| 1. |
- Abbas, Haider, et al.
(författare)
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A Structured Approach for Internalizing Externalities Caused by IT Security Mechanisms
- 2010
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Ingår i: IEEE ETCS 2010. - Wuhan, China. ; , s. 149-153
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organizations relying on Information Technology for their business processes have to employ various Security Mechanisms (Authentication, Authorization, Hashing, Encryption etc) to achieve their organizational security objectives of data confidentiality, integrity and availability. These security mechanisms except from their intended role of increased security level for this organization may also affect other systems outside the organization in a positive or negative manner called externalities. Externalities emerge in several ways i.e. direct cost, direct benefit, indirect cost and indirect benefit. Organizations barely consider positive externalities although they can be beneficial and the negative externalities that could create vulnerabilities are simply ignored. In this paper, we will present an infrastructure to streamline information security externalities that appear dynamically for an organization
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| 2. |
- Abbas, Haider, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptability Infrastructure for Bridging IT Security Evaluation and Options Theory
- 2009
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Ingår i: ACM- IEEE SIN 2009 International Conference on Security of Information and Networks. - North Cyprus : ACM Press. - 9781605584126
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The constantly rising threats in IT infrastructure raise many concerns for an organization, altering security requirements according to dynamically changing environment, need of midcourse decision management and deliberate evaluation of security measures are most striking. Common Criteria for IT security evaluation has long been considered to be victimized by uncertain IT infrastructure and considered resource hungry, complex and time consuming process. Considering this aspect we have continued our research quest for analyzing the opportunities to empower IT security evaluation process using Real Options thinking. The focus of our research is not only the applicability of real options analysis in IT security evaluation but also observing its implications in various domains including IT security investments and risk management. We find it motivating and worth doing to use an established method from corporate finance i.e. real options and utilize its rule of thumb technique as a road map to counter uncertainty issues for evaluation of IT products. We believe employing options theory in security evaluation will provide the intended benefits. i.e. i) manage dynamically changing security requirements ii) accelerating evaluation process iii) midcourse decision management. Having all the capabilities of effective uncertainty management, options theory follows work procedures based on mathematical calculations quite different from information security work processes. In this paper, we will address the diversities between the work processes of security evaluation and real options analysis. We present an adaptability infrastructure to bridge the gap and make them coherent with each other. This liaison will transform real options concepts into a compatible mode that provides grounds to target IT security evaluation and common criteria issues. We will address ESAM system as an example for illustrations and applicability of the concepts.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Abbas, Haider, et al.
(författare)
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Addressing Dynamic Issues in Information Security Management
- 2011
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Ingår i: Information Management & Computer Security. - UK : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0968-5227 .- 1758-5805. ; 19:1, s. 5-24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ett ramverk för behandling av osäkerhet inom ledningssystem för informationssäkerhet presenteras. Ramverket baseras på teorier från corporate finance. En fallstudie visar hur ramverket kan appliceras.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Abbas, Haider, et al.
(författare)
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Architectural Description of an Automated System for Uncertainty Issues Management in Information Security
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of computer Science and Information Security. - USA. - 1947-5500. ; 8:3, s. 59-67
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Information technology evolves at a faster pace giving organizations a limited scope to comprehend and effectively react to steady flux nature of its progress. Consequently the rapid technological progression raises various concerns for the IT system of an organization i.e. existing hardware/software obsoleteness, uncertain system behavior, interoperability of various components/method, sudden changes in IT security requirements and expiration of security evaluations. These issues are continuous and critical in their nature that create uncertainty in IT infrastructure and threaten the IT security measures of an organization. In this research, Options theory is devised to address uncertainty issues in IT security management and the concepts have been developed/validated through real cases on SHS (Spridnings-och-Hämtningssystem) and ESAM (E-society) systems. AUMSIS (Automated Uncertainty Management System in Information Security) is the ultimate objective of this research which provides an automated system for uncertainty management in information security. The paper presents the architectural description of AUMSIS, its various components, information flow, storage and information processing details using options valuation techniques. It also presents heterogeneous information retrieval problems and their solution. The architecture is validated with examples from SHS system
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Abbas, Haider, et al.
(författare)
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Option Based Evaluation: Security Evaluation of IT Products Based on Options Theory
- 2009
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Ingår i: IEEE ECBS-EERC 2009. - New York : IEEE. - 9781424446773 ; , s. 134-141
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reliability of IT systems and infrastructure is a critical need for organizations to trust their business processes. This makes security evaluation of IT systems a prime concern for these organizations. Common Criteria is an elaborate, globally accepted security evaluation process that fulfills this need. However CC rigidly follows the initial specification and security threats and takes too long to evaluate and as such is also very expensive. Rapid development in technology and with it the new security threats further aggravates the long evaluation time problem of CC to the extent that by the time a CC evaluation is done, it may no longer be valid because new security threats have emerged that have not been factored in. To address these problems, we propose a novel Option Based Evaluation methodology for security of IT systems that can also be considered as an enhancement to the CC process. The objective is to address uncertainty issues in IT environment and speed up the slow CC based evaluation processes. OBE will follow incremental evaluation model and address the following main concerns based on options theory i.e. i) managing dynamic security requirement with mid-course decision management ii) devising evaluation as an improvement process iii) reducing cost and time for evaluation of an IT product.
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| 10. |
- Abbas, Haider, 1979-
(författare)
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Options-Based Security-Oriented Framework for Addressing Uncerainty Issues in IT Security
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Continuous development and innovation in Information Technology introduces novel configuration methods, software development tools and hardware components. This steady state of flux is very desirable as it improves productivity and the overall quality of life in societies. However, the same phenomenon also gives rise to unseen threats, vulnerabilities and security concerns that are becoming more critical with the passage of time. As an implication, technological progress strongly impacts organizations’ existing information security methods, policies and techniques, making obsolete existing security measures and mandating reevaluation, which results in an uncertain IT infrastructure. In order to address these critical concerns, an options-based reasoning borrowed from corporate finance is proposed and adapted for evaluation of security architecture and decision- making to handle them at organizational level. Options theory has provided significant guidance for uncertainty management in several domains, such as Oil & Gas, government R&D and IT security investment projects. We have applied options valuation technique in a different context to formalize optimal solutions in uncertain situations for three specific and identified uncertainty issues in IT security. In the research process, we formulated an adaptation model for expressing options theory in terms useful for IT security which provided knowledge to formulate and propose a framework for addressing uncertainty issues in information security. To validate the efficacy of this proposed framework, we have applied this approach to the SHS (Spridnings- och Hämtningssystem) and ESAM (E-Society) systems used in Sweden. As an ultimate objective of this research, we intend to develop a solution that is amenable to automation for the three main problem areas caused by technological uncertainty in information security: i) dynamically changing security requirements, ii) externalities caused by a security system, iii) obsoleteness of evaluation. The framework is general and capable of dealing with other uncertainty management issues and their solutions, but in this work we primarily deal with the three aforementioned uncertainty problems. The thesis presents an in-depth background and analysis study for a proposed options-based security-oriented framework with case studies for SHS and ESAM systems. It has also been assured that the framework formulation follows the guidelines from industry best practices criteria/metrics. We have also proposed how the whole process can be automated as the next step in development.
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