Quick Answer
The answer is risk avoidance, risk reduction, and risk transfer. According to ISO 31000, the four valid risk treatment options are risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk transfer, and risk retention, meaning any three of these are correct. Risk avoidance involves discontinuing the activity that creates the risk, while risk reduction implements controls to lower likelihood or impact, and risk transfer shifts the financial burden to a third party, such as through insurance. On the CISSP exam, this concept tests your grasp of the risk management framework, often appearing in questions that ask you to distinguish valid treatments from distractors like risk acceptance or risk mitigation, which are not ISO 31000 terms. A common trap is confusing risk retention with risk acceptance—retention is a deliberate choice to bear the risk, not passive acceptance. To remember the four options, use the mnemonic A-R-T-R: Avoid, Reduce, Transfer, Retain.
This CISSP practice question tests your understanding of security and risk management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which THREE of the following are valid risk treatment options according to ISO 31000? (Select exactly 3)
Risk retention
Why wrong: Retention is another term for acceptance, but ISO 31000 uses 'acceptance'.
Risk review
Why wrong: Review is part of monitoring, not a treatment option.
Risk reduction
Correct - Implementing controls to reduce likelihood or impact.
Risk transfer
Correct - Sharing risk with another party (e.g., insurance).
Risk avoidance
Correct - Avoiding activities that give rise to risk.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Risk reduction
ISO 31000 defines risk treatment options as risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk transfer, and risk retention. Risk reduction (option C) is a valid treatment that involves implementing controls to lower the likelihood or impact of a risk, such as deploying firewalls or encryption to mitigate a security threat.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Risk retention
Why it's wrong here
Retention is another term for acceptance, but ISO 31000 uses 'acceptance'.
Risk review
Why it's wrong here
Review is part of monitoring, not a treatment option.
Risk reduction
Why this is correct
Correct - Implementing controls to reduce likelihood or impact.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Risk transfer
Why this is correct
Correct - Sharing risk with another party (e.g., insurance).
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Risk avoidance
Why this is correct
Correct - Avoiding activities that give rise to risk.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse 'risk review' (a monitoring activity) with a treatment option, or incorrectly think 'risk retention' is not a valid option when it is explicitly listed in ISO 31000, but the question requires selecting exactly three from the given set, so retention is excluded in this specific answer set.
Detailed technical explanation
Under ISO 31000, risk treatment options are formally categorized as avoidance (eliminating the risk by not engaging in the activity), reduction (mitigating likelihood or impact via controls), transfer (shifting risk to a third party, e.g., insurance or outsourcing), and retention (accepting the risk without active mitigation). In practice, organizations often combine these, such as reducing residual risk after transfer, and must document the treatment plan in a risk register per ISO 31000:2018 Section 6.5.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A developer is choosing between AES-256 (symmetric) and RSA-2048 (asymmetric) for encrypting a large file that will be sent to a partner. Symmetric encryption is fast but requires key exchange; asymmetric is slower but solves the key distribution problem. A hybrid approach — encrypt the file with AES, encrypt the AES key with RSA — is standard. Questions like this test whether you understand when each approach applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Security and Risk Management — This question tests Security and Risk Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Risk reduction — ISO 31000 defines risk treatment options as risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk transfer, and risk retention. Risk reduction (option C) is a valid treatment that involves implementing controls to lower the likelihood or impact of a risk, such as deploying firewalls or encryption to mitigate a security threat.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CISSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISSP exam.
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