IT Risk Management: A Practical Guide to GRC for Internal IT Teams

"What happens if we lose the company network for a day? A week?" If your IT department can't answer that question with confidence—complete with likelihood scores, impact assessments, and documented controls—you have a risk management gap that needs addressing.

For many internal IT teams, risk management is an afterthought. There might be a dusty spreadsheet somewhere listing a few obvious threats, but it's rarely maintained, never reviewed, and certainly not integrated into decision-making. Yet as businesses become increasingly dependent on technology, the consequences of IT failures grow more severe.

This guide explains how IT departments can implement practical, maintainable risk management that satisfies GRC requirements without drowning in bureaucracy.

What is GRC and Why Should IT Care?

GRC stands for Governance, Risk, and Compliance. It's a framework that helps organisations align IT with business objectives, manage uncertainty, and meet regulatory requirements.

For internal IT teams, GRC isn't just a box-ticking exercise. It's the difference between reacting to crises and preventing them. A proper IT risk register helps you:

• Justify budget requests with documented risk assessments
• Prioritise projects based on risk reduction value
• Demonstrate due diligence to auditors and leadership
• Prepare for incidents before they happen
• Meet requirements for ISO 27001, GDPR, or sector-specific regulations

Common IT Risks Every Department Should Track

IT risks fall into several categories. A comprehensive risk register should cover all of them, tailored to your specific environment and business context.

Infrastructure Risks

• Network outage – Loss of connectivity affecting business operations
• Server failure – Hardware or software failure causing system downtime
• Data centre issues – Power failure, cooling failure, or physical damage
• Internet connectivity loss – ISP outage affecting cloud services and remote work
• Storage failure – SAN/NAS failures or disk corruption

Cyber Security Risks

• Ransomware attack – Malware encrypting critical systems and data
• Data breach – Unauthorised access to sensitive information
• Phishing attack – Social engineering targeting employees
• Insider threat – Malicious or negligent actions by staff
• Third-party compromise – Breach via supplier or vendor systems
• DDoS attack – Distributed denial of service affecting availability

Application and Data Risks

• Critical application failure – ERP, CRM, or line-of-business system outage
• Database corruption – Data integrity issues affecting core systems
• Backup failure – Inability to restore data when needed
• Data loss – Accidental deletion or corruption without recovery option
• Integration failure – APIs or data feeds between systems breaking

Compliance and Regulatory Risks

• GDPR non-compliance – Failure to meet data protection requirements
• Licence non-compliance – Using software outside licence terms
• Audit failure – Unable to demonstrate controls to auditors
• Retention policy breach – Data kept too long or deleted too early

Operational Risks

• Key person dependency – Critical knowledge held by single individuals
• Skills gap – Inability to support or develop critical systems
• Vendor lock-in – Excessive dependency on single suppliers
• Change management failure – Poorly managed changes causing outages
• Capacity exhaustion – Systems running out of storage, memory, or processing power

The 5x5 Risk Matrix for IT

The standard approach to risk assessment uses a matrix that multiplies likelihood by impact to produce a risk score. This provides a consistent, comparable way to evaluate different risks.

Likelihood	Score	Description
Rare	1	May occur only in exceptional circumstances (less than once per 5 years)
Unlikely	2	Could occur but not expected (once per 2-5 years)
Possible	3	Might occur at some time (once per 1-2 years)
Likely	4	Will probably occur (once or more per year)
Almost Certain	5	Expected to occur frequently (multiple times per year)

Impact	Score	Description
Negligible	1	Minor inconvenience, no business impact, resolved within hours
Minor	2	Limited impact, workarounds available, resolved within a day
Moderate	3	Noticeable disruption, some business functions affected, days to resolve
Major	4	Significant disruption, multiple departments affected, financial impact
Catastrophic	5	Severe business impact, potential regulatory action, existential threat

Interpreting Risk Scores:

• 1-4 (Low): Accept and monitor. Document and review periodically.
• 5-9 (Medium): Implement additional controls. Active management required.
• 10-15 (High): Priority attention. Significant controls and monitoring needed.
• 16-25 (Critical): Immediate action required. Escalate to senior management.

