Data risk assessments review how an organization protects its sensitive data and identify necessary improvements by revealing potential vulnerabilities, threats and other risks.

Most organizations today count sensitive data among their most valuable assets. It is vital to safeguard the security and privacy of this data to avoid data breaches, intellectual property theft and other compromises that might result in fines, lawsuits and -- in the worst case -- business failure.

Security teams use various tools and technologies to protect sensitive information, and it is critical that these tools and technologies work as intended. This is where a data risk assessment comes in. This review of how an organization protects its sensitive data helps teams identify improvements by searching for potential vulnerabilities, threats and other risks in the security program.

Let's dig into what a data risk assessment is and how to perform one.