Automated Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Tool for SMEs

Swaminathan, Neha (2025) Automated Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Tool for SMEs. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make up 99% of European businesses facing cybersecurity risks due to limited resources. 46% of data breaches target SMEs with phishing and ransomware attacks. Risk assessments can strengthen security posture of the company but can be challenging to implement due to complexity of global frameworks such as NIST CSF and ISO 27001 and manual errors. The proposed solution includes the development of an automated open-source risk assessment tool for SMEs with Python, HTML, CSS and MySQL. The tool consists of a 20-question qualitative questionnaire aligned by NIST, OWASP Top 10 and ENISA standards, automating a risk scoring methodology and generating a dynamic risk register with customised mitigation solutions and residual risk calculations. A dashboard is created with visualizations like heat maps and bar charts presenting key security metrics for easy decision-making. The tool was able to achieve 85% of threat coverage along with improvements highlighted in reducing the residual risk enhancing the security posture of the organization, supporting the usability and scalability of applications to SMEs. Limitations include the lack of quantitative or hybrid scoring models. Future work includes incorporation of AI in the tool for real-time monitoring and updated threat databases.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email Gyamfi, Eric UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Risk Assessment; Risk Register; SME Cybersecurity; Residual Risk; Mitigations; Visualizations; NIST
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD61 Risk Management Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Computer Security T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Computer Security H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Small Business Sector
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Cyber Security
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	04 Sep 2026 11:20
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2026 11:20
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9838

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