Reference no: EM132333135

Objectives

This assignment is designed to stimulate critical thinking outside of the classroom by requiring students to write a formal academic report. Analyse the assessment task, research relevant information and evaluate the information you find. This information should be used to write an academic report in which you present your findings or outcomes and make recommendations for future practice.

This assessment task will assess your skills in critical thinking, researching information, forming an opinion, academic writing, logical ordering of ideas and your ability to support your arguments with quotes from literature.

These objectives will be measured by the ‘closeness of fit' to meeting the assessment task, assessment requirements and marking criteria.

Assessment Task

Students are required to write an academic report as per the format outlined in chapter 5 of the textbook.

The report is to be based on the following cybersecurity use case for office and home systems.

With the recent progress of computer networks, growth of interconnected devices through Internet, cloud computing, big data and web services, the number of cyber threat/attack has grown exponentially. Malware attack, phishing, man-in-the middle attack, denial-of-service are some of the common types of cyberattacks that hits businesses every day. Therefore, cybersecurity is an essential practice for the digital age to protect systems, networks, applications, data/information and hardware from cyberattacks or unauthorised access, and to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information. The goal is to prevent the risks to individuals and organisations such as, damage or loss of sensitive data, stolen money, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, disruption to business.

The major challenges to cybersecurity efforts are mobile connectivity, online payment, the ever increasing use of cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, remote access and third-party outsourcing. These days almost every business has a website and externally exposed systems that make it easier for the attackers to enter the internal networks. Moreover, most smart devices (both at home and at work) are connected to the Internet which makes the system prone to attack. Hence, ensuring cybersecurity is an absolute must for every business and also for individuals. Common types of cybersecurity are application security, hardware security, network security, cloud security, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Cryptography, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Identity and Access Management (IAM), and Antivirus/anti-malware.

You are a Security Consultant of a famous security consulting company that provides security consulting services to a wide range of business, individual, education institutes and companies. Recently one of your clients, ABC Technologies (ABCT) has contacted your organisation to prepare a document on Cybersecurity as it was the recent victim of several cyberattacks.

Here are the details of your client company:
ABCT is an Australian technology company whose line of business ranges from different types high- tech products which include both software and hardware. ABCT has multiple offices nationwide, and two overseas offices. All computer services are provided by virtual private network (VPN), which is maintained in Canberra (the head office). ABCT allows their employees to work from home (using VPN

connections) and also have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy for their employees who work onsite. Each location also provides free wireless LAN access to visitors/guests. ABCT currently have 10,000 regular customers. All their customer and product information are stored in the cloud. Because the company was the victim of several recent cyberattacks, they are concerned that company's data might have been compromised and hackers might have gotten hold of customers' information. They are also worried that they would lose the trust of their loyal customers, which could potentially result in a loss of revenue. So ABCT wants to improve their security system and security related policies. As a first step, they want your organisation to prepare a document on cybersecurity to train their staff on the basics of cybersecurity. As part of that, your team leader asked you to research and write a report that should cover the following tasks:

1. Explain what is cybersecurity and why it is important for ABCT?

2. Identify and explain at least 3 security vulnerabilities in ABCT's system (you need to consider ABCT's case as presented above). You need to justify your answer with evidence from research.

3. Do some research, and find and list 5 different types of emerging threats (that might affect ABCT) and describe each of them in detail. In your discussion include what damage the attack might cause, who is responsible for these attacks and their attack techniques.

4. Do some research, analyse the information and give your recommendations (at least 3) how to protect home and office from cyberattack.
You have to complete this investigation and write a report for your team leader in the next three weeks. Since this is an initial investigation, moreover, some of the staff do not have IT background, the report does not require in-depth technical details.

Please note that you might need to make some assumptions about the organisation in order to write this report. These assumptions should match the information in the case study and not contradict with the objectives of the report. They should be incorporated in the introduction of your report when you describe the organisation and outline the problem to be solved. Relevant assumptions should be incorporated when addressing tasks 2 and 3 above. To avoid loss of marks, do not make assumptions that are not relevant or contradictory, or will not be used in your report discussion.
Specifically your report should include the following (word count details are approximate guidelines):
1. Title page: unit code and name, assessment number, report title, assessment due date, word count (actual), student name, student number, CQU email address, campus lecturer/tutor, and unit coordinator. If applicable, add extension request ID and the new due date. Must be formatted to a standard required for a professional/business report. Check week 6 materials for example of a professionally formatted title page. Not included in the word count.

2. Executive summary: should include the purpose of the report, the problem including key issues considered and how they were investigated, your findings, and overview of your recommendations.

This part should be approximately three quarters of an A4 page but must not be longer than one (1) A4 page. Not included in the word count.

3. Table of Contents (ToC): should list the report topics using decimal notation. Need to include the main headings and subheadings with corresponding page numbers, using a format that makes the hierarchy of topics clear. Because you are including a ToC the report pages should be numbered in the footer as follows: title page has no page number; and main text to have Arabic numerals commencing at 1. Create the ToC using MS Word's ToC auto-generator rather than manually typing out the ToC.

4. Introduction: provide a brief description of the organisation as given in the case scenario including any assumptions, a concise overview of the problem you have been asked to research, the main aims/purpose of the report, the objectives to be achieved by writing the report (include the tasks outlined in the case study) and how you investigated the problem. Provide an outline of the sections of the report. Should be approximately 250 words.

5. Body of the report (use appropriate headings in the body of the report.): Define key terms you will use in your report that are directly related to the problem and the technology considered. Then present your ideas on the topic and discuss the information you found in your research that was relevant to the report's objectives. Provide an analysis of the information that you gathered. Ensure that you explore the tasks listed in the case study scenario.

Do NOT use generic words such as ‘Body, Body of the Report, Tasks' as section headings.

Create meaningful headings and subheadings that reflect the topic and content of your report. Should be approximately 1850 words.

6. Conclusion: restate the purpose of the report and key issues investigated and the related findings based on your research and analysis. Explain the significance of your findings for addressing the problem stated in the case scenario and any limitations. State how your report has achieved its objectives and any future work to be considered. Should be approximately 250 words.

7. Recommendations: 3 to 5 recommendations required. Format according to the Report Writing Guidelines discussed in the Unit. Should be approximately 150 words.

8. Reference list. Not included in the word count.

9. Appendices if necessary. Not included in the word count.

Note: Additional information regarding this assignment may be placed on the Moodle Unit website as required. Check the Moodle Unit website at least once a week for further information relating to the report. Regular access to the Moodle Unit website is a requirement of this Unit.