Security risk assessment based on intelligent systems and attack graphs

Visualization and graphical representation of a system can improve the understanding of the designer of a system and mitigate risks of attack to designed systems. An attack graphs documents the risks known at the time the system is designed. Attack graphs use graphical representation which assists in documenting security risks and identifying possible paths attackers may consider for attacking a system for their undesirable goal. However an attack graph does not provide facilities to perform concrete risk analysis such as what-if and scenarios analysis to test the designed system for possible risk of attacks. In this article, a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is used with graph attacks to provide facilities that will enable the system architects to perform what-if analysis to better understand vulnerabilities of their designed system.