Insider threatsystemdynamics 2

Preliminary System Dynamics Maps of the Insider
Cyber-threat Problem
David Andersen
Rockefeller College of
Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany
1400 Washington Ave.,
Albany, NY 12222, USA
david.andersen@albany.edu
Dawn M. Cappelli
CERT Coordination
Center, Software
Engineering Institute
4500 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-
3890, USA
dmc@cert.org
Jose J. Gonzalez
Faculty of Engineering
and Science
Agder University College
Grooseveien 36
NO-4876 Grimstad,
Norway
Jose.J.Gonzalez@hia.no
Mohammad Mojtahedzadeh
Attune Group, Inc.
16 Regina Court, Suite 1
mohammad@attunegroup.com
Andrew P. Moore
CERT Coordination Center,
Software Engineering
Institute
4500 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890,
USA
apm@cert.org
Eliot Rich
Department of
Information Technology
Management, School of
Business, University at
Albany , 1400
Washington Ave.,
e.rich@albany.edu
Jose Maria Sarriegui
TECNUN, University of
Navarra
Paseo Manuel de
Lardizabal 13
ES-20018 San Sebastian,
Spain
jmsarriegui@tecnun.es
Timothy J. Shimeall
CERT Coordination Center,
Software Engineering Institute
4500 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890,
USA
tjs@cert.org
Jeffrey M. Stanton
School of Information
Studies
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
jmstanto@syr.edu
Elise A. Weaver
Worcester Polytechnic
Institute
100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA 01609-
2280, USA
eweaver@wpi.edu
Aldo Zagonel
Rockefeller College of
Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany
11 Pheasant Ridge Dr.
Zagonel@aol.com
Abstract
Twenty five researchers from eight institutions and a variety of disciplines, viz. computer
science, information security, knowledge management, law enforcement, psychology,
organization science and system dynamics, found each other February 2004 in the
“System Dynamics Modelling for Information Security: An Invitational Group Modeling
Workshop” at Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
The exercise produced preliminary system dynamics models of insider and outsider cyber
attacks that motivated five institutions, viz. Syracuse University, TECNUN at University
of Navarra, CERT/CC at Carnegie Mellon University, University at Albany and Agder
University College, to launch an interdisciplinary research proposal (Improving
Organizational Security and Survivability by Suppression of Dynamic Triggers).
This paper discusses the preliminary system dynamic maps of the insider cyber-threat
and describes the main ideas behind the research proposal.

2
1. Introduction
Sometimes an unfinished product is worth presenting. This paper is – in a sense – a report
of an unfinished product. Nevertheless, we suggest that its procedures and processes, the
preliminary system dynamics maps we have sketched and the future perspectives we
envision might be of general interest within the extended definition of the conference
theme. The conference theme, Collegiality, is elaborated in the conference programme as
“…discussing any special role system dynamics has played in studies, or could play in
the future, in the area of consensus building, conflict resolution, knowledge surfacing and
sharing, and theory testing.”
We will discuss our product’s genesis (i.e., precursors that lead to an emergent SIG in
security and their spin-offs), the variant of group modelling process we employed, the
preliminary models and the role system dynamics could play in a promising research
agenda. The intended presentation at the Twenty-Second International Conference of the
System Dynamics Society will describe main points in a concise manner, followed by a
structured discussion with the audience. We humbly hope that some of our outcomes –
though admittedly more torsos than statues – might instigate akin developments –
hopefully in an evolutionary path of progress. We hope to elicit valuable criticism and
good ideas that help us approach our goal, which is quite ambitious: To improve
organizational security and survivability by suppression of “dynamic triggers.”
1.1 Precursors
About twenty researchers from eight institutions and a variety of disciplines, including
computer science, information security, knowledge management, psychology,
organization science and system dynamics, participated during February 2004 in the
“System Dynamics Modelling for Information Security: An Invitational Group Modeling
Workshop” at Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.1
The
workshop consisted of short plenary sessions each morning, followed by two parallel
sessions dedicated to insider and outsider cyber attacks.
In retrospect, we decided to view the event as the Second Annual Workshop on System
Dynamics Modelling for Information Security. The First Annual Workshop on System
Dynamics Modelling for Information Security was a much smaller precursor event that
occurred February 2003 at Agder University College in Grimstad, Norway. (This event
received its portentous name in retrospect, too.)2
The outcome of the February 2003
workshop was a number of intensively discussed papers – most of them co-authored by
several participants and including one paper that was sketched in a group modelling
process during the workshop. The revised and extended workshop papers were submitted
to the Twenty-First International Conference of the System Dynamics Society. All were
accepted and they got reviews that appears to confirm the usefulness of the “internal”
reviewing and group modelling process in the workshop. One of the papers (Cooke
2003a, 2003b) led to the 2003 Dana Meadows Award, all papers appeared both in the
1
See http://www.cert.org/research/sdmis/
2
Strictly speaking the first workshop was dedicated to general security systems, although it did have a
strong component of information security.

3
CD-ROM proceedings of the International Conference of the System Dynamics Society
and were collected in a small book, entitled “From Modeling to Managing Security: A
System Dynamics Approach” (Gonzalez 2003).
In retrospect, the internal quality assurance within a small group with common interests
would have naturally belonged to the realm of the Security SIG – but this SIG was not
founded and approved by the Systems Dynamics Society until quite recently.
While the book “From Modeling to Managing Security: A System Dynamics Approach”
did not generate large demand, it did meet with interest in a crucial audience within the
CERT® Coordination Center.3
A recent study by two CERT/CC researchers had
employed qualitative system dynamics (i.e. causal loop analysis) for controlling
vulnerability (Ellison and Moore 2003, p. 38ff). Before embarking on that, the authors
had remarked «…we are not aware of any work using system dynamics to explicitly
study the threat environment or its impact on system operations.» After a general analysis
of the capability of system dynamics, they concluded nevertheless: «…, we believe that
system dynamics provides a foundation for developing methods and tools that help
engineers understand, characterize, and communicate the impact of a malicious threat
environment on organizational and system operations and their respective missions.
Large-scale, inter-networked information systems are subject to volatility, nonlinearity,
uncertainty, and time delays that add to their dynamic complexity and make assuring
their security or survivability so difficult.» (ibid., p. 37-38). On hearing from Graham
Winch4
about the security session at the recent Twenty-First International Conference of
the System Dynamics Society (which resulted in a system dynamics monograph
dedicated to the modelling and management of security threats in organizations), a
process took off that ultimately led to the “Second Annual Workshop on System
Dynamics Modelling for Information Security” at Carnegie Mellon University in
February 2004.
The bridging events between the First Annual Workshop on System Dynamics Modelling
for Information Security (with the related security session at the Twenty-First
International Conference of the System Dynamics Society) and the second annual
workshop in February 2004 were a series of guest lectures with accompanying meetings
in October 2003 that involved the authors of this paper (and other colleagues) at Albany,
Carnegie Mellon, Syracuse and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.5
After this round, a
CERT/CC researcher expressed his impression thus: «System dynamics has the potential
to significantly improve our capabilities and understanding in areas not well addressed by
traditional security approaches.» (Lipson 2003)
3
CERT/CC is a U.S.-based center of Internet security expertise, located at the Software Engineering
Institute, a federally funded research and development center operated by Carnegie Mellon University.
4
We are very grateful to Professor Graham Winch for triggering the connection between CERT/CC and the
other authors of the monograph.
5
Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary was also involved initially but unfortunately various
constraints prevented participation by David L. Cooke, who played an essential role at the First Annual
Workshop on System Dynamics Modelling for Security.

