May 29, 2024 at 10:03AM
The book “Freakonomics” applies economic principles to social phenomena, emphasizing the impact of incentives on decision-making. The rising number of reported software vulnerabilities (CVEs) raises concerns about the cybersecurity ecosystem and the incentive structure influencing vulnerability reporting. Issues include gaming the system for recognition, lack of accountability in submissions, and flaws in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Addressing these challenges through rewarding quality reporting, enhancing verification measures, and redefining CVSS is crucial to mitigating the growing number of CVEs.
After reviewing the meeting notes, it is clear that the discussion revolved around the unintended consequences and misaligned incentives in the cybersecurity ecosystem, particularly concerning the reporting and addressing of software vulnerabilities tracked as common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs). There was an emphasis on the growing number of CVEs and the challenges associated with the incentive structure within the cybersecurity industry.
The meeting highlighted several issues, including the quest for reputation leading to an emphasis on quantity over quality of vulnerability submissions, the lack of accountability in filing CVEs, and criticism of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) for not accurately reflecting the actual risk posed by vulnerabilities in real-world environments.
The meeting raised the question of whether incentives for discovering and reporting vulnerabilities have become more pronounced, leading to a higher number of reported CVEs. It was suggested that revising the incentive structure of CVE reporting could potentially discourage low-effort reporting of vulnerabilities. This could be achieved by implementing a reward system that focuses on both the quantity and quality of vulnerabilities, enhancing verification and accountability measures, and redefining the CVSS to better reflect real-world risk.
In conclusion, the meeting served to highlight the need to address the misaligned incentives within the cybersecurity ecosystem, in order to improve the reporting and addressing of vulnerabilities tracked as CVEs. This includes considering ways to redefine incentives to encourage higher-quality vulnerability submissions and mitigate the risk of erroneous or misleading reports.