Exploring the Depths of Risk Management: A Journey of a Cybersecurity Enthusiast

It was a Friday morning i hadn’t gotten breakfast. Had to do my prayers and then went on to watch the movie “Black Panther”. After that i sat down with my laptop in front of me as i listened to the rhythm of Burna Boy’s “Love Damini” album filling my ears, I can’t help but reflect on the journey I’ve taken as a cybersecurity enthusiast. My heritage as an African has undoubtedly played a significant role in shaping who I am, and my passion for cybersecurity has been a driving force in my life.

On this Friday morning, as I set out to continue my journey towards becoming an ISC2-certified in cybersecurity professional, I am reminded of the importance of the risk management process and its critical components. Today, I would like to delve into one such component, the “Risk Treatment”.

Risk treatment, as the name implies, is the process of determining the best approach to addressing an identified risk. This process is based on four key concepts: Risk Avoidance, Risk Acceptance, Risk Mitigation, and Risk Transfer.

• Risk Avoidance: This is the decision to try and eliminate the risk entirely. When the potential impact of a risk is deemed too high, organizations may choose to avoid it.
• Risk Acceptance: This involves taking no action to reduce the likelihood of a risk occurring. Organizations may opt for this approach when the impact of the risk is negligible or the benefits of accepting the risk outweigh the potential harm.
• Risk Mitigation: This is the most commonly used risk management approach, and it involves taking steps to prevent or reduce the possibility of a risk event or its impact. Mitigation can include setting up remediation measures, establishing policies, procedures, and standards to minimize adverse risk. While risk cannot always be fully mitigated, implementing safety measures can help to minimize the risk.
• Risk Transfer: This is the practice of passing the risk to a third party or organization, such as an insurance company. The third party agrees to accept the financial impact of the harm resulting from a risk being realized in exchange for payment.

In addition to the concepts mentioned above, I also want to touch upon the importance of qualitative and quantitative risk analysis. This is a method of analyzing identified risks based on an organization’s priorities and using a risk matrix to score the risk. For example, a risk with low likelihood and low impact may result in a low priority, while an incident with high likelihood and high impact will result in a high priority.

Lastly, I would like to mention the concept of risk tolerance. This answers the question of how much risk an organization is willing to take. Does management welcome risk or want to avoid it? The level of risk tolerance varies across organizations and even within different departments within an organization. The executive management and/or the board of directors determine what is an acceptable level of risk for the organization. As cybersecurity professionals, our job is to help organizations make informed decisions and maintain risk within management’s limit of risk tolerance.

And that’s a wrap for today’s journey. I hope this was informative and enjoyable. Until next time, happy reading!