Risk assessments are an essential element of overall risk management along with providing the basis for many of your policies, plans, and programs like your information security program, audit program, and business continuity plan. The basis for the risk assessment mandated by GLBA in 2000 was initially thought to be oriented to IT, thus the requirement for an IT Risk Assessment after all it is the IT examiners that are evaluating it. However, today the focus has shifted to an enterprise-wide information security risk assessment that encompasses the entire organization where IT is a key component. Needless to say the change in nomenclature and focus has created some confusion and the fact that the regulators do not prescribe to any specific format, only content, many organizations are finding their assessment being criticized during their exams and audits. A properly structured enterprise-wide information security risk assessment will not only help you focus your resources and budget dollars where they are needed, but also provide the basis for your information security program and audit program. The right approach will also get you off to a running start on your business continuity risk assessment as well.