Lesson Summary

Risk mitigation is an essential part of GRC frameworks, focusing on making decisions for identified and assessed risks. It involves planning and implementing strategies to reduce the likelihood or impact of risks by targeting the chance of an event happening or its consequences.

• Real-world decisions aim to protect the organization's assets, people, and reputation.
• Approaches other than mitigation include risk acceptance, avoidance, and transfer to manage risks based on the organization's risk appetite.
• Types of risk controls like preventive, detective, and corrective measures aim to reduce risks through safeguards such as firewalls, access controls, and disaster recovery plans.

Controls are classified as administrative, technical, or physical, and effective mitigation combines multiple control types for comprehensive protection through defense in depth.

• Control selection requires assessing effectiveness, cost, and complexity in alignment with objectives.
• Control testing and monitoring ensure controls are validated, weaknesses are remediated, and ongoing monitoring is conducted due to changing risks.

Embedding risk awareness within an organization's culture is crucial for effective risk mitigation, achieved through training, leadership, and embracing a speak-up culture for safe reporting of suspicions activities.

• Regulatory compliance mandates certain controls, like encryption and access controls in PCI DSS.
• Innovation in risk mitigation through modern GRC platforms offers intelligent automation for continuous control monitoring and threat modeling, supporting operational resilience under pressure.

Risk mitigation is about managing, not eliminating risk, focusing on minimizing surprises, and ongoing improvement through collaboration, creativity, and continuous effort for effective controls and culture.