4
The preliminary consensus reached in October 2003 motivated researchers at these
institutions to pursue vigorously the goal of a collaborative workshop dedicated to
preliminary group modelling of cyber security with the intention – if successful – to
devise a research agenda and draft papers for this conference.
1.2 The Problem of Cyber Attacks
The growing reliance of government and commercial organizations on large-scale, widely
interconnected information systems amplifies the consequences of malicious attacks on
organizational information assets. Organizations continue to move key business functions
to Internet-based operations, thereby increasing the exposure of critical information assets.
In addition, the wide availability of increasingly sophisticated attacker tools is permitting
large numbers of relatively inexperienced individuals to execute very sophisticated attacks.
The number of security incidents reported by the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC
2004) has approximately doubled every year for the last six years, and was estimated to
reach more than 137,000 in 2003. Each security incident may involve hundreds, or even
thousands, of sites and may involve ongoing activity for long periods of time. Notice that
the slope for the incident curve from 1997-2003 is significantly steeper than the
corresponding slope for hosts (Figure 1),6
which might indicate that the complexity of the
Internet makes it increasingly difficult to manage its security.
While the prevalence and impact of attacks against organizational information is rapidly
increasing, from the point of view of any single organization the probability of a
catastrophic attack is still quite small. Characterized probabilistically, such low base rate
events can be compared psychologically to other possible catastrophes such as earthquakes,
lightning strikes, or plane crashes. In fact, the realization that catastrophic cyber-attacks are
6
The quotient of “no. of incidents” / “no. of hosts” has approximately been doubling every second year
since 1997.
Figure 1 The number of security incidents and the number of hosts. Sources: Incidents: CERT/CC
Statistics 1988-2003, (http://www.cert.org/stats/cert_stats.html); Hosts: Internet Systems Consortium
(http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/ops/ds/)
Hosts & Incidents
0
50000000
100000000
150000000
200000000
250000000
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Hosts
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
Incidents
hosts
incidents

5
of the class of low-base rate phenomena may explain, in part, an observed low degree of
preparedness in organizations that have been the victim of cyber attacks. In studies of
decision-making, research has shown that judgments of the risk of occurrence and the
impact of outcomes of low base rate phenomena are sometimes strongly distorted (e.g.,
Johnson, Grazioli, Jamal, and Berryman 2001).
In practice, technology alone cannot completely prevent successful attacks on complex,
unbounded systems. Network-based information systems increasingly have cross-
organizational boundaries, possess no central administration, and lack unified security
policies (Lipson and Fisher 1999). The distinction between insider and outsider may be
dynamic in that a partner for one activity may be a competitor or adversary for another.
These changes force an expansion of security issues from a narrow technical specialty to
an organization-wide risk management concern that must deal with broad avenues of
attack and the psychological motivations of both attackers and defenders. The technical
and business process considerations may interact with key organizational variables
including awareness of security issues, the supportiveness of organizational culture, the
configuration of organizational procedures designed to protect information assets, and
levels of trust and autonomy given to key staff members.
The transition from an optimistic stance that security is mainly a technological issue to a
more sober attitude is reflected e.g. in a recent book by Bruce Schneier (2000), entitled
“Secrets and Lies – Digital Security in a Networked World.” Schneier – who is both a
respected security scientist and a successful consultant – admits an early naïveté about the
capabilities of technology but now characterizes security as a complex and continuous
“process”, rather than a “product.” Schneier writes: “The Internet is probably the most
complex system ever developed” (p. 6, emphasis added). Interestingly, Schneier describes
information systems using similar language as a system dynamics expert: dynamic
entities, interacting components, propagating consequences, unexpected (“emergent”)
properties and delayed effects (p. 5-9).
The Internet is perhaps the most complex artificial system ever developed; what is worst:
it was not designed with security in mind. The CERT/CC researcher Howard Lipson
(2002, p. 9) points out: «Perhaps the greatest threat to the Internet today is the abysmal
state of security of so many of the systems connected to it.» He states: «…the Internet’s
fundamental technology was developed to serve the needs of a benign community of
researchers and educators.» (ibid. p. 29), implying that the Internet was not designed to
resist highly untrustworthy users. Preventing attacks is difficult – detecting them is not
simple either. Lipson again: «Facilities for tracking and tracing the behavior of […] users
were never a consideration, and a tracking infrastructure was never designed or
implemented.» (ibid. p. 27).
It is not difficult to find pessimistic descriptions of the magnitude of the threat to cyber
security in the literature that are founded on solid analysis. We restrict ourselves to
quoting Lipson once more: «These high-stakes Internet applications pose enormously
tempting targets of opportunity for criminals, terrorists, and hostile nations, and they
overly stress the technology designed for a more innocent time.» (ibid. p. 29).

6
1.3 Cyber Data Restrictions
Good data is crucial – but unfortunately we cannot base our analysis on the presumption
that relevant cyber data always exists, nor that existent data is available, nor that available
data is good. Accordingly, the modelling of cyber systems must use a research strategy
that can still deliver valuable insights despite the holes and deficiencies in the data
material.
One of the difficulties in systematic modelling of cyber-attacks arises from the
unavailability of data regarding these attacks. While such attacks are increasingly
frequent on networked systems, systematically collected data on these attacks is not
generally available. This lack of availability stems from three basic causes: Attackers
generally act to conceal their attacks; defenders gather data on attacks for narrow
purposes; organizations controlling information assets rarely share data on attacks.
First, successful information attacks depend to some degree on deception and surprise –
networks that are prepared or forewarned for specific attacks generally suffer little or no
damage from them. Thus, attackers must conceal as much information as possible on
their attacks in order to preserve the utility of their methods – not a difficult task for them
since the Internet was devised for “good guys” (cf. previous section). This situation
results in incomplete data capture on the methods and objectives of attacks on
information assets – with the notable exception arising from work on honeypots and
honeynets (Spitzner 2003; The Honeynet Project 2004).
Second, defenders of information assets are often overburdened. As such, they have little
motivation for large scale data collection activities. Data are generally collected only if
useful for a specific defensive task, for forensic purposes or to document damage relevant
for legal proceedings. A wide range of data formats is used in such data collection. The
data are organized, not in a generically accessible database, but rather in formats specific to
the use for which they are collected, making systematic survey of the data collected quite
difficult and time intensive.
Third, attack data are often shared only in vague terms, if at all, by affected organizations.
Sharing of information may be precluded by the rules of evidence in a criminal
prosecution. In other cases, data on attacks may be withheld due to concerns over
publicity, reputation, or worries about copycat activities. When detailed data are shared,
they often become available only under restricted-use agreements or guarantees of
confidentiality. As such, data that characterizes attacks across a broad range of
organizations are rarely available to the research community.
Beyond these three aspects, cyber data that is reported to computer emergency response
teams, such as CERT/CC, cannot be shared freely with other researchers – not even with
collaborating researchers from other institutions. How to circumvent this problem is still
not resolved, despite quite intense discussions during the Second Annual Workshop on
System Dynamics Modelling for Information Security in February 2004.

7
The workshop participants representing the system dynamics methodology argued that
system dynamics models would use aggregated data that cannot be traced to reporting
institutions. As proxy to the data owners, CERT/CC researchers are in very delicate position:
To report data not yet available in CERT/CC statistics– even at the aggregated level needed
for system dynamics models – requires permission from data owners (i.e. CERT/CC
“clients”). Data owners would not give such permission to researchers not covered by the
secrecy agreements regulating the relationship between them and CERT/CC. Accordingly, a
research collaboration between CERT/CC (which has not yet hired system dynamics
modellers into their group) and outside system dynamics experts has to find ways for how to
handle such severe restriction and produce models that nevertheless have some utility.
1.4 The Structure of this Paper
The way we have approached the data availability problem can be summarized like this:
• The Second Annual Workshop on System Dynamics Modelling for Information
Security would attempt to create a preliminary system dynamics map of the
insider cyber threat problem.7
By a preliminary system dynamics map we mean a
fairly detailed system dynamics model with the basic structure of the problem.
• In addition, the workshop would attempt to identify the most descriptive and
significant dynamic stories implied by the preliminary system dynamics map.
We were expecting that the outcome of the workshop would be a decision to join forces, i.e.
to design a collaborative research agenda and to write a joint paper. The present paper
represents the initial outcome of that collaboration. How this collaboration might help – in
the long run – to improve the availability of cyber data is discussed in the last section of this
paper.
Section 2 discusses general aspects of the insider cyber threat and discusses the model of
the Tim Lloyd/Omega insider attack developed by Melara, Sarriegui, Gonzalez, Sawicka,
and Cooke (2003a; 2003b). Section 3 discusses the group modelling process employed at
the Second Annual Workshop on System Dynamics Modelling for Information Security
and its products, including preliminary system dynamics maps of the insider cyber threat
problem. Section 4 discusses our tentative findings and sketches the research agenda of
our collaborative group – including why we hope that our future research might
contribute to improve the availability of cyber data.
2. The Insider Problem
The CERT® Coordination Center (CERT/CC) of Carnegie Mellon University’s Software
Engineering Institute has been collaborating with the United States Secret Service
(USSS) since 2001 on research of insider threats. This research has been based on in-
depth case analysis of actual insider threat crimes, as well as online surveys for gathering
7
The workshop had two threads; the second one was dedicated to the outsider thread. The basic
methodology was different, however. A full-fledged group modelling process was only applied to the
insider problem. (Cf. Wiik, Gonzalez, Lipson, and Shimeall 2004, for a parallel paper dedicated to outsider
attacks.)

