Toward a Scientific Definition of Cyber Resilience
Abstract:
This project began with an effort to quantitatively measure cyber resilience because no scientific field of endeavor can truly progress until it can be quantitatively measured. However, before cyber resilience can be measured, it must first be scientifically defined. In an effort to determine if a consensus exists among researchers regarding the scientific definitions of resilience and cyber resilience, we found that no such consensus exists. In fact, experts from several disciplines agree that the word resilience is quickly becoming a meaningless buzz word. This report reviews the literature to establish the current state of the scientific definition of the word resilience. It briefly surveys the literature to discover the qualities of and guidelines for valid scientific definitions. The historic scientific use of resilience is analyzed to discover the path taken to get from its original meaning to the diverse and conflicting meanings that it has today. These concepts are decomposed in a genus differentia analysis untangling the various connotations and separating the related but different concepts. Based upon this analysis, a proposal is made that resilience is part of a family of properties under the umbrella of tenacity.