Business, Organisational and governance modalities of collaborative cybersecurity networks

Abstract

Countering advanced cyber threats requires investments in awareness and qualified personnel, as well as advanced technological solutions. Very few companies have the competencies and capacity to attempt to provide comprehensive solutions and sustain the technological drive and skill levels. Novel organisational solutions are needed to deliver advantages vis-à-vis both threat actors and competitors. The European Union sees one potential solution in the establishment of a network of cybersecurity competence centres. Starting in the beginning of the centuy, the creation of collaborative networked organisations in other fields demonstrated significant benefits in sharing knowledge, resources, and risk to exploit quickly emerging market opportunities. The major challenge in creating networked organisations is to provide long-term, effective collaboration through adequate governance and management. To support the elaboration of a solid governance model of a cybersecurity competence network in a Horizon 2020 research project, this article presents the results of a study of 92 existing network organisations working in cybersecurity and closely related fields. It presents the implemented methodological approach, the identification of main types of business models depending on funding streams and the degree of coordination among partners, organisational modalities, and prevailing governance models depending on member representation on senior governance bodies.