Business cyber risk rating holding steady

A new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and FICO finds the risk of a data breach for U.S. businesses holding steady in the first quarter of 2019, with a national risk score of 687. "ABC: Assessment of Business Cyber Risk" reveals that since the fourth quarter of 2018, small firms showed a slight improvement — up to 740 from 737 — while large firms moved from 646 to 643. These changes indicated relatively stable risk performance from quarter to quarter. The report measures the aggregate cybersecurity risk faced by the U.S. business community and calculates the probability of an organization suffering a material data breach in the next 12 months. It is based on the revenue-weighted average of the FICO® Cyber Risk Score for nearly 2,400 small, medium, and large companies. As with the FICO credit score, it is assessed at a range from 300 to 850. For individual companies, the higher the score, the lower the likelihood that an organization will experience a data breach in the next 12 months. A lower score, however — whether for a company or a sector — does not necessarily mean that they are not being diligent about cybersecurity. Such entities may simply have a higher risk profile — and a greater risk of a data breach—due to the nature of their businesses. The same concept applies to risk by company size: large firms have larger and more complex networks and are, as a result, more frequently the target of cybercriminals.

How to lower cybersecurity risk

According to the report, managing cybersecurity risk is about managing behavioral risk and skills gaps, as well as technical flaws. Based on the observations of thousands of businesses scored for the ABC, the U.S. Chamber and FICO offer the six recommendations above. To learn more about your organization's specific security performance, register for a free subscription at cyberscore.fico.com. See also:

• How to protect small businesses from cybercrime
• Top U.S. cybercrimes include more than just data breach, phishing