Understanding correlation and causation
When we talk about the relationship between two variables in cybersecurity data, we often encounter the terms correlation and causation. Understanding the difference between these two concepts is like distinguishing between coincidence and consequence. Let’s break these down in a way that’s easy to grasp.
Correlation
Correlation measures how strongly two variables are related to each other. For instance, in cybersecurity, you might observe that as the number of login attempts increases, so do the instances of security alerts. This relationship can be quantified using a correlation coefficient, which ranges from -1 to 1. This is explained further as follows:
- A positive correlation (
+1) means that as one variable increases, the other also increases - A negative correlation (
-1) indicates that as one variable increases, the other decreases - A correlation of
0suggests that there is no linear relationship between...
