Risk management is the process of identifying and estimating risks which, at the same time, involves taking measures to reduce them to an acceptable threshold. Risk analysis enables IT managers to balance the operational and economic costs of safeguards and achieve gains in the reliability of the mission, by protecting the IT systems and the information that support the organization's goals and objectives.
The main objective of the risk management is to enable an organization to fulfill its missions through improved security of the information and communication systems used for the storage, processing, or transmission of organizational information. The data obtained during the risk management process can help managers make well-informed decisions to justify the specific IT budget and authorize efficient IT systems.
A well-structured risk management methodology can help the management process to identify the means of control, in order to ensure the essential security capability in fulfilling the mission. Security risk analysis is the most important step in developing PCOs and aims to identify the main risks in an organization, determining the extent and implications of the risks, and identifying areas of high risk that need to be insured. The analysis is performed for several reasons, namely:
- hierarchical identification of the assets of the organization and the levers that ensure their security;
- establishing successive stages of eliminating the conditions that may favor the realization of risks - the policy of small steps;
- establishing the need for certain actions and deadlines in order to establish objectives related to the implementation of security within the organization;
- establishing an overall perspective on the procurement of resources and services in this regard so that the financial effort is taken into account in the context of finding the most efficient solutions;
- providing criteria for designing and evaluating plans for special situations;
- improving the general understanding (on the integrated computer system, how it operates, etc.).