Incorporating Nontechnical Attributes in Multi-attribute Analysis for Security

The most obvious considerations that affect an organization's choice of security technologies are the threats the organization considers significant and the costeffectiveness of various security technologies against those threats. In practice, however, the choice is also strongly driven by less tangible, more nontechnical, considerations such as ease of implementation and maintenance, fit with organizational culture, or intuitive appeal to security personnel. We originally designed the Security Attribute Evaluation Method (SAEM) to respond to the former considerations. As SAEM has evolved, its multi-attribute risk elicitation and sensitivity analysis also address the latter considerations by helping security engineers make consistent judgements, focus on the highest points of leverage, and understand the implications of potential changes. As a result, the benefit of the method lies not only in its recommendations, but also in its ability to sharpen the security engineers' understanding of their needs and options.