The impact of information sharing on cybersecurity underinvestment: A real options perspective

Abstract Maintaining adequate cybersecurity is crucial for a firm to maintain the integrity of its external and internal financial reports, as well as to protect the firm’s strategic proprietary information. This paper demonstrates how information sharing could encourage firms to take a more proactive, as compared to a reactive, approach toward cybersecurity investments. In particular, information sharing could reduce the tendency by firms to defer cybersecurity investments. The basic argument presented in this paper is grounded in the real options perspective of cybersecurity investments. More to the point, the value of an option to defer an investment in cybersecurity activities increases as the uncertainty associated with the investment increases. To the extent that information sharing reduces a firm’s uncertainty concerning a cybersecurity investment, it decreases the value of the deferment option associated with the investment. As a result of this decrease in the deferment option value, it may well make economic sense for the firm to make the cybersecurity investment sooner than otherwise would be the case.