a model to measure effectiveness in cyber security situational awareness

Cyber security situational awareness is a rather new concept in cyber security, which refers to an understanding of the cyber threat within an environment and its associated risk and impacts by the cyber security officers. this paper provides a model to measure whether security events, such as the occurrence of an attack or the selection of countermeasures, have been effective in the success of organizational missions. two components are considered as inputs for this purpose. one is the network dependency graph, which demonstrates how different assets in the network are dependent on each other and with what intensity or weight they affect each other. another is the mission dependency graph, which specifies the relation between organizational assets, tasks, functions, and mission objectives. it also specifies the impact of the assets on the organizational tasks, functions, and mission objectives. this paper aims to assess the impact of attacks on different assets with consideration of the organizational mission. the model's expression is in such a way that it helps different organizations with specific goals and requirements to use this model, and they can personalize and customize its different components. this model can be employed for critical asset recognition. moreover, it enables us to know which countermeasures are more effective regarding the organizational mission. in this way, a quantitative and reliable statement will be employed between the security specialists and the non-expert beneficiaries of an organization.