IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v291y2021i1p349-364.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decision support model for cybersecurity risk planning: A two-stage stochastic programming framework featuring firms, government, and attacker

Author

Listed:
  • Paul, Jomon A.
  • Zhang, Minjiao

Abstract

We study the decision-making problem in cybersecurity risk planning concerning resource allocation strategies by government and firms. Aiming to minimize the social costs incurred due to cyberattacks, we consider not only the monetary investment costs but also the deprivation costs due to detection and containment delays. We also consider the effect of positive externalities of the overall cybersecurity investment on an individual firm’s resource allocation attitude. The optimal decision guides the firms on the countermeasure portfolio mix (detection vs. prevention vs. containment) and government intelligence investments while accounting for actions of a strategic attacker and firm budgetary limitations. We accomplish this via a two-stage stochastic programming model. In the first stage, firms decide on prevention and detection investments aided by government intelligence investments that improve detection effectiveness. In the second stage, once the attacker’s actions are realized, firms decide on containment investments after evaluating the cyberattacks. We demonstrate the applicability of our model via a case study. We find that externality can reduce the government’s intelligence investment and that the firm’s detection investment receives priority over containment. We also note that while prevention effectiveness has a decreasing impact on intelligence, it is beneficial to spend more on intelligence given its increasing returns to the reduction of social costs related to cybersecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul, Jomon A. & Zhang, Minjiao, 2021. "Decision support model for cybersecurity risk planning: A two-stage stochastic programming framework featuring firms, government, and attacker," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(1), pages 349-364.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:291:y:2021:i:1:p:349-364
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221720307992
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schilling, Andreas & Werners, Brigitte, 2016. "Optimal selection of IT security safeguards from an existing knowledge base," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(1), pages 318-327.
    2. Bagchi, Aniruddha & Paul, Jomon A., 2017. "Espionage and the optimal standard of the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program in maritime security," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(1), pages 89-107.
    3. Esther Gal-Or & Anindya Ghose, 2005. "The Economic Incentives for Sharing Security Information," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 186-208, June.
    4. Gordon, Lawrence A. & Loeb, Martin P. & Lucyshyn, William, 2003. "Sharing information on computer systems security: An economic analysis," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 461-485.
    5. Aniruddha Bagchi & Jomon Aliyas Paul, 2014. "Optimal Allocation of Resources in Airport Security: Profiling vs. Screening," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 219-233, April.
    6. Lee, Jongkuk & Palekar, Udatta S. & Qualls, William, 2011. "Supply chain efficiency and security: Coordination for collaborative investment in technology," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(3), pages 568-578, May.
    7. Aniruddha Bagchi & Tridib Bandyopadhyay, 2018. "Role of Intelligence Inputs in Defending Against Cyber Warfare and Cyberterrorism," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 15(3), pages 174-193, September.
    8. Kjell Hausken, 2006. "Returns to information security investment: The effect of alternative information security breach functions on optimal investment and sensitivity to vulnerability," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 8(5), pages 338-349, December.
    9. Simon, Jay & Omar, Ayman, 2020. "Cybersecurity investments in the supply chain: Coordination and a strategic attacker," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 282(1), pages 161-171.
    10. Sam Ransbotham & Sabyasachi Mitra, 2009. "Choice and Chance: A Conceptual Model of Paths to Information Security Compromise," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 121-139, March.
    11. Rakes, Terry R. & Deane, Jason K. & Paul Rees, Loren, 2012. "IT security planning under uncertainty for high-impact events," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 79-88, January.
    12. Nagurney, Anna & Shukla, Shivani, 2017. "Multifirm models of cybersecurity investment competition vs. cooperation and network vulnerability," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 260(2), pages 588-600.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Suyuan Luo & Tsan‐Ming Choi, 2022. "E‐commerce supply chains with considerations of cyber‐security: Should governments play a role?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(5), pages 2107-2126, May.
