Mathew Nicho, Christopher D. McDermott, H. Fakhry, S. Girija
{"title":"A System Dynamics Approach to Evaluate Advanced Persistent Threat Vectors","authors":"Mathew Nicho, Christopher D. McDermott, H. Fakhry, S. Girija","doi":"10.4018/ijisp.324064","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Cyber-attacks targeting high-profile entities are focused, persistent, and employ common vectors with varying levels of sophistication to exploit social-technical vulnerabilities. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) deploy zero-day malware against such targets to gain entry through multiple security layers, exploiting the dynamic interplay of vulnerabilities in the target network. System dynamics (SD) offers an alternative approach to analyze non-linear, complex, and dynamic social-technical systems. This research applied SD to three high-profile APT attacks - Equifax, Carphone, and Zomato - to identify and simulate socio-technical variables leading to breaches. By modeling APTs using SD, managers can evaluate threats, predict attacks, and reduce damage by mitigating specific socio-technical cues. This study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of cyber threats, making it the first to apply SD to APTs.","PeriodicalId":44332,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Information Security and Privacy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Information Security and Privacy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijisp.324064","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cyber-attacks targeting high-profile entities are focused, persistent, and employ common vectors with varying levels of sophistication to exploit social-technical vulnerabilities. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) deploy zero-day malware against such targets to gain entry through multiple security layers, exploiting the dynamic interplay of vulnerabilities in the target network. System dynamics (SD) offers an alternative approach to analyze non-linear, complex, and dynamic social-technical systems. This research applied SD to three high-profile APT attacks - Equifax, Carphone, and Zomato - to identify and simulate socio-technical variables leading to breaches. By modeling APTs using SD, managers can evaluate threats, predict attacks, and reduce damage by mitigating specific socio-technical cues. This study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of cyber threats, making it the first to apply SD to APTs.
期刊介绍:
As information technology and the Internet become more and more ubiquitous and pervasive in our daily lives, there is an essential need for a more thorough understanding of information security and privacy issues and concerns. The International Journal of Information Security and Privacy (IJISP) creates and fosters a forum where research in the theory and practice of information security and privacy is advanced. IJISP publishes high quality papers dealing with a wide range of issues, ranging from technical, legal, regulatory, organizational, managerial, cultural, ethical and human aspects of information security and privacy, through a balanced mix of theoretical and empirical research articles, case studies, book reviews, tutorials, and editorials. This journal encourages submission of manuscripts that present research frameworks, methods, methodologies, theory development and validation, case studies, simulation results and analysis, technological architectures, infrastructure issues in design, and implementation and maintenance of secure and privacy preserving initiatives.