Risk analysis is a technique to identify and assess factors that may jeopardize the success of a project or achieving a goal. This technique also helps define preventive measures to reduce the probability of these factors from occurring and identify countermeasures to successfully deal with these constraints when they develop.

One of the more popular methods to perform a Risk Analysis in the computer field is called FRAP (Facilitated Risk Analysis Process)

See document sp800-30.pdf [1] for more information from the NIST related to Risk Analysis when related to the computer field.