No company can protect itself against everything at once. IT risk analysis therefore clarifies where the greatest dangers lie and where budget and effort have the greatest effect. It is a core component of an ISMS, is required by standards such as ISO/IEC 27001 and is also built into regulations such as NIS2 and the GDPR, which explicitly align protective measures with risk.
How does an IT risk analysis work?
- Record assets: Which information, systems and processes are important, and what protection needs do they have in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability?
- Identify threats and vulnerabilities: for example ransomware, phishing, hardware defects, operating errors, power failure or the failure of a service provider.
- Assess risks: For each scenario, the probability of occurrence and the extent of damage are estimated, often in simple levels such as low, medium and high, and shown in a risk matrix.
- Treat risks: For each risk, a decision is made whether to reduce it through measures, avoid it, transfer it to third parties, for example via insurance, or deliberately accept it.
- Monitor and repeat: The analysis is updated regularly and whenever major changes occur.
The result is usually a risk register that records each risk with its assessment, measure, responsible person and processing status. Methodologically, there are qualitative methods that work with levels and quantitative methods that estimate damage in monetary amounts. For small and medium-sized companies, qualitative methods are usually more practical. Well-known guidelines are the ISO/IEC 27005 standard and BSI Standard 200-3.
Typical examples
- A company discovers that its entire order processing depends on a single server without tested recovery, and prioritizes backup and disaster recovery.
- Before introducing an AI tool, risks to confidential data are assessed and usage rules are derived.
- Management deliberately accepts a residual risk and documents this decision.
What companies should keep in mind
- Involve the business departments, because they can best assess the value of processes and data.
- Define assessment criteria in advance so that results are comparable.
- Turn the results into a concrete action plan with responsible persons and deadlines.
- Continuously feed in technical findings from vulnerability management.
- Have management document its acceptance of residual risks.
This entry is a general overview and does not replace legal advice.
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