Introducing the CROC Levels: Operationalizing Cyber Risk Management

When I created the concept of Cyber Risk Operations Center (CROC), the intention was simple but ambitious: to operationalize the Cyber Risk Management Lifecycle (CRML).

Too often, cyber risk management remained stuck at the strategic or policy level — defined in documents, frameworks, and heatmaps, but not embedded in daily operations. The CRML gave us a structured way to think about how cyber risk should be managed over time — from identification to treatment to monitoring — but we needed a way to bring it to life. That’s where the CROC came in.

CROC: From Concept to Capability

The CROC is to cyber risk what the SOC is to detection and response. It’s a purpose-built structure designed to monitor, measure, and manage cyber risk in real-time. Just as the SOC turns alerts into actions, the CROC turns risk telemetry into risk decisions.

To achieve this, the CROC operates using Cyber RiskOps — the discipline that connects telemetry, intelligence, and business context to create a continuous flow of actionable insight. This transforms risk from something static and annual into something dynamic, continuous, and truly operational.

But as we started implementing this concept with organizations of different sizes and levels of maturity, another need emerged: we needed a way to assess the maturity of CROC itself.

That led to the development of the Cyber Risk Operational Model (CROM) — a framework for identifying how far along an organization is in its ability to manage cyber risk operationally. But a model alone isn’t enough. To operationalize effectively, teams need clarity of scope, function, and service expectations.

That’s why we’re now introducing the CROC Levels.

The Three Levels of CROC

The CROC Levels provide a clear, practical way to structure cyber risk operations based on the needs and capabilities of the organization. Each level reflects a deeper integration of cyber risk into operational workflows, and a higher degree of automation, business alignment, and resilience.

CROC Level 1: Cyber Risk Operations Foundation

This is where the journey begins. At Level 1, organizations establish the core building blocks of cyber risk visibility and control. This includes:

• Continuous asset discovery

• Risk Based Vulnerability Management and remediation tracking

• Real-time cyber risk scoring

• Compliance posture monitoring

• Basic risk event triage with prioritization

• Weekly and monthly dashboards

The focus here is on creating a stable operational baseline — turning risk management from a spreadsheet exercise into a living process with measurable outputs.

CROC Level 2: Continuous Cyber Risk Operations

At Level 2, cyber risk operations become real-time and resilient. Organizations stand up a 24/7 Cyber Risk Operations Center that:

• Monitors and responds to cyber risk events around the clock

• Correlates signals across platforms

• Automates response actions based on thresholds

• Manages the full lifecycle of cyber risk incidents

• Integrates threat intelligence to inform prioritization

Here, Cyber RiskOps becomes embedded in daily operations, and KPIs are defined not just by detection — but by cyber risk reduction.

CROC Level 3: Integrated Cyber Risk Management

This level marks the strategic alignment of cyber risk with business objectives. Cyber risk becomes a measurable, reportable, and governable business function. Capabilities at this level include:

• Risk quantification and financial modeling

• Protection Level Agreements (PLAs) for business-aligned thresholds

• Scenario planning and impact simulation

• Executive and board-level dashboards

• Continuous validation of controls and mitigations

At Level 3, the CROC doesn’t just support security — it informs strategy.

Why CROC Levels Matter

Cyber risk is no longer just an IT problem — it’s a business exposure, a financial liability, and a board-level concern. But until we operationalize it with the same discipline we apply to detection and response, we’ll remain reactive.

The CROC Levels give organizations a path forward — whether they’re just starting with foundational telemetry or looking to align cyber risk with enterprise value.

This is not about adding more tools or more noise. It’s about transforming cyber risk into a function that can be measured, monitored, and managed — continuously, operationally, and strategically.

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Castro, J. (2025). Cyber RiskOps: Bridging Strategy and Operations in Cybersecurity. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388194428 DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.36216.97282/1

Castro, J. (2025). Cyber Risk Operational Model (CROM): From Static Risk Mapping to Proactive Cyber Risk Operations. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390490235 DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.15956.92801

Castro, J. (2024). From Reactive to Proactive: The Critical Need for a Cyber Risk Operations Center (CROC). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388194441 DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.27408.93445/1

Castro, J. (2024). Integrating Cyber Risk Management to your Cybersecurity Strategy: Operationalizing with SOC & CROC. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388493453 DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.30164.72328/1

Castro, J. (2025). Cyber Risk Operations Center (CROC) Process and Operational Guide. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389350613 DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.19164.09600