JOURNAL 1: Review the NICE Workforce Framework. Are there certain areas that you would want to focus your career on? Explain which areas would appeal the most to you and which would appeal the least.

After reviewing the NICE Framework, I found a few areas of interest
that I could see myself making a career out of. Cybersecurity Instruction
I feel would fit me well. When I have a thorough understanding of
something, I feel like I can convey to others the subject matter well.
Explaining to others how to do something is also something I actually
enjoy doing; I cannot work a job that I do not enjoy, period.
What I know I absolutely do not want to do is software development.
I am more of a big picture than a detail person. Coding and software
development is very precise. Even though I have a basic understanding of
some programming languages, I often find myself constantly having to go
back and fix little mistakes, which frustrates me.

JOURNAL 2: Explain how the principles of science relate to cybersecurity

There are countless ways that science relates to cybersecurity. Relativism shows that all
things are related. For example, the world becoming increasingly digital leads to the growth of the cybersecurity field. Objectivity shows that we must be objective in cybersecurity practices. One cannot let personal bias interfere with doing the proven standard when it comes to cyberspace practices and protocols. Even though its difficult to apply to social sciences, parsimony does affect cybersecurity. Policies should be explained in the simplest way possible, so that they can best be followed. On a greater scale, social ideals that may explain why people commit cybercrime should also rely on the fewest amount of policies possible. Finally, a great practice to apply to cybersecurity is skepticism. The internet is an inherently dangerous place, and its a good practice to not trust everything you encounter at a face value.

JOURNAL 3: Visit PrivacyRights.org to see the types of publicly available information about data breaches. How might researchers use this information to study breaches? Enter a paragraph in your journal.

Researchers may use the information available on “privacyrights.org” for a variety of reasons. The website tries to present laws concerning data privacy in a more comprehensible manner. Data laws are typically quite complex, and it may not be apparently clear what data is private and what is not. The website attempts to provide resources that clarify exactly what is and is not private. The organization also provides plentiful resources concerning many different topics of data privacy. Just from the home page, one can see articles concerning data privacy in credit reports, spam emails, and data brokers. Data privacy affects more facets of the internet than one may think, due to many companies making a profit off of selling user information. It would be useful to researchers to use this website, so that they can find articles pertaining to exactly what topic they are attempting to find data privacy policies on.

JOURNAL 4: Review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and explain how each level relates to your experiences with technology. Give specific examples of how your digital experiences relate to each level of need.

In line with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, starting from the bottom with psychological needs, I need, at bare minimum, a device with an internet connection to go about daily tasks. When concerning safety needs, I need to be on a network that is private and has firewalls/encrypted protocol methods so that my inbound and outbound data is secure. With the social layer, devices and applications that allow me to keep in touch with my friends and loved ones are a crucial part of my daily routine. Esteem with my experience with technology would be desiring to have increasingly upscale products that can perform my technological needs more efficiently. Finally, self-actualization as it results to my technological experience would be my drive to continually learn more about how the technology surrounding me works.

JOURNAL 5: I work in IT, so I deal with many clients that encounter fake websites on the internet. Three websites I commonly see faked are microsoft support, apple support, and HP support. Factors that I have noticed that make these websites fake is the malicious users commonly reach out to my clients with unsolicited website links. Companies will never reach out to people unsolicited. Secondly, many of them ask for too much personal information, such a routing numbers, bank logins, etc., in an attempt to steal the victims information. Lastly, commonly these websites want to be paid for “help” in cryptocurrency, as it is not traceable in the way that a wirefund or similar form of payment would be.Review the articles linked with each individual motive in the presentation page or Slide #4.  Rank the motives from 1 to 7 as the motives that you think make the most sense (being 1) to the least sense (being 7)

First, I think that “multiple reasons” would be the most likely reason
for cybercrime. I feel as if its hard to pigeon hold criminals into one
motive. Secondly I would place financial in second since cybercrime can
be extremely profitable to make a living. Third, I’d rank political,
since disrupting critical government systems can be a way to get a
government institution to pay attention to your cause, or gripes against
them. Next, I’d say revenge, especially if its a case of a disgruntled
employee. After that, I’d rank recognition, since everyone wants to be
recognized for their talents. Sixth, I’d rank entertainment; doing
cybercrime for amusement over prioritizing damage. Breaching systems
could be entertainment for some people. Last, I’d rank boredom: there
are countless other activities to do besides causing crime over the
internet.

JOURNAL 6: Can you spot three fake websites and compare the three fake websites to three real websites, plus showcase what makes the fake websites fake?

I work in IT, so I deal with many clients that encounter fake websites on the internet. Three websites I commonly see faked are microsoft support, apple support, and HP support. Factors that I have noticed that make these websites fake is the malicious users commonly reach out to my clients with unsolicited website links. Companies will never reach out to people unsolicited. Secondly, many of them ask for too much personal information, such a routing numbers, bank logins, etc., in an attempt to steal the victims information. Lastly, commonly these websites want to be paid for “help” in cryptocurrency, as it is not traceable in the way that a wirefund or similar form of payment would be.

