Holistic Operational Risk-Readiness Security Evaluation (HORSE). Call +1 (888) 896-7580 today.
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The Holistic Operational Risk-Readiness Security Evaluation (HORSE) is a cybersecurity and information security framework developed as part of the HORSE Project.
It serves as a comprehensive guidance and evaluation approach for organizations to design, implement, maintain, and assess their information security programs, with a strong emphasis on governance, policies, operational readiness, and structured risk assessment activities. The framework provides a holistic (all-encompassing) method to evaluate and strengthen an organization's security posture by systematically identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating, and monitoring risks—covering critical aspects such as policy development, integrated risk management (including detailed risk assessment processes), compliance obligations, threat preparedness, and overall operational resilience against evolving cyber threats.
In essence, HORSE delivers a policy-driven, readiness-focused, and risk-centric evaluation process that empowers organizations to proactively build, measure, and demonstrate a mature, defensible security program through rigorous risk-informed decision-making.
Key points about HORSE:
- It was created and promoted by cybersecurity expert Michael Peters and linked to Lazarus Alliance and the Lazarus Alliance Foundation.
- The project is described as evolving into one of the most comprehensive, accessible, and freely available information security guidance frameworks available.
- It includes resources like a companion book titled The Holistic Operational Readiness Security Evaluation: HORSE Project Series: Governance Documentation and Information Technology Security Policies Demystified (published around 2012), which offers a roadmap for creating and managing corporate security policies.
- It has been positioned alongside other methodologies (e.g., OCTAVE) in professional services for audits, risk assessments, and proactive cybersecurity.
In essence, HORSE emphasizes a structured, policy-driven, and operationally focused evaluation to help organizations achieve and demonstrate strong security readiness. It's a specialized framework from the infosec community aimed at practical, holistic policy and governance improvement.
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