Digital Risk Assessment Framework for Individuals: Analysis and Recommendations

Abstract

As individuals increasingly engage with the digital landscape, they face a multitude of risks associated with their online activities and the security of their personal information. Individuals seek guidance in balancing the benefits and risks of the digital transformation. To effectively mitigate these risks, it is essential to establish a comprehensive Digital Risk Assessment Framework tailored to individual users. In this research, an a interpretive study have been carried out to propose a novel Digital Security Management Framework. The main contribution of this study is providing a novel approach by examining the recent recorded threats against individuals, quantifying these threats, and proposing a novel digital risk framework detailing the list of threats and the corresponding risk treatment options tailored for individuals. The scenario of the case study is a family that use personal computers to access banking and investment accounts online, engage in online shopping and also frequently use social media to share artwork and opinions. 17 types of digital risks were identified and the probability of loss and impact of each risk have been quantified using Bernoulli distribution f(L;p). The quantified values were used to prioritise mitigation measures. According to the results, and the proposed framework, suitable treatment option(s) was recommended for each risk. The results show that online scams present the biggest financial risk to individuals, that security incidents present a moderate risk, and that communication-based harms (e.g. bullying and radicalization) are difficult to quantify.

Keywords

• Digital risk assessment
• cybercrime; online activity
• framework
• digital risk treatment options
• digital security threats