Explanation and trust: what to tell the user in security and AI?

There is a common problem in artificial intelligence (AI) and information security. In AI, an expert system needs to be able to justify and explain a decision to the user. In information security, experts need to be able to explain to the public why a system is secure. In both cases, the goal of explanation is to acquire or maintain the users' trust. In this paper, we investigate the relation between explanation and trust in the context of computing science. This analysis draws on literature study and concept analysis, using elements from system theory as well as actor-network theory. We apply the conceptual framework to both AI and information security, and show the benefit of the framework for both fields by means of examples. The main focus is on expert systems (AI) and electronic voting systems (security). Finally, we discuss consequences of our analysis for ethics in terms of (un)informed consent and dissent, and the associated division of responsibilities

Multi-Layer Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience for Smart Grid

The smart grid is a large-scale complex system that integrates communication technologies with the physical layer operation of the energy systems. Security and resilience mechanisms by design are important to provide guarantee operations for the system. This chapter provides a layered perspective of the smart grid security and discusses game and decision theory as a tool to model the interactions among system components and the interaction between attackers and the system. We discuss game-theoretic applications and challenges in the design of cross-layer robust and resilient controller, secure network routing protocol at the data communication and networking layers, and the challenges of the information security at the management layer of the grid. The chapter will discuss the future directions of using game-theoretic tools in addressing multi-layer security issues in the smart grid.Comment: 16 page

Efficient Database Generation for Data-driven Security Assessment of Power Systems

Power system security assessment methods require large datasets of operating points to train or test their performance. As historical data often contain limited number of abnormal situations, simulation data are necessary to accurately determine the security boundary. Generating such a database is an extremely demanding task, which becomes intractable even for small system sizes. This paper proposes a modular and highly scalable algorithm for computationally efficient database generation. Using convex relaxation techniques and complex network theory, we discard large infeasible regions and drastically reduce the search space. We explore the remaining space by a highly parallelizable algorithm and substantially decrease computation time. Our method accommodates numerous definitions of power system security. Here we focus on the combination of N-k security and small-signal stability. Demonstrating our algorithm on IEEE 14-bus and NESTA 162-bus systems, we show how it outperforms existing approaches requiring less than 10% of the time other methods require.Comment: Database publicly available at: https://github.com/johnnyDEDK/OPs_Nesta162Bus - Paper accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Power System

Social security in theory and practice (II): Efficiency theories, narrative theories and implications for reform

166 countries have some kind of public old age pension. What economic forces create and sustain old age Social Security as a public program? Mulligan and Sala-i-Martin (1999b) document several of the internationally and historically common features of social security programs, and explore "political" theories of Social Security. This paper discusses the "efficiency theories", which view creation of the SS program as a full of partial solution to some market failure. Efficiency explanations of social security include the "SS as welfare for the elderly" the "retirement increases productivity to optimally manage human capital externalities", "optimal retirement insurance", the "prodigal father problem", the "misguided Keynesian", the "optimal longevity insurance", the "government economizing transaction costs", and the "return on human capital investment". We also analyze four "narrative" theories of social security: the "chain letter theory", the "lump of labor theory", the "monopoly capitalism theory", and the "Sub-but-Nearly-Optimal policy response to private pensions theory". The political and efficiency explanations are compared with the international and historical facts and used to derive implications for replacing the typical pay-as-you-go system with a forced savings plan. Most of the explanations suggest that forced savings does not increase welfare, and may decrease it.Social Security, retirement, gerontocracy, retirement incentives, political theories of Social Security

Tenure Insecurity, Adverse Selection, and Liquidity in Rural Land Markets

A theory of land market activity is developed for settings where there is uncertainty and private information about the security of land tenure. Land sellers match with buyers in a competitive search environment, and an illiquid land market emerges as a screening mechanism. As a consequence, adverse selection and an insecure system of property rights stifle land market transactions. The implications of the theory are tested using household level data from Indonesia. As predicted, formally titled land is more liquid than untitled land in the sense that ownership rights are more readily transferable. Additional implications of the theory are verified empirically by constructing a proxy variable for land tenure security and studying the differences between markets for unregistered land across Indonesian provinces. Regional land market activity is appropriately linked to the distribution of the proxy variable.Competitive Search, Land Markets, Tenure Security, Liquidity

Towards Validating Risk Indicators Based on Measurement Theory (Extended version)

Due to the lack of quantitative information and for cost-efficiency, most risk assessment methods use partially ordered values (e.g. high, medium, low) as risk indicators. In practice it is common to validate risk indicators by asking stakeholders whether they make sense. This way of validation is subjective, thus error prone. If the metrics are wrong (not meaningful), then they may lead system owners to distribute security investments inefficiently. For instance, in an extended enterprise this may mean over investing in service level agreements or obtaining a contract that provides a lower security level than the system requires. Therefore, when validating risk assessment methods it is important to validate the meaningfulness of the risk indicators that they use. In this paper we investigate how to validate the meaningfulness of risk indicators based on measurement theory. Furthermore, to analyze the applicability of the measurement theory to risk indicators, we analyze the indicators used by a risk assessment method specially developed for assessing confidentiality risks in networks of organizations

Social Security in Theory and Practice (II): Efficiency Theories, Narrative Theories, and Implications for Reform

166 countries have some kind of public old age pension. What economic forces create and sustain old age Social Security as a public program? Mulligan and Sala-i-Martin (1999) document several of the internationally and historically common features of social security programs, and explore political' theories of Social Security. This paper discusses the efficiency theories,' which view creation of the SS program as a full or partial solution to some market failure. Efficiency explanations of social security include the SS as welfare for the elderly', the retirement increases productivity to optimally manage human capital externalities', optimal retirement insurance', the prodigal father problem', the misguided Keynesian', the optimal longevity insurance', the government economizing transaction costs' and the return on human capital investment'. We also analyze four narrative' theories of social security: the chain letter theory', the lump of labor theory', the monopoly capitalism theory', and the Sub-but-Nearly-Optimal policy response to private pensions theory'. The political and efficiency explanations are compared with the international and historical facts and used to derive implications for replacing the typical pay-as-you-go system with a forced savings plan. Most of the explanations suggest that forced savings does not increase welfare, and may decrease it.

Measuring information security breach impact and uncertainties under various information sharing scenarios

This study draws on information theory and aims to provide simulated evidence using real historical and statistical data to demonstrate how various levels of integration moderate the impact and uncertainties of information security breach on supply chain performance. We find that the supply chain behaves differently under various levels of integration when a security breach occurs. The entropy analysis revealed that the wholesaler experience the most uncertainty under system failure and data corruption. This sort of impact-uncertainty information will aid in designing and managing a resilient supply chain poised for minimal breach impact