In business, IT risk management entails a process of identifying, monitoring and managing potential information security or technology risks with the goal of mitigating or minimising their negative impact.
Examples of potential IT risks include security breaches, data loss or theft, cyber attacks, system failures and natural disasters. Anything that could affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your systems and assets could be considered an IT risk.
Steps in the IT risk management process
To manage IT risks effectively, follow these six steps in your risk management process:
1. Identify risks
Determine the nature of risks and how they relate to your business. Take a look at the different types of IT risk.
2. Assess risks
Determine how serious each risk is to your business and prioritise them. Carry out an IT risk assessment.
3. Mitigate risks
Put in place preventive measures to reduce the likelihood of the risk occurring and limit its impact. Find solutions in our IT risk management checklist.
4. Develop an incident response
Set out plans for managing a problem and recovering your operations. Devise and test your IT incident response and recovery strategy.
5. Develop contingency plans
Ensure that your business can continue to run after an incident or a crisis. Read about IT risk and business continuity.
6. Review processes and procedures
Continue to assess threats and manage new risks.Read more about thestrategies to manage business risk.
IT risk controls
As part of your risk management, try to reduce the likelihood of risks affecting your business in the first place. Put in place measures to protect your systems and data from all known threats.
For example, you should:
- Review the information you hold and share. Make sure that you comply with data protection legislation, and think about what needs to be on public or shared systems. Where possible, remove sensitive information.
- Install and maintain security controls, such as firewalls, anti-virus software and processes that help prevent intrusion andprotect your business online.
- Implement security policies and procedures such as internet and email usage policies, and train staff.
- Use a third-party IT provider if you lack in-house skills. Often, they can provide their own security expertise. See how to choose an IT supplier for your business.
If you can't remove or reduce risks to an acceptable level, you may be able to take action to lessen the impact of potential incidents.
Mitigate IT risks
To mitigate IT risks, you should consider:
You can also use the National Cyber Security Centre's (NCSC) freeCheck your cyber security serviceto perform a range of simple online checks to identify common vulnerabilities in your public-facing IT.
The NCSC also offer a freeCyber Action Plan. By answering a few simple questions, you can get a free personalised action plan that lists what you or your organisation can do right now to protect against cyber attack.
FAQs
Critical steps that organizations engaging in an IT risk management (IRM) program need to perform include: identifying the location of information, analyzing the information type, prioritizing risk, establishing a risk tolerance for each data asset, and continuously monitoring the enterprise's IT network.
What is the IT security risk management process? ›
Information security risk management, or ISRM, is the process of managing risks associated with the use of information technology. It involves identifying, assessing, and treating risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an organization's assets.
Which risk management activity answers the question? ›
Risk Management Process
| Activity | Answers the Question |
|---|
| Risk Identification | What can go wrong? Are there emerging risks based on Technical Performance Measure (TPM) performance trends or updates? |
| Risk Analysis | What is the likelihood of the undesirable event occurring and the severity of the consequences |
4 more rowsWe will also outline how to effectively implement and streamline each step in the workflow for maximum success.
- Step 1: Identifying Risks. ...
- Step 2: Risk Assessment. ...
- Step 3: Prioritizing the Risks. ...
- Step 4: Risk Mitigation. ...
- Step 5: Monitoring the Results.
How is an IT risk assessment done?
- Identify and catalog your information assets. ...
- Identify threats. ...
- Identify vulnerabilities. ...
- Analyze internal controls. ...
- Determine the likelihood that an incident will occur. ...
- Assess the impact a threat would have. ...
- Prioritize the risks to your information security. ...
- Design controls.
Types of risks in IT systems
Threats to your IT systems can be external, internal, deliberate and unintentional.
What is the difference between IT security and IT risk management? ›
With IT risk management, the IT staff is focused entirely on IT risk mitigation. On the other hand, cybersecurity deals with the safeguarding of systems, devices, programs, and networks from cyber attacks. Both terms, as well as information security, are buzzwords that are often thrown around in the same context.
What are the types of IT risks? ›
IT risks include hardware and software failure, human error, spam, viruses and malicious attacks, as well as natural disasters such as fires, cyclones or floods. By looking at how your business uses IT, you can: understand and identify the types of IT risks. understand the impact of risks on your business.
What are the 4 main risk responses? ›
There are four main risk response strategies to deal with identified risks: avoiding, transferring, mitigating, and accepting. Each strategy has its own pros and cons depending on the nature, probability, and impact of the risk.
Which is the most common method of risk management responses? ›
Five common strategies for managing risk are avoidance, retention, transferring, sharing, and loss reduction. Each technique aims to address and reduce risk while understanding that risk is impossible to eliminate completely.
The most common risk management tactic is option C: Reduce the risk.
How to handle risk management? ›
Assess and manage risk
- Decide what matters most.
- Consult with stakeholders.
- Identify the risks.
- Analyse the risks.
- Evaluate the risk.
- Treat risks to your business.
- Commit to reducing risk.
In business, risk management is defined as the process of identifying, monitoring and managing potential risks in order to minimize the negative impact they may have on an organization. Examples of potential risks include security breaches, data loss, cyberattacks, system failures and natural disasters.
What are the three major risk management procedures? ›
In this blog, we'll break the risk assessment process down into three phases: risk identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation.
What are four approaches of IT risk management? ›
By utilizing risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk transfer, and risk acceptance strategies, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity posture and protect themselves from the ever-evolving threat landscape.
What are the three processes of IT risk analysis? ›
In this blog, we'll break the risk assessment process down into three phases: risk identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation. Understanding these three steps will provide you with a better understanding of risk management and will provide you with risk mitigation techniques for your workplace.
What are the list of IT system risks? ›
IT risks include hardware and software failure, human error, spam, viruses and malicious attacks, as well as natural disasters such as fires, cyclones or floods. By looking at how your business uses IT, you can: understand and identify the types of IT risks.
