Scenario 8: Biotide is a pharmaceutical company that produces medication for treating different kinds of diseases. The company was founded in 1997, and since then it has contributed in solving some of the most challenging healthcare issues.
As a pharmaceutical company, Biotide operates in an environment associated with complex risks. As such, the company focuses on risk management strategies that ensure the effective management of risks to develop high-quality medication. With the large amount of sensitive information generated from the company, managing information security risks is certainly an important part of the overall risk management process. Biotide utilizes a publicly available methodology for conducting risk assessment related to information assets. This methodology helps Biotide to perform risk assessment by taking into account its objectives and mission. Following this method, the risk management process is organized into four activity areas, each of them involving a set of activities, as provided below.
1. Activity area 1: The organization determines the criteria against which the effects of a risk occurring can be evaluated. In addition, the impacts of risks are also defined.
2. Activity area 2: The purpose of the second activity area is to create information asset profiles. The organization identifies critical information assets, their owners, as well as the security requirements for those assets. After determining the security requirements, the organization prioritizes them. In addition, the organization identifies the systems that store, transmit, or process information.
3. Activity area 3: The organization identifies the areas of concern which initiates the risk identification process. In addition, the organization analyzes and determines the probability of the occurrence of possible threat scenarios.
4. Activity area 4: The organization identifies and evaluates the risks. In addition, the criteria specified in activity area 1 is reviewed and the consequences of the areas of concerns are evaluated. Lastly, the level of identified risks is determined.
The table below provides an example of how Biotide assesses the risks related to its information assets following this methodology:

According to the risk assessment methodology used by Biotide, what else should be performed during activity area 4? Refer to scenario 8.
Correct Answer: B
In Activity Area 4 of the risk assessment methodology used by Biotide, the focus is on identifying and evaluating risks, reviewing the criteria defined in Activity Area 1, and evaluating the consequences of identified areas of concern to determine the level of risk. However, an essential part of completing a risk assessment process also includes determining appropriate mitigation strategies for the identified risks.
ISO/IEC 27005 provides guidance on selecting and implementing security measures to manage the risk to an acceptable level. Therefore, selecting a mitigation strategy for the identified risk profiles is a crucial next step. This involves deciding on controls or measures that will reduce either the likelihood of the threat exploiting the vulnerability or the impact of the risk should it occur. Thus, the correct answer is B.
Reference:
ISO/IEC 27005:2018, Section 8.3.5 "Risk treatment" outlines the process of selecting appropriate risk treatment options (mitigation strategies) once risks have been identified and evaluated.