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A cyber situation awareness framework for sectoral ISACs: enhancing cyber information sharing at strategic and policy levels
Date
2025-11-01
Abstract
Information Sharing and Analysis Centres, or ISACs, are communities of organisations sharing cyber security information to improve their understanding of the threat landscape. One of the key benefits of ISAC membership to organisations is improved cyber situation awareness. However, during a number of cyber incidents involving Software as a Service (SaaS) providers, members of the Irish local government ISAC struggled to obtain or identify the cyber information necessary to manage the incident effectively. This thesis examines ISACs, particularly the benefits to members of ISACs and how the ISAC can achieve cyber situation awareness during a cyber incident. We reviewed the non-scientific and scientific material to identify the cyber information necessary to achieve awareness of cyber situations. Using focus groups, some comprised of cyber experts operating in Ireland only and another comprised of international cyber experts, we analysed the qualitative data to derive the cyber information themes required by senior decision makers. These decision makers operate at an organisation’s senior/policy level and have different cyber information needs than those operating at other decision-making levels. We used a Design Science research methodology to build a new cyber situation awareness framework based on Endsleys’ situation awareness framework. Our research findings emphasise the gaps in current practices and recommend new management practices. We advance scientific knowledge by designing and evaluating a new cyber situation awareness framework for senior decision-makers. Our research design demonstrates a rigour and generalisability due to the active participation of 34 cyber experts and leaders. Each participant is also a member of at least one ISAC operating in the EU or US.
Supervisor
Description
Publisher
University of Limerick
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Buckley_2025_Cyber.pdf
Adobe PDF, 5.83 MB
Funding code
Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
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Type
Thesis
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/