Blind information security strategy

Abstract How do enterprises relate to and manage information security controls? This paper documents a study of twenty enterprises, six of them in the critical infrastructure (CI) domain. The state of security in the CI enterprises differed little from that in the other enterprises. Information security was seen as a technical problem with technical solutions. However, vulnerabilities in processes and human fallibility create a need for formal and informal controls in addition to technical controls. These three controls are interdependent. They vary widely in implementation time and resource needs, which render the task of building security resources a challenging problem. This paper presents a system dynamics model that illustrates how security controls are interconnected and are interdependent at a high level. The model is intended to aid security managers in CI domains to better understand information security management strategies, especially the complexities involved in managing a socio-technical system where human, organizational and technical factors interact. The model also demonstrates how the knowledge gained from proactive security activities can help managers improve the effectiveness of security controls, risk assessments and incident detection capabilities.