Costs of Threats and Countermeasures
Once you’ve identified the costs of implementing controls, your next step is to estimate the costs of the threats you face based on your social media activities. In Chapter 4, we walked you through an assessment process for identifying potential threats. If you know those potential threats, you can utilize Tables 9-2 and 9-3 to analyze the potential costs of those threats and the countermeasures you put in place to counteract the threats. (See the Ponemon study for costs, http://www.ponemon.org/local/upload/fckjail/generalcontent/18/file/2010%20Global%20CODB.pdf.)
Table 9-3 Costs of Countermeasures
CAUTION
Social media monitoring tools can only monitor public posts. And social media commentary can go viral within Facebook’s walled garden before it ever spreads to the public Internet.
These tables allow you to analyze assets and potential threats and to calculate the likelihood of occurrence and what the cost of an occurrence may be. You can also analyze the costs of countermeasures you want to implement. You can apply some objective data to this by researching industry metrics and baseline costs you have incurred in your organization. But some subjective analysis is involved as well, in the areas of Estimated Risk and Severity.