The phone case and the photo backup
A phone case makes a broken screen less likely. A backup of your photos does not stop you losing your phone. It gets your photos back after you lose it.
Both are ways of dealing with risk. One reduces the risk. The other is a plan for when it happens.
In software, you need both.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Mitigation | Action that makes a risk smaller or less harmful. | check every input to stop attacks |
| Contingency plan | A plan for what to do if a risk happens anyway. | a spare developer who is ready to help |
| Monitoring | Watching the risks and checking them again and again. | review the register each week |
| Backup | A copy of data kept safe in another place. | a nightly copy in the cloud |
| Confidentiality | Only the right people can see the data. | a password for the medical records |
| Integrity | The data is correct and has not been changed by mistake or on purpose. | the bill amount cannot be edited by a customer |
| Availability | The system and data are there when people need them. | the site works on a Monday morning |
| Business continuity | Keeping the important work going during a problem. | staff use paper orders while the system is down |
| Disaster recovery | Getting the systems and data back after a big failure. | rebuild the server from a backup |
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Quick check: reduce or recover?
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Quick check: reduce or recover?
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Four ways to respond to a risk
| Response | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Avoid | Change the plan so the risk cannot happen | Do not collect card details. Let a payment company do it. |
| Reduce | Make it less likely or less harmful | Test early. Train the team. Keep backups. |
| Share | Pass some of the risk to someone else | Buy insurance (a company pays you if something goes wrong). Use a trusted cloud service. |
| Accept | Do nothing, and watch it | A small risk with a low score |
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Which response is it?
Have a go
Which response is it?
6 questionsHave a go: your answers are marked here and then forgotten. Sign in if you would like your score kept, and to pick up where you left off.Sign in to keep your score
Your answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.