Cybersecurity Assessment Questionnaire for Small Business Risk Scoring

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Solution Overview

Problem

Sole proprietorships and small businesses lack the resources, knowledge, and technical skills to effectively assess and mitigate cybersecurity risks, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented cybersecurity risk assessment and remediation tool that includes a dynamic questionnaire tailored to the business's industry and technology stack, evaluates vulnerabilities, and provides recommendations for improving cyberattack readiness and compliance.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a comprehensive cybersecurity assessment tool is implemented, then cybersecurity risk detection capability is improved, but system complexity and resource requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecybersecurity risk detection capabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The cybersecurity assessment tool is divided into multiple independent modules: questionnaire module, technology stack evaluation module, score computation module, and remediation recommendation module. Each module handles a specific aspect of the assessment, making the overall complex system manageable and maintainable while comprehensive in its security evaluation capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A processor acts as an intermediary between the various assessment components and the user interface. The processor receives input data from questionnaires and technology stack evaluations, computes security scores, and generates remediation recommendations, thereby coordinating the complex interactions between different system elements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If detailed technology stack evaluation is performed, then assessment accuracy is improved, but time and computational resources are consumed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveassessment accuracyVSAvoidassessment time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary automated evaluation of the technology stack before conducting detailed analysis. Common security configurations and known vulnerabilities are assessed using pre-defined rules and benchmarks, allowing the system to quickly establish a baseline security posture without requiring extensive manual analysis of every technology component.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The assessment tool applies different levels of evaluation depth to different technology stack components based on their security criticality. High-risk components such as authentication systems and data storage receive more detailed analysis, while lower-risk components are assessed using standardized checks, thereby optimizing the balance between accuracy and time consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12537843B2Cybersecurity risk assessment and remediation tool

Publication Date: 2026.01.27 CAPITAL ONE SERVICES LLC

AI summary

Disclosed embodiments pertain to cybersecurity assessment and remediation. A questionnaire comprising a set of questions can be generated and provided electronically to a device of a small business representative. In one instance, the questionnaire can be dynamically responsive to input to focus on questions relevant to a particular business. Responses to questions can be used to generate a score that captures cyberattack readiness and a recommendation to reduce cybersecurity risk. Further, tests can be executed on a technology stack of the business. Test results can then be employed as a basis to generate the score and recommendation.