Communications of the ACM
Most Cybersecurity Reports Only Focus on the Cool Threats
An academic study found that most commercial cybersecurity reports published in the last decade do not consider threats to civil society.
Credit: ZDNet
An academic study found that just 82 of 629 commercial cybersecurity reports published in the last decade discuss threats to civil society, with the rest devoted to cybercrime, nation-state hackers, or economic espionage.
Meanwhile, analysis of 71 reports from independent research centers indicated that most focused on threats to civil society.
Study authors and cybersecurity experts Lennart Maschmeyer, Ronald J. Deibert, and Jon R. Lindsay attributed this disparity to commercial cybersecurity firms' overwhelming commitment to profitability.
The researchers said, "Civil society organizations, which lack the resources to pay for high-end cyber defense, tend to be neglected or entirely bracketed."
The result is systematic bias in reporting that likely influences both policymakers and researchers' perception of the issue, which "leaves those most in need of accurate information about threats—vulnerable civil society actors—least well-informed."
From ZDNet
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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