Book Review: Security Economics

From Corporate Security to Commercial Force: A Business Leader's Guide to Security Economics. By Marko Cabric. ​Butterworth-Heinemann; Elsevier.com; 240 pages; $99.95.

Security is vital to all organizations, regardless of whether their goal is to earn a profit. The cost of running security in a corporate environment can be very high. From Corporate Security to Commercial Force: A Business Leader’s Guide to Security Economics highlights the importance of running an economical yet effective security program, and it explains how security can add to the bottom line. It also offers theoretical ways to measure the impact of incident losses. 

Author Marko Cabric is a global practitioner, consultant, and academic with decades of corporate security management and government experience. That experience lends validity, clarity, and substance to complex topics such as corporate security and economics in an era of global changes.

The book is divided into five sections that lead the reader through the author’s theories of security economics. “Conceptualize” covers the history and philosophies of security and economics. “Reevaluate” discusses how to understand security incidents and quantify information security. “Organize” highlights the importance of efficiency and the challenges of outsourcing security in corporate environments. “Utilize” focuses on resilience and strategies for marketing security in an organization. The final section, “Embrace,” outlines the importance of metrics and emerging technologies.

There are two specific shortcomings of this book. First is the lack of case studies, which could offer the reader the opportunity to apply the principles and theories to real-world scenarios. The second shortcoming is a failure to provide traditional formulas, statistics, and figures to quantify the theoretical statements. When discussing economics, quantitative data and formulas are essential. 

Ultimately, the book is well-written, researched, and presented. It is a great addition to security management literature and a scholarly asset. Each chapter provides discussion and self-assessment questions that encourage the reader to reflect on the material. Undergraduate institutions will value it for its brief theoretical views on the economic benefits of security in the corporate sector. Financial administrators and security practitioners in the public and private sectors can also learn from it.

Reviewer: Thomas Rzemyk, Ed.D., is director of technology and cybersecurity instructor at Mount Michael Benedictine School. He is a criminology discipline reviewer in the Fulbright Scholar Program.