CERT's MERIT (Management and Education of Risks of Insider Threat) project, funded by Carnegie Mellon's CyLab, employs system dynamics modeling and simulation to convey the complexity of the problem.

The MERIT team, composed of CERT's technical experts, and psychologists uses system dynamics to

• model and analyze the dynamic nature of the insider threat problem
• simulate and graph behavior over time
• produce educational materials based upon the models developed

The team focused initial modeling efforts on insider IT sabotage. CyLab has currently funded the team to produce two new models: one for insider theft of confidential information and one for insider fraud.

The MERIT project led to two additional areas of work

• DOD PERSEREC funded the MERIT team to use system dynamics modeling to compare IT sabotage and espionage
• CyLab funded development of an innovative training mechanism for insider threat: a virtual interactive simulation of the MERIT model: MERIT -Interactive

Papers and Presentations

• The "Big Picture" of Insider IT Sabotage Across U.S. Critical Infrastructures (pdf)
  Technical Report, May 2008
• Management and Education of the Risk of Insider Threat (MERIT): System Dynamics Modeling of Computer System Sabotage (pdf)
  
• The MERIT Project
  
• Analyzing the Threat Dynamics of Complex Networked Systems
  
• Preliminary System Dynamics Maps of the Insider Cyber-threat Problem (pdf)
  
• System Dynamics Modeling for Information Security (workshop)
  
• Simulating Insider Cyber-Threat Risks: A Model-Based Case and a Case-Based Model (pdf)
  
• Combating the Insider Cyber Threat (pdf)
  Published in IEEE Security & Privacy
• Insider Theft of Intellectual Property for Business Advantage: A Preliminary Model0F* (pdf)
  First International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats (MIST 2009) on 15-19 June 2009