Cybersecurity Safeguards

Abstract

Cybersecurity safeguards are the fundamental part of a cybersecurity investment. They are the expected outcomes of a cybersecurity investment and must be understood sufficiently so that they can be analyzed and evaluated within a systematic decision making process. This chapter explains the basics of safeguards and shows how they can be distinguished from the perspectives of function and time. From the functional perspective, there are administrative and technical safeguards. This perspective will be taken into account when it shall be clarified if technical means are necessary to support or enable the safeguards. The perspective of time allows a distinction between preventive, detective and corrective safeguards. This considers the time when a safeguard becomes effective, in particular before, while or after an event. Based on these perspectives, a structure of safeguards is presented, which helps to specify safeguards concurrently regarding function and time. Then, the most common safeguards are explained in detail. Every safeguard is described in order to create an understanding that is focused on the basic characteristics and the intentional use of the safeguards.