Why Informal Risk Management Consistently Underdelivers
ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and FINMA's ICT risk guidelines all require formal, documented risk assessments. Beyond compliance, organisations that manage risk informally tend to underinvest in the controls with the highest protective impact and overinvest in technically visible but low-impact measures. Without a formal assessment, there is no defensible basis for risk acceptance decisions at board level, and no structured way to demonstrate to a regulator or auditor that material risks have been identified and addressed.
Independent risk assessments remove internal familiarity bias and provide a defensible, auditable view of risk that senior management can act upon and supervisory authorities can review.
Flexible Scope, Consistent Rigor
The scope of a risk assessment can be defined to cover the full organizational information asset portfolio, a specific business unit, a critical application or system, or a defined regulatory perimeter such as a FINMA-relevant IT scope or an ISO 27001 certification boundary. Methodology, analytical depth, and reporting format are adapted to your specific context, timeline, and audience requirements.
Process
Structured Methodology, From Asset to Treatment Plan
1 Asset and Threat Profiling
Identify and classify information assets by business criticality. Map relevant threat actors, realistic attack vectors, and plausible threat scenarios for your sector, operating environment, and third-party dependency structure.
2 Risk Evaluation
Assess the likelihood and potential business impact of each identified threat scenario against each asset. Risk scoring follows a documented methodology aligned to ISO 27005 and NIST SP 800-30.
3 Control Effectiveness Review
Evaluate the effectiveness of existing security controls in reducing identified risks. This step prevents redundant investment and produces a clear view of residual risk after current controls are applied.
4 Risk Treatment Planning
For each material risk, define and justify a treatment option: accept, mitigate, transfer, or avoid. Mitigation recommendations include specific control measures referenced to ISO 27002 or the applicable framework.
5 Stakeholder Communication
Structure findings for two distinct audiences: technical teams responsible for implementing treatment actions, and senior management or board members responsible for risk acceptance decisions and security investment.
Outcomes
What You Receive
- Documented risk methodology aligned to ISO 27005 and NIST SP 800-30
- Complete risk register with asset classification, threat scenarios, likelihood, impact, and risk scores
- Risk assessment results report with prioritised treatment actions and control recommendations
- Risk distribution analysis showing portfolio risk by asset category and threat type
- Executive-level risk communication document structured for board or senior management presentation
Independent, Defensible, Audit-Ready
Our risk assessments are conducted by consultants with no commercial interest in the recommended controls or technology vendors. Methodology and findings are fully documented and traceable to source evidence. Organizations in FINMA-regulated industries can use the assessment output directly in supervisory responses. ISO 27001 certification candidates receive an assessment that satisfies Clause 6.1.2 requirements and feeds directly into the Statement of Applicability and risk treatment plan.
Next Step
Define the Scope of Your Risk Assessment
We begin every risk assessment with a short scoping session to define asset perimeter, applicable threat landscape, regulatory context, and assessment depth. This session typically takes half a working day and forms the foundation of the entire engagement.