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IT Security Risk Management: Is It Worth The Cost?
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Gary Scott
Gary Scott,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/27/2013 | 2:45:02 PM
"Whatever it takes" is less than $5.00
I've seen companies with the "whatever it takes" mentality change their stance when it comes to data destruction.  We are a NAID certified company providing onsite hard drive destruction - we also carry professional liability insurance with breach notification coverage.    

We've seen some of these companies claiming "whatever it takes" balk at our $5.00 per hard drive destruction fee.  Instead of secure destruction, they risk losing confidential information by allowing an electronic recycler remove drives from their custody with the "promise" of complete erasure.    
Marilyn Cohodas
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/9/2013 | 11:42:09 AM
Re: Negligence, not risk a better metric for IT security
I'd say bankruptcy following a hack is a pretty accurate way to quantify "L" and the DigiNotar incident in which the Dutch certificate authority (DigiNotar of Holland) was compromised and manipulated into issuing fraudulent certificates for Google and other large sites is a pretty stunning examploe of how to determine what an "appropriate"  IT security risk management should look like.
plindstrom193
plindstrom193,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/7/2013 | 9:33:48 PM
Re: Negligence, not risk a better metric for IT security
I'm not sure why you think Diginotar's situation is inconsistent with my comments. They are the perfect example of how 'reputation problems' can easily be shown to have economic losses.
dak3
dak3,
 User Rank: Moderator
12/7/2013 | 1:09:15 PM
Re: Negligence, not risk a better metric for IT security
You might want to ask the folks at DigiNotar about that

 

:)

 
plindstrom193
plindstrom193,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/7/2013 | 11:46:56 AM
Re: Negligence, not risk a better metric for IT security
Hi, Dak3 -

That is a common lament. I suggest we keep in mind that these are economic entities we're talking about, not people. So any "reputational damage" *must* reflect in higher costs or lower revenue. While that is certainly possible, attempts by economists to glean economic damage have all fallen flat in the past.

The notion of being "beyond counting" is typically a reflection of disagreement in the "market" - you and I may not pay the same amount for, say, a signed baseball from World Series Champions Boston Red Sox, but it can be valued nevertheless. Same goes with companies buying companies or even more obvious intangibles.

Btw, we don't really need some absolute value of 'L' - all we need to know is how much has been spent (the 'B') so that we can make the higher or lower comparison to 'P * L.' 

Thanks for the comment,

Pete
dak3
dak3,
 User Rank: Moderator
12/6/2013 | 5:38:48 PM
Re: Negligence, not risk a better metric for IT security
The problem, though, is figuring out the "L". Loss is both monetary and reputaional and the "cost" of making the organization whole may be neyond counting...
Marilyn Cohodas
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/6/2013 | 2:27:21 PM
Negligence, not risk a better metric for IT security
Thank you Pete Lindstrom and Judge Learned Hand for that common sense measure & definition of IT security risk management. The history lesson was also very interesting.

 

 


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