8
supplemental information. The definition of an insider threat crime adopted in the
USSS/CERT Coordination Center research will also be used as a basis for this paper:
Any information system, network, or data compromise where the suspect has – or
used to have – legitimate access to the network/data compromised. The definition
includes suspects who are:
1) current or former employees of the company whose network was
compromised;
2) current or former contractors of the company whose network was
compromised;
Information system, network, and data compromises include any incidents where
there is any manipulation of, unauthorized access to, exceeding authorized access
to, tampering with, or disabling any information system, network, or data. This
includes any efforts to retrieve, change, destroy, or add information to an
information system, network or database. These incidents can occur in ANY
organization, public, private, or government, in ANY critical infrastructure sector.
The remainder of this paper is not part of the research described above.
2.1 Issues Surrounding the Insider Threat Problem
Risk management of the insider threat problem involves a complex combination of
behavioural, technical, and organizational issues. Organizations can concentrate on
physical and technical security measures such as authentication mechanisms, firewalls,
and intrusion detection systems to defend against external cyber threats. However,
insiders may be authorized to bypass all of those measures in order to perform their daily
duties. Former employees are familiar with internal policies and procedures, which can
also be exploited to facilitate attacks. External attackers can choose collusion with
insiders as an attack mechanism. Although insider threats as defined above utilize
technology to carry out their attack, a combination of technical, behavioural, and
organizational issues must be considered in order to detect and prevent insider threats.
Because insiders are legitimate users of their organization’s networks and systems,
sophisticated technical capability is not necessarily required to carry out an insider attack.
On the other hand, technically capable insiders are able, and have, carried out more
sophisticated attacks, that can have more immediate, widespread impact. These technical
insiders also sometimes have the capability to “cover their tracks” so that identification of
the perpetrator is more difficult.
Insiders can be motivated by a variety of factors. Financial gain is a common motive in
certain industries, while revenge can span industries. Theft of intellectual property is
prevalent in some sectors, for various reasons: financial gain, grudge against current or
former employer, or to enhance an employee’s reputation with a new employer.

9
Organizational issues that factor into the insider threat problem range from the degree and
impact of managerial trust in employees, to the organizational culture itself. The study of
insider threats in the CERT/CC mentioned above is focusing on identification of
behavioural and technical indicators of potential insider threats, suggesting best practices
and other recommendations for prevention, detection, and identification, and formulating
recommendations for organizational culture in which the risk of insider threats is
minimized.
It is imperative that the insider threat research continue, because the impacts from crimes
perpetrated by insiders are enormous, ranging from significant financial losses to severe
impacts on reputation. A methodology is needed that can capture and analyze the
complex interactions between behavioural, technical, and cultural issues, so that an
integrated risk management approach can be developed for the problem.
2.2 Overview of Cases in the Public Domain
In addition to the general expertise and experiences of workshop participants, the second
workshop used six well-publicized insider attacks as background for discussions. The
cases were selected because they were well documented in the public domain and they
had a number of properties in common. In particular, the cases involved organizations
that provided a very trusted environment for certain classes of employees, including the
insider. Recognition of and/or response to security threats (precursors) posed by the
insider were minimal or non-existent. Insiders successively tested and/or lessened the
organization’s security controls. Reduction in security controls helped avoid detection of
the attack and magnify its damaging impacts. The six cases exhibited all these properties
in varying degrees. These cases also indicated the significance of the insider threat
problem and helped with the identification and validation of reference modes of
behaviour.
Figure 2 characterizes the six background cases (labelled A through F) along two
dimensions – the degree of technical sophistication and the insider motivation. Two of
the six cases were primarily motivated by financial gain (greed); the rest were primarily
motivated by a grudge held by the employee against the organization or its members
(e.g., an immediate supervisor). Several of the cases involved insiders whose attacks were
motivated by a combination of greed and grudge. In particular, the cases in the middle
along the horizontal axis involved insiders whose goal was to make money at the
company’s expense. The cases ranged according to technical sophistication as shown
along the vertical axis. While this is a rough characterization, it is clear that attacks
involving the construction of logic bombs (C and F) and the exploitation of network
protocol race conditions (A) require more technical sophistication than attacks that
involve the exploitation of vulnerabilities in procedures (B) or the manual deletion of
critical software (D and E).

10
The following provides a more detailed description of the above cases:
Case A
An employee (A) of a turf accountant (a company that processes horse races bets)
committed several illegal actions, each more serious than the previous one, with the help
of some accomplices that also began to work for the same company. A worked as an off-
track bet processor and, initially, he started producing copies of unclaimed winning bets
and passed them to an accomplice to claim the bets.
After ten months doing this, A placed a so called “pick four” bet via an accomplice’s
account, selecting two specific horses for the first two races, and betting on any horse in
the last two races. After the first two races had been run, A manipulated the bet to reflect
the actual winner of the first two races. He tried to do the same with a “pick six” bet,
selecting four specific horses for the first four races and betting on any horse in the last
two. The second time A tried this operation he got a win of $3M, but due to the
unorthodox pattern of the bet, the win was withheld and an investigation began. As a
result, A and his accomplices were arrested and all their winnings were forfeited.
Case B
An employee (B) working in the foreign currency department of a bank gained control
over the data after performing several preparatory actions, such as eliminating some
6 insider
attack cases in
public domain
2 insiders primarily
motivated by
financial gain
4 insiders primarily
motivated by grudge
against company
B. Insider hid poor
job performance
to keep job and
salary bonuses
A. Insider exploited
protocol race
condition to make
his losing bets
look like winners
2 insiders created
and detonated
logic bomb
2 insiders stole
software critical
to company
F. Insider deleted
critical manufacturing
software as revenge
due to loss of
prestige within
company
C. Insider deleted
programs disrupting
online trading of
company stocks
as revenge for
low bonuses and
to make money
on trades
E. Insider stole
critical software to
prevent future
update as revenge
for loss of
prestige and pay
D. Insider stole
company’s
product software
and extorted its
return as revenge
for no severance pay
More
Technically
Sophisticated
More
Financially
Motivated
More
Revenge
Motivated
Less
Technically
Sophisticated
Figure 2 Characterization of Six Insider Threat Cases

11
monitoring tasks over his work or convincing back office personnel to take deliberately
corrupted data from his own personal computer instead from the official Reuters terminal.
B entered some fictitious options into bank records that showed that he had apparently
made beneficial operations for the bank. As a result, he was awarded substantial bonuses
and was promoted to managing director of foreign currency trading. B periodically
manipulated the data to increment the bank’s non-existent profits and obtained increasing
flexibility and independence to conduct his transactions. The bank officials became
suspicious about the sums being demanded to cover the transactions and discovered that
B had frequently exceeded the counterparty credit limits that the bank had established for
foreign exchange trading and that he had recorded nonsensical transactions, such as
options that supposedly expired unexercised the same day they were purchased.
Case C
An employee (C), who had root access and responsibility for the company’s entire
computer network, did not receive the bonus he was expecting and consequently decided
to attack the firm. C bought many put option contracts (a put option contract is a type of
security that increases in value as a company’s stock price drops).
C constructed and executed a logic bomb causing the simultaneous deletion of the
programs on servers distributed across the U.S. that allow online trading of the stocks of
the company. The logic bomb caused problems during a short period of time. However,
the system was recovered. No lowering of the stock values was evident as a result, but it
cost over $3M to assess and repair the network.
Case D
A software project manager (D) verbally attacked co-workers and some of them left the
project. D resigned after an argument about project progress: He was asked to write a
project status report before leaving the firm. Although he apparently accepted this
request, instead of complying, D asked the company for money in exchange for the only
copy of the developed software. He had previously deleted all backup copies.
The company never recovered a complete copy of the software and had to spend a
significant amount of time and money to reconstruct the product. The employee was
arrested.
Case E
After the retirement of his previous supervisor, who had imposed only very lax controls,
an employee (E) experienced more rigorous supervision of his work. E was asked to
document his software but he failed to comply. The supervisor decided to revert E to his
previous, lower pay status and relocate him. In response, E deletes the copy of the
software from his laptop, quits his job, returns the laptop, and informs his supervisor that
the only copy of the software has been permanently lost due to computer malfunction.
Although the application could go on running, future updates were no longer feasible.