Building Your IT Risk Register

A risk register is a living document that captures all identified risks, their assessments, and the controls in place to manage them. Here's what each entry should include:

Essential Fields

• Risk ID – Unique identifier for tracking
• Risk Title – Clear, concise name
• Description – Detailed explanation of the risk scenario
• Category – Infrastructure, Security, Application, Compliance, etc.
• Risk Owner – Person accountable for managing this risk
• Likelihood Score – 1-5 rating
• Impact Score – 1-5 rating
• Inherent Risk Score – Likelihood x Impact (before controls)
• Current Controls – What's already in place
• Residual Risk Score – Risk level after controls applied
• Planned Actions – Additional controls or mitigations planned
• Review Date – When this risk should be reassessed
• Status – Open, Mitigated, Accepted, Closed

Why Spreadsheets Fall Short

Most IT teams start with a spreadsheet. It seems simple enough. But spreadsheets quickly become problematic:

• Version control chaos – Which copy is current? Who changed what?
• No accountability – No audit trail of reviews and updates
• Review dates ignored – No automated reminders when risks need reassessment
• Poor visibility – Leadership can't easily see the risk landscape
• No workflow – Approvals and sign-offs are manual and inconsistent
• Reporting limitations – Generating meaningful reports is time-consuming

A purpose-built risk management tool solves these problems by providing structured workflows, automatic reminders, version history, and proper access controls.

Integrating Risk Management into IT Operations

A risk register that sits untouched is worthless. For risk management to add value, it needs to be integrated into how your IT department actually operates.

Link Risks to Projects

When proposing a new project or budget request, reference the risks it addresses. "This network refresh project reduces the risk score for 'Core switch failure' from 12 to 4" is far more compelling than "We need new switches."

Review After Incidents

Every significant incident should trigger a risk register review. Did we have this risk documented? Were our likelihood and impact scores accurate? Do we need to add new risks or update controls?

Regular Review Cycles

Set a schedule for systematic reviews. High-risk items might need monthly attention, while low-risk items can be reviewed quarterly or annually. Automated reminders ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

Report to Leadership

Provide regular risk summaries to senior management. Focus on changes: new risks identified, risks that have increased, successful mitigations completed. This keeps IT risk visible at the right level.

Meeting Compliance Requirements

A well-maintained IT risk register isn't just good practice—it's often a requirement.

ISO 27001

The information security standard requires organisations to "determine and manage information security risks." A structured risk assessment process is central to achieving and maintaining certification.

NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework

For organisations managing critical infrastructure or seeking comprehensive cyber security guidance, the NCSC's Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) requires organisations to "identify, assess and understand security risks." A documented risk register supports CAF alignment.

GDPR

Data protection regulations require organisations to implement "appropriate technical and organisational measures" based on the risks to personal data. A risk register demonstrates this assessment has been done.

Sector-Specific Regulations

Financial services (FCA), healthcare (NHS DSPT), and other regulated sectors have specific IT risk management requirements. A proper risk register is typically foundational to meeting these.

Getting Started: A Practical Approach

Don't try to document every possible risk on day one. Start with the risks that matter most and build from there.

1. Identify your critical systems – What would hurt most if it failed?
2. List obvious risks – Start with 10-15 risks you already know about
3. Score them honestly – Use the 5x5 matrix consistently
4. Document existing controls – What's already in place?
5. Identify gaps – Where are controls insufficient for the risk level?
6. Set review dates – When will you reassess each risk?
7. Assign owners – Who is accountable for each risk?

Once you have the foundation, expand gradually. Add risks as you encounter them. Review and refine scores based on experience. The goal is a practical, living tool—not a perfect but static document.

Conclusion

IT risk management doesn't have to be overwhelming. At its core, it's about asking simple questions systematically: What could go wrong? How likely is it? How bad would it be? What are we doing about it?

By building a proper IT risk register and integrating it into your operations, you transform risk management from a compliance burden into a valuable decision-making tool. You can justify investments, prioritise resources, and demonstrate to leadership that IT is managing uncertainty professionally.

The alternative—managing by gut feeling and hoping nothing goes wrong—is increasingly untenable as businesses depend more heavily on technology. Start small, be consistent, and build from there.

Key takeaways:

• GRC (Governance, Risk, Compliance) helps align IT with business objectives
• Common IT risks include infrastructure failures, cyber threats, and compliance gaps
• The 5x5 risk matrix provides consistent, comparable risk scores
• A risk register should be a living document, not a one-time exercise
• Spreadsheets have limitations—purpose-built tools provide better workflows
• Integrate risk management into projects, incidents, and leadership reporting