Week 1 Journal Entry

Are there certain areas that you would want to focus your career on? Which areas would appeal the most to you and which would appeal the least.

I want to focus my career on the cybersecurity Protection and Defense category and the Investigation category. The areas which appeal to me the most within these categories are Digital Forensics and Cybercrime Investigation. I have grown an interest on these areas of work because I am very much into critical thinking, scenario reasoning, and crime solving procedures. This career is also an open growth field that can provide me with many opportunities to work anywhere around the world and any businesses.

The area that appeals to me the least is the Implementation and Operation area specifically the Data Analysis work role. I do not really find any interest in anything that this field has to offer, and it seems like a boring field for me to focus on. I like more intense workplaces, and I believe this area is too straightforward for what I am currently looking for.

Week 2 Journal Entry

These principles of science are all used to promote a safe use of cyber network and its systems while also combating cyber security threats efficiently in a scientific approach. Empiricism suggests that people must analyze data based on statistics and monitoring rather than on assumptions. Determinism allows people to distinguish the patterns in which cyber attackers commit their acts by following a series of patterns in which they exploit a system’s vulnerabilities. This also allows organizations to mitigate attacks by staying a step ahead and break the patterns of vulnerabilities in which cyber threats are caused. Parsimony allows people to prioritize simple solutions to mitigate cyber-attacks or other vulnerabilities rather than using complex ones. Objectivity bases on using facts and proof to interpret data rather than biased opinions based on related situations. All of these principles aid with the main objective of protecting a system and avoiding cyber-attacks on fields such as, Security development, incident response systems, vulnerability identification, and threat management and mitigation. These are all the uses that scientific principles contribute to cyber security.

Week 3 Journal Entry

Researchers may use this information to learn how attackers behave when they perform data breaches and come up with threat prevention measures. They may also identify the different vulnerabilities that may come with studying the attackers and their behaviors. They can also use this information to work with other organizations located in other countries or states to compare how each other’s organizations behave after an attack is performed. They may also develop ways in which privacy can be protected without having to restrict their users from accessing their own information. All of these practices can be used to prevent attacks and reinforce the structure of a user’s privacy framework.

Week 4 Journal Entry

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs relates to technology in multiple ways. Technology helps people meeting basic human physical needs such as food and hygiene products through delivery apps that help with online grocery shopping such as Uber Eats and Instacart. Other needs that technology may aid with is the need for safety which are helped by privacy security and password protection to keep personal devices and accounts secure. The need for personal connection and love is fulfilled by social media and its ability to connect people all around the world. In my own experience, technology is integral to do my groceries and buy my personal hygiene products to fulfill my physiological needs. Security software keeps my devices and information safe. Social media helps me stay connected with friends and family which all live all around the world from Colombia all the way to Canada and New Zealand fulfilling my needs for connection and love from others.

Week 5 Journal Entry

1. For Money: I ranked this as the number one motive as money is what runs the world and without it a person cannot grow in life. Cybercrime is one of the main motives that people consider for committing cybercrime. Even if a person may not be currently thinking on committing cybercrime, difficult situations can cause them to become corrupted and engage into illegal activities for profit.
2. Political: I ranked this second because politics impact the way people think and behave. This is also a very important shift on a person’s ideals as a bad political choice may trigger their consideration for committing cybercrime.
3. Revenge: I placed this in third as revenge is driven by anger which runs through every living human being in one way or another. Revenge can trigger a mix of emotions which may lead a person to harm another which may come in the form of cybercrime.
4. Recognition: I ranked this fourth as recognition enhances the way a people are seen and brings professional opportunities to those who receive it. Another reason that this may trigger cybercrime is the thrill of being recognized as a powerful hacker among the cyber community.
5. Entertainment: I ranked this as the fifth reason because entertainment is not specifically professional and may not affect users at a large scale. Hackers may use this as a motive to have fun and show off their skills to their peers committing a crime at the same time.
6. Boredom: I ranked this as the sixth motive because not a lot of people find boredom as part of their life specially having skills for committing cybercrime. This motive is usually caused by the lack of fun and activities or a lack of social life.
7. Multiple Reasons: I placed this as the least important motive because it is a complex approach to understanding motives for cybercrime. This motive overlaps multiple motives which may cause a person to commit cybercrime, however, it is very unpredictable to know one specific reason.

Week 6 Journal Entry

Fake websites are easy to identify and have many components that can show them as such. Some examples are genchoice.com, buyanancestor.com, and dogisland.com. These websites usually have unsecured URLSs such as HTTP instead of HTTPS and offers that seem too good to be truth. Another example is the use of poor design and grammatical errors. Real websites such as amazon.com, yelp.com, and bestbuy.com have professional designs, secure URLs such as HTTPS and no grammatical errors. Another key characteristic of real websites is the use of realistic deals and sponsor’s backup. Monitoring webpages and better user awareness is the best countermeasure to ensure that fraudulent sites are always kept exposed and out of public reach.

https://scamalytics.today/list-of-scamming-websites/

Week 8 Journal Entry

The media is very important when it comes to shaping the way in which people understand cybersecurity. Hacking requires time, practice and planning. This is very important because it gives a different point of view compared to the way in which movies portray hacking as a more action-packed field. This makes the views on cybersecurity more unrealistic when it comes to handling future threats and defenses. Hackers are usually depicted as very intelligent bad people or very intelligent people hiding inside a dark room which ignores how they look in reality and how the world is handled by these individuals. This is also the reason why people do not believe cybersecurity is dangerous as they believe that they’re facing just one person when in reality they are facing an entire corporation or groups of people. In order to educate people on cybersecurity prevention and safety, it is very important to keep fiction out of the overall concept and allow them to understand real life scenarios and how these hackers look like in real life.

Week 15 Journal Entry

After watching the TED talk by Davin Teo. I was very impressed by his career path and how he highlights the connection between technology and the social sciences. His academic background in commerce and later on leading forensic technologic investigations across Asia shows the importance of understanding the way in which humans behave, their culture, and ethical frameworks in digital forensics. His career also shows how valuable interdisciplinary skills are for his career field. Overall, I understand that a successful career in digital forensics require more than just technical knowledge. It requires people to understand the social behaviors that cyber activities need. His point of view has showed me that social sciences enhance effective cybersecurity practices.