12
Months later encrypted copies of the code were recovered from the residence of E and he
was indicted.
Case F
This case is explained more in depth in the next section 2.2.
A summary of the six cases can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1 Summary of the Six Insider Cases
CASE ACTION MOTIVE PRECURSORS IMPACT TIME OPPORTUNITY
A
Modify Data for Own
Purposes
Financial
Gain
From previous
smaller illegal
operations to bigger
ones.
$210,000 1 year Privilege access
B
Modify Data for Own
Purposes
Financial
Gain
-Change of
management rules to
gain control.
-Took operations to
the limit
- Intimidation
$500
Million
(trading
losses)
4 years
- Absence of control
- Management
permission
C Logic Bomb Grudge
- Complaints about
low bonus
projections
- Purchase of put
option contracts
$3
Million
2
weeks
- Control over the
system
- Privileged access
D Code Stealing Grudge
-Intent to maintain
control of the
software.
-Took control of the
system.
- Verbal attacks
Software
(product)
loss
1 year
Entire control of
sole copy of
software
E Code Stealing Grudge
Intent to maintain
control of the
software
Impossibl
e future
updates
2 years
Entire control of
sole copy of
software
F Logic Bomb Grudge
-Work environment
discontent.
- Took control of the
system
-Preparatory attacks.
Software
loss $10
Million
6
months
Control over the
system
2.3 Main Results of the Lloyd/Omega Model
Some of the authors of this paper have previously modelled an insider attack (Melara et
al. 2003b). This model reproduced the attack of Tim Lloyd against the firm he worked for
(Omega).
Tim Lloyd had worked for Omega for 11 years. As the company expanded into a global
enterprise, his prominent position slipped from being one of technical authority into being
just a team member. Feeling disrespected, he planted a logic bomb that caused prolonged
system downtime, damages and lost contracts.

13
Before the preparation of the primary attack he had already carried out some incidents
that affected proper operation of the information systems and also exhibited his
discontent verbally and physically. Because of his behaviour he was reprimanded twice.
Months before the attack Lloyd removed programs from Omega’s workstations and
centralized them on one file server, telling workers not to store them locally any longer.
He began to prepare for his attack, testing it several times before being terminated and
finding a new job.
Three weeks after Lloyd had been fired from Omega, a logic bomb triggered by him
deleted more than one thousand programs that “ran” the company. The backup tapes for
these programs were never found.
Lloyd was convicted on computer sabotage based on evidence consisting of malicious
code, three test programs and two old backup copies found on Lloyd’s private PC.
The behaviour reference modes for this case are shown in Figure 3:
Following his demotion from a star employee to an average worker, Tim Lloyd exhibited
public actions of discontent. A crucial observation is that management perceived Lloyd’s
problematic behaviour as a disruption of workplace climate and not at all as a threat to
the security of the company. Accordingly, the reference behaviour modes include Tim
Figure 3 (i) Security Level; (ii) Pressure to Grow; (iii) Workplace Discontent; (iv)
Formal Controls; (v) Disruptions of Workplace Climate and Precursor Incidents; (vi)
Actions to Reduce Security Level.
Time
Insider Dismissal
(i)
(ii)
(vi)
(v)
(iii)
(iv)
Insider Attack
Preparatory Behavior
Start of Problematic Behavior Decision to Attack

14
Lloyd’s disruptions of workplace climate as well as some security incidents that went
unnoticed as security threats. Further, the reference behaviour includes management
preoccupation with workplace climate and corresponding obliviousness toward the
security threat posed by Lloyd. It is likely that the high pressure to grow, which had
characterized Omega since 1985, made workplace climate the key aspect of concern for
management.
There was an absence of formal policies such as designing correct segregation of security
duties or maintaining an appropriate employee-supervisor relationship. Further, there was
no evidence that any security audits were conducted.
Tim Lloyd made up his mind to strike some months in advance of the “big attack.” His
discontent may have triggered his actions to reduce the security level of the system.
About a year before he committed the attack, he showed visible signs of discontent, and
the failure of management to respond to this behaviour from a security perspective may
have encouraged Lloyd to plan his attack. The lack of concern about security enabled
Lloyd to act with impunity to make the system more vulnerable months before he
committed the attack.
Interestingly, the security level was extremely low at the end of the considered time
horizon, i.e. when the attack actually occurred. The security level had decreased
significantly during the last months preceding the attack. The severe consequences of the
attack support this conclusion.
It should be pointed out that the behaviour of the model is obtained from endogenous
variables, with no external inputs. We mention two remarkable feedback loops (Melara et
al. 2003b): One of them represents that a low management commitment to security
implies low detection activities and that consequently there is a low risk perception,
completing a positive feedback loop. The other reinforcing loop includes the insider’s
decision to attack, the precursor actions, the subsequent downtime, the deterioration of
the work climate and the reinforcement of the insider’s decision to attack.
3. Group Modelling of Generic Insider Cases
3.1 Introduction
The group modelling process occurred during the Second Annual Workshop on System
Dynamics Modelling for Information Security from Tuesday to Thursday 17-19 February
2004. Monday 16 the “problem owners”, i.e, the CERT/CC information security experts
got a short introduction to causal loop diagramming as well as the basic aspects of stock-
and-flow diagrams, the connection between causal structure and behaviour, delays and
problem definition in system dynamics. A short version of this course was delivered
again Tuesday morning for the benefit of some CERT/CC researchers who could not
attend the course the previous day.
Note, however, that instead of a traditional process involving problem (and data owners)
one had researchers from the collaborating CERT/CC study of insider threats as proxy for

15
the actual problem owners. Previous to the workshop, a detailed proposal with references
to public available insider attack cases was developed.8
A PowerPoint presentation of the
proposal was shown in the first (plenary) session of the workshop Tuesday morning.
The team working on the generic insider threat problem completed its work using group
model building practices (Vennix 1996). As described below, we used a fairly standard
definition of modelling team roles (Richardson and Andersen 1995) and used a scripted
group modelling process that has been previously described in the literature (Andersen
and Richardson 1997). A more complete and “blow-by-blow” description of the details of
the process that we used (applied to a similar, but different problem area) is currently in
draft form (Luna-Reyes 2004).
3.2 Definition of Modelling Team Roles and Script Development
Although the group modelling process ran for three days, the effective time dedicated to
actual modelling was closer to two days. Indeed, each morning there was a plenary
session involving all participants of the workshop for cross-fertilization between the
insider and outsider thread.
Within the insider threat team, Cappelli and Moore assumed the roles of meeting
managers, taking responsibility for making any critical calls with respect to group process
and steering the overall team over difficult areas of discussion. During the three days,
five to eight members of the CERT/CC & USSS study on insider threat contributed with
domain expertise. Stanton from Syracuse University added his expertise on
organizational psychology and the role of trust.
Andersen fulfilled the role of group facilitator and held that role for most of the meeting
time. The modelling team of Mojtahedzadeh, Weaver, Zagonel and Sarriegui split a
number of roles and responsibilities. Weaver, with her background and training as a
psychologist, focused on the emergence of psychological and behavioural mechanisms
within the group discussion (she split her time between the insider and outsider threat
groups). Zagonel had considerable experience working with Andersen creating group
products on a rapid schedule; he had primary responsibility for capturing all group
products in electronic form and has produced most of the figures and products shown in
this section of the paper. Mojtahedzadeh concentrated on the emerging feedback structure
being articulated by the group. Sarriegui, who had no previous experience from group
modelling, but had previously collaborated in modelling an insider attack, acted more in
the background and contributed to the quality assurance process.
An important feature of our modelling team was that we came into the exercise without a
group process coach and indeed without a detailed script for the three days of work. Since
we had not previously come together with the group or the meeting managers, it was not
possible to have this advance work done. We tried to “turn this bug into a feature” by
8
The proposal (see http://www.cert.org/research/sdmis/) was a collaborative involving SEI/CERT: Chris
Bateman, Dawn Cappelli, Casey Dunlevy, Andrew Moore, Dave Mundie, Stephanie Rogers, Tim Shimeall;
TECNUN, University of Navarra: Jose Maria Sarriegui; from Syracuse University: Jeffrey M. Stanton; and
Agder University College: Jose J. Gonzalez.

16
inventing a new group modelling script. We convened the modelling team plus the
meeting managers in a “fishbowl” exercise to plan the next steps in the modelling
process. This provided the modelling team an opportunity to air its plans and concerns for
the meeting and to involve the meeting managers more directly in the planning process.
This process also helped the full team gain a sense of “what was coming next”. We
believe that this ad hoc script worked quite well and will try to refine and repeat it again.
3.3 Stakeholder Analysis
The formal group modelling session began with a series of problem defining exercises.
The purposes of these exercises was to begin to define the problem that the group wanted
to investigate and hence the boundary of the model to be constructed. The first of these
was the creation of a stakeholder map as shown in Figure 4.
For this exercise, participants wrote down the name of key stakeholders whose actions
would have a large influence on the behaviour of the model to be constructed.
Participants were asked to place these named stakeholders on a two dimensional grid
characterized by “Interest” in the problem at hand on the horizontal axis versus ability to
“Influence” the problem on the vertical axis. Stakeholders located in the upper right hand
corner of the diagram were the key stakeholders for this model, being persons both very
interested in and very able to shape the outcome of the problem of interest.
The discussion was lively and lasted for about a half-hour. The group seemed most
interested in making some actors (such as the focal actor-attacker) less influential and
Influence
Interest
High
Low
Stock holders
Technical / low
level managers
Human
Resources
Auditor
Focal actor
Regulator
DHS /
government
Staff (users,
employees)
CISO or
equivalent role
System
administrator
Legal
Immediate
supervisor of
focal actor
Customers
Public Relations Spouse or
significant other
of focal actor
CEO
Team member
(coworkers) of
focal actors
Outside criminal
Close friends of
focal actor Stakeholder Analysis
High
Figure 4 Stakeholder map created on Tuesday (the first of three days) afternoon

