Axio in Gartner Hype Cycle for Cyber and IT Risk Management 2021 

Axio is proud to announce it has been recognized as a Sample Vendor in Gartner Hype Cycle for Cyber and IT Risk Management 2021. The research firm identified Axio as a Sample Vendor in the Cyber Risk Quantification category.  

 “We are honored to be recognized again as a Sample Vendor in Gartner Hype Cycle for Cyber and IT Risk Management,” said Scott Kannry, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Axio. “The surge of recent cyberattacks and ransomware underscore that cybersecurity is fundamentally a business problem – and status quo approaches to risk management are failing. Leaders need a way to quickly identify their biggest cyber risks, so they can understand the potential financial impact and prioritize cyber-responses, investments, and initiatives accordingly.”   

 Gartner identifies cyber risk quantification as a way to express “risk exposure from interconnected digital environments to an organization in business-relevant terms.” According to Gartner, cyber-risk quantification can help benefit organizations by:  

• “Justifying spend on modernization of infrastructure and legacy applications  

• Tactical decision-making related to potential ransomware payment, insurance premiums and coverage  
• Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, as high-level assurance of due diligence activities”  

Gartner report “demonstrates the need for organizations to renew their attention on the fundamentals of risk management, as well as on newly heightened risk areas, such as risk linked to IoT adoptions, third-party suppliers and outsourced entities.” Cyber-risk quantification ultimately results in: “improving decision making (regarding risk, control and project prioritization, but also operational decisions [such as which penetration test results to remediate first], and business and IT tactical and strategic decisions [such as cloud versus on-premises]).” 

Earlier this year, Gartner also estimated that by 2025, 40% of all Boards of Directors will have dedicated cyber security committees, further underscoring the need for a cyber risk management solution that aligns budgets, priorities, and executive stakeholders.  

In July, Axio announced the appointment of Bob Dudley, former Chief Executive Officer of BP, as Chairman of Axio’s Boards of Directors. In his post, Why I Joined Axio, Dudley highlighted the need for a new approach to cyber risk management: “The solution begins with better communication; when security and risk leaders are unable to communicate how their initiatives, programs, and roadmap align to the organization’s overall business objectives, they should not expect to gain consensus and buy-in around what they see as the way forward. Likewise, CEOs and Boards of Directors can’t begin to properly assess the level of budgetary investment a security program requires if they can’t quantify the risk a cyber adversary poses to their business operations.” 

Last year, Axio was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Integrated Risk Management. Thousands of organizations trust Axio to manage their cybersecurity programs and report on cyber risk in financial terms. To learn more about the recognition, you can download the Gartner Hype Cycle Report.

Why You Need a Cyber Risk Management Platform

In the world of cyber risk, it pays to be prepared. But without the right cyber risk management platform or a set of codified rules to help you make decisions and better allocate your resources, you could be preparing for the wrong type of attack — or miss a hack altogether until it’s too late. However, you’ll have to do something. So far in 2021 we’ve seen large hacks that have taken down oil pipelines, schools and even large healthcare groups. And while an outage may be an inconvenience for some organizations, it’s more than often the case that any kind of data breach could be detrimental to your business itself.

After all, with certain kinds of breaches it’s mandatory to notify customers, clients and possibly the authorities, which can easily create an adverse news cycle that can cost your organization far more than the associated downtime. The right cyber risk management software company or platform allows you to stay ahead of those potential disruptions to your business through integrated risk management and a comprehensive approach that acknowledges the value and seriousness of the data that you hold and collect.

For those that are wondering if they really need a cyber security risk management software provider in their corner, it can help to ask yourself, your department or your organization if you’re ready to deal with a data breach, hack or some kind of ransomware event. Do you have the policies and tools in place to detect those events, as well as to help you reclaim control of your network in the case of some kind of takeover or unauthorized access? If you can’t answer “yes” to these questions, you need the protection of a cyber risk management platform.

In fact, cybersecurity software companies do this day in and day out, and that means you can get back to focusing on the big picture of strategy and planning instead of worrying about all the different ways that things can go wrong with your tech. With the right cyber risk management platform, you’ll be more informed about the threat level to your organization’s data and networks on a day to day basis, as well as any new ventures you happen to undertake. That can help give you peace of mind in today’s modern threat market, in addition to helping you create a path forward should a cyberattack take place.