Implementation of a Generic ICT Risk Model using Graph Databases

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) impose an increasing threat on today’s information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. These highly-sophisticated attacks overcome the typical perimeter protection mechanisms of an organization and generate a large amount of damage. Based on a practical use case of a real-life APT lifecycle, this paper shows how APTs can be tackled using a generic ICT risk analysis framework. Further, it provides details for the implementation of this risk analysis framework using graph databases. The major benefits of this graph database approach, i.e., the simple representation of the interconnected risk model as a graph and the availability of efficient traversals over complex sections of the graph, are illustrated giving several examples. Keywordsrisk management; APT; ICT security; graph databases; interconnected risk model.