Modeling information assurance: An application

The ever-increasing speed of information systems allows decision-makers around the world to gather, process, and disseminate information almost instantaneously. However, this benefit comes with a price. Information is valuable and therefore a target to those who do not have it or wish to destroy it. The Department of Defense often cannot sacrifice the speed at which this information is currently processed and disseminated and it must find ways to assure its protection. There has been some effort to model information assurance in recent years, however no simple, accepted, quantifiable model currently exists. This study establishes an Information Assurance Analysis Model to aid organizations, specifically organizations within the Department of Defense, in their efforts to protect valuable information and information systems. The model is first developed and then applied to an actual classified system. While organizations will have to fine-tune the model to their specific needs, the article presented here does provide an application of the general framework.