Cybersecurity situational awareness in public sector organizations: Design research of a cybersecurity situational awareness model
Jämsen, Juha (2024)
2024
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024082124262
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024082124262
Tiivistelmä
The state of the cyber environment has significantly evolved in recent years within public administration and critical infrastructure organizations of Finland, highlighting the importance of understanding the current state and predictability of the cyber environment. The study focuses on cybersecurity situational awareness (CSA) in public sector organizations, aiming to enhance resilience through a practical model developed. The study involved a theoretical groundwork to identify key CSA components and processes and empirical research with semi-structured interviews from various public sector representatives. These interviews provided insights into current CSA practices, challenges, and needs, leading to the development of a CSA model.
The findings revealed a common three-tiered model of situational awareness—operational, tactical, and strategic—widely used in the public sector. The research emphasized the necessity of inter-organizational cooperation and information sharing for comprehensive situational awareness. It also highlighted the lack of systematic data collection, integration, and analysis processes, causing information silos, manual work and delayed decision-making.
The study proposed a tailored CSA model for public sector organizations, including processes for data collection, integration, analysis, visualization, and decision-making, with a focus on continuous improvement and feedback. The model outlines technological capabilities and sources for CSA and visualizes cooperation and information sharing.
The conclusions stress the need for a structured and systematic CSA approach, combining technological solutions with collaboration, data sharing, and continuous improvement processes. The study offers recommendations for adopting standardized CSA processes, establishing regular inter-organizational collaboration mechanisms at the national level, and implementing advanced data analysis and visualization tools.
The findings revealed a common three-tiered model of situational awareness—operational, tactical, and strategic—widely used in the public sector. The research emphasized the necessity of inter-organizational cooperation and information sharing for comprehensive situational awareness. It also highlighted the lack of systematic data collection, integration, and analysis processes, causing information silos, manual work and delayed decision-making.
The study proposed a tailored CSA model for public sector organizations, including processes for data collection, integration, analysis, visualization, and decision-making, with a focus on continuous improvement and feedback. The model outlines technological capabilities and sources for CSA and visualizes cooperation and information sharing.
The conclusions stress the need for a structured and systematic CSA approach, combining technological solutions with collaboration, data sharing, and continuous improvement processes. The study offers recommendations for adopting standardized CSA processes, establishing regular inter-organizational collaboration mechanisms at the national level, and implementing advanced data analysis and visualization tools.