Measuring Human Performance within Computer Security Incident Response Teams

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1226116· OSTI ID:1226116

McClain, Jonathan T. ^[1]; Silva, Austin Ray ^[1]; Avina, Glory Emmanuel ^[1]; Forsythe, James C. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Human performance has become a pertinent issue within cyber security. However, this research has been stymied by the limited availability of expert cyber security professionals. This is partly attributable to the ongoing workload faced by cyber security professionals, which is compound ed by the limited number of qualified personnel and turnover of personnel across organizations. Additionally, it is difficult to conduct research, and particularly, openly published research, due to the sensitivity inherent to cyber ope rations at most organizations. As an alternative, the current research has focused on data collection during cyber security training exercises. These events draw individuals with a range of knowledge and experience extending from seasoned professionals to recent college graduates to college students. The current paper describes research involving data collection at two separate cyber security exercises. This data collection involved multiple measures which included behavioral performance based on human - machine transactions and questionnaire - based assessments of cyber security experience.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1226116
• Report Number(s): SAND2015--9030; 608049
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES