A Short-Cycle Framework Approach to Integrating Psychometric Feedback and Data Analytics to Rapid Cyber Defense

Abstract

Following earlier research in demonstrating the significance of behavioral analysis in cyber defense, the authors developed a framework to incorporating multi-disciplinary datasets along a common timeline to increase incident response feedback for coaching. Currently this framework is being introduced in the state of Colorado, USA as a part of a joint government, industry and academic partnership. Upon project initiation, the feedback cycle had been a minimum of several months from observation to feedback. Presented here is a new framework that can shorten the cycle of psychometric feedback to multiple times in one training day. This Short-Cycle Framework, gathering psychometric and cyber data to provide direct feedback to cyber defense team leaders, was conceived when Regis University’s psychometric evaluators observed a real multi-agency cyber defense response. The authors realized the psychometric data can be used in live cyber defense incidents alongside things like network firewall traffic analysis as the cyber defenders provide relief for organizations under active cyber attack. This work presents the context in which the framework was developed, the characteristics of the framework, and suggestions for further research. The framework implements a specific set of short-term state indicators based on well-known personality trait and state models. The coaching cycle was scripted to shorten the delay between observation and feedback so that it can be more useful in both training and live incident response.