7 Risk Mitigation Strategies (+Examples)

It’s Friday evening. You’re about to log off when a Slack message pops up: “Possible breach—investigating now.”

Your heart sinks. You know what’s coming next.

It’s not the threat itself that hurts most—it’s the feeling that you weren’t ready.

That’s where risk mitigation makes all the difference.

Done right, it doesn’t just protect your organisation—it empowers your team to move faster, act smarter, and stay calm under pressure.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through seven real-world risk mitigation strategies—with examples you can apply today.

Whether you’re building your first treatment plan or sharpening your GRC program, this guide will help you lead with clarity and control.

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TL;DR: What is Risk Mitigation?

Risk mitigation means taking action to reduce the impact or likelihood of a risk event. It’s a key part of risk treatment—deciding how to respond once a threat is identified.

To do that well, you need to understand four foundational concepts:

• Inherent risk is the level of risk before any controls are applied. It reflects the raw exposure your business faces.
• Residual risk is the risk that remains after you apply controls. It’s the level of exposure you consciously decide to accept or manage further.
• Risk appetite is how much risk your organisation is willing to take in pursuit of its goals.
• Risk tolerance defines the acceptable boundaries within that appetite—how far you’re willing to stretch before taking action.

These ideas aren’t just theory. They help shape smarter, faster decisions—especially when time is tight and the stakes are high.

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Mitigation isn’t about chasing zero risk. It’s about making risk work for you, not against you.

Here’s a real-world example: I once worked with a SaaS startup that was scaling fast. Their engineering team knew there was a risk of accidental data loss due to weak access controls—but they accepted it, believing the likelihood was low.

That’s a classic case of high inherent risk.

Their risk appetite was high—they were focused on speed over caution—but they hadn’t clearly defined their risk tolerance, so no mitigation was in place.

Then a contractor accidentally deleted a production database. It wasn’t malicious—just a lack of separation of duties.

After that, the team implemented strict access policies, reducing the residual risk.

The lesson? Risk isn’t just theoretical. It hits hardest when it’s poorly understood.

And the threat is real—UK government agencies reported over 15 million cyber attacks in 2024, averaging nearly 40,000 per day.

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7 Risk Mitigation Strategies You Need To Know

If you want to lead with clarity, you need to speak the language of risk.

These seven strategies are more than theory—they're the core moves every modern business needs in its playbook.

Each one gives you a different way to respond to threats.

The key is knowing when—and how—to use them. Let’s break them down.

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1. Risk Acceptance

Risk acceptance means acknowledging a risk and choosing not to take action—often because the cost of mitigation outweighs the potential impact.

It’s a conscious decision, not neglect.

For example:

• Continuing with a legacy system because it’s low-risk and replacing it is costly
• Accepting occasional website downtime during low-traffic periods
• Proceeding with a minor change without a formal review due to low business impact

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2. Risk Avoidance

Avoidance means changing your plans to eliminate the risk entirely. It’s the most effective option when feasible but often the most disruptive.

This could be...

• Cancelling a product launch in a heavily regulated region
• Avoiding use of third-party software with known security issues
• Not storing sensitive customer data to eliminate privacy risks

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3. Risk Transfer

This strategy shifts risk to another party, typically via contracts or insurance.

You’re still responsible, but you’re no longer carrying the full burden.

To transfer risk, you might:

• Purchase cyber liability insurance
• Include indemnity clauses in vendor contracts
• Outsource payroll to reduce internal fraud risk

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4. Risk Sharing

Often confused with transfer, risk sharing distributes responsibility between parties.

It’s common in partnerships and joint ventures.

For example:

• Partnering with another company to co-develop a product
• Splitting data processing risk with a cloud provider under a shared responsibility model
• Sharing costs and controls in a consortium-based project

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5. Risk Buffering

Buffering involves adding extra capacity or safeguards to absorb risk impact.

It’s about building a cushion rather than avoiding risk.

This might include:

• Maintaining backup inventory to handle supply chain delays
• Setting aside financial reserves for unexpected compliance fines
• Adding redundancy in IT systems to prevent single points of failure

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6. Risk Strategising

Strategising takes a step back and aligns risk response with long-term business goals.

