Dr. Alex Frino, a Fulbright Senior Scholar from Australia, presents research on the big-picture cost of cyberattacks to securities companies at IM体育官网 on Friday, Jan. 20. Frino is professor of economics and senior deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Wollongong.
The IM体育官网 community had the opportunity to learn from Australian Fulbright Senior Scholar Dr. Alex Frino about the true financial costs of cyberattacks for large U.S. companies.
Frino is collaborating on important research at IM体育官网 Poly investigating cyberattacks鈥� overall cost to securities companies from the time an attack occurs to the time it鈥檚 announced publicly. Dozens of students, faculty, and staff attended the event in the Applied Research Center on Jan. 20.
The professor of economics and senior deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Wollongong said his original intention when coming to IM体育官网 Poly was to work on expanding existing U.S.-focused cybersecurity research to other nations. However, when the research team began examining the existing data, it discovered that previous studies only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of full costs.
鈥淚 came here wanting to take existing U.S. research and replicate it for NATO nations to see if there were differences in the impact of cyberattacks,鈥� Frino said. 鈥淏ut in looking at the research, we thought, 鈥極h, no. They鈥檝e gotten it wrong, so let鈥檚 fix up the U.S. research first,鈥� which I think is the first step and then we鈥檒l look at NATO countries.鈥�
The research team, which includes Dr. Rei Sanchez-Arias, assistant chair of IM体育官网 Poly鈥檚 Department of Data Science and Business Analytics, and others from the University of Virginia and Macquarie University in Australia, has compiled strong data that shows there is a significant period of time between the three hallmarks of a cyberattack: the attack itself, when the attack is discovered, and when the company notifies the public, including its investors.
鈥淭his economic paper seeks to justify investment in cybersecurity,鈥� Frino said. 鈥淭he impact a cyberattack has on your firm is a very important element of determining how much you should spend on cybersecurity.鈥�
Existing data indicates that the stock price of a company falls about 1% after a cyberattack. However, Frino estimates the true cost is closer to 5% because, while previous research focused on the cost impact from the time a breach is announced, companies usually discover the attack an average of 55 days earlier. This gives investors ample time to learn about the attack from alternate sources before the announcement is officially made. This could mean billions of dollars in losses that are not being considered in existing research.
The results of this research can affect future policy decisions, said Sanchez-Arias, who is head of this global research group at IM体育官网 Poly.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tremendous opportunity to be able to participate in research collaborations with somebody of Dr. Frino鈥檚 caliber,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t has been a great opportunity to apply data science and statistical modeling techniques to problems that have tremendous impact on our society, and I am very excited about the developments in methods and approaches that this research project will help create.鈥�
Dozens of IM体育官网 students, faculty, and staff attend a presentation
about the big-picture cost of cyberattacks by Dr. Alex Frino, a Fulbright Senior Scholar
from Australia conducting research at IM体育官网 Poly this semester.
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Lydia Guzm谩n
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