What is the primary goal of a risk management program?

The primary goal of a risk management program is to balance costs between risks and countermeasures. This involves identifying potential risks that could impact an organization's assets, operations, and environment. By assessing these risks, the organization can determine the appropriate countermeasures or controls to mitigate them.

Balancing costs is crucial because it ensures that the organization allocates resources efficiently. Implementing countermeasures can often involve significant expenditures; thus, it's important to evaluate whether the financial investment in these measures is justified by the potential reduction in risk. The effectiveness of a risk management program is measured by how well it protects the organization from potential losses while maintaining a cost-effective approach.

In this context, developing a disaster recovery plan, while essential, is just one aspect of a broader risk management framework. It does not encompass the overall objective of balancing costs and risks. Similarly, calculating ALE (Annual Loss Expectancy) is a tool used within risk management but does not represent the overarching goal of the entire program. Therefore, the best representation of the primary goal of a risk management program is to balance costs between risks and countermeasures.