Why Risk Management Matters
Security compliance frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001 require your company to not only understand the risks it faces, but also maintain a formal risk register and show how those risks are being managed.
You’re expected to:
Identify possible security, operational, and compliance risks
Evaluate the likelihood and impact of each risk
Define treatment plans and assign ownership
Periodically review and update the register
ComplyJet helps you do all of this — quickly, clearly, and in one place.
Getting Started with the Risk Module
On the Risk Management page, you’ll see a library of pre-defined risk scenarios. These include common threats like data breaches, insider fraud, third-party failures, and more.
Start by reviewing this Risk Library and selecting scenarios that are relevant to your business. Once selected, they’ll be added to your Risk Register, where you can assess and manage them.
Assessing a Risk
For each risk in your register, follow this simple flow to assess and treat it:
Risk Details
When was the risk identified?
What does it describe?
What’s the likelihood of it occurring?
What would be the impact if it does?
Treatment Plan
Decide what your company is doing to handle the risk:Mitigate: Add internal controls to reduce the impact or likelihood
Transfer: Outsource the risk to a third party (e.g., insurance or vendor)
Avoid: Change business processes to eliminate the risk altogether
Accept: Acknowledge the risk and decide to live with it
Residual Risk Analysis
After implementing the treatment, reassess:What is the remaining likelihood?
What is the residual impact?
You can add notes, link internal controls, and assign a risk owner to each item. The goal is to demonstrate that your team has thoughtfully considered each scenario and taken reasonable action.
Understanding the Risk Matrix
As you assess and complete risks in your register, ComplyJet automatically generates a Risk Matrix to help visualize your organization’s overall risk posture.
The matrix is split into two views:
Current Risk
This matrix shows the initial risk level before any treatment has been applied. Each risk is plotted based on two key inputs:
Likelihood: How likely the risk is to occur (from Very Unlikely to Very Likely)
Impact: How severe the consequences would be if it happens (from Very Low to Very High)
The red cells represent high-risk scenarios that require immediate attention. For example, in the image above, we can see that 4 risks fall in the Very High Impact + Likely zone — these are critical.
Residual Risk
Once you’ve defined a treatment plan (e.g., mitigation, avoidance, transfer, or acceptance), the residual matrix shows the risk level after controls are applied.
This helps you evaluate how effective your controls are and whether further action is needed. A successful treatment will usually shift a risk from the red zone in the Current Risk Matrix to a lower-priority yellow/green zone in the Residual Risk Matrix.
How to Use This
Prioritize addressing risks in the top-right (high impact + high likelihood).
Review residual risks regularly to ensure they remain within acceptable levels.
Use this matrix during audits to demonstrate a thoughtful and structured risk assessment process.
The Risk Matrix is a powerful tool that gives you and your auditor a snapshot of your company’s overall security risk posture — before and after mitigation.
Keeping Your Risk Register Complete
You’re expected to maintain a well-rounded set of risks in your register. For example, SOC 2 recommends including scenarios related to fraud, insider threats, system downtime, and vendor risk.
Aim to include 10–15 meaningful risk scenarios, with proper assessment and treatment plans — especially for areas critical to your business. This helps your auditor clearly see that you’ve performed a thorough risk analysis.
Final Goal
To stay compliant and resilient:
Populate your risk register with relevant scenarios
Assess and treat each risk thoughtfully
Keep residual risk analysis up to date
Review and update your register periodically
ComplyJet gives you the tools to do this systematically — and to prove it during an audit.