Threat analysis: Identify IT risks before they become a problem

The most important thing in brief:

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Cyber attacks, data loss, and IT failures are among the biggest risks facing companies today - regardless of size or industry. More than just classic protective measures is needed to counteract these risks in a targeted manner. The key lies in a well-founded IT threat analysis.

What is threat analysis? — Definition and objectives

Threat analysis is a central part of a company's IT security strategy. Their goal is to identify potential sources of danger — so-called threats —, to assess their probability of occurrence and to develop appropriate protective measures.

Threat analysis IT definition:
A threat analysis is the systematic process in which IT systems and data infrastructures are examined for potential threats and vulnerabilities in order to minimize risks and proactively close security gaps.

A classic Threat analysis example: A company finds that unauthorized cloud services (Shadow IT) are used. As a result, there is a threat of uncontrolled data flow. Here, threat analysis helps to identify the risks and initiate appropriate measures, such as cloud access management.

Threat analysis & IT security: That's why it's so important

Increasing digitalization and increasingly complex IT landscapes mean that companies are exposed to a wide range of threats today more than ever — from malware to social engineering to targeted cyber attacks.

A structured IT security threat analysis helps with this:

• Identify weaknesses in the infrastructure at an early stage
• to meet compliance requirements (e.g. GDPR, BSI basic protection)
• to estimate the impact of IT outages on business processes
• Use budgets more specifically for security measures

Failure to act can be expensive: An undetected attack or a failure of central IT systems can cause operational downtime and massive economic damage. Read our article about this “Failure of IT systems”.

Typical threat scenarios in everyday IT life

In order to make the concrete benefits of a threat analysis more tangible, it is worth taking a look at real threat scenarios, as they occur in many companies:

• Unauthorized access to data — for example through compromised user accounts or malware that taps login data
• Data theft or manipulation — Attackers read out sensitive information or change data sets unnoticed
• Disruption of system availability — e.g. through DDoS attacks that overburden servers and cripple services
• Social engineering and malware — for example through fake emails or infected attachments that trick employees into revealing login details
• SQL injection attacks — targeted manipulation of database queries that exploit unprotected web applications
• phishing attempts — deceptively real emails or websites that aim to obtain confidential data such as passwords or credit card numbers

These threats illustrate how diverse and complex the threat situation is in modern IT environments. It is therefore all the more important that companies identify threat scenarios early on — before they become real.

The process: How does a threat analysis work?

The process usually follows several stages:

1. System and environment analysis

First, all relevant systems, applications and business processes are documented — here comes IT documentation into the game. Docusnap can help you to automatically record and graphically process all IT components.

2nd Identifying threats

Threats are systematically identified — from technical weaknesses (e.g. outdated software) to organizational risks (e.g. inadequate training).

3rd Assessment of risks

In this phase, it is analysed which damage could be caused by a threat and how likely it is to occur.

4th Definition of countermeasures

Depending on the risk assessment, measures are prioritized — such as introducing patch management or training employees in the area of phishing detection.

Threat analysis methods

Depending on the size of the company and security requirements, different approaches are used:

• Qualitative threat analysis: based on expert assessments — fast but subjective
• Quantitative threat analysis: based on specific key figures — accurate, but more complex
• Scenario-based analysis: goes through hypothetical attack vectors
• Asset-based analysis: focuses on particularly sensitive systems and data

Threat analysis example from practice

Using Docusnap, a medium-sized company discovers that a Windows server in the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is providing outdated services. The threat analysis shows that attackers could use these services to gain access to internal networks. As a countermeasure, the server is isolated and replaced promptly.

This example illustrates: Without automated IT documentation such as Docusnap, this vulnerability would probably have remained undetected.

How Docusnap helps IT with threat analysis

With Docusnap, you can get started with IT security threat analysis efficient and well-founded:

• Automated recording of the IT landscape: including servers, clients, network components, user rights and software versions.
• Visualizing critical connections: Network plans and rights analyses help to realistically model threat scenarios.
• Shadow IT Detection: Please also read our article about this: “Recognize Shadow IT”
• Planning for emergencies: Complement your threat analysis with Emergency plans — e.g. with our instructions “IT failure in the company — are you prepared for it? ”

Through regular scans and complete IT documentation, Docusnap creates the basis for continuous analyses and protective measures.

Conclusion

A well-founded threat analysis in IT is not a nice-to-have — it is Mandatory for everyone who takes IT security seriously. It makes it possible to identify risks before they cause damage and thus strengthens the resilience of companies against cyber threats.

With Docusnap, you have a proven tool that intelligently combines IT documentation and IT security threat analysis — and helps to make IT risks visible and manageable.

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