Integrating Porter, PESTEL, and Threat Analysis for Comprehensive Cybersecurity Risk Management

After discussing how Porter’s Five Forces and the PESTEL framework can be applied to cybersecurity, I want to bring it all together in this final blog by explaining how these models integrate with threat analysis to provide a holistic approach to cybersecurity risk management.

Step 1: Analyzing Industry and Competitive Pressures with Porter

Porter’s model evaluates the internal industry pressures that can influence a company’s cybersecurity risk profile. By asking key questions about buyer power, supplier power, threats from new entrants, substitutes, and rivalry among competitors, the model helps organizations understand how competitive dynamics contribute to vulnerabilities.

In our combined model, these forces are assigned weights and scores:

• Each force (e.g., buyer power) is rated on a scale of 1-10 based on its perceived impact on the company.
• These ratings are then weighted equally, and the total Porter score is calculated as the weighted sum of the five forces.

Mathematical formula:

Where α is a constant weight, often set to 1.

Step 2: Assessing External Influences with PESTEL

The PESTEL framework addresses external macroeconomic factors that may affect the organization’s cybersecurity posture. For example, how political instability, technological advancements, or new legal regulations impact security measures. Each factor (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) is similarly scored on a scale of 1-10.

These scores are also weighted equally, and the total PESTEL score is computed.

Mathematical formula:

Where β is a constant weight, typically 1 as well.

Step 3: Integrating Threat Analysis

The final component is the threat analysis, which evaluates real-time cyber threats facing the organization. This part of the model asks specific questions related to:

• Threat groups: How many groups are actively targeting the company?
• Attack campaigns: How many cyberattack campaigns are underway in the region?
• Discovered vulnerabilities: How many vulnerabilities have been found in the system?
• Attack frequency: How often are attacks occurring?

These metrics are used to calculate the probability of an attack using a normalization process that converts large numbers (e.g., attack frequency) into percentages.

Formula for attack probability:

This provides a percentage-based probability that the organization will experience an attack.

Step 4: Calculating the Final Cybersecurity Posture

The combined score for the cybersecurity posture is derived by adding the Porter score, the PESTEL score, and the calculated threat risks. The model assigns equal importance to each aspect (industry pressures, external factors, and direct threats).

Final formula:

Where C represents the total cybersecurity posture score, indicating how well the organization is positioned to defend itself against cyber threats.

Step 5: Visualizing the Risk with a Matrix

Once the total posture score is computed, the model uses a risk matrix to visualize the level of threat based on two variables:

• Impact: Derived from the cybersecurity posture score, which indicates the potential damage of an attack.
• Probability: Derived from the attack probability.

These two metrics are mapped onto a risk matrix that classifies the company’s risk as low, moderate, high, or critical.

Conclusion

This integrated model allows companies to make informed decisions about where to invest in cybersecurity by considering industry pressures, external influences, and real-time threats. The combination of Porter, PESTEL, and Threat Analysis ensures that cybersecurity is viewed not only as a technical issue but as a strategic priority shaped by both internal and external factors.

As someone with an MBA and experience in cyber intelligence, this model represents the convergence of business strategy and cybersecurity, offering a new way to approach risk management in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

• Hubbard, D. W. (2009). The Failure of Risk Management: Why It’s Broken and How to Fix It. Wiley. (Chapters 3 and 4 )
• Whitman, M. E., & Mattord, H. J. (2021). Principles of Information Security (7th ed.). Cengage Learning. (Chapter 12 )