Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2002), pp. 232-240.
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Conducting cost-benefit analyses of architectural attributes such as security
has always been difficult, because the benefits are difficult to assess.
Specialists usually make security decisions, but program managers are left
wondering whether their investment in security is well spent. This paper
summarizes the results of using a cost-benefit analysis method called SAEM to
compare alternative security designs in a financial and accounting information
system. The case study presented in this paper starts with a
multi-attribute risk assessment that results in a prioritized list of
risks. Security specialists estimate countermesaure benefits and how the
organization's risks are reduced. Using SAEM, security design alternatives
are compared with the organization's current selection of security technologies
to see if a more cost-effective solution is possible. The goal of using
SAEM is to help information-system stakeholders decide whether their security
investment is consistent with the expected risks.
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