security patches without delay.
  
  
• Keep your systems up to date and avoid using outdated software.
  
  

This not only strengthens your infrastructure, but directly reduces the attack surface.

2. Protect assets

It's not just about detecting threats, but about make your assets harder to reach:

• Implement secure VLANs and network segmentation.
  
  
• It uses technologies such as NAC (Network Access Control).
  
  
• Establish conditional access policies and host-based verification.
  
  

These controls decrease the likelihood of unauthorized access and complement other security measures.

3. Manage threats

This is the most complex aspect, as threats (such as cybercriminals) don't disappear easily. Therefore, the focus must be on:

• Constant threat monitoring.
  
  
• Attack drills and Red Team exercises.
  
  
• Threat Intelligence Analysis.
  
  

The key is in anticipate and minimize the impact, because completely eliminating a threat is almost impossible.

Zero risk does not exist (but it can be minimized)

The cybersecurity risk management It is not about eliminating the risk completely, but aboutcontrol it strategically Through a combination of proactive practices, unbiased analysis, and a business-tailored strategy, it's possible to:

• Reduce the likelihood of suffering an attack.
  
  
• Reduce its impact if it occurs.
  
  
• Strengthen organizational resilience to incidents.
  
  

What strategies are you implementing today to manage risks in your organization?

In an environment where risk is never zero, having the right approach makes all the difference.

In Nextfense We help organizations identify vulnerabilities, protect critical assets, and reduce the impact of real threats by combining specialized tools with a consultative and personalized approach.

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Want to review your company's exposure level or strengthen your cybersecurity strategy? Let's talk.

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