Overview on Risk Management in IT

Risk is a probability of an event occurring which might have a positive or negative effect on the business. If the risks are not calculated appropriately then the negative impact of the risks, through external or internal vulnerabilities, can damage the organizations reputation, bring financial loss, legal issues etc. In context of IT, risks to be managed are data / information security and threat to the information systems physically or logically / digitally. Therefore when we talk about risk management in the Information Technology world, it basically means understanding the organization’s risk profile and accordingly identifying the various potential threats, assessments of the risks and prioritizing the various risks to mitigate the adverse effects of risks. IT compliant management services offered by Manage IT ensures risk management by maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the confidential information. Manage IT offers appropriate risk management plan, IT and physical security controls and IT strategy planning to help organizations in effective risk management.

Risk mitigation through a risk management plan should ideally focus on the following aspects

• Risk Assessment: While assessing the various IT risks, the organizations firstly should identify the threats which might affect the IT assets then evaluate and categorize the various risks in comparison with the value of the IT assets that might be affected. Last but not least cost of the security vulnerability exploitation and its impact also needs to be evaluated. The findings of such assessment should be recorded and should be updated on a regular basis depending on the conducted reviews. Also, acceptable risk thresholds should be defined.
• Improve controls and processes: Risk mitigating controls and processes should be implemented properly to address the various identified threats to the IT assets. Key Risk Indicators should be established that will help in predicting the risks and model the risk assessment.

• Reporting and Communication: The IT team should be trained to identify risks and take appropriate action in due course of time. The information security policies and other risk management plan should be shared with the employees so that everyone is aware of the safeguard measures in crisis. A report on all the risks that were faced and the action taken to mitigate those risks should be shared with the stakeholders to assess the effectiveness of the implemented risk management process and how it’s helping to achieve the business objectives.

Risk Management in IT will help organizations in protecting their IT environment, effective use of IT resources and continuous improvement to achieve business goals. Risk management process by Manage IT will help organizations to effectively manage IT risks.

About Author:

Harish Mani  is senior consultant and part of Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. think tank. He in Systems Plus actively contributes to technology and information security. He can be contacted at: harish.m@spluspl.com