Risk Mitigation Step Plan

Risk Mitigation Step Plan

Introduction

In the business world, organizations and institutions are faced with daily challenges in their activities and operation. Most of these challenges occur naturally, no matter how well and carefully the systems of the organization are planned. The impact of the challenges at times might be devastating to the point of causing a breakdown of the system or chain of operations. To prevent the threats and risks from causing adverse impacts on your organizations, then it is important to have a plan in place that will help you mitigate and prevent the risks from crippling the organization (Gibson, 2015). A risk management plan is an essential aspect of any project and organizations as it helps reduce the adverse impact a threat can bring and also prevents it from affecting the operations of the business.

Risk Management Plan

Risks and threats are in various forms. There are those that can be predicted, and preventative measures are established and adopted, and there are those that are natural and cannot be prevented or predicted. Challenges or threats like weather, sickness, and death of an employee cannot be prevented, but when they occur, the effect the operations of the business. For issues or challenges that cannot be prevented, then measures should be adopted to ensure that when they occur, the impact they cause is minimized (Gibson, 2015). A good risk mitigation plan should be designed in a way that eliminates or minimizes the negative effects of the risks and threats that affect an organization or its projects. An effective risk management plan should be formulated carefully and should include all the important steps of dealing with the threats and risks.

Risk Identification Process and Steps

The risk identification process is the first and most important part of well-planned risk mitigation and management plan. The role of this step is to ensure that the organization’s management team identifies the potential risks and threats that might hamper their operations or projects. The identification step acts as a compass, which gives the organization a direction and creates a checklist of potential challenges that might affect the industry (Thompson, 2017). The risk identification steps also enable you to categories the risks and deploy the essential resources that might be needed to deal with the risks.

The city Collections Processing Entity system is at high risk of encountering threats and risks that come from the tech world. The potentiality of the system being exposed to the tech world threats is because of it using modern technology in running their operations and the use of automated service, and online transactions. In case the system is not well protected, then it creates a loophole for malware and hackers to access the system, which might result in breakdown or loss of money and data (Thompson, 2017). Email spams and phishing, the Distributed Denial of Service Attack, spyware software, and malware are the identified threats that can affect the system.

Email phishing is a method used by hackers who send the clients of your institution or organization fooling them that the email is from the legit organization and fools them to reveal their personal details. The hackers use the details to conduct illegal activities like identity theft and stealing money from the victim’s accounts. This affects the business as it makes the clients lose trust in the institution (Snedaker, 2007). The other threat that might affect your system Is the Distributed Denial of Services attack (DDoS), The attack is conducted by potential hackers where they flood your servers and network with simultaneous internet traffic which make it impossible for you and your clients accessing the services of your website or other online platforms. The DDoS causes breakdown of operations, which affects the institution and results in loss of money and customers’ trust.

The other potential threat is spyware software. Once this software is injected in your system by a hacker, then it means that he or she can control your computer remotely without your consent. The software gives the hackers’ administrator-level access, which allows them to aces all the information in the system, and they can use it in the wrong way. It also allows the hackers to conduct illegal activities using your computer, which might get the organization on the wrong side of the law (Snedaker, 2007). Lastly is the malware threat. The malicious code that infects your computers can alter the functioning of your computer, delete all the information stored in it, encrypt the data in it and also cause crushing of the computer system. Malware can cause the breakdown of operations and loss of data and money.

Risk Evaluation Process

In this step, after identifying the type of threat that might affect the system, then it is important to run an evaluation of the risks. The evaluation will enable you to classify the risks in terms of the impact it can cause on the system, and then from the evaluation results, you can prioritize on which risk to mitigate and prevent first (Wheeler & Swick, 2011). In this case, you should evaluate the four identified risks and identify which one should be given the first priority in the mitigation process. Always ensure you look at how adverse the risk can impact the organization and what resources it requires to be dealt with.

Risk Evaluation is conducted by understanding the impact a threat can have (high or low) and the likelihood of it occurring (high or low). It is important to first deal with the threat that might cause high impact, and its occurrence is high (Gibson, 2015). Through the evaluation you can now create a checklist that will enable you to come up with a mitigation plan for which specific threat to deal with first and the resources that should be in place to enable the prevention or mitigation. To ensure a successful evaluation all the stake holders should be involved and an appropriate tool should be used in the evaluation process.

Risk Mitigation Process

The risk mitigation process is the next step after evaluating the identified risks that might affect the system. In this process you will find the best strategy or technique that can be used to eliminate the threat or minimize its effect on the system. The first mitigation process which is the best option is the risk avoidance strategy. The risk avoidance strategy ensures that you prevent the risk from affecting your system (Gibson, 2015). The identified risks that are potential threats to the system can be voided through ensuring that the security of your computers, servers and network in effective to prevent unauthorized access. The security can be intensified by using firewalls, strong passwords, secure networks and creating a backup for your data.

Risk reduction is the second technique that can be used to mitigate the risks. The reduction process ensures that the impact that the risk has on the system is reduced to the minimal. The technique is usually applied in risks that cannot be prevented or avoided. Reduction can be done through periodic upgrade of systems, software’s, and anti-virus protection and security protocols (Wheeler & Swick, 2011). Finally is the sharing or transfer technique this method can be effective in instances of DDoS attack. It is advised to have backup systems or servers where if the DDoS attack happens to your primary servers then you can transfer your services to the other servers. This technique ensures that your services are brought back for use as quick as possible.

Contingency Plan

A contingency plan is an important part of a risk mitigation plan as it offers solutions for future interruptions or frustrations of accomplishments it is also referred to as a backup plan (Snedaker, 2007). The contingency plan offers you another option of handling the risks and threats when they occur.  The contingency plan should have its own budget allocation which enables it to respond to threats effectively with heist without following the bureaucracy of the organization. An effective plan should integrate a contingency plan to prevent or mitigate the impacts of the threats. Having a backup strategy allows the continuation of processes as normal and prevents customer frustration.

Conclusion

A well formulated risk and threat mitigation or prevention plan is essential in every organization as it enables your institution to promptly deal with the challenges and threats. Through the plan you are able identify, evaluate, mitigate the threats and have a contingency plan of dealing with the plan once it occurs before it is solved to prevent total breakdown of processes. In the formulation of the mitigation plan it is important to involve all the stakeholders so that you can get their full support and corporation and avoid frustrations. Always ensure that the mitigation plan serves the objectives of the institution to enhance effectiveness.

References

Gibson, D. (2015). Managing risk in information systems.

Snedaker, S. (2007). Business continuity & disaster recovery for IT professionals. Burlington, MA: Syngress.

Thompson, E. E. (2017). The insider threat: Assessment and mitigation of risks.

Wheeler, E., & Swick, K. (2011). Security risk management: Building an information security risk management program from the ground up. Amsterdam: Syngress.