The Four Elements of a Risk Assessment (2024)

by Cloud Ogre

It’s clear that security threats are on the rise so for companies with concerns, a Risk Assessment is the first step in mitigating threats. Just hours ago I received a phishing attempt to access my Apple ID via a spoofed Apple email address with a link to a server in Georgia, and I don’t mean Atlanta.

Let’s say you haven’t performed a Risk Assessment and one of your fellow employees clicks on that link and puts in their Apple ID and Password. What valuable information can be lost? Say that email doesn’t look like its coming from Apple but rather your Network Admin or a cloud based service you use like Salesforce.com? What proprietary data is at risk? How much will it cost your company? If you want to look at things more personally the ‘what about my job?’ question is fair to ask yourself as well.

In order to answer the questions above thoroughly you’ll need to have a Risk Assessment performed. This way, when it hits the fan you’ll have an idea of what exactly needs cleaning.

There are four parts to any good risk assessment and they are Asset identification, Risk Analysis, Risk likelihood & impact, and Cost of Solutions.

Asset Identification – This is a complete inventory of all of your company’s assets, both physical and non-physical. From there you’ll want to evaluate what the asset is worth. A $5,000 server’s worth is not based on its cost but a range of additional factors like what it would cost to fixit or replace it should it break or be hacked. You may want to start with an telecom audit, starting at $2,500, just to get a hold of what assets you actually have out in the field.

Risk Analysis – This is where you’ll assign both quantitative and qualitative values to risk, analyze the probability of said risk, and strategies to reduce that risk. For example, if your data center is where all your data storage and processing takes place, you’ll want to mitigate that risk by taking a hybrid approach incorporating both AWS and Azure to offload some of that compute and mitigate your risk of failure. Simultaneously, you’ll want to look at exactly what you have in the cloud and what impact you’ll have if one of your cloud providers fails. Click here for more on Cloud Data Services.

Risk Likelihood & Impact – This is the part of your risk assessment where you’ll rate the probability and its impact. Your Annual Loss Expectancy is obtained by multiplying your Single Loss Expectancy (what it will cost) by your Annual Rate of Occurrence (how often it will happen). This is where subjective opinions may clash but your organization should really rely on IT experts to make these decisions and assign these values. One of the most common mistakes that we run across in businesses are in-house data centers. Adding colocation may seem expensive until a storm floods your data center.

Cost of Solutions – Now is your chance to justify your budget with finance. If the cost of the solution far outweighs the likelihood of an event, then there’s no justification. There’s no reason to build Fort Knox for a couple of dollars and there is no reason for a Palo Alto device with all the bells and whistles for a small home office. A SonicWall will probably do just fine. Along that same line of thought, you can’t have an outdated firewall protecting sensitive health or financial information.

The Four Elements of a Risk Assessment (2024)

FAQs

The Four Elements of a Risk Assessment? ›

NAS describes the risk assessment paradigm as a process consisting of four major components: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization.

What are the 4 elements of risk assessment? ›

While many individuals are involved in the process and many factors come into play, performing an effective risk assessment comes down to four core elements: risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk communication.

What are the 4 steps of risk assessment? ›

The air risk staff generally follows a basic four step risk assessment process, including hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment, and risk characterization, as described below.

What are the 4 areas of risk assessment? ›

Assess the risks
  • who might be harmed and how.
  • what you're already doing to control the risks.
  • what further action you need to take to control the risks.
  • who needs to carry out the action.
  • when the action is needed by.

What are the 4 C's in risk assessment? ›

An important step in improving online safety at your school is identifying what the potential risks might be. KCSIE groups online safety risks into four areas: content, contact, conduct and commerce (sometimes referred to as contract). These are known as the 4 Cs of online safety.

What are the 4 pillars of risk assessment? ›

  • Contingency Planning (on the next page): This aspect is about being able to identify risk factors emerging and thinking about what actions you can take to manage and control the risk. ...
  • Supervision:
  • Monitoring and Control:
  • Interventions and Treatment:
  • Victim Safety Planning:
Sep 7, 2020

What are the 4 key objectives of a risk assessment? ›

What Are The Four Main Aims Of A Risk Assessment?
  • Identify and assess risks,
  • Take action to reduce risks,
  • Communicate health and safety information to workers.
  • Demonstrate health and safety compliance.
May 26, 2020

What are the four principles of risk assessment? ›

identify the hazards. assess the risks and prioritise the arising actions. suggest options to eliminate or reduce risks and their relative merit. evaluate the effectiveness of existing and potential control measures.

What are the four levels of risk assessment? ›

The Four Stages of Risk Assessment
  • 1: Hazard and risk identification.
  • 2: Identify those at risk.
  • 3: Complete risk assessment plan.
  • 4: Risk assessment review and update.
Apr 18, 2017

What are the four 4 principles of hazard and risk assessment? ›

This involves identifying hazards, assessing risks, controlling risks, and reviewing control measures.

What are the four 4 ways to manage risk? ›

There are four main risk management strategies, or risk treatment options:
  • Risk acceptance.
  • Risk transference.
  • Risk avoidance.
  • Risk reduction.
Apr 23, 2021

What are the 4 categories of risk in risk management? ›

Common Risk Categories in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
  • Strategic Risks. These are risks that arise from an organization's business strategy and objectives. ...
  • Operational Risks. These are risks that arise from an organization's day-to-day activities and processes. ...
  • Financial Risks. ...
  • Legal/Compliance Risks. ...
  • Reputational Risks.

What are the 4 scientific components steps of risk assessment? ›

NAS describes the risk assessment paradigm as a process consisting of four major components: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization.

What is the risk assessment code of 4? ›

Minor (IV)

First aid, minor medical treatment, and/or minor equipment damage.

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