Risk Management Strategies (Domain 5)

Certified: The Security+ Prepcast

Once risks are identified and analyzed, organizations must decide how to respond—and in this episode, we examine the five primary risk management strategies: mitigate, transfer, accept, avoid, and exempt. Mitigation involves applying controls to reduce risk impact or likelihood, such as enabling MFA or installing endpoint protection. Transferring risk often involves insurance or outsourcing functions to vendors with specialized capabilities and contractual safeguards. Acceptance applies when the cost of mitigation outweighs the threat, provided the risk is well understood and formally acknowledged. Avoidance means choosing not to engage in high-risk activities—like decommissioning an exposed legacy system or not storing certain types of sensitive data. Lastly, we discuss exemptions: documented decisions to temporarily defer action on a known risk, typically under specific conditions or deadlines. Strategic risk management isn’t just technical—it’s financial, operational, and cultural.