Digital Risk in Business
What is Digital Risk?
Technology is moving at a burgeoning rate and is gradually opening up a space of innovation and simplicity as it becomes more of a necessity than a luxury. However, with every step in innovation reached, there is a further step of the risk bubble or obstacle that has to be overcome. This logic brings rise to the term digital risk which is “a term encompassing all digital enablements that improve risk effectiveness and efficiency—especially process automation, decision automation, and digitized monitoring and early warning” (“Digital risk,” n.d.).
Main Risks Digital Risks for Businesses
There is a profound presumption that revolves around the world of digital risk, and this has to do with equating digital risk to only one of its many forms, cyber-attacks. However, these are just one of the many digital risks that could eventually crumble a growing business bring your business to its knees. It is imperative to look at your company’s landscape and be able to determine where issues could arise from and have contingencies to control them. The general areas to focus on are laid out below:
Cyber Security
In this fast-paced and flat economy, we rely on the ease of access and sharing of information via the internet. It is a business’ responsibility to secure its physical property and protect it against unauthorized personnel, theft, vandalism and any other act that could potentially be detrimental to the business as a whole. Likewise, the need for cybersecurity is just as salient as the need to take care of our conventional security, if not even greater.
The heterogeneity of information that has been stored within company files such as an employees’ Social Insurance Number, the passcodes and passwords that would give access to various kinds of functions, and data preeminent to your company’s success must be secured from cybercriminals at all times. It is very clear that the security of networks should be at the top of a business’s concerns in our modern era.
Employees
Unless you have provided your employees with sufficient training, they are very liable to bring digital risks to the company. Obviously, a business’s human resources will more than often be able to access data sensitive to the company. The information can be accidentally disclosed or even intentionally by the workforce in numerous ways, for instance, the mislay of IT equipment, intentionally or accidentally disclosing information on the Internet or revealing classified details to a third party.
Furthermore, these employees can pose even more risks by taking cybersecurity for granted— “according to Intel, 97% of people around the world are unable to identify a sophisticated phishing email” (“Digital risk,” n.d.).
Identity Theft
The internet has allowed easy access and sharing of information. It has also been able to make identity theft easier than ever. It is very easy to duplicate a website and harvest personal and customer information. “Identity theft is one of the most common consequences of data breaches, and exposed consumer records jumped 126 percent in 2018” (“Identity Theft Odds | Identity Theft Statistics | Reduce the Risk of ID Theft | IdentityForce®,” 2019).
Organizations that logically depend on computerized procedures to maintain their business ought to have an unmistakable vision for security and digital risk control. The inability to oversee advanced security will make your income ever so prone to attacks, and the potential effects will be enormous. Furthermore, taking part in digital risk control is essential as it boosts your business execution to a more significant level. This begins with recognizing your dangers, surveying them and controlling them. Truly, digital risk control is the most noteworthy need today for any business looking to go digital or one which has already been digitized.
Thanks to the modern-day technology that lets every business create a structured digital risk management program, few workouts allow you to handle digital risk management easily while on your ride back home. It is simple but requires a bit of alertness too. That means apples today may turn to be oranges tomorrow. To make it simple for you, here is a quick checklist for your digital risk management program.
Fortunately, because of the current innovation that allows each business to make an organized digital risk control program, barely any activities enable you to deal with advanced digital risk challenges effectively while you sip a cup of coffee. As simple as it may seem, you need an extra effort to make it work. Small challenges not taken care of could eventually become mountains of problems. To make it straightforward for you, here is a snappy agenda for your digital risk control program.
The framework to Minimize Digital Risk
Pinpoint blind spots using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Pinpoint major issues
Recognize the potential use of blockchain
Continuous risk assessment planning
Always be prepared for future attacks
At a very broad level would be the issue of security. E-commerce sellers are dealing with widespread issues of fraud and digital risks that require persistent appraisal and testing to be able to tackle the pressing issue.
When looking at the risk management of data, focusing on just the data that is in use would be just as good as signing a death warrant. Data that is not currently in use, but still in the flow should also be considered seriously. In order to create an effective and safe digital landscape, the majority of the top e-commerce companies all stand by the importance of considering security as a major factor. The reason behind this is as a result of its association with the buyers and the business, as the business foundation is based on the internet. Subsequently, businesses dealing with big data face numerous threats generally, because of the ambiguous and unsuitable way of managing customer’s sensitive and personal data that can one way or the other impact directly on the privacy of the customer. Protecting data is very crucial at this stage. It would be wise to recognize software and tools that would be able to help with data protection and encryption.
Pinpoint blind spots using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
The framework of artificial intelligence comprehensively alludes to the capacity of machines to "think" like people and perform errands considered "shrewd," without expressly being modified to do as such. ML is a subset of AI. ML calculations assemble a numerical model dependent on the information it acquires from training, and they influence the model to make forecasts when new information is given. You will be able to train the artificial intelligence to recognize malware and other anomalies in your network before it even surfaces.
Taking complete advantage of both AI and ML to manage security, fraud detection, and other regulatory compliance functions would be one of the best steps a business can take.
2. Pinpointing major issues
Being able to pinpoint and identify issues is the first step to solving those issues and preventing them later on in the future. Risk recognition directs you to the problem in order to rectify it. Company executives along with the members of the business need to make educated choices through an organized program for identification and assessment of risks.
3. Recognize the potential use of blockchain
Blockchain innovation gives perhaps the best instrument we as of now need to shield information from black hat hackers, avoiding potential misrepresentation and diminishing the opportunity of information being taken or bargained.
In order to annihilate or degenerate a blockchain, a black hat hacker would need to obliterate the information put away on each client's PC in the worldwide system. This could be a large number of PCs, with everyone putting away a duplicate of a few. Except if the black hat could all the while cut down a whole system (which is close to unthinkable), unharmed PCs, otherwise called "hubs", would keep racing to check and keep a record of the considerable amount of information on the system.
4. Continuous risk assessment planning
You do not just perform digital risk management just once and forget about it. Cybercriminals are always working and finding new ways to break into systems and tamper with systems. For a business to survive in this age the business must continue to assess themselves digitally in order to be aware of new kinds of cyber-attacks and continuously raise awareness for employees in the business.
5. Always be prepared for future attacks
Characterize a reasonable procedure for actualizing changes in your current business structure and capacities. Guarantee the control estimations are kept up and refreshed routinely. Guarantee that your digital risk management program is adaptable and acceptable with changing computerized greatness. Screen and keep up intermittently. Such measures can generally keep your business fit and prepared for what's to come.
Conclusion
Long story short, the more digitized the world becomes the more risk we face and the more risk control we need to implement.
Bibliography
Digital risk: Transforming risk management for the 2020s | McKinsey. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2019, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/digital-risk-transforming-risk-management-for-the-2020s
Identity Theft Odds | Identity Theft Statistics | Reduce the Risk of ID Theft | IdentityForce®. (2019, July 17). Retrieved December 9, 2019, from We, Aren’t Just Protecting You From Identity Theft. We Protect Who You Are. website: https://www.identityforce.com/blog/identity-theft-odds-identity-theft-statistics