Guest blog courtesy of CYRISMA.
Gartner defines cyber risk quantification (CRQ) as “a method for expressing risk exposure from interconnected digital environments to the organization in business terms.” The most straightforward of “business terms” to use in this context is currency. While risk scores and grades help, especially when comparing risk exposure across different time periods and digital environments, risk expressed in monetary terms speaks straight to the business bottom line. How can risk impact revenue, and what are the ways to minimize the likelihood of an incident that may hit company revenue over the long or the short term? These are some of the most important questions to answer to make better risk management decisions.
In the past, we’ve talked about the benefits of cyber risk quantification and the kind of financial impact data that helps.
Here, we revisit the topic with some new data about how organizations view CRQ, the benefits they’re seeing from assigning a monetary value to risk, and some roadblocks and challenges to adopting quantification systems and tools.
Cyber Risk Quantification Use Cases
In a peer insights survey conducted by Gartner in 2023, the company found that the top five use cases for risk quantification data among companies that were implementing or planned to implement CRQ were:
- Cyber insurance (e.g., procurement, renewal and/or optimization of coverage needs) - 53%
- Compliance reporting - 53%
- Prioritizing or optimizing security investments - 45%
- Improve communications with the board/leadership on cybersecurity - 40%
- Prioritizing various risks (e.g., cybersecurity, safety, reputation) - 35%
PwC’s Global Digital Insight Survey 2025 delivered similar findings with respondents saying CRQ data was helping them:
- Prioritize cyber investments
- Evaluate and communicate cyber risks in line with definite risk tolerance
- Allocate resources to areas of highest risk
- Demonstrate the cyber risk program’s value
However, even while most execs responding to the PwC survey said that measuring cyber risk was crucial for prioritizing cybersecurity investment (88%) and resource allocation (87%), only 15% of organizations had actually adopted it to any significant extent.
The Gartner survey found that organizations face numerous technical and strategic challenges in CRQ adoption, ranging from difficulty understanding CRQ analyses and mistrust of the sometimes subjective nature of CRQ methodologies, to scoping issues, lack of automation and lack of appropriate data.
Those working in the domain observe that even where data is available, too much of it can lead to “analysis paralysis”. Researchers tasked with analysing quant data may end up spending more time looking for exact answers than is valuable to the organization to reach decisions. To avoid this, it is important to set early guardrails around how much and what specific kind of data is needed, and the level of precision required to make risk-prioritization and risk-reduction decisions.
Cyber Risk Quantification Benefits
According to the Gartner survey, a significant majority (97%) of leaders whose organizations have adopted CRQ report experiencing positive organizational benefits.
Key Benefits Observed:
- Enhanced Board and Leadership Confidence: 52% of leaders noted increased confidence in the security function.
- Improved Risk Remediation: 51% reported easier convincing of risk owners to address identified risks.
- Enhanced Cyber-Risk Understanding: 46% observed a better understanding of organization-wide cyber-risk exposure within the IT/security department.
- Resolved Risk Prioritization Challenges: 43% of leaders stated that CRQ helped resolve challenges related to risk prioritization.
- Improved Risk & Audit Alignment: 35% reported improved alignment between risk and audit functions, often facilitated by a single source of truth.
- Enhanced Stakeholder Communication: 27% observed improved communication between the security team and other stakeholders, including board and leadership.
- Improved Compliance Scores: 25% of leaders reported an increase in compliance scores.
- Enhanced Reporting: 25% noted improvements in reporting to various stakeholders, including the board and regulators.
- Improved Documentation: 13% of leaders reported improvements in security-related documentation.
Ultimately, CRQ data can help overcome internal resistance to change by providing a data-driven justification for necessary cybersecurity improvements. By translating cyber risks into quantifiable financial terms, such as potential losses, lost revenue, and remediation costs, CRQ empowers security teams to effectively communicate the urgency and importance of cybersecurity initiatives to business leaders.
Best Practices for Analyzing and Using CRQ data
Risk assessment experts who have successfully used CRQ data caution against making the process too complex, especially when getting started. Focus on your specific objectives, organizational context, and available data, rather than getting bogged down in specific methodologies or tools. Many successful CRQ programs are not built around a single model, but rather integrate relevant processes and methodologies to support unique organizational goals.
- Start Small and Focused: Begin with a limited scope and clearly defined outputs. Choose tools that efficiently deliver the necessary CRQ data, or leverage existing internal technology, data, and expertise.
- Define Clear Goals and the Data Needed: Establish clear data requirements based on your CRQ objectives. Acknowledge potential subjectivity in some data points. Determine how to effectively use available data while considering acceptable levels of uncertainty.
- Prioritize Asset Inventory; Know your Environment: Conduct a thorough asset inventory before starting the CRQ exercise. Classify assets (including data assets) based on their criticality and the potential impact of a loss event.
- Update Asset Lists Regularly: Regularly review and update the asset inventory and CRQ data to reflect changing organizational needs and risk profiles.
- Align Cyber with Enterprise Risk Management: Compare cyber risks with other business and operational risks. Align your CRQ analysis with the broader enterprise risk management framework.
- Demonstrate Value to Leadership: Clearly communicate the most impactful outcomes of the CRQ project to C-suite executives. Use these results to secure resources for addressing the highest-risk areas.
- Inform New Technology Adoption Decisions: Leverage the CRQ exercise to assess the long-term risk and cost implications of legacy systems. Quantify the potential benefits of adopting new technologies or migrating to cloud-based solutions.
- Negotiate Cyber Insurance Premiums: Use CRQ data to demonstrate a strong understanding of your organization's cyber risk profile to insurance providers. This can help negotiate more favorable premiums and potentially secure broader coverage.
- Prioritize Business Objectives: Focus on understanding and addressing the cyber risks that truly matter to the business. Regular dialogue with business leaders ensures that CRQ efforts are aligned with their priorities and concerns.
- Inform Strategic Decision-Making: Ensure CRQ data informs key business decisions, such as:
- Resource Allocation: Prioritize investments in security controls and mitigation strategies based on the quantified risk levels.
How CYRISMA can help
CYRISMA's cyber risk management and compliance platform enables organizations to understand the true financial impact of cyber threats. The platform’s risk monetization / CRQ feature provides a clear picture of your clients’ cyber risk exposure by calculating the:
- Dark Web Value of Sensitive Data: Put a monetary value to the potential loss associated with your customers’ most valuable data.
- Ransomware and Breach Recovery Costs: Estimate the financial burden of a cyberattack, including ransom payments, data recovery expenses, and business disruption.
- Residual Risk Costs: Determine the ongoing financial impact of unmitigated risks, enabling your customers to prioritize remediation efforts.
This data is personalized based on your instance's unique characteristics, including data assets, security controls, and compliance requirements.
Beyond risk monetization / CRQ, the CYRISMA Platform includes a comprehensive suite of cyber risk reduction features:
- Sensitive Data Discovery: Identify and classify sensitive data across your clients’ on-prem and cloud environments.
- Vulnerability Management: Regularly assess, prioritize and mitigate vulnerabilities to minimize attack surface.
- Compliance Assessment: Assess compliance against multiple cybersecurity frameworks and data privacy standards
- Secure Baseline: Establish and maintain a secure configuration for your clients’ operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS)
- Risk Mitigation: Implement effective security controls to reduce exposure to cyber threats.
- Dark Web Monitoring: Track exposed IPs, domains and email addresses on dark web forums and marketplaces
Learn more about CYRISMA’s CRQ feature here, or REQUEST A DEMO for a deep dive.
