Chapter 5
Risk Matrices, Lie Factors, Misconceptions, and Other Obstacles to Measuring Risk
We are ultimately trying to move cybersecurity in the direction of more quantitative risk assessment methods. The previous chapters showed that there are several methods that are both practical (the authors have used these methods in actual cybersecurity environments) and have evidence of measurably improving risk assessments. We offered an extremely simple method based on a one-for-one substitution of the components of a risk matrix. Anyone who has the technical skills to work in cybersecurity certainly has the skills to implement that solution. Once an analyst becomes familiar with the basics, he or she can build on the foundation we’ve provided with our methods in later chapters.
But regardless of the evidence shown so far, we expect to see resistance to many of the concepts shown. There will be sacred cows, red herrings, black swans, and a few other zoologically-themed metaphors related...