Corporate attractiveness index: A measure for assessing the potential of a cyber attack

The widespread adoption of advanced computing technologies, software applications and smart devices by companies has brought efficiency in the overall performance and productivity. However, these technologies created new avenues for cyber attackers. Cyber criminals have traditionally exploited corporate computing infrastructures for different motives: i) fun and challenge; ii) money; iii) stealing intellectual property rights; iv) hacktivism; v) misuse a computer system; and vi) to cause disruption and chaos. Governmental agencies have published guidelines to help companies better protect themselves against various types of cyber-attacks initiated by different motives. The focus of the existing research work has been on good cyber hygiene for companies by focusing more on the cyber security policies, controls and practices of a company. In this paper, we present a different viewpoint of cyber security by describing the attractiveness of a company as a potential target for cyber-attacks. Our proposed framework includes both technical computing and non-technical social aspects of a company, which can give a quick assessment about a company's attractiveness as a potential target. Our framework can significantly support the existing Cyber Hygiene programs as a first level of assessment and can be better utilized by various stakeholders to initiate more focused approach to achieve higher Cyber Hygiene ratings.