By definition, project risks are indecisive events or conditions that, if occurs has a harmful effect on project’s objectives. Contrasting, positive uncertain events are called opportunities. More, risk analysis aims its practices to be tailored to the project and congruent with the organizational culture, processes and assets. Risks are lopsidedly significant, that's why it is very important to filter and prioritize risks for further attention. Risk analysis is essential for successful project management and aims to recognize and prioritize risks in advance of their occurrence, and provide action-oriented information to project managers. This work will focus on the risk analysis of distributed software projects. In developing a common frame of reference concerning management of distributed software projects, the conceptual foundations of previous research are analyzed. Additionally, practice and research-related challenges for managing distributed software projects are presented. Addressing these challenges is the crucial area of concern for this study.