Security ontologies: Improving quantitative risk analysis

Abstract

IT-security has become a much diversified field and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in particular, do not have the financial ability to implement a holistic IT-security approach. We thus propose a security ontology, to provide a solid base for an applicable and holistic IT-security approach for SMEs, enabling low-cost risk management and threat analysis. Based on the taxonomy of computer security and dependability by Landwehr [1], a heavy-weight ontology can be used to organize and systematically structure knowledge on threats, safeguards, and assets. Using this ontology, each threat scenario can be simulated with a different protection profile as to evaluate the effectiveness and the cost/benefit ratio of individual safeguards. © 2007 IEEE.