Optimal Cyber Security Investment in a Mixed Risk Management Framework: Examining the Role of Cyber Insurance and Expenditure Analysis

Abstract

Cyber security importance has escalated globally, driven by its pivotal role in shaping daily life, encompassing both personal and non-personal aspects. Cyber security breach probability functions play a crucial role in comprehending how cyber security investments affect vulnerability to cyber attacks. These functions employ mathematical models to guide decision making in cyber risk management. Thus, studying and improving them is useful in this context. In particular, using these models, this article explores the effectiveness of an integrated risk management strategy that merges insurance and security investments, aiming to minimize overall security expenses. Within this strategy, security investments contribute to reducing the insurance premium. This research investigates the optimal investment for this blended approach under total insurance coverage. When the integrated risk management strategy combining insurance and security investments is deemed the optimal choice, this paper reveals that the insurance premium tends to be the dominant component in the overall security expense in the majority of cases. This implies that the cost of insurance outweighs the cost of security investments.