Risk Analysis Examples
An IT risk analysis helps businesses identify, quantify and prioritize potential risks that could negatively affect the organization’s operations. Examples of IT risks can include anything from security breaches and technical missteps to human errors and infrastructure failures.
This example of a risk analysis template can help give you a better idea of how to construct your own.
Examples of an Effective Risk Analysis
According to TechTarget, “The risk assessment [analysis] should be able to help you identify events that could adversely impact your organization. This includes potential damage the events could cause, the amount of time needed to recover or restore operations, and preventive measures or controls that can mitigate the likelihood of the event occurring.”
There are two key components of risk analysis: probability and impact.
Probability
Once you determine the types of risks an organization may face, you must then determine the likelihood of those risks actually happening. A risk will fall into one of three categories:
- Low probability — The likelihood of this risk affecting the organization is extremely low (less than once in five years)
- Medium probability — The likelihood of this risk affecting the organization is slight (once every three to five years)
- High probability — The likelihood of this risk affecting the organization is extremely high (once every year)
Impact
Once you determine the probability of each risk, you should then consider what kind of impact each risk would have on the organization. For example, what parts of the organization will suffer as a result of a security breach, cyber attack or dataloss as a result of a natural disaster?
Each identified risk will fall into one of the following categories:
- Low impact — A low impact risk will be easily managed and have little-to-no negative effects on the operations of the organization
- Medium impact — A medium impact risk will significantly effect company performance or costs
- High impact — A high impact risk will cause catastrophic failures and may force the organization to terminate projects, departments or activities as a result
Minimizing High Impact Risks
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Our intuitive all-in-one platform provides clear visibility into managed networks to help accurately calculate risks in real time and determine how they will affect an organization’s operations and bottom line.