A Macro‐Economic Framework for Evaluation of Cyber Security Risks Related to Protection of Intellectual Property

Abstract

The article is based on the premise that, from a macro-economic viewpoint, cyber attacks with long-lasting effects are the most economically significant, and as a result require more attention than attacks with short-lasting effects that have historically been more represented in literature. In particular, the article deals with evaluation of cyber security risks related to one type of attack with long-lasting effects, namely, theft of intellectual property (IP) by foreign perpetrators. An International Consequence Analysis Framework is presented to determine (1) the potential macro-economic consequences of cyber attacks that result in stolen IP from companies in the United States, and (2) the likely sources of such attacks. The framework presented focuses on IP theft that enables foreign companies to make economic gains that would have otherwise benefited the U.S. economy. Initial results are presented.

System Dynamics Based Risk Management for Distributed Information Systems

“…This basis is improved by correlating system survival times to the use of certain design enhancements and other threats countermeasures. In [1] a specific risk analysis is presented for the field intellectual property rights.…”

The economic costs of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other calamities: An analysis of economic models that quantify the losses caused by disruptions

“…A 2005 study [38] on the losses due to piracy in the motion picture, sound recording, and publishing sectors could total $8.8 billion in the motion picture and sound recording sector and $21.4 billion in the publishing sector. The paper also discusses a cyber-attack of 1% loss in each sector of the U.S. economy.…”

A Risk‐Based Approach for Identifying Key Economic and Infrastructure Systems

“…The IIM, formulated in , describes how inoperability in each of n sectors, manifested in the vector q , is brought about by a demand perturbation c * and whose propagation is dictated by the interdependency matrix A *. A more detailed explanation of the IIM can be found in Reference 8, and some applications have included analyses of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, ( 9 ) the 2003 Northeast blackout, ( 10 ) and the effects of intellectual property theft, ( 11 ) among others. …”