A service lens on cybersecurity continuity and management for organizations’ subsistence and growth

Abstract

Purpose – This paper proposes a holistic, proactive and adaptive approach to cybersecurity from a service lens, given the continuously evolving cyber-attack techniques, threat and vulnerability landscape that often overshadow existing cybersecurity approaches. Design/methodology/approach – Through an extensive literature review of relevant concepts and analysis of existing cybersecurity frameworks, standards and best practices, a logical argument is made to produce a dynamic end-to-end cybersecurity service system model. Findings – Cyberspace has provided great value for businesses and individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly motivated the move to cyberspace by organizations. However, the extension to cyberspace comes with additional risks as traditional protection techniques are insufficient and isolated, generally focused on an organization's perimeter with little attention to what is out there. More so, cyberattacks continue to grow in complexity creating overwhelming consequences. Existing cybersecurity approaches and best practices are limited in scope, and implementation strategies, differing in strength and focus, at different levels of granularity. Nevertheless, the need for a proactive, adaptive and responsive cybersecurity solution is recognized. Originality/value – This paper presents a model that promises proactive, adaptive and responsive end-to-end cybersecurity. The proposed cybersecurity continuity and management model premised on a service system, leveraging on lessons learned from existing solutions, takes a holistic analytical view of service activities from source (service provider) to destination (Customer) to ensure end-to-end security, whether internally (within an organization) or externally.

Keywords

• Cybersecurity
• Information security management
• Service system
• Standards
• Frameworks
• Risk