How HawkSight Ensures Compliance for Effective SRA

At a recent conference where I was speaking, we concluded that the three key factors for capturing the attention of business leaders are bottom-line impact, compliance, and reputational risk. In last week’s blog, we explored how to demonstrate ROI when investing in a solution like HawkSight SRM. This week, we’ll focus on how HawkSight SRM ensures compliance with international risk management guidelines.

In security risk management, conducting a risk assessment that merely ticks boxes is insufficient. An effective assessment must go beyond compliance and link each critical asset to the threats it faces, as well as to the security controls designed to mitigate those threats. Without these connections, the assessment becomes little more than a paper exercise, lacking the actionable data needed to prioritise mitigation strategies and protect your organisation effectively.

At HawkSight, our Security Risk Management (SRM) platform is designed to ensure that your risk assessments meet this critical requirement. By aligning with internationally recognised standards such as ISO 31000:2018, ISO 27001:2022, ISO 31030:2021 and HB167:2006 HawkSight not only facilitates compliance but also ensures that risk assessments are functional and directly tied to your organisation's security goals.

The Essential Elements of an Effective Security Risk Assessment

1. Associating Assets with Threats

The foundation of any security risk assessment is the identification of assets and their associated threats. Assets can include anything from personnel and facilities to digital systems and intellectual property. According to ISO 31000:2018, risk identification should involve “identifying risk sources, areas of impact, events, and causes” (Clause 6.4.2), ensuring that all potential threats to an organisation’s assets are considered.

HawkSight automates this process by mapping assets to specific threats using a customisable risk library. This feature helps security teams systematically associate each asset—whether physical or digital—with the risks that could impact them. By integrating external intelligence feeds, HawkSight keeps this assessment dynamic, ensuring that evolving threats are continuously tracked and aligned with the organisation’s critical assets​.

2. Linking Security Controls to Threats

The next essential step is linking security controls to the threats they mitigate. ISO 27001:2022 requires organisations to “establish criteria for performing information security risk assessments” (Clause 6.1.2), ensuring that security measures are targeted and effective. Failing to make these associations renders security controls less effective and can result in wasted resources.

HawkSight ensures that each control is linked to the specific threat it mitigates. By visualising this relationship within the platform, security teams can evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls and identify areas where additional measures are required. This not only supports compliance with ISO standards but also helps organisations optimise their security investments by focusing resources on the most impactful controls​.

3. Risk Prioritisation Through Data-Driven Analysis

When assets, threats, and controls are appropriately linked, the next step is to analyse the data to prioritise risks. ISO 31000:2018 advises organisations to “analyse the risk by determining the consequences and the likelihood of each risk” (Clause 6.4.3), so that decisions are based on the severity and likelihood of potential impacts.

HawkSight’s proprietary algorithm enables both qualitative and quantitative risk assessments, providing a comprehensive picture of the risk landscape. By automatically updating risk profiles based on new data, the platform ensures that security teams have real-time insights into which threats are most pressing. This data-driven approach allows for more precise prioritisation of mitigation strategies, ensuring that security efforts are focused where they will have the greatest impact​​.

Why Connecting Assets, Threats, and Controls is Critical

If you fail to associate each asset with its threats and the corresponding controls, your risk assessment will fall short of delivering meaningful, actionable insights. ISO 31000:2018 makes it clear that a risk assessment must involve not just identification but also the evaluation and treatment of risks to guide decision-making (Clauses 6.4-6.5). Without these associations, your security efforts become reactive rather than proactive, and your resources are likely to be misallocated.

HawkSight resolves this issue by automating the linking of assets, threats, and controls. This provides security teams with a clear understanding of the current security posture and highlights gaps where mitigation measures may need to be strengthened​.

HawkSight’s Role in Ensuring Compliance and Efficiency

HawkSight’s platform is designed to ensure compliance with global standards such as ISO 31000 and ISO 27001, while also driving efficiency in risk management. The platform’s automated workflows map out risks in a structured manner, directly linking assets to threats and controls. This ensures that every element of the risk assessment is connected, providing actionable insights for security teams.

Additionally, HawkSight’s AI-powered threat intelligence engine, Talon, continuously updates risk profiles with real-time data. This allows organisations to monitor and respond to emerging threats dynamically, ensuring that security strategies remain relevant and effective. The platform also includes GIS-enabled visualisations, which offer a geographical perspective on risks, adding another layer of intelligence to the assessment​.

Conclusion: Make Your Risk Assessments Actionable

A security risk assessment that does not connect assets to threats and controls is inadequate. HawkSight transforms your assessments from mere paperwork into an essential strategic tool. By automating the process of linking threats and controls to assets, HawkSight ensures that your assessments provide the actionable data needed to prioritise security strategies and make informed decisions.

In a world where compliance is necessary, HawkSight ensures that your organisation drives compliance to achieve real-world security effectiveness. If your current assessments aren’t delivering this level of insight, they may be little more than a paper exercise. With HawkSight, you can transform your risk assessments into a powerful mechanism for protecting your organisation.