17
making other actors more interested or influential. This quick and dirty form of a
stakeholder analysis and management (Eden and Ackermann 1998) revealed that the group
was keenly interested in the organizational, behavioural, and psychological states of mind
of the focal actors and those line and technical managers responsible for the organization’s
cyber-defences. This initial half-hour discussion anchored the rest of the three-day meeting.
3.4 Policy Levers and Clusters
The second exercise, also completed on Tuesday afternoon, was a mapping and clustering
of the policy options that the group believed to be available to solve the problem of
interest. Note that the group had at this point not yet precisely defined what the problem
was. Rather the group was beginning to define the problem indirectly by addressing a
number of key questions related to the problem (e.g., who is involved in the problem—
stakeholder map or what can be done about it—policy levers map). Members of the group
posted the policy levers in similar clusters as they were put up for discussion.
A careful analysis of the clusters identified in Figure 5 compared to the first causal
structure shown in Figure I-1 in Appendix I reveals that information about the key stocks
and structures of the eventual system map were implied by this exercise. This exercise
stressed detection capability (ultimately a stock) and a supportive and trusting
organizational culture (a key stock in the final map). In addition, the figure implies issues
of formal risk management planning (which finally showed up as a key loop) and several
types of “best practice” (which ultimately emerged as violations of best practice – things
Figure 5 Map of policy levers organized by clusters
Backup
management
Policy & control on
electronic
distribution of
proprietary info
Hire an ethics officer
or ombudsman to
support
whistleblowing
Malicious code
detection
Negative
consequences
Monitoring
employee behavior
for indicators
Background checks
before employment
& periodicallyRandom audits
Establish common
trust expectations
Physical security
control on
computers, facility,
etc.
Implement good
technical practices
(configuration,
access control, ...)
Policy & procedures
for reporting abuse
and misuse by fellow
employees
Implement
employee
assistance
programs (EAP)
Define roles
Conduct
management
development
program
Employee
exit/termination
procedures
Preserving least
priviledge
Require software
walkthroughs
Making critical
functions reduntant
Create a supportive
culture
Implement personnel
security via HR procedures
Implement
physical security
Implement best practices
for data security
Promote detection finding out
things we may not know otherwise
Implement best practices for
working rules & procedures
Hire business
continuity
consultant
Sign non-disclosure
(NDA) or
non-compete
agreement
Enforcing the
existing security
policies + acceptable
use policies
Record organizational
knowledge (know-
howprocedures)...
Identify risks for
roles & staff
Policy & auditing
for remote access
Use 360 degree
performance
appraisal
Training
Use integrity tests
in hiringRequire 2 weeks
vacation + area
audit
Run annual credit
checks on
employees
Create a culture of
consequences & punishment
Policy Levers (and clusters)
Conduct employee
training on
regulatory
environment
Create a plan for
risk management

18
that could have or should have been detected by the organization). Physical and technical
security issues were also mentioned in this final map.
3.5 Reference Modes
The remainder of the afternoon devoted to problem and model boundary definition was
devoted to a reference mode exercise. Working alone or in pairs, group participants were
asked to sketch one or more key variables that seemed to them to illustrate the essential
nature of the problem under study. For each variable or set of variables, participants were
asked to specify the relevant time boundary and then to directly sketch the behaviour of
interest. All sketches were posted on a board and discussed. In all, eighteen variable
sketches were produced as listed in Figure 6 below.
The reference mode exercise provided a wealth of dynamic insight, all of which has not
yet been mined to the benefit of the full project. Our intention at the end of the day on
Tuesday had been to return to these eighteen reference mode sketches and to cluster them
and to discuss them more fully. A more complete analysis of the reference mode data is a
task for future modelling. To illustrate some of the interesting dynamics emerging from
this exercise, two sample sketches are presented below:
Employee access upon
termination
Mistreating of fellow employees
Percent of shared
organizational knowledge
Turnover of critical employees
Management of
technology/data
Focal actor job satisfaction
Financial health of organizationPreventive HR procedures
Average job overloadPosition in company
AwarenessBehavioral oversight
Awareness of risksRespect for insider
Staff trustTrust in employee
Management attentionEmployee/management tension
Figure 6 Titles of eighteen sketches elicited in the reference mode exercise

19
The sketch of staff trust versus time is one of the eighteen reference mode sketches,
reproduced here as a photographic reproduction of the participant’s own hand drawn
version. The sketch illustrates this participant’s view that a “honeymoon” period of trust
would be followed by a sharp decline in trust accompanied by a cultural change. These
dynamics are presumed to occur over a three-year time horizon. We selected this
particular sketch to discuss because it illustrates key aspects of a shifting culture of trust,
ultimately depicted in the “dynamic trigger hypothesis” as discussed below.
The sketch of preventive human resource procedures (Figure 8) is over a much longer
time frame than the trust sketch shown in Figure 7. Figure 8 illustrates the participant’s
belief that organizations would over time systematically raise and then lower their
organizational defences in the face of repeated cyber-attacks. The vertical dashed line in
the hand drawn figure represents the time of a recognized attack, indicating that this
participant believes that a culture of prevention will suddenly step up in a repeated saw
tooth pattern following attacks. This is the classical reference mode of compliance
erosion known in the literature as the “unrocked boat behaviour” (for a discussion of this
reference mode and a theory of erosion of compliance cf. Gonzalez and Sawicka 2003).
Figure 7 Sample reference mode sketch; Staff trust vs. time (3-year time boundary)

20
3.6 Causal-Loop Diagram of the Insider Threat Problem
By the end of Tuesday night, the group had accomplished a substantial amount of work.
As we closed the day, our expectation was that we would return to the reference mode
exercise and spend more time extracting “dynamic stories” from the group by clustering
the raw reference mode sketches. Our actual path differed from this plan.
3.6.1 Laying Down the Basic Stock and Flow Structure (Tuesday night and
Wednesday morning)
Returning from dinner on Tuesday night, the modelling team retired to a private session
to review progress for that day and to plan for the next day. We were fortunate in that the
recorder had been working hard (indeed he had skipped dinner) and we had available to
us an unusually clear set of products from the day’s work (essentially all of the products
as they are presented in this paper were available after dinner).
The modelling team decided to take a risk the next morning with the group. After some
vigorous discussion, the team proposed a set of stock variables and a geometry for their
placement on a large board that would support a causal loop elicitation exercise the next
morning. Key stocks that seemed to “leap off the page” from the stakeholder and policy
cluster analysis were stocks related to management attention, an aggregate measure of
security procedures in place, an accumulation associated with supportive culture, and
something associated with attacker risk and willingness to attack. A key invention of the
group was a sort of aging chain whereby violations of security procedures seemed to
“grow into” precursor events, eventually maturing into full-fledged attack events. We
Figure 8 Sample reference model sketch: Preventive human resource
procedures vs. time (15-year time boundary)

21
were not sure if these were independent events or linked into a chain (if it were a chain,
what would be the conserved units associated with that chain?).
3.6.2 Mapping Learning from Experience, Audits, and Detection
(Wednesday morning)
We began Wednesday morning (the second day of group modelling) by proposing the
stock and flow structure first articulated by the modelling team the previous night. The
first portion of the mapping exercise consisted of an extensive discussion of and
agreement on the basic stock-and-flow structure proposed by the modelling team on
Tuesday evening. The group had difficulty with the quasi stock-and-flow chain that
eventually became violations of best practice, precursor events, and actual attacks. But
the group did give the modelling team permission to proceed with the causal mapping
exercise.
We decided to work with three views of the causal map, all linked through the anchor
points of a common set of stocks. A large white board of cling sheets measuring
approximately five feet by six feet was constructed on the front wall of the room. This
“scratch wall” was used as a boundary object to capture initial discussions from the
group. Our plan was to capture some portion of the causal structure and then to carefully
transcribe that “layer” of structure to a larger cling sheet wall (about seven feet by twelve
feet) on a different wall. Each layer would be carefully drawn by the modelling team,
allowing the group to “transfer insight from and approve” the scratch to finished wall
models before the scratch wall was erased for a second round of mapping. This exercise
would work well if the basic anchoring stock structure did not change too much between
layers, and in this we were fortunate. While the names of the anchoring stocks changed
quite a bit, the basic geometry survived two days of intensive mapping. The third view of
the model was a Vensim sketch that was based directly on the carefully modeller-drawn
side wall. The figures shown in this paper are those Vensim sketches as they were
presented to the full team on Thursday.
Figure I-1 in Appendix I shows the first layer of structure added to the positive map. This
layer began with a series of negative loops illustrating how attacks could lead to
increased managerial attention and hence investment in detection (that would reduce
future attacks). A reinforcing loop that appeared to be working as a trap connected
detection capability to management’s perception of violations of best practice. This loop
could act over time to suppress appropriate levels of investment in threat detection
capability.
Finally, the group posited that organizations could set appropriate levels of threat
deterrence and detection capability by conducting audits and assessments of
organizational vulnerabilities. For example, “red teams” could simulate attacks on
organizational information assets, helping management to learn about vulnerabilities
without attacks and without having detection systems locate potential vulnerabilities or
breaches of good practice.

