Cyber Maturity as Measured by Scientific-Based Risk Metrics

One of the major challenges of information warfare is how to effectively combat existing and future cyber threats and vulnerabilities. In this paper, a quantifiable and rigorous approach for entities (governments, organizations, etc.) is proposed to better assess their ‘cyber maturity’ level. The authors also propose to examine the reliability and security of networks in terms of scientific-based risk metrics. The risk metrics are built upon (1) a ‘modified’ CVSS Base Score using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and (2) the foundation of repeatable quantitative characteristics (‘for example’ vulnerabilities). A case study is examined which highlights the resulting benefits and challenges.