Big data analytics: a link between knowledge management capabilities and superior cyber protection

As cybersecurity threats increase in frequency and sophistication, organizations are realizing that one of their strongest resources to combat cyberattacks lies in the growing volume of data at their disposal. However, traditional knowledge management technologies have limited capabilities to effectively process and analyze these larger data volumes that can provide managers with pertinent information to make better-informed security decisions. Using survey data from 479 business and information security executives and drawing from the resource-based view, I find that 69% of organizations that deployed big data analytics reported significant improvements in their cyber knowledge management capabilities. Second, the findings also confirm a significantly positive association between big data analytics and cyber agility. In particular, 72% of organizations that deployed big data analytics solutions reported significant improvements in their ability to detect and respond faster to cyber threats. Lastly, compared to 56% of organizations without big data analytics, 78% of companies that have deployed big data analytics technologies considered their cyber security capabilities adequate and robust enough to protect critical information assets from cyberattacks. Overall, the results demonstrate that organizations need advanced data analytics capabilities to effectively leverage IT resources, allowing them to respond to cyber incidents with speed and agility which ultimately cumulates in the superior cyber protection of valuable information assets. The results also provide some useful implications for research and managerial practices.