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IT Risk Management
IT Risk Management is basically the application of various risk management techniques to information systems to manage IT risk: three main aspects need to be considered for any IT project or software package to meet its full potential. The three key aspects are identification, control and mitigation. By correctly identifying a specific risk to an IT system and properly managing it through the implementation of appropriate controls, it is possible to significantly mitigate or reduce the risk.
However, the third aspect requires much more attention and understanding than simply implementing the necessary controls; it is necessary to consider how the controls will work within the system, who will be using them, what they will do and how to integrate them into the existing architecture and IT governance practices.
Identifying and controlling risks is a very important part of the process, but it is not sufficient. Control and mitigation also have to be combined with identification to avoid and mitigate the risk that will come from outside sources.
Some IT Risk Management that can occur are external damage, data loss and system downtime. To prevent such risks, the system has to be designed with adequate levels of security, redundancy, reliability and availability. These are important elements that are often overlooked by IT Risk Management but are fundamental to the success of any business or organization. One of the main benefits of IT Risk Management or any other form of IT governance is that it can help determine what the acceptable levels of risk are. Therefore if external threats are identified and managed, then the risk levels will be reduced and the organizations will be able to continue with their business without problems.
Other forms of IT Risk Management can include data loss, data corruption and loss of business. Data loss is something that most businesses have experienced at one time or another, but many do not understand that data loss is a real and significant problem. The way this is handled is by first identifying the source of the data loss, the next step is to identify how the data loss occurred, what it did to the database, how many employees were affected, what other systems were affected, etc. Once the cause and impact are identified, the appropriate measures can be taken to avoid or mitigate the loss.
A major drawback of this kind of data loss is that it can cause a lot of damage to the business’ reputation and customer base, both of which are very important in today’s world. Another common cause of data loss is corruption; when the data is corrupted, it can result in data being lost or inaccurate, it can be inaccessible, or it can have information that is not necessarily correct.
While the above three main causes of data loss are all important, it is the fourth factor that is generally overlooked in many organizations: human error. Human error is not a physical occurrence, however; it is a complex combination of factors. It is caused by a variety of factors including negligence, human error, technical error, misuse of the system failure, etc. These causes of human error can lead to substantial and sometimes irreparable losses.
