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Before investing in cybersecurity solutions, you first need to know where your vulnerabilities truly lie. This risk analysis questionnaire offers a methodical approach to mapping the state of your IT security. Organized around 12 critical areas, it enables SMEs to get an accurate picture of their exposure to cyber threats.
The exercise begins with the fundamentals: Do you have a documented governance framework? Are your security policies reviewed annually? These seemingly administrative questions often reveal major shortcomings. A policy that has been gathering dust in a drawer for three years protects no one.
The questionnaire then addresses access controls with formidable precision. Do you apply the principle of least privilege? Do you periodically check who has access to what? The section on remote access is particularly revealing in the era of remote work: how many failed login attempts does your system tolerate before locking an account? This simple question can expose a gaping entry point for attackers.
Phishing protection deserves special attention. The questionnaire prompts an honest reflection: have your employees received awareness training at least once since March 2020? This date is not insignificant. The explosion of remote work during the pandemic multiplied phishing attack vectors. Training from before this period is essentially obsolete.
The section on backups often reveals the most uncomfortable truths. Do you have an offline copy? Do you perform restoration tests? Many organizations discover during a ransomware attack that their backups are corrupted or that the restoration process has never been validated. The questionnaire emphasizes this critical point: how often do you actually test your data recovery?
A particularly relevant technical detail concerns the connection of backup solutions. Is your backup system directly connected to the servers? If so, ransomware that compromises your servers can also encrypt your backups. An offline and off-site copy strategy then becomes your only lifeline.
The questionnaire prompts organizations to precisely document what confidential data they hold and who has access to it. Do you know the exact list of people who have access to your personal information? This simple question often exposes a troubling reality: access to sensitive data has accumulated over the years without ever being reviewed. Employees who left long ago sometimes still retain active access.
Finally, the tool encourages reflection on past incidents. Have you experienced virus attacks, hacking attempts, or information leaks in the last 24 months? This section helps to confront risk perception with the reality experienced by the organization.