It’s not just about survival—it’s about using risk as a strategic advantage. Such as:

• Investing in secure-by-design product development
• Prioritising risk mitigation in areas tied to brand trust (e.g. privacy)
• Choosing markets with high risk but high ROI and planning accordingly

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7. Risk Reduction

This is the most common strategy—lowering the likelihood or impact through controls.

It’s the bread and butter of most security and compliance programs.

For example:

• Implementing regular security awareness training
• Deploying endpoint protection and monitoring tools
• Using role-based access control to limit exposure

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The 7 Step Process To Mitigating Your Risks

Step #1 - Start with the Right Context

Before diving into risk registers and controls, pause. Ask:

• What are we trying to protect?
• What would hurt us the most—financially, operationally, or reputationally?
• What compliance requirements apply?

This context shapes your entire strategy. It’s the foundation of leading framework such as ISO 27001 (specifically ISO 27001 Clause 4, Context of the Organization).

Without it, your risk treatment plan will be guesswork.

"You can’t protect what you haven’t defined."

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Step #2 - Identify and Assess Risks

Bring your team together. Identify threats across these domains:

• Cybersecurity (e.g. phishing, ransomware)
• Compliance and legal
• Operational disruptions
• Human error or insider threat
• Third-party or vendor risks

Then assess them using inherent risk—the likelihood and impact before controls are applied.

For help visualising and prioritising, use our risk assessment matrix. Use a heatmap or risk matrix. Sort high risks from low-priority ones.

Look outward too—regulations, market shifts, geopolitical events. Risk doesn’t stop at your firewall.

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Step #3 -  Choose a Risk Treatment Option

Choose one of the 7 risk treatment strategies discussed above.

Or if you follow ISO 27001, select one of the four ISO 27001-aligned treatment options (Clause 6.1.3):

✅ Avoid the Risk

• Cancel a risky expansion
• Stop using a vulnerable system
• Avoid vendors with poor compliance

🔧 Reduce the Risk

• Enable MFA
• Train staff on phishing
• Apply security patches

🤝 Share the Risk

• Buy cyber insurance
• Use SLAs with vendors
• Joint ventures with shared responsibility

🤷 Accept the Risk

• Minor impact, low likelihood
• Control cost outweighs benefit
• Log rationale in the risk register

Let me give you an example.

I once helped a retail business that had a known vulnerability in an outdated POS system.

They couldn’t afford to replace it right away, so we looked at a blend of treatment options—reducing risk with network segmentation, accepting the residual risk short-term, and planning for full system replacement in the next budget cycle.

Sometimes it’s not about one perfect option. It’s about what’s practical and defendable in your context.

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Remember: "You don’t need to fix every risk. But you do need to own the decision."

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Step #4 - Build a Risk Treatment Plan

This is your blueprint—and it’s mandatory (ISO 27001 Clause 8.3).

Include:

• Risks + chosen treatment
• Actions, owners, deadlines
• Linked controls (Annex A, NIST, etc.)
• Residual risk rating

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Did you know? ISO 27001 adoption continues to grow rapidly, projected to reach over $66 billion globally by 2034, making it a foundational part of modern risk strategies.

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Step #5 - Implement Controls (and Communicate!)

Controls only work when people know they exist.

I remember working with a logistics company where the security team built out solid controls—but never briefed the ops leads.

When an incident hit, no one followed the response plan because they didn’t know it existed.

Communication gaps are just as risky as control gaps.

Types of controls include:

• Technical: firewalls, MFA, encryption
• Administrative: training, policies, reviews
• Physical: access cards, CCTV

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🎯 Story: A fintech firm I worked with rolled out endpoint protection but never trained staff on social engineering. They got hit with a phishing email anyway. Don’t make the same mistake—train like it matters. Because it does.

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Step #6 -  Monitor and Improve

Risk evolves. Your controls must too.

Use KPIs, feedback loops, and audits to:

• Track incidents
• Measure control effectiveness
• Update risk ratings

Here’s what that looks like in practice: One of my clients ran annual risk reviews—on paper. But they never followed up on residual risk levels. When they got hit with a business email compromise, they were shocked to realise the exact scenario had already been logged months earlier. The risk was known—but not watched.

