Ontology-based Cybersecurity and Resilience Framework

Abstract

In the digital age, almost all organizations have become dependent on Information Technology (IT) systems at different levels of their individual and collective activities. Physical infrastructures are inextricably tied to the functioning of IT systems that are vulnerable to internal and external cyber threats. Attacks can cause unavailability or malfunction of systems which in turn prevent or mislead ongoing business processes in organizations. Today, organizations not only require cybersecurity programs to protect themselves against cyber threats but also need a resilience strategy to guarantee business continuity even during cyber incidents. This paper includes the results of ongoing research for securing maritime port ecosystems and making them cyber resilient. We propose a framework based on ontologies and logical inference to meet requirements of resilient IT systems regarding response to and recovery from cyber incidents.