Human factor security: evaluating the cybersecurity capacity of the industrial workforce

Abstract

Purpose -As cyber-attacks continue to grow, organisations adopting the internet-of-things (IoT) have continued to react to security concerns that threaten their businesses within the current highly competitive environment. Many recorded industrial cyber-attacks have successfully beaten technical security solutions by exploiting humanfactor vulnerabilities related to security knowledge and skills and manipulating human elements into inadvertently conveying access to critical industrial assets. Knowledge and skill capabilities contribute to human analytical proficiencies for enhanced cybersecurity readiness. Thus, a human-factored security endeavour is required to investigate the capabilities of the human constituents (workforce) to appropriately recognise and respond to cyber intrusion events within the industrial control system (ICS) environment.Design/methodology/approach -A quantitative approach (statistical analysis) is adopted to provide an approach to quantify the potential cybersecurity capability aptitudes of industrial human actors, identify the least security-capable workforce in the operational domain with the greatest susceptibility likelihood to cyber-attacks (i.e. weakest link) and guide the enhancement of security assurance. To support these objectives, a Human-factored Cyber Security Capability Evaluation approach is presented using conceptual analysis techniques.Findings -Using a test scenario, the approach demonstrates the capacity to proffer an efficient evaluation of workforce security knowledge and skills capabilities and the identification of weakest link in the workforce.Practical implications -The approach can enable organisations to gain better workforce security perspectives like security-consciousness, alertness and response aptitudes, thus guiding organisations into adopting strategic means of appropriating security remediation outlines, scopes and resources without undue wastes or redundancies.Originality/value -This paper demonstrates originality by providing a framework and computational approach for characterising and quantify human-factor security capabilities based on security knowledge and security skills. It also supports the identification of potential security weakest links amongst an evaluated industrial workforce (human agents), some key security susceptibility areas and relevant control interventions. The model and validation results demonstrate the application of action research. This paper demonstrates originality by illustrating how action research can be applied within socio-technical dimensions to solve recurrent and dynamic problems related to industrial environment cyber security improvement. It provides value by demonstrating how theoretical security knowledge (awareness) and practical security skills can help resolve cyber security response and control uncertainties within industrial organisations.

Cybersecurity Concerns for Total Productive Maintenance in Smart Manufacturing Systems

“…Education and training are one of the most essential principles of TPM that ensures that the employees and staff involved with the TPM have the proper knowledge and skills to have a successful deployment of TPM. This principle must get more serious attention since manufacturing systems often lack qualified employees regarding the skill and knowledge for cybersecurity incorporation with the production system [17,18]. Training current and future TPM employees including operators, maintenance staff, and managers on the potential threats of cybersecurity plays a key role in having a successful TPM implementation for smart manufacturing systems [19].…”

“…As can be seen from in this table while some of the pillars have received more attention from the research community others such as focused improvement and development management pillars demonstrate opportunities for researches. Less computer savvy operators [10][11][12]18] Focused improvement Consideration of losses regarding cyber-physical security [13] Planned maintenance Planning effective PM to prevent and mitigate cyber-physical attacks [14][15][16] Quality maintenance Detecting a quality issue regarding cyber-physical attacks and the ability to analyze its source [29][30][31] Education and training Improving cybersecurity skills and awareness of operators, maintenance staff, and management [17][18][19] Safety, health, and environment…”

Antecedents of Cybersecurity Implementation: A Study of the Cyber-Preparedness of U.K. Social Enterprises

“…Second, the employment of individuals with low levels of skill makes SEs open to social engineering attacks (Bullee, Montoya, Pieters, Junger and Hartelk, 2018). It may also result in the improper use of data and information technologies, for example, through unintentional disclosure of sensitive data, or the use of information systems in a manner that circumvents policy or security measures (Ani, He and Tiwari, 2019).…”

“…He and Tiwari, 2019). In many instances, the 'IT skills' that are possessed by individuals are limited to personal or 'domestic' experience of IT.…”

Railway Defender Kill Chain to Predict and Detect Cyber-Attacks

“…According to Patel [8], one of the top cyber threats is phishing scams. Other threats are: ransomware attacks (like WannaCry), system vulnerability due to unchecked gaps (nearly 50% of alerts and logs are never investigated), new threats and dangers from and to AI (Artificial Intelligence) powered systems, and human weaknesses [9][10][11][12]. In 2018, HelpSystems [13] surveyed more than 600 IT and cybersecurity professionals to determine the main cybersecurity risks and mitigation strategies.…”