Microsoft outlines eight point risk review framework for CISOs

According to Microsoft Security Blog, eight points shape a practical risk-review framework for CISOs: Assets, Applications, Good quality authentication, Good quality authorization, Network isolation, Detections, Auditing, and Things not to miss.

The piece explains that starting with asset identification sets the review’s scope, followed by identifying applications that could become attack targets, and then ensuring authentication and authorization are tightly controlled to limit token powers and prevent broad access. It also stresses the need for network isolation to minimise attacker movement, alongside thoughtful detections and auditing to verify and understand any incidents.

The author notes that you should not overlook backups, support systems, or development and test environments, since weaker controls there can create entry points. As context, the post cites that between April 2024 and April 2025, Microsoft stopped $4 billion in fraud attempts, and that the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025 records about 100 trillion security signals per day, a 40% rise since 2023.