It is sometimes difficult to understand the many aspects of risk management. Primarily, risk management involves the process of identifying, assessing and prioritizing risks. Risks are those things that can be considered a threat to the organization and can be from malicious, accidental, or natural sources. Risks are threats to the organization that must be reduced or mitigated. In order to understand this process of risk management a person should look to a risk management university that provides courses in threat assessment.
A threat assessment is the process in which a trained person attempts to identify the threats/ risks that could fall upon the entity needing protection. A threat does not mean an actual threat given by a person to the intended victim, (verbal or otherwise), but can be any action or lack of action that could cause harm or embarrassment to the person or organization. After a specialist identifies the various threats, those threats are analyzed for the likelihood the situation may occur. The threat assessment, when complete, will be sent to the risk manager or someone appointed by him/her for review.
A risk management university will understand the value of threat assessments and provide courses of instruction into the many ways a threat assessment can be conducted and the resources available to assist in completing one. Any threat assessment class offered should include information as to how an assessment is completed, when and how often they should be completed, how to interpret an assessment, and beneficial tools/ resources that assist in identifying threats/ risks.
Without a threat assessment being conducted an organization is likely to spend too little or too much on security precautions as they have no understanding about the actual threats/ risks to the company. For example, a technology company who hires a protection specialist for its CEO, yet fails to provide security for its computer database is likely to lose both money and proprietary information as employee theft is often a higher security threat than kidnapping. A proper threat assessment would have identified theft as a very likely threat and a risk manager could have applied security resources towards the protection of that information.
Threat assessments are not over once they are completed. As time goes on new threats may surface that need to be addressed. Malicious actors often change tactics and those responsible for security need to address the new threats with an updated threat assessment. Even non-malicious threats, such as power-outages, natural disasters, or accidents need to be identified. Employees who utilize a removable hard drive to transfer information can lose critical information. A knowledgeable specialist would identify the ease in which information could be lost and bring it to the risk manager's attention. A simple undated threat assessment could save the company great losses by being up to speed.
Completing a thorough threat assessment is no easy task. The opportunity and ways for a company to be harmed are tremendous. In order to mitigate the many ways a company can be harmed, a person knowledgeable in threat assessments can be a great asset to a company. Applying to a risk management university can be a huge step in obtaining the knowledge that can save your own company from loss, or make yourself attractive to a potential employer.
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Dan Sommer works for Henley-Putnam University, a leading educational institution in the field of Strategic Security. For more info on Henley-Putnam University, risk management university, threat assessment, call 888-852-8746 or visit us online at http://www.Henley-Putnam.edu
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