Influence Diagrams in Cyber Security: Conceptualization and Potential Applications

Over the last years, cyber-attacks are increasing in organizations especially due to the use of emerging technologies and transformation in terms of how we work. Informed decision-making in cyber security is critical to prevent, detect, respond, and recover from cyber-attacks effectively and efficiently. In cyber security, Decision Support System (DSS) plays a crucial role especially in supporting security analysts, managers, and operators in making informed decisions. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based techniques like Bayesian Networks, Decision Trees are used as an underlying approach in such DSSs. Furthermore, Influence Diagrams (IDs) possess the capability to support informed decision-making based on its existing applications in other domains like medical. However, the complete capability and potential of IDs are not utilised in cyber security especially in terms of its explainable nature for different stakeholders and existing applications in other domains. Therefore, this research tackles the following research question: “What are potential applications of Influence Diagrams (IDs) in cyber security?”. We identified applications of IDs in different domains and then translated it to design potential applications for cyber security issues. In the future, this will help both researchers and practitioners to develop and implement IDs for cyber security-related problems, which in turn will enhance decision-making especially due to its explainable nature for different stakeholders.