Our risk assessments follow the NIST Special Publication 800-30 framework, which organizes the process into four phases: preparation, risk assessment execution, communication of results, and ongoing maintenance. During preparation, we define the assessment scope, identify stakeholders, select risk models and analytical approaches, and establish the organizational context including mission objectives, risk tolerance thresholds, and regulatory obligations specific to your Raleigh operation.

Execution involves threat identification (what adversaries and events could harm your assets), vulnerability identification (what weaknesses could be exploited), likelihood determination (how probable is each threat-vulnerability pair), impact analysis (what damage would result), and risk determination (combining likelihood and impact into quantified risk scores). The output is a comprehensive risk register that ranks every identified risk and maps it to the specific compliance control requirements that apply to your organization.

You cannot assess risk to assets you do not know exist. Our assessment begins with a comprehensive asset inventory that catalogs hardware, software, cloud services, data repositories, network infrastructure, and human resources. Each asset is classified by business criticality, data sensitivity, and regulatory scope. Customer PII protected by the NC Identity Theft Protection Act, ePHI governed by HIPAA, CUI subject to CMMC, and financial records under GLBA are each tagged with their applicable regulatory requirements.

For Raleigh organizations with complex environments spanning on-premises data centers, multiple cloud providers, and distributed remote workforces, our discovery process uses network scanning, cloud API enumeration, endpoint agent inventory, and stakeholder interviews to achieve complete coverage. Assets are mapped to business processes so that risk scores reflect not just technical vulnerability but operational impact.

Generic threat models fail because they treat every organization the same. A Raleigh defense contractor faces fundamentally different threats than a Durham healthcare practice or a Cary fintech startup. Our threat modeling leverages industry-specific intelligence to identify the adversaries, tactics, techniques, and procedures most likely to target your organization. We map threats to the MITRE ATT&CK framework to provide a structured view of attacker capabilities relevant to your sector.

For Triangle businesses, we incorporate threat intelligence specific to the region: nation-state campaigns targeting defense intellectual property along the Fort Liberty corridor, ransomware groups that have attacked NC healthcare systems, financially motivated attackers exploiting the Triangle's banking and fintech concentration, and supply-chain threats propagating through the interconnected technology ecosystem that defines Research Triangle Park.

Traditional risk scoring relies on analyst judgment, which introduces inconsistency and bias. Our AI-powered risk engine processes threat intelligence feeds, vulnerability databases, industry breach statistics, and your specific asset and control data to generate risk scores calibrated against empirical attack data. Machine learning models predict which threats are most likely to materialize in your environment based on patterns observed across thousands of similar organizations.

Predictive analysis identifies emerging risks before they manifest. When a new threat campaign begins targeting organizations similar to yours, our AI platform elevates the associated risk scores and recommends preemptive controls. This forward-looking approach transforms risk assessment from a periodic backward-looking exercise into a continuous, dynamic risk management program that adapts as the threat landscape evolves.

Risk identification without a treatment plan is an academic exercise. For every risk in the register, we define a treatment strategy: mitigate through new controls, transfer through insurance, accept with documented executive approval, or avoid through business-process changes. Each mitigation recommendation includes specific technical and operational steps, estimated cost, implementation timeline, and expected residual risk after implementation.

Our remediation roadmap sequences investments for maximum risk reduction. Quick wins that close critical gaps in days are prioritized alongside longer-term initiatives that require budget cycles and project planning. The roadmap integrates compliance milestones so that risk reduction and regulatory readiness advance in parallel rather than competing for resources.

A risk assessment captures a snapshot in time. Business environments, technology stacks, and threat landscapes change continuously. Our continuous risk monitoring program updates risk scores in real time as new vulnerabilities are discovered, new threats emerge, and your environment evolves. Dashboard views give leadership current risk posture metrics without waiting for the next annual assessment cycle.

We conduct formal annual reassessments that satisfy HIPAA, CMMC, and SOC 2 annual review requirements. Between cycles, our AI monitoring platform tracks control effectiveness, flags emerging risks, and generates alerts when risk scores exceed defined thresholds. This hybrid approach provides both the formal documentation auditors require and the operational agility that real-world security demands.