Gartner Research

Best Practices for a Successful Security Risk Assessment

Published: 29 October 2019

Summary

Security risk assessments are essential to support business decisions. This guidance provides security and risk management technical professionals with best practices for achieving security risk assessments that drive optimization and efficiency in managing risk.

Included in Full Research

  • Prework
    • Align to Risk Management Program
    • Align to Stakeholders’ Success Criteria
    • Align to External Drivers
  • Define Assessment Conditions
    • Determine Clear Assessment Objectives
    • Identify the Organization’s Assessment Priorities
    • Establish Reasonable Assessment Schedules
  • Preparing the Risk Assessment
    • Utilize a Triage Approach to Prioritize Assessments
    • Select the Appropriate Assessment Type
    • Select Appropriate Methods and Tools
  • Conduct the Risk Assessment
    • Exercise Due Diligence in Assessment Activities
    • Leverage Prior and Existing Knowledge
    • Balance Assessment Effort and Depth
  • Follow-Up
  • Lack of Alignment With Existing Processes
  • Insufficient or Ineffective Communication
  • Absence of a Control Hygiene Baseline
  • Related Guidance

Analysts:

Michael Kranawetter,  Mike Wonham

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