Risk Rating Methodology

Adapted from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Risk Rating Methodology.

Identify the assets

  • Voter registration data
  • Candidate registration data
  • Voters list
  • Voter ballot
  • Polling station results
  • Local jurisdiction results
  • Regional jurisdiction results
  • National results

Identify the actors

  1. Providers
  2. Electoral authority
  3. Observers
  4. Custody personnel
  5. Operators / field personnel / Poll workers
  6. General public
  7. Candidates / party representatives
  8. Voters

Likelihood Analysis

Threat Agent Factors

The first sets of factors are related to the threat agent involved. The goal here is to estimate the likelihood of a successful attack by this group of threat agents. Use the worst-case threat agent.

Skill level

How much knowledge of the electoral process is required by the group of threat agents?

Skill Level

Motivation

How motivated is this group of threat agents to find and exploit this vulnerability?

Motivation

Resources

What resources are required for this group of threat agents to find and exploit this vulnerability?

Resources

Size

How large is this group of threat agents?

Size

Vulnerability Factors

The next set of factors is related to the vulnerability involved. The goal here is to estimate the likelihood of the particular vulnerability being discovered and exploited. Assume the threat agent selected above.

Ease of exploit

How easy is it for this group of threat agents to actually exploit this vulnerability?

Ease of Exploit

Accountability

Are the threat agents’ actions traceable to an individual?

Accountability

 Impact Analysis

Scope

The impact of a given electoral vulnerability depends on its scope of action, or likewise, in how relevant is the potential change to the election outcome.

Scope

 

Recoverability

The ability to detect and recover from an exploited vulnerability is an important component of the Impact analysis. As such there are different levels of detection and recovery

Recoverability

 Final rating

After these ratings are completed, an overall number for impact and another for likelihood is produced by calculating an average for both, the likelihood and impact ratings. The methodology refers to these as follows:

 lj: average rating of likehood for vulnerability j

ij: average rating of impact for vulnerability j