IT Risk Assessment : A beginner’s guide

In today’s digital age, where businesses heavily rely on technology, understanding and managing IT risks is crucial. IT risk assessment is like having a security guard for your digital assets, ensuring your business stays safe from potential threats. Let’s break down this complex topic into bite-sized pieces that anyone can grasp.

IT Risk Assessment Areas

1. IT Risk Identification

- Identify risks through events, threat modeling, vulnerability analysis, and scenario development.

2. IT Risk Analysis and Evaluation

- Utilize standards, frameworks, risk registers, and methodologies to assess inherent and residual risks.

Risk Assessment Methodologies

Difference between Analysis and Assessment

- Analysis: Breaks down the whole thing to examine individual components.

- Assessment: Makes a judgment to determine the course of action.

1. Quantitative Risk Assessment

- Analysis includes numbers and statistics (e.g., number of employees failing a phishing simulation test).

- Follows the Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) method.

2. Qualitative Risk Assessment

- Used when reliable data is insufficient.

- Estimates risks based on scenarios and opinions.

Criteria-Based Analysis

1. Analyze Organizational Structure

- Assess the role of the risk management team and their influence on various business areas.

2. Analyze Policies, Standards, and Procedures

- Understand high-level expectations (policies), paths to goals (standards), and step-by-step guides (procedures).

- Document exceptions, including reviewing and approving, request dates, expiration dates, and mitigating controls.

3. Analyze Technology

- Identify outdated technology and make full use of a Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

4. Analyze Controls

- Consider preventative, deterrent, directive, and detective controls to secure the business.

Risk Assessment Techniques

1. Scenario Analysis

- Ask “What if” questions to anticipate and prepare for potential issues.

- Methods include brainstorming, Structured What-If Technique (SWIFT), and the Delphi method.

2. Focus on Hazards

- Use methods like HAZOP and LOPA to study potential threats affecting business processes.

3. Physical Risks

- Conduct environmental risk assessments and rely on reliability-centered maintenance for hardware risks.

4. Data Analysis

- Utilize cause and effect analysis and root cause analysis based on past trends and incidents.

5. Tree Analysis

- Include Fault Tree Analysis (top-down) and Event Tree Analysis (bottom-up) to understand fault events.

6. Bow Tie Analysis

- Visualize relationships between potential causes (threats), preventive measures, the hazard event, consequences, and mitigative measures.

7. Bayesian Analysis

- Infer probabilities based on patterns identified in available data.

8. Markov Analysis

- Consider past and present trends, acknowledging the possibility of hazards even if they haven’t occurred before.

9. Monte-Carlo Simulation

- Begin with information about assets and controls, modify controls, and measure how changes might impact risks.

10. Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

- Focus on the potential impact on the business if the system is taken offline or damaged.

- Consider contractual or regulatory requirements and make strategic investment recommendations.

11. Risk Rankings

- According to a template in “NIST guide for conducting risk assessments”, the magnitude and frequency of following categories have to be categorised on the scale of 1–5:

1. Threat event

2. Threat sources

3. Threat source — Capability

4. Threat source — Intent

5. Threat source — Targeting

6. Relevance

7. Likelihood of attack initiation

8. Vulnerabilities and predisposing conditions

9. Severity and pervasiveness

10. Likelihood that the initiated attack succeeds

11. Overall likelihood

12. Level of impact

13. Risk

Then calculate the average of both the Magnitude and Frequency, and check the severity of the threat according to this matrix:

12. Threat Modeling

- The process of identifying potential threats, including threat actors, types, events, and affected assets/resources.

13. Risk Registers

- It is a dynamic tool that helps organizations systematically document, track, and prioritize potential risks that could impact their IT systems, projects, or business operations.

Update Risk Registers

Risk registers can range from occasionally updated compliance artifacts to living documents that always reflect your potential exposure. Every time a new patch is released, every time a new exploit is announced, every time the business reorganizes or launches a new product or expands to a new market… ALL of the events are likely to alter something in your risk register.

Conclusion

In essence, IT risk assessment is like preparing for a journey. Understand potential obstacles, use tools to navigate uncertainties, and ensure your business is well-prepared for any challenges. Similar to sailors checking the weather, mapping routes, and maintaining ships, businesses need to assess and manage IT risks for a successful digital voyage.

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