With so many threats, vulnerabilities, patches, and alerts, it can be difficult to know where to focus. This is a practical and proven, risk-focused methodology for managing technical cyber threats that aligns directly with business goals. Whilst many organisations assume that piling on more security controls is the answer, real-world best practice shows that sometimes a simple adjustment can be more effective at lowering risk – without escalating costs or causing downtime. Such adjustments might include removing unnecessary services, making host firewall changes, or deleting registry keys, all of which can significantly reduce a system’s attack surface.

Not all technical vulnerabilities carry the same weight. The critical emphasis here is on gathering the necessary metrics and understanding each asset’s purpose and exposure. This enables security teams to prioritise and remediate the most business-relevant and severe issues first, ensuring their efforts (and budgets!) deliver the greatest impact in safeguarding the organisation. We will also cover strategies for effectively communicating these findings to relevant stakeholders – ensuring that security priorities remain transparent, actionable, and closely aligned with overall business objectives.

In this session, you will:

• Learn a practical, risk-based approach to managing cyber threats that aligns with business priorities
• Discover low-cost, high-impact techniques to reduce attack surfaces without adding complexity or downtime
• Understand how to prioritize vulnerabilities and communicate findings effectively to stakeholders