At its core, the purpose of a risk assessment is identifying and evaluating risks that may potentially have a negative impact on an organization. It can help management understand the impact in terms of costs to the organization or the severity of a loss depending on the methodology used to conduct the risk assessment. The goal is to provide sound recommendations based on the risk assessment to help maintain data confidentiality, integrity and vulnerability while ensuring functionality and usability. Based on the results, management can make more informed decisions about what resources to protect, how to protect them and understand the potential costs and impact. Once the purpose of the risk assessment is understood, defining the scope is next.
The scope of a risk assessment is possibly one of the most important steps to be conducted. The scope defines the limitations and sets the parameters of the risk assessment to ensure it stays within costs and the desired timeframe. The scope identifies the required resources, systems/applications to be assessed and protected, and the level
References: Bayne, J. (2002). An overview of threat and risk assessment. SANS Institute. Retrieved from http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/auditing/overview-threat-risk-assessment-76 Gibson, D. (2010). Managing Risk in Information Systems. Sudbury, MA. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Retrieved from http://ebooks.apus.edu.ezproxy2.apus.edu/ISSC363/Gibson_2011_Ch5.pdf