Security concept: mathematical analysis of efficiency.
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Security concept: mathematical analysis of efficiency
In modern conditions, threats are constant companions of business, sadly enough. Therefore, it is unthinkable without reliable protection of its interests. But how to organize it correctly? How to develop an optimal strategy and tactics of protection? There is no consensus here and, probably, there should not be. In today's column, the editors offer for discussion one of the approaches, which is supported by Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor E. I. Abalmazov.
When talking about a security system, the first thing to do is to find out what it protects, from what, and what the mechanism of counteraction is. Any security system is an organizationally designed personnel and material and technical resources and always operates in the time and space of threats. The threat space is formed by objects of protection — people working in a commercial structure, property and funds of the enterprise, information constituting a commercial or official secret. The main function of the security system is to counter threats with the help of people and equipment. Each threat entails damage, and counteraction is designed to reduce its size, ideally — completely. This is not always possible.
Efficiency or profitability?
The ability of a security system to perform its main function should always be assessed quantitatively. For example, you can measure the relative damage prevented by it (see Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Typical dependence of the efficiency Q0 and profitability r0 of protection from common resources
The value of Q0 is a measure of the overall effectiveness of protection. The higher Q0, the less damage the threats will cause. Thus, the measure of risk is the value (1—Q0). The desire to ensure highly effective protection when Q0 is close to 1 (or 100%) is quite natural, but this will require significant expenditure on resources. That is, the higher the total allocations (B0) for resources, the greater the effectiveness of protection can be expected. The resulting dependence is shown in Fig. 1. However, excessive spending on one's own security is not always economically justified. One may encounter a situation where the cost of protection (B0) exceeds the level (R0) of maximum damage from the implementation of threats. In this case, there is a danger of the threat of «self-ruin» from protection. Its level can also be estimated, for example, by the value r of the difference between the relative «protected» damage Q0 and the relative costs B0/P0 for resources. Let's call this value the profitability of protection. If it is positive (i.e. B0