22
3.6.3 Mapping Growth of Motive (Wednesday afternoon)
The second layer in the causal map focused on the growth of motive to attack by the focal
actor. These effects are shown in red in Figure I-2 in Appendix I. Four stocks in Figure I-
2 are shaded in, indicating to the group a “focal actor attack” sector of the model that
contained variables and loops pertaining to the psychological and behavioural dynamics
of an attacker. These dynamics are spanned by stocks that relate to motive, perceptions of
risk, the creation and monitoring of precursor events, and finally attack behaviours
themselves.
The motive structures are necessary to trigger any of the other attack behaviours. The
group decided to view motive as a more or less undifferentiated event, not trying to sort
out various types of motive. Aspects of a supportive organizational culture were
presumed to mitigate attack motives.
Some of the most interesting loops in the mapping exercise arose from examinations of
how the focal attacking actor dealt with perceived risk. The team seemed clear that
attacking actors were quite careful and tended not to take undue risks. Rather, they
launched so-called “precursor events” to probe organizational defences. Forensic analysis
of attacks in the six cases uncovered after-the-fact evidence that the attacker had been
probing organizational defences (without detection) for some before an actual attack was
launched. Indeed, several participants mentioned that attacks themselves could be
repeated once attackers were sufficiently emboldened (i.e., believing that risk of detection
was quite low.) The dynamics shown in Figure I-2 laid the foundation for much of the
“dynamic trigger hypothesis” as discussed below.
3.6.4 Mapping Trust and Deterrence (Thursday morning)
The final layer of the causal map explored the myriad linkages around the issues of trust
and deterrence that knit the other pieces of the model together. This mapping was
completed on Thursday morning and is shown in Figure I-3 in Appendix I as the final
layer mapped in blue. This final layer focused on organizational trust as a central variable
in the overall cyber-attack scenario. Organizational managers strive for a culture of
support and trust for a number of excellent managerial reasons. Indeed, the participants
believed that a supportive and trusting environment could serve to suppress motive to
attack. However, in the presence of a motive to attack, trust can reinforce a tendency to
under-invest in detection procedures, thereby opening up the organization to undetected
precursor events and eventually full-scale cyber-attacks.
Hence organizational policies designed to engender organizational trust and a supportive
culture can have the unintended effects of making an organizational more vulnerable to
cyber attacks mediated by a string of undetected precursor events. This is exactly the
pattern found in the forensic data available from publicly documented cyber attacks.

23
3.7 Hypothesizing Dynamic Mechanisms
By Thursday evening, the workshop’s full causal map was available to the modelling
team. Working “in the back room” (i.e., not with the full group), the modelling team
extracted a set of three key reinforcing loops that seemed to be a key focus of the whole
mapping exercise. These three loops are already present in the full map shown in Figure
I-3 in Appendix 1 but their possible importance is masked by the over 4,000 other
feedback loops that contribute to the visual complexity of that figure. Extracting a small
number of loops simplified and focused the discussion.
Figure 9 presents the extract from the back room exercise that illustrates a reduced set of
feedback mechanisms that combine to create the “dynamic trigger hypothesis”. This
dynamic trigger mediates between an exogenous motive trigger (upper left quadrant) to
attack and a dynamically escalating probability of attack (lower right).
The interaction of three key feedback loops shown in Figure 9 show how the focal actor’s
behaviour prior to the attack (precursor events) combined with unintended consequences
of explicit managerial actions may lead to the focal actor’s dynamically decreasing
perceptions of risk and increasing motivation to execute the ultimate attack.
A series of three connected verbal stories were crafted around Figure Figure 9 to express
in verbal terms the overall dynamic hypothesis emerging from the workshop. These three
stories-as-dynamic-hypotheses are presented below:
• H1—Detection Trap. The absence of detection capability suppresses
detection of on-going violations and precursor events thereby
Detection
Capability
Managerial
Trust
Motivation
to Attack
Focal Actor
Perceived
Risk
Focal Actor
Precursor
Events
Detected
Precursors
Organization's
Perceived Risk
Desired Investment in
Security Measures Fraction Undetected or
Ignored Precursors
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
Motive
Triggers
R1
R2
R3
+
Gap between risk
tolerance and perceived
risk
Probability of
Attack
Trust Trap
Detection Trap
Unobserved
Emboldening
Figure 9 Overview of core mechanisms underpinning the Dynamic Trigger Hypothesis

24
suppressing desired investments in security measures (such as
detection capability).
The detection trap contributes to an explanation of why organizations that have been the
victims of cyber attacks have historically under-invested in accepted cyber security
practices. Over periods when these organizations have not been victims of attacks, they
have let down their defences either by not investing in the first place or by continuing to
invest in detection capabilities.
• H2—Trust Trap. Over time, trust can disable an organization’s
compromise detection capability, leading to fewer detected precursor
events and increasing violations of best practices. In turn, fewer
detected events can reinforce the (perhaps erroneous) conclusion that
compromise detection is not needed and can increase managerial
perception that high trust in employees is warranted.
Managers in all types of organizations strive to implement good management practices by
creating supportive organizational cultures. Indeed such supportive cultures can reduce
employees’ motivation to attack and can diffuse such motives when they do arise through
employee counselling and other support program. In addition, the existence of high levels
of managerial trust can enhance overall productivity and reduce transaction costs across
the organization. A possible unintended consequence of high levels of organizational
trust appears in the figure above, however. The trust trap mechanism may help to explain
how well intentioned organizational activities can erode an organization’s defences to
cyber attacks.
• H3—Unobserved Emboldening. Left undetected, precursor events reduce
an actor’s perception of risk. In turn, reduced perceptions of risk lead to
additional precursor events. This reinforcing cycle of emboldening can
remain unobserved by management (absent detection of precursor
events-—see H1—Detection Trap and H2—Trust Trap).
The third causal mechanism, unobserved emboldening, completes a feedback-rich causal
pathway between initial motive (shown in the upper left corner of Figure 9) and a
dynamically escalating probability of attack (shown in the lower right portion of Figure
9). This dynamic mechanism presents a causal structure that explains, in part, how focal
actors often initiate a series of precursor events that probe organizational defences. Since
these are reinforcing feedback effects, in the presence of appropriate motives focal actors
may drive down their perceived risk until the gap between risk tolerance and perceived
risk is low enough to create conditions highly conducive to an attack. In signal detection
theoretic terms, these lower perceived risks may be linked to a dynamically changing
threshold to act. Taken as a whole, these dynamic trigger hypotheses seek to explain how
motives and conditions conducive to attack escalate into actual attack behaviour. The
hypotheses describe feedback mechanisms that explain how attackers mitigate their
personal level of perceived risk, holding off on final attack behaviours until perceived

