The Need

Senior executives struggle to understand and prioritize cybersecurity risk in business terms. Existing vulnerability scoring systems rely on opaque or arbitrary measures that fail to connect cybersecurity decisions to financial impact, staffing costs, or operational tradeoffs. As a result, organizations often manage cyber risk reactively, focus on compliance checklists, and lack a credible way to measure security effectiveness over time or justify investment decisions to leadership.

The Technology

OSU engineers have developed DIAMOND (Data-Driven Inspection, Alerts, Maintenance, Observable Network Decision Control System), a decision-support platform that translates cybersecurity risk into business-relevant metrics, including revenue and operational impact. Using advanced analytics and learning models, the system evaluates vulnerability management strategies across diverse IT environments and asset types. It prioritizes actions based on organizational context, costs, and policy options while continuously improving recommendations as new data and outcomes are observed.

Commercial Applications

• Enterprise vulnerability management and cyber risk prioritization platforms
• Managed security services for distributed and mobile device environments
• Decision-support tools for CISOs and cyber risk executives
• Cybersecurity analytics for regulated sectors (healthcare, finance, higher education)

Benefits/Advantages

• Business-aligned risk scoring: Expresses cyber risk in financial and operational terms
• Context-aware prioritization: Goes beyond patching to consider policy and cost tradeoffs
• Adaptive learning: Improves decisions over time using real-world outcomes
• Reduced operational burden: Optimizes inspections and remediation with fewer human resources