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Tip: Schedule quarterly risk check-ins to catch blind spots early because things change. For example, Ransomware remains a top threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints rising 9% in 2024, according to the FBI.

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Step #7 - Learn and Adapt

Even great plans fail sometimes. That’s normal.

After each incident:

• Run a root cause analysis
• Update controls and register
• Share learnings company-wide

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"Every incident is a chance to get better."

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Common Challenges with Risk Mitigation

Even the best risk mitigation strategies run into obstacles.

Here are some of the most common challenges I’ve seen — and how you can navigate them:

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1. Limited Resources

Time, budget, and skilled people are finite. You can’t fix everything at once.

That’s why prioritisation matters — tackle the risks that matter most and build from there.

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2. Stakeholder Apathy

It’s tough to drive risk discussions when the team doesn’t feel the urgency.

Framing risk in terms of business outcomes (revenue loss, operational downtime) helps get buy-in.

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3. Compliance Overload

Regulations change constantly.

Trying to meet every standard without a strategy can burn your team out.

Focus on what’s material to your business — and align risk treatment with your compliance roadmap.

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4. Siloed Risk Ownership

When no one owns the risk, no one mitigates it.

Assign clear owners and build accountability into your treatment plan.

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5. Outdated Plans

A risk treatment plan isn’t a set-and-forget document.

It needs regular check-ins — especially when systems, vendors, or strategies change.

Many teams struggle here — especially when making one of these common risk management mistakes.

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“You can’t manage risk in a vacuum. It takes people, process, and follow-through.”

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How to Overcome These Challenges

If you’re facing one (or all) of these roadblocks, here’s how I recommend tackling them:

• Prioritise ruthlessly: Focus on the top 3–5 risks that would cause the most damage. Let data guide your attention.
• Connect risk to value: With nearly half of workers falling victim to cyberattacks, tying risk to real-world impact helps teams take it seriously. Frame every risk discussion in terms of customer impact, cost, and trust. That’s what gets leadership listening.
• Embed ownership: Assign risk owners—not just departments. Accountability drives action.
• Automate the boring stuff: Use tools to streamline evidence collection, reminders, and reporting. Free your team to focus on strategy.
• Review regularly: Set a quarterly calendar for risk reviews. Even 30 minutes a quarter is better than letting the plan gather dust.

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“Small, consistent improvements beat big, reactive overhauls every time.”

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Quick Wins: Start Today

Sometimes the best way to get unstuck is to take small, focused action. These quick wins help you move the needle without needing a major overhaul:

• 📋 Re-score your top 5 risks using inherent vs. residual risk to validate priorities
• 👥 Add “risk review” to your next team meeting — even 15 minutes makes a difference
• 📂 Review vendor SLAs for gaps in responsibility, especially around shared risks
• 🧠 Run a 15-minute “what-if” drill with a department lead to test incident readiness
• 🔗 Map your top 3 risks to ISO 27001 clauses to connect mitigation to compliance

“Start small, stay consistent — and let momentum do the rest.”

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Conclusion & Key Takeaways

Risk Is Inevitable. Regret Isn’t.

Every business faces threats. But the real danger? Being caught unprepared.

When you build risk mitigation into your daily operations, you gain more than protection—you gain speed, resilience, and trust.

Here’s how to take the lead:

• 🛡️ Know your thresholds: Define risk appetite and tolerance so you can act with clarity under pressure
• 🧩 Pick the right strategy: Accept, reduce, avoid, transfer—know which tool fits each threat
• 📊 Track what matters: Use real-time data and residual risk scores to steer your decisions
• 🧠 Train your people: Controls fail if your team doesn’t know what to do when it counts
• 🔄 Improve consistently: Schedule quarterly reviews, run “what-if” drills, and adjust as you grow

Risk mitigation isn’t about eliminating uncertainty—it’s about leading through it.

👉 Ready to strengthen your GRC strategy one smart move at a time? Subscribe to the GRCMana Newsletter for weekly insights, tools, and real-world tactics that help you stay sharp and in control.

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