Risk in Information Security - Research Paper Example

Topic: Defining and quantifying risk in information security Defining and quantifying risk in information security carrying out a risk assessment as well as calculating the return on investment in regard to information security is a challenge and IT risks have been defined as the business risks that are linked with using, involvement, ownership as well as the adoption of Information Technology in an enterprise. This, therefore, means that the management of risks entails making guesses, predictions, and assumptions.

The effect of security events on an entity depends on knowledge of occurrences and events, the Information Technology services and systems that are fundamental to supporting the business process as well as evaluation of the effect of their malfunctions in regards to business operations (Kairab, 2005). The acquisition of this form of knowledge depends on the owners of business processes, as they are the only entities with the ability to evaluate and quantify the financial, operational, and regulatory consequences of disruptions.

The effects on reputation have remained difficult to calculate precisely and accurately. An elaborate analysis of information security risks should reflect the manner in which operations are affected and the manner in which time affects this impact since this is hardly ever a linear function (Kairab, 2005). For instance, a service interruption that lasts for ten minutes may have negligible ramifications while a similar service interruption or breach that lasts for a longer time may have catastrophic effects on a business or a company.

Information risk definition and quantification are founded on accessible and dependable data that is evaluated by people who are conversant with particular information security processes, they enable the assessment of the effects in a reasonable way.