Returns to information security investment: Endogenizing the expected loss

Kjell Hausken

Information Systems Frontiers, 2014, vol. 16, issue 2, No 11, 329-336

Abstract: Abstract This paper endogenizes the value of an information set which has to be produced and protected. The profit is inverse U shaped in security investment and production effort. The breach probability is commonly assumed to decrease convexly in security investment, which means that modest security investment is sufficient to deter most perpetrators. We allow the breach probability to be not only convex, but concave, which means that substantial security investment is needed to deter most perpetrators. Convexity versus concavity depends on the security environment, perpetrators, technology, and law enforcement. A firm strikes a balance between producing and protecting an information set dependent on seven model parameters for production, protection, convexity, concavity, vulnerability, and resource strength.

Keywords: Security investment; Information protection; Information production; Returns assumptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10796-012-9390-9

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