    2. Li, Qing & Li, Mingchu & Gong, Zhongqiang & Tian, Yuan & Zhang, Runfa, 2022. "Locating and protecting interdependent facilities to hedge against multiple non-cooperative limited choice attackers," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    3. Zhang, Xiaoyu & Xu, Maochao & Su, Jianxi & Zhao, Peng, 2023. "Structural models for fog computing based internet of things architectures with insurance and risk management applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(3), pages 1273-1291.
    4. Dacorogna, Michel & Debbabi, Nehla & Kratz, Marie, 2023. "Building up cyber resilience by better grasping cyber risk via a new algorithm for modelling heavy-tailed data," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 311(2), pages 708-729.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yosra Miaoui & Noureddine Boudriga, 2019. "Enterprise security investment through time when facing different types of vulnerabilities," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 261-300, April.
    2. Yosra Miaoui & Noureddine Boudriga, 0. "Enterprise security investment through time when facing different types of vulnerabilities," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-40.
    3. Kjell Hausken, 2017. "Security Investment, Hacking, and Information Sharing between Firms and between Hackers," Games, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, May.
    4. Xing Gao & Weijun Zhong & Shue Mei, 2014. "A game-theoretic analysis of information sharing and security investment for complementary firms," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 65(11), pages 1682-1691, November.
    5. Lu Xu & Yanhui Li & Qi Yao, 2022. "Information security investment and purchase decision for personalized products," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2619-2635, September.
    6. Xing Gao & Weijun Zhong, 2016. "A differential game approach to security investment and information sharing in a competitive environment," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(6), pages 511-526, June.
    7. Guang Zhu & Hu Liu & Mining Feng, 2018. "An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach for Assessing Privacy Protection in mHealth Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-27, October.
    8. Yong Wu & Gengzhong Feng & Richard Y. K. Fung, 2018. "Comparison of information security decisions under different security and business environments," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(5), pages 747-761, May.
    9. Schilling, Andreas & Werners, Brigitte, 2016. "Optimal selection of IT security safeguards from an existing knowledge base," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(1), pages 318-327.
    10. Xing Gao & Weijun Zhong & Shue Mei, 2015. "Security investment and information sharing under an alternative security breach probability function," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 423-438, April.
    11. Kjell Hausken, 2018. "Proactivity and Retroactivity of Firms and Information Sharing of Hackers," International Game Theory Review (IGTR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(01), pages 1-30, March.
    12. Levitin, Gregory & Hausken, Kjell & Taboada, Heidi A. & Coit, David W., 2012. "Data survivability vs. security in information systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 19-27.
    13. Alessandro Fedele & Cristian Roner, 2022. "Dangerous games: A literature review on cybersecurity investments," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 157-187, February.
    14. Simon, Jay & Omar, Ayman, 2020. "Cybersecurity investments in the supply chain: Coordination and a strategic attacker," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 282(1), pages 161-171.
    15. Xing Gao & Weijun Zhong, 2016. "Economic incentives in security information sharing: the effects of market structures," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 361-377, December.
    16. Kjell Hausken, 2017. "Information Sharing Among Cyber Hackers in Successive Attacks," International Game Theory Review (IGTR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(02), pages 1-33, June.
    17. Bagchi, Aniruddha & Paul, Jomon A., 2021. "National security vs. human rights: A game theoretic analysis of the tension between these objectives," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(2), pages 790-805.
    18. Guang Zhu & Hu Liu & Mining Feng, 2018. "Sustainability of Information Security Investment in Online Social Networks: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-19, September.
    19. Xing Gao & Weijun Zhong, 2015. "Information security investment for competitive firms with hacker behavior and security requirements," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 235(1), pages 277-300, December.
    20. Suyuan Luo & Tsan‐Ming Choi, 2022. "E‐commerce supply chains with considerations of cyber‐security: Should governments play a role?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(5), pages 2107-2126, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:291:y:2021:i:1:p:349-364. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.