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Governance, Risk, Audit & Privacy · Intermediate

Key Risk Indicator (KRI)

Metric that provides early warning of increasing risk exposure.

Definition

KRIs are forward-looking measures tied to specific risks and thresholds, such as percentage of unpatched systems, privileged accounts without review, or vendor assessments overdue. Effective KRIs are relevant, measurable, predictive, and comparable over time. Breaching a KRI threshold triggers escalation.

Example

The number of critical vulnerabilities older than 30 days serves as a KRI for exploitation risk.

Exam tip

KRIs predict risk; KPIs measure performance; KGIs measure achievement of goals.

Related terms