Introduction

‍This case study explores the implementation of cyber risk automation by a large retail organization. By embracing automation, the organization aimed to streamline risk management, proactively identify risks, and protect valuable assets and customer data. This study offers insights into the strategies, benefits, and outcomes of adopting cyber risk automation, providing valuable guidance for organizations looking to modernize cyber risk management.‍

Client

‍A large multi-brand and omni-channel retailer.
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Challenge

‍The retail organization faced various challenges in its cyber risk management processes. Fragmented control assessment solutions for both internal operations and third-party partnerships led to inefficiencies and difficulties in maintaining a comprehensive view of risks. The manual process of translating controls into risk insights further compounded the complexity, requiring significant time and effort.

Additionally, the organization struggled with manual monitoring of control effectiveness, leading to potential gaps and uncertainties in risk mitigation. Subjective and qualitative risk reporting hindered effective communication and decision-making, while control improvement prioritization was a time-consuming and manual endeavour. These challenges highlighted the need for a more streamlined and automated approach to cyber risk management.
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Solution

‍To address these challenges, the retail organization implemented the Alfahive solution for cyber risk automation. The solution integrated and automated control and risk assessment processes, providing a centralized view of risks across the organization. By leveraging machine learning, the solution automated the process of translating controls into risk insights, saving time and improving accuracy. Integration adaptors were deployed to seamlessly ingest control inputs from various sources, ensuring a holistic and up-to-date understanding of risk.

The solution also introduced quantified risk reports, making it easier to communicate risk information to stakeholders. Additionally, the automated process facilitated control prioritization and risk treatment options, streamlining decision-making and enabling proactive risk management. With these advancements in cyber risk automation, the retail organization gained efficiency, enhanced risk visibility, and improved its overall cyber risk management capabilities.

Implementation

Here are few steps briefly defined that Alfahive implemented post the kick off meeting.

• Alfahive rolled out new instance for the customer
• Discussion and understanding of business domain of the customer was initiated for pre-configuration of the instance
• Onboarding of users in the platform and trainings were scheduled for the risk analysts on various modules in the platform
• The customer started with internal risk assessments of their business functions and moved to Third party risk assessments which gave them quantified risk reports that helped them to assess the third party in an automated and non-subjective manner
• Customer then moved to defining the aggregation mode, business functions and the applications which they wanted to assess
• Customer was made familiarized with scenarios which helped them in risk quantification for their business functions/applications. They started using both enterprise and Alfahive scenarios which comes with curated questions and researched values helping the customer to understand and run them with ease
• The next step was moving to improvements and planning module to prioritize the controls and risks that they need to target and work on by checking the Impact it has

Benefits

‍The implementation of cyber risk automation in retail organization brought about significant benefits.

1. Efficiency boost: Firstly, it led to an impressive efficiency boost, resulting in a remarkable 100% improvement in productivity. By automating control and risk assessment processes, the organization was able to streamline workflows, reduce manual effort, and eliminate time-consuming tasks. This increased efficiency allowed the team to focus on higher-value activities, such as proactive risk mitigation and strategic decision-making, ultimately driving better overall performance and outcomes.‍
2. Improved Business Engagement: Secondly, the adoption of cyber risk automation enabled the retail organization to move away from subjective risk reporting. Instead of relying on qualitative assessments, the solution provided quantified risk reports that offered a clear and objective understanding of the organization's risk landscape. This shift from subjective to objective risk reporting enhanced the accuracy and reliability of risk assessments, allowing for more informed decision-making. It also facilitated effective communication of risks to stakeholders, ensuring a shared understanding of the organization's cyber risk posture. With the move towards objective risk reporting, the retail organization gained greater confidence in its risk management strategies.

Summary
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We invite forward-looking organizations to take advantage of our free-of-charge two-week value discovery pilot with our platform and join us in our approach to automate the cyber risk assessment for third parties.