The chief security officer problem

This paper introduces the chief security officer (CSO) problem for the first time and defines its scope based on two well known concepts in information theory: the Central Estimation Officer (CEO) problem and the secrecy capacity of communication channels. The CSO framework consists of a CSO, several secret agents gathering intelligence information from an open forum that may include one or more eavesdroppers capable of listening to all conversations. While there are several important research questions relevant to the CSO framework, this paper focuses on two central issues (1) how much information can be exchanged between the CSO and the agents without leaking it to the eavesdropper? (2) What is the power allocation strategy that the CSO needs to follow so as to maximize the secrecy rate of information transfer?