How Do I Identify and Mitigate Threats to my Credit Union?

by Tim Daugherty

In the world we live in today there are so many threats to our business. New threats emerge everyday as our infrastructures grow in complexity. One of the most frequent questions we’re asked is how do I identify and mitigate threats against my infrastructure – what do I do first? How do I know which ones to focus on? If you need answers to these questions, this post is for you.

Identifying threats is easy when you first start making a list. The list usually consists of weather events and other commonly known threats. You can begin by looking at your region for known high risk events (hurricane, earthquakes, tornado, etc.). Live in a city? Perhaps massive power outages are a high risk for you.

Biggest thing to keep in mind is that threats and their impacts are continuously changing. Let me explain what I mean.

• During the winter, the Northeast has a high threat for snow and ice storms that could have a huge impact on the businesses in the region. During late summer and fall,  the same region is going to have a higher threat for hurricanes with an even greater potential for damage/impact.
• Another example is when you are pulling into the parking lot at work and you notice some construction workers digging with machinery a few feet from where your building’s internet connection comes into the building. If the internet goes down,  first thing I would do is go check in that hole for any damaged wires. For a few days the construction work may be considered a “High” threat but then it changes once the work has been completed. That would be a threat you may not have accounted for in the past but is real and needs to be considered.

Other types of threats to consider are:

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