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<article article-type="Research Article">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">journal-of-information-and-optimization-sciences</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Journal of Information and Optimization Sciences</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn publication-format="electronic">2169-0103</issn>
      <issn publication-format="print">0252-2667</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Taru Publications</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.47974/JIOS-2492</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Portfolio optimization of cyber controls in public utilities</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Tiwari</surname>
            <given-names>Gagan</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Sciences &amp; Engineering, Noida International University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201312, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Ramtirthkar</surname>
            <given-names>Chandrashekhar Ramesh</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, Maharashtra, 411037, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name>
            <surname>Gayathri</surname>
            <given-names>B.</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science, Meenakshi College of Arts and Science, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education &amp; Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600087, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Surendhar</surname>
            <given-names>S.</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vardhaman College of Engineering, Shamshabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, 501218, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Varalakshmi</surname>
            <given-names>P.</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Electrical &amp; Electronics Engineering, Pragati Engineering College, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, 533437, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Moon</surname>
            <given-names>Pradnya S.</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Business Systems, St. Vincent Pallotti College of Engineering &amp; Technology, Nagpur, Maharashtra, 441108, India</aff>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <volume>47</volume>
      <issue>10</issue>
      <fpage>3657</fpage>
      <lpage>3667</lpage>
      <pub-date date-type="pub">
        <day>31</day>
        <month>10</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <abstract>
        <p>Public utilities have to operate under strict budgets, reliability requirements and regulatory requirements, and are simultaneously hit with a growing threat of cyber-attacks. The study suggests a multi-objective cyber-control portfolio optimization framework to choose the cost-effective safeguards for critical infrastructure in the utility sector. It combines the criticality of the asset, the likelihood of a threat to occur, the severity of a vulnerability, the cost of controls, the effectiveness of the risk reduction provided by controls, and the contribution to resilience in a cost-constrained optimization model. A hybrid approach to selecting risks by the Pareto principle and a risk-scoring strategy optimizes security enhancement, operational continuity and investment efficiency. Optimized portfolio is shown to attain 38.6% reduction in residual cyber risk, 24.3% in become more resilient, and 17.8% in control expenditure as compared with conventional priority-based selection via scenario-based evaluation. A framework gives the utility managers a clear, scalable and evidence-based decision support mechanism system.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>Cyber-control portfolio</kwd>
        <kwd>Public utilities</kwd>
        <kwd>Multi-objective optimization</kwd>
        <kwd>Cyber-risk management</kwd>
        <kwd>Infrastructure resilience</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
      <custom-meta-group>
        <custom-meta>
          <meta-name>access</meta-name>
          <meta-value>open</meta-value>
        </custom-meta>
        <custom-meta>
          <meta-name>retracted</meta-name>
          <meta-value>no</meta-value>
        </custom-meta>
      </custom-meta-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
