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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

Risk assessment

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, risk assessment means: A structured process for identifying risks, estimating how likely and how serious they are, and deciding which ones need action first.

In Turkish: risk değerlendirmesi, risk analizi

How it is used

Required by most standards and regulations. Teams carry out or perform risk assessments for new projects, suppliers and systems, often with a likelihood × impact matrix, and record the results in a risk register.

Example sentences

  1. We need a risk assessment before the new supplier gets access to customer data.

  2. The risk assessment rated the legacy system as high risk.

Common collocations

  • carry out a risk assessment
  • third-party risk assessment
  • risk matrix
  • risk register
  • riskThe chance that a threat will use a weakness and cause harm, combined with how serious that harm would be for the organisation.
  • threatAnything that could cause harm to a system or to data, such as an attacker, a piece of malware, a careless employee or even a flood in the server room.
  • security controlAny safeguard, whether technical, administrative or physical, that reduces a security risk, such as a firewall, a policy, a training course or a locked door.
  • complianceThe state of following the laws, regulations, standards and internal policies that apply to an organisation, and being able to prove it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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