25
risks fall to a level the attacker is willing to accept. While these hypotheses may be
appealing for practical reasons they are nonetheless only hypotheses and must be
operationalized within a framework of overall organizational and attacker behaviour,
tested in an initial proof-of-concept study, and subjected to empirical testing and
refinement using both qualitative and quantitative data sources. We believe that the
appropriate starting point for these activities lies in a clear understanding of
organizationally relevant theory and research. In the next section we present an overview
of research on organizational trust as (partial) grounding for the proposed program of
research.
3.8 Theoretical Bases of Organizational Trust
Organizational researchers have found that trust serves a foundation for good
interpersonal relationships (Rempel, Holmes, and Zanna 1985), cooperative social
behaviour (Barnard 1938; Blau 1964), and reduction of social transaction costs (Jones
1984). Trust also appears to play an important role in the functioning of hierarchical
authority relationships such as the relationships between supervisors and employees
(Tyler and Lind 1992). The extent to which trust exists in hierarchical relationships seems
to influence numerous psychological and organizational issues such as the extent of
formal controls, degree of cooperation, supervisory spans of control, and the quality of
labour-management relations (Eisenhardt 1989; Jones 1984).
Because of the importance of trust, numerous efforts have explored the central role of
trust on the attitudes and behaviours of individuals in organizations (e.g., Lewicki and
Bunker 1996; Whitner, Brodt, Korsgaard, and Werner 1998). At least two major
perspectives have been used to frame the analysis of trust in a hierarchical relationship: a
social exchange perspective and an agency perspective. A social exchange perspective
suggests that supervisors who wish to develop trust with those they supervise engage in
prosocial behaviour to engender reciprocity and positive affect among their workers
(Blau 1964; Whitner et al. 1998). From this perspective, supervisors attempt to ingratiate
themselves with key workers in order to reap an expected reciprocal benefit in the form
of enhanced effort or performance on the part of that worker. One can see the seeds of
dynamic Hypothesis 2 in these actions: In a move to engender trust, supervisors may
appease workers whose efforts are critical to a project. Methods for this include relaxing
formal controls over the employee, expanding the employee’s privileges or perquisites, or
diminishing the closeness of supervision over that employee. In support of this point,
research has suggested that reducing the closeness of supervision increases employees’
feelings of control and reduces employees’ perceptions of stress (Aiello and Kolb 1995;
Carayon 1994; Stanton and Barnes-Farrell 1996). For the typical employee, increasing
perceptions of control and decreasing the experience of stress are desirable goals, but
with respect to an attacker, these same goals may help to lead to the emboldening
described in dynamic Hypothesis 3. Further, any combination of relaxing controls,
increasing privileges, or reducing closeness of supervision may also decrease supervisory
capabilities for subsequent detection of problematic employee activities (Flamholtz 1979;
Mintzberg 1973)

26
Using a different perspective on trust, agency theorists propose that trust is a required
element of a contractual arrangement between a principal and an agent only in
circumstances where close monitoring of the agent’s behaviour is not possible or cost
effective (Eisenhardt 1989). From the agency perspective, when it is economically and
logistically feasible, close and accurate monitoring is always a preferable alternative to
trust. Agency theory thus balances the expense and inconvenience of close monitoring
against the risk of relying upon trust as an alternative to monitoring. Note how this
balancing reflects, in part, the dynamic trigger described in Hypothesis 1. Monitoring
mechanisms are not cost free, but the evidence of malfeasance that managers might
accept as a basis for investing in monitoring capabilities is less likely to be available in
the absence of existing monitoring capabilities.
The foregoing discussion provides a brief sample of the existing array of psychologically
grounded organizational theory that our team can draw upon to help produce further
advances in this research. We can also use the available empirical research examining
those theories as a cross check with the system dynamics models we create.
4. Discussion
Five participating institutions at the Second Annual Workshop on System Dynamics
Modelling for Information Security, viz. CERT/CC at Carnegie Mellon, University at
Albany, Syracuse University (all US) and the European partners Agder University
College and TECNUN/Universidad de Navarra, decided to formulate a research agenda
and project proposals based on such agenda. The first outcome is a project application
entitled “Improving Organizational Security and Survivability by Suppression of
Dynamic Triggers” that has been submitted to the National Science Foundation.
4.1 Can System Dynamics Help Improve Cyber Data Availability?
Experience teaches that security and safety failures virtually always have numerous
precursor incidents: For every flight crash there are tens or hundreds of near-crashes; the
famous software time bomb at Omega was preceded by many indications that the
malicious insider intended to attack (Gaudin 2000; Melara et al. 2003b); the 9-11 terrorist
strike in 2001 had a forerunner in the bomb attack in the World Trade Center in 1993 and
many other precursor incidents that were not perceived for what they were (Emerson
2002).
Schneier (2000, p. 392) argues passionately that cyber attacks need to be publicized –
implying collecting and sharing data: «We need to publicize attacks. We need to publicly
understand why systems fail. We need to share information about security breaches:
causes, vulnerabilities, effects, methodologies. Secrecy only aids the attackers.»
The logic is compelling: «When a DC-10 falls out of the sky, everyone knows it. There
are investigations and reports, and eventually people learn from these accidents. You can
go to the Air Safety Reporting System and read the detailed reports of tens of thousands
of accidents and near-accidents [our emphasis] since 1975.» (Schneier 2000, p. 391).
Turning around the argument: Cyber security would be much better if a better reporting
system were in place.

27
But for cyber security the task is not easy (cf. the discussion in §1.3 Cyber Data
Restrictions). Companies that go public are not rewarded. Quoting Schneier again (2000,
p. 391-392): «When Citibank lost $12 million to a Russian hacker in 1995, it announced
that the bank had been hacked into and instituted new and more profound security
measures to prevent such attacks from occurring in the future. Even so, millions of
dollars were withdrawn by people who believed their funds were vulnerable immediately
after Citibank’s announcement. Ultimately, Citibank recovered, but the lesson to Citibank
was clear and unambiguous: “Don’t publicize.”»
How can system dynamics help improve cyber data availability? For one thing, system
dynamics modelling does not require incident-specific data about security breaches, but
rather aggregated data and stocks and flows of quite an abstract nature (see e.g. the
variables in Figure I-3). Therefore, we hope to build partnerships with potential owners of
cyber data willing to share such “innocuous” (i.e. untraceable and non-sensitive) data. In
other words: Data owners might increasingly trust system dynamics modellers if
emergent collaborations demonstrate that such exercise is feasible – and useful
Indeed, one of the nice things about system dynamics modelling is the common
experience that even models based on “poor” data can be helpful if expert judgement
combined with whatever data that is available contributes to identify important causal
structures. The resulting models are useful in the sense that they provide reasonable
explanations for system behaviour. Further, experience shows that such preliminary
system dynamics models provide valuable suggestions for additional data mining.
Expecting this to the case for our emerging collaboration, we gamble that demonstrable
usefulness (plus model-based suggestions for what kind of data is most urgently needed)
might trigger an iterative process of improved data collection and modelling.
4.2 The Dynamic Trigger Hypothesis Revisited
Keeping in mind that numerous precursor incidents anticipate the actual attack, it is not
unreasonable to postulate a causal link between the chain of determinants and outcomes
of the precursor incidents and the attack. Such link is hard, if not impossible to recognize,
if precursor incidents remain “incidents” – i.e. scattered and rare events against a noisy
backdrop. Accordingly, one would expect that the commonality in the incidents becomes
salient once their pattern is seen in the light of feedback structures. Thus far, we are
simply claiming that identifying feedbacks responsible for the pattern of precursors
mounting up before the actual strike would make precursors more conspicuous and,
hence, improve the chance to prevent the strike, or at least to mitigate its consequences.
The “dynamic trigger hypothesis” goes farther, in that it postulates that there are dynamic
mechanisms unfolding along with the precursor chain. Such dynamic trigger is assumed
to mediate between an exogenous motive trigger to attack and a dynamically escalating
probability of attack. In addition to the preliminary analysis given above (§3.7
Hypothesizing Dynamic Mechanisms) we mention the system dynamics analysis of the
Lloyd/Omega case (Melara et al. 2003b). For short, we refer the reader to the discussion
of its main results in §2.3 Main Results of the Lloyd/Omega Model, especially to the

28
concluding paragraph describing two unchecked9
reinforcing feedback loops that fuelled
precursor actions and presumably were decisive for Lloyd’s final attack.
4.3 Perspectives for Further Research
We are developing a long-term research perspective articulated by the Project on System
Dynamics Modeling for Information Security.10
As illustrated in Figure 10, the project’s
long term research agenda envisions a range of activities beginning with system level
mapping (an exercise begun at the February 2004 workshop) and ultimately creating
better security practices in governmental and private organizations. Between these
modest beginnings and the grand overall goals lies a series of focused model building
exercises, extensive model calibration, qualitative and quantitative data collection efforts,
and the design and creation of microworlds, interactive learning environments and
decision support products based on the models and policy insights gained from the
modeling efforts.
9
Unchecked by the management, who partly overlooked, partly misinterpreted what was going on.
10
This is still a working title.
Group
Modeling
Running
Simulation
Model
Calibrating
&
Validating Model
Refined
Dynamic
Stories
Microworlds &
Interactive
Learn. Environm.
Audit
Instruments
Documentation
&
Write-up
Model Analysis &
Implement. of
Better Policies
Qual. & Quant.
Data
Collection
Knowledge Capture &
Basic Modeling
Model Refinement
Model-based
Learning and
Reality-feedback
Broader Learning &
Critical Peer Feedback
Double-loop Learning Research
Agenda
Figure 10 : Overview of Research Products and Tasks Intended to Link System Modeling Efforts to Improved
Cyber-Security in Government and Private Organizations

