Management decides to implement a risk management system to reduce and maintain the organization's risk at an acceptable level. Which of the following is the correct order in the risk management phase?

The risk management process follows a logical, cyclical lifecycle as defined by standards like NIST SP 800-39 and ISO/IEC 27005. The process begins with Risk Identification to determine potential risks. This is followed by Risk Assessment, where the likelihood and impact of identified risks are analyzed. Based on the assessment, Risk Treatment strategies (e.g., mitigate, transfer, accept) are selected and implemented. Finally, Risk Monitoring & Review is a continuous phase to track risks, identify new ones, and evaluate the effectiveness of controls, feeding back into the identification phase.

B. Risk Treatment cannot be the first step; a risk must be identified and assessed before it can be treated.
C. Risk Assessment is not the first step; risks must be identified before they can be assessed for impact and likelihood.
D. Risk Monitoring & Review is a continuous process that occurs after treatments are in place, not before.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2011). Special Publication (SP) 800-39, Managing Information Security Risk. Section 2.2, Figure 2, p. 8. This document outlines the risk management process as Framing (Context), Assessing, Responding (Treatment), and Monitoring. The core operational cycle is Assess -> Respond -> Monitor. Identification is a key part of Assessment.

2. ISO/IEC 27005:2018, Information technology — Security techniques — Information security risk management. Clause 8, "Information security risk management process," outlines the sequence as: context establishment, risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation (collectively risk assessment), risk treatment, and ongoing monitoring and review.

3. Stoneburner, G., Goguen, A., & Feringa, A. (2002). NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-30, Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems. Section 3, "The Risk Management Process," p. 8. It explicitly lists the steps as: Risk Assessment, Risk Mitigation (Treatment), and Evaluation and Assessment (Monitoring). Risk Assessment itself is broken down into System Characterization, Threat Identification, Vulnerability Identification, Control Analysis, Likelihood Determination, Impact Analysis, and Risk Determination.