A robust statistical framework for cyber-vulnerability prioritisation under partial information in threat intelligence

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Angelelli, Mario, Arima, Serena, Catalano, Christian, Ciavolino, Enrico
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866909248779190272
author Angelelli, Mario
Arima, Serena
Catalano, Christian
Ciavolino, Enrico
author_facet Angelelli, Mario
Arima, Serena
Catalano, Christian
Ciavolino, Enrico
contents Proactive cyber-risk assessment is gaining momentum due to the wide range of sectors that can benefit from the prevention of cyber-incidents by preserving integrity, confidentiality, and the availability of data. The rising attention to cybersecurity also results from the increasing connectivity of cyber-physical systems, which generates multiple sources of uncertainty about emerging cyber-vulnerabilities. This work introduces a robust statistical framework for quantitative and qualitative reasoning under uncertainty about cyber-vulnerabilities and their prioritisation. Specifically, we take advantage of mid-quantile regression to deal with ordinal risk assessments, and we compare it to current alternatives for cyber-risk ranking and graded responses. For this purpose, we identify a novel accuracy measure suited for rank invariance under partial knowledge of the whole set of existing vulnerabilities. The model is tested on both simulated and real data from selected databases that support the evaluation, exploitation, or response to cyber-vulnerabilities in realistic contexts. Such datasets allow us to compare multiple models and accuracy measures, discussing the implications of partial knowledge about cyber-vulnerabilities on threat intelligence and decision-making in operational scenarios.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2302_08348
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A robust statistical framework for cyber-vulnerability prioritisation under partial information in threat intelligence
Angelelli, Mario
Arima, Serena
Catalano, Christian
Ciavolino, Enrico
Methodology
Cryptography and Security
Applications
Proactive cyber-risk assessment is gaining momentum due to the wide range of sectors that can benefit from the prevention of cyber-incidents by preserving integrity, confidentiality, and the availability of data. The rising attention to cybersecurity also results from the increasing connectivity of cyber-physical systems, which generates multiple sources of uncertainty about emerging cyber-vulnerabilities. This work introduces a robust statistical framework for quantitative and qualitative reasoning under uncertainty about cyber-vulnerabilities and their prioritisation. Specifically, we take advantage of mid-quantile regression to deal with ordinal risk assessments, and we compare it to current alternatives for cyber-risk ranking and graded responses. For this purpose, we identify a novel accuracy measure suited for rank invariance under partial knowledge of the whole set of existing vulnerabilities. The model is tested on both simulated and real data from selected databases that support the evaluation, exploitation, or response to cyber-vulnerabilities in realistic contexts. Such datasets allow us to compare multiple models and accuracy measures, discussing the implications of partial knowledge about cyber-vulnerabilities on threat intelligence and decision-making in operational scenarios.
title A robust statistical framework for cyber-vulnerability prioritisation under partial information in threat intelligence
topic Methodology
Cryptography and Security
Applications
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.08348