29
The proposed “double-loop learning research agenda” should be seen as three stages that
become active as the project proceeds. There are iterations within each stage and added
iterations across stages. The lowest stage (Knowledge Capturing & Basic Modeling) is
identical to Phase One of the project. In Phase Two, both the lowest stage and the second
stage (Model Refinement) are active, with interactions and interactions within and across
the two stages. The highest stage (Model-base Learning and Reality-Feedback) is reached
in Phase Three – now there are iterations within the three stages and across all stages.
Phase One, “Knowledge Capturing & Basic Modeling”, involves Group Modeling,
Running Simulation Model and Calibrating & Validating Model. Group model building,
a well-established discipline within System Dynamics (Andersen and Richardson 1997;
Vennix 1996; Vennix, Akkermans, and Rouwette 1996), elicits relevant knowledge from
domain experts through group processes. Proceeding through several stages, going from
qualitative system maps to “first cut” calibrated and validated models, a basic simulation
model is developed.
In Phase Two, the basic simulation model from Phase One is further enriched with
structure and data (Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection) derived from
psychological and social sciences (such as dynamic decision theory and signal decision
theory). Insights from the model are articulated (Refined Dynamic Stories). The result is
a more mature simulation model that will serve as platform for the next phase.
Phase Three applies the obtained model and model insights to derive Microworlds &
Interactive Learning Environments for organizational learning (mainly – but also for
long-term improvement of model structure and model calibration), Audit Instruments (for
increased organizational consciousness and awareness– but also for long-term
improvement of model structure and model calibration) and Model Analysis and
Implementation of Better Policies.
The proposed approach recognizes that cyber attack data is highly fragmented, quite
incomplete and subject to severe restriction between incident registration and analysis
agencies (e.g., CERT/CC) and reporting organizations. Group model building operates on
expert judgment to create models reflecting expert’s understanding of problem structure
as well as valid parameter ranges. As the research project unfolds, more domain experts
contribute and audiences for audit processes and interactive learning environments play a
dual role as users of tools and feedback agents (adding more verification and validation to
the system dynamics model).
4.4 Rounding Up
There is growing consensus that, in order to be cost-effective, organizational priorities
around information security concerns must emphasize those that enable maintaining the
organization’s essential services (at least at some degraded level) despite malicious
attacks (Ellison et al. 1999; Anderson 2001; Knight, Strunk, and Sullivan 2003). This
emphasis forces an expansion of security issues from a narrow technical specialty to an
organization-wide risk management concern that must deal with broad avenues of attack
and the motivations of both attackers and defenders. A focus on maintenance of essential

30
services requires a systemic approach that takes into account the whole range of
organizational policies, practices, procedures, and technologies that may contribute to the
occurrence of security incidents. Even the organization’s workplace culture needs to be
considered, including the values, beliefs, and behaviours of employees that shape the way
that they conduct their jobs.
As an example of the limitations of existing technology, intrusion detection systems can
address only a small part of the problem, at least in its current form. Existing intrusion
detection technology targets the identification of only computer- and network-based
attacks. Security compromises by users that are abusing their legitimate authority – a
characteristic of insider attacks by definition – do not involve events designed to be
detected by the vast majority of intrusion detection tools available. Anomaly detection
tools that monitor individual applications for user activity that deviates significantly from
a predefined profile may be useful, but these tools are known to be expensive to operate,
only minimally effective, and not widely available. In addition, attacks that “fly over the
radar” of intrusion detection technology - such as exploitations of vulnerabilities in
procedures, physical structures, or personnel - need to be taken as seriously as
technological attacks (Anderson 2001). Disregarding these factors could be very
misleading and result in large gaps in our system defences.
Without a view to maintaining essential services, an organization may waste much time
and resources attempting to detect and analyze attacks that have no impact on their ability
to succeed. A report on the state of the practice of intrusion detection technologies
recommends that, among other things, future technologies should integrate a more
diverse source of attack data to ameliorate inaccuracies, defend against attacks that are
more sophisticated than those of the average hacker, and integrate human analysis as part
of event diagnosis (Allen et al. 1999).
We agree with these recommendations, but suggest taking them a step further to deal
directly with the inherent limitations of a strictly technological approach. Organizations
should focus on intrusion detection and response holistically by integrating a
comprehensive intrusion detection and response capability with an organization’s policies
and procedures, as well as with the technology. The system dynamics model described in
this paper identifies deterministic, continuous feedback processes for intrusion detection
in the large. We expect this approach to improve the measurability of an organization’s
survival over time, in comparison with an approach that uses stochastic models of risk
based on random event logic.
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34
Appendix I
Violations of best
practices (BPs)
Precursor events
Attacks
Probability
of attack
Base probability
+
Supportive culture
Security
procedures
Detection
capability
Management
attention
Vulnerability and
opportunities
Motive Risk proneness
Damage
Perceived
risk
Perceived risk
from detection
Detected
violations
Detected
precursors
+
+
+
+
+
External
legal/business
expectation
Management
development
Awareness
+
+
+
+
+
Perceived risk from
attack/damage
+
+
+
External reports
of attacks
+
Pressure to
invest
Desired investment
in security measures
+
+
+
+
+
Decay
time
-
Base investment
in security
Media/
experts
Resource
constraints
+
-
+
Safety goal
gap
Auditing
+
-
Safety
goal
Perception
bias
Asset
value
Operating
environment
+
+
+
Perceived risks
from audits
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
Figure I-1 Causal map of learning from experience, audits, and detection (Wednesday morning)

35
Violations of best
practices (BPs)
Focal actor
precursor events
+
Focal actor
attacks
Probability
of attack
Base
probability
+
Supportive culture
Security
procedures
Detection
capability
Management
attention
Vulnerability and
opportunities
Motivation to
attack
Focal actor
perceived risk
Damage
Perceived
risk
Perceived risk
from detection
Detected
violations
Detected
precursors
+
+
+
+
+
External
legal/business
expectation
Management
development
Awareness
+
+
+
+
+
Perceived risk from
attack/damage
+
+
+
External reports
of attacks
+
Pressure to
invest
Desired investment
+
+
+
+
+
Decay
time
-
Base investment
in security
Media/
experts
Resource
constraints
+
-
+
Risk
gap Auditing
+
-
Security
goal
Perception
bias
Asset
value
Operating
environment
+
+
+
Perceived risks
from audits
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
Life
time
-
+
-
EAP/counceling
programs
+
Motive
triggers
+
+
+
++
-
+
-
-
Effective
implementation of
security procedures
-
-
Risk
tolerance
+
Base risk
tolerance
Gap between risk
tolerance and
perceived risk
+
-
+
Deterrance &
punishment
+
Culture of
deterrence
+
+
+
Publicly reported
detected precursor
Reporting
policy
+
+
+
+
-
Fraction
undetected or
ignored precursor
+
-
-
Detected
attacks
Immediate
reaction
+
+
-
Awareness of
effective security
procedures
+
+
+
+
+
+
Perceived benefit
of successful
attack
+
+
<Perceived
benefit of
successful attack>
+ Undetected
attacks
-
+
-
+
<Detection
capability>
-
+
Figure I-2 Causal map of growth of motive (Wednesday afternoon)

36
Violations of best
practices (BPs)
Focal actor
precursor events
+
Focal actor
attacks
Probability
of attack
Base
probability
+
Supportive culture
Security
procedures
Detection
capability
Management
attention
Vulnerability and
opportunities
Motivation to
attack
Focal actor
perceived risk
Damage
Organization's
perceived risk
Perceived risk
from detection
Detected
violations
Detected
precursors
+
+
+
+
+
External
legal/business
expectation
Management
development
Awareness
+
+
+
+
+
Perceived risk from
attack/damage
+
+
+
External reports
of attacks
+
Pressure to
invest
Desired investment
+
+
+
+
+
Decay
time
-
Base investment
in security
Media/
experts
Resource
constraints
+
-
+
Risk
gap Auditing
+
-
Security
goal
Perception
bias
Asset
value
Operating
environment
+
+
+
Perceived risks
from audits
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
Life
time
-
+
-
EAP/counceling
programs
+
Motive
triggers
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
Effective
implementation of
security procedures
-
-
Risk
tolerance
+
Base risk
tolerance
Gap between risk
tolerance and
perceived risk
+
-
+
Deterrance &
punishment
+
Culture of
deterrence
+
+
+
Publicly reported
detected precursor
Reporting
policy
+
+
+
+
-
Fraction
undetected or
ignored precursor
+
-
-
Detected
attacks
Immediate
reaction
+
+
-
Awareness of
effective security
procedures
+
+
+
+
+
+
Perceived benefit
of successful
attack
+
+
<Perceived
benefit of
successful attack>
+ Undetected
attacks
-
+
-
+
<Detection
capability>
-
+
Managerial trust
Productivity
Transaction
costs
+
-
-
+ -
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
Figure I-3 Workshop’s full causal map including trust and deterrence structures (Thursday morning)

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