CS559: Quantitative Security
[Fall 2020]

Prerequisites: Probability/Statistics, undergraduate background in CS, Engineering or Business.

Aims:The course provides an integrated framework for Quantitative Evaluation and management of Security Risk. It draws from the fields of security (vulnerabilities, their discovery, and exploitation, security metrics), Reliability, Testing, and Risk evaluation. The integration provides a systematic terminology and a rigorous framework for evaluation of the mathematical or systematic risk by identifying its specific components as well as likely return of risk mitigation efforts.

Quantitative data regarding the key aspects the security risk is becoming available. While the data is still limited it can be used to assess the components of the security risk and potential mitigation approaches. The framework will allow additional data to be incorporated into the framework when it becomes available. In some cases, the available data yet not enough for rigorous modeling, however, it can be used to assess the magnitude of the risk components.

Framework:The published quantitative risk evaluation methods often focus on specific components of the risk. The course will provide an integrated perspective by combining diverse analyses and reports using a systematic framework. Since this is a developing field, the data, models, and techniques are still emerging. The course has a research component that requires the students to read and discuss assigned and self-selected papers and to work on a research project.

Topics:

1. Terms and framework
2. Security Risk
3. Probability and Modeling
4. Deadlocks and resource management
5. Vulnerabilities, lifecycle, metrics and databases
6. Testing for vulnerabilities
7. Research methodology
8. Breach likelihood and cost
9. Risk mitigation
10. Vulnerability markets
11. Emerging issues

Acknowledgement: This course was developed with support from the Cybersecurity Center.