A Method for Rapid Risk Assessment of a Computer Network with a Star-Shaped Topology

The problems of managing the risk of a computer network are often reduced to choosing the optimal set of countermeasures. The influence of their topology on the resulting security level (or the integral risk) is usually not considered because the network topology reflects its functionality and cannot be altered just for security reasons. In addition, such a change could require an inadequate amount of resources. At the same time, understanding the extent and mechanism of topology’s impact on system security could potentially increase the effect of security improvement costs. In this context, it appears beneficial to utilize the findings from examining the impact of complex systems’ structure on their overall risk to address the issue of enhancing computer network security. An earlier study introduced an algorithm aimed at designing a topology to minimize risk within a computer network, and a specific solution for the "bus" topology was presented. In this study, the author introduces a technique for swift risk evaluation of a computer network featuring a star topology.