Managing cyber harm: a survey of challenges, practices, and opportunities

Current approaches in cybersecurity predominantly focus on identifying threats and vulnerabilities, often overlooking the qualitative and cascading aspects of harm from cyber incidents. However, the increasing dependency on internet-connected devices and the rapid evolution of digital technologies have heightened the potential for cyber harm. As a result, there is a growing recognition of the importance of focusing on harm to improve cyber protection and response capabilities. Despite this shift in focus, a comprehensive review of existing literature focusing on cyber harm remains absent. Such a review is crucial to understanding the intricacies of cyber harm and developing appropriate management strategies. This paper aims to address this gap by presenting an extensive review of recent literature on cyber harm, examining diverse types of harm arising from cyber incidents, and identifying key challenges in managing them. In addition, national and international efforts to prevent and mitigate cyber harm are also discussed. This work significantly advances a holistic understanding of cyber harm, a necessary step toward developing a Cyber Harm Model (CHM) that will enable researchers and practitioners to assess and mitigate the complex consequences of cyber incidents. The analysis has theoretical and policy implications, enhancing academic knowledge and informing national and international cybersecurity efforts.