Usage of Decision Support Technologies in Information Security Domain: Opportunities and Prospects

Abstract

Information security is an important national security sphere, characterized by multiple tangible and intangible factors of both quantitative and qualitative nature. In order to be able to set priorities and plan actions in the area of information security one needs to have a clear analytical, formal description of this subject domain. However, not all the data about informational security in general and informational operations in particular is deterministic or even quantifiable. Many authors list certain features of information operations, which allow us to conclude that they represent a weakly structured domain. One of the most effective (and sometimes the only) way to get a formal description of a weakly structured domain is to turn to experts for information. Multi-criteria decision support technologies allow decision-makers to get recommendations concerning selection of best options when it comes to strategic planning, resource allocation, prioritization, project selection etc. This paper explains why expert data-based decision support technologies provide a powerful tool for analytical description and formalization of informational operations and information security strategies, and describes the main stages of implementation of decision support arsenal in information security domain.