Assessing IT availability risks in smart factory networks

Björn Häckel, Florian Hänsch, Michael Hertel and Jochen Übelhör ()
Additional contact information
Björn Häckel: University of Applied Sciences Augsburg
Florian Hänsch: Finalix Business Consulting
Michael Hertel: BMW Financial Services
Jochen Übelhör: Project Group Business and Information Systems Engineering of the Fraunhofer FIT

Business Research, 2019, vol. 12, issue 2, No 7, 523-558

Abstract: Abstract Emerging smart manufacturing technologies combine physical production networks with digital IT systems, resulting in complex smart factory networks, which are especially vulnerable to IT security risks, such as IT component non-availabilities. Companies must employ extensive IT security measures to secure their production facilities. However, complex network structures and inherent dependencies of smart factory networks complicate corresponding investment decisions and increase the need for appropriate decision support. We develop a risk assessment model that supports companies in the investment decision-making process regarding IT security measures by identifying and evaluating the most critical areas of the information network while considering the underlying production network. For this purpose, IT availability risks are quantified by means of graph theory, matrix notation, and value-at-risk. Our model provides a structured approach and considers network structures and interdependencies. The insights gained by our model present a profound economic basis for investment decisions on IT security measures. By applying our model in an exemplary real-world setting, we analyze various IT security measures and their risk reduction effect.

Keywords: Smart factory; Risk assessment; IT availability risks; Risk quantification; Network structure analysis; Investment decision support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40685-018-0071-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:busres:v:12:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s40685-018-0071-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/40685

DOI: 10.1007/s40685-018-0071-5

Access Statistics for this article

Business Research is currently edited by Thomas Gehrig

More articles in Business Research from Springer, German Academic Association for Business Research Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().