Information Security Investment Decision-making based on Fuzzy Economics

Fuzzy economic models to evaluate the economic feasibility of information security investment for decision-makers is derived in this study. The Net Present Value and discounted Return on Investment models are proposed for the execution of cost-benefit analysis. Fuzzy mathematics is based on the extended principles which ensured that the resultant fuzzy number continuously maintained its fuzzy properties during the arithmetic operating procedure. Since fuzzy results are in the form of a complex nonlinear representation, and do not always provide a totally ordered set in the same way that crisp numbers do, the current paper approximates the resulting fuzzy profitability indexes by a triangular fuzzy number initially, and then uses the Mellin Transform to obtain the means and variances of the triangle fuzzy numbers in order to determine their relative ranking in a decision-making process. The performances of the proposed models are verified by considering their application to a practical illustration, which were used in a previous literature. These investigations not only confirm that the results of the fuzzy economic models are consistent with those of the conventional crisp models, but also demonstrate that the proposed models represent readily implemented possibility analysis tools for use in the arena of uncertain financial decision-making. The developed models represent readily implemented feasibility analysis tools for use in the arena of uncertain economic decision-making. Keywords—fuzzy economics, fuzzy mathematics, information security investment, benefit-cost analysis, decision-making, possibility analysis, Mellin transform.