JOURNAL 8: After watching the video, write a journal entry about how you think the media influences our understanding about cybersecurity

The media certainly influences our perspective of cybersecurity, especially when it comes to those who are not very familiar with the inner workings of cybersecurity. Like many subjects, Hollywood has to simplify and exaggerate complicated subjects. For example, trying to crack a fortified system can take an extremely long time, and often is not solely due to a Hollywood villain as portrayed. Often, valuable, secured systems are compromised by an organized crime syndicate, or a government entity. Adding on to the exaggerated nature of Hollywood, one of the clips featured multiple different makes and models of cars all being remotely accessed at once.

JOURNAL 9: Complete the Social Media Disorder scale. How did you score?  What do you think about the items in the scale?  Why do you think that different patterns are found across the world?

On the scale, the only 2 questions I answered yes to were questions 4 and 5. I never feel like I want to use social media more; its always the complete opposite of me wanting to put it down. Whenever I am trying to focus on something, I have to put my phone away, less I get distracted while trying to finish an important task. I do think that the patters the test is trying to determine are accurate for many in the world, especially young children. I feel like many children in western society have a screen shoved in their face instead of actually being parented, which leads to them becoming addicted to social media, and acting out when it’s taken away from them. I would be led to believe many children and teens in societies where people do not have constant access to social media don’t face the same issues as often.

JOURNAL 10: Read this and write a journal entry summarizing your response to the article on social cybersecurity

The article states that the way we fight wars has been rapidly changing. Wars are increasingly being fought as “hybrid wars”, or as warfare that also has an emphasis on controlling information, disabling enemy technological information, and using cybercrime to breach enemy systems. The Department of Defense states that we must take this threat seriously, and the rapid evolution of information warfare will be the form of warfare that the modern world will adopt. Many nations that are a threat to US global influence and security have already adopted state-sponsored cybercrime. Nations such as Russia and Iran use cybercrime and botnets to disrupt American technological infrastructure.

JOURNAL 11: think about how the description of the cybersecurity analyst job relates to social behaviors.  Write a paragraph describing social themes that arise in the presentation.

Like all positions, the title of a cybersecurity analyst has certain social themes attached to them. One of the themes is that the title “cybersecurity analyst”, isn’t an exact specification. A theme of that title is that different companies will ask different requirements out of those in that title, and no one description can describe a cybersecurity analyst. Secondly, a second social theme is that many entry level cybersecurity positions are expected to work the graveyard shift. This comes with the tradeoff of making a lot of money. Finally, the last major trend I picked up on from the video is the location of the highest paying positions. Many of the highest paying positions in cybersecurity are in metropolitan areas with a high cost of living, such as New York or the DOC.

JOURNAL 12: Read this https://dojmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/Glasswasherparts.com_.pdf Links to an external site. sample breach letter “SAMPLE DATA BREACH NOTIFICATION” and describe how two different economics theories and two different social sciences theories relate to the letter.

The text can be related to rational choice theory. The cybercriminal(s) saw that there was an available vulnerability with the 3rd party provider, and took advantage of it, as opposed to trying to breach a random system. The text also could be argued to show deterrence theory, as it states that law enforcement is actively involved with the issue to possibly scare off future cybercriminals. Economically, we can see that there was an element of information asymmetry with the incident, as the criminals were able to find the vulnerability before it was discovered by the 3rd party vendor of the website. Going into the future with the example, game theory may be present, if the attackers want to make a strategic move to try and gain access to all of the clients financial logs again.

JOURNAL 13: Read this article https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/7/1/tyab007/6168453?login=true Links to an external site.  and write a summary reaction to the use of the policies in your journal.  Focus primarily on the literature review and the discussion of the findings.

In summary, the article answered as many question about bug bounties, while leaving some unanswered. The researchers were able to determine that the price of bug bounties is very inelastic, suggesting that many choose to do it for experience or reputation. Bug bounty policies appear to not wane or wax in effectiveness with the size or wealth of a company: all companies could benefit from bug bounties. Third, some industries, such as the finance and medical world, submit a “statistically relevantly” less amount of reports a month than other industries. This can be chalked up to those industries having massive monetary gain from hackers not reporting these bugs, and instead taking advantage of them for themselves. Older programs also receive fewer reports over time, likely due to the unclaimed bounty never being increased. Lastly, the researches were not able to explain the variation in program report validity. They emphasize future research needing to focus on the supply of hackers available.

JOURNAL 14: Review what the author says and write a paragraph describing the five most serious violations and why you think those offenses are serious.

Firstly, using someone’s internet I believe to be severe offense, since you could steal someone’s network traffic with packet scanners if you were on their internet. Faking your identity online can lead to someone impersonating a reputable person, to try and coax someone into stealing their data. Illegal searches on the internet can show interest or intent in committing physical crimes, and should continue to be monitored by law enforcement. Collecting info of those who are under 13 is illegal, so that would absolutely be a contender. Also, generally adults shouldn’t talk to minors on the internet. Finally, Sharing passwords and addresses of someone on the internet could be potentially dangerous for that person, if their accounts and address were to become public information.

Watch this video and think about how the career of digital forensics investigators relate to the social sciences. Write a journal entry describing what you think about the speaker’s pathway to his career.

The topic of social sciences relate to digital forensics in the way that specialist try to understand a suspect. An understanding of social concepts can lead an investigator having an easier time in finding what they are looking for. For example, understanding what would incline a suspect to leave evidence behind may lead to that case being solved more efficiently. Cyber crime done for political or social reasons often do not try to hide themselves, as a way to martyr their cause. Understanding that could lead to investigators being aware to look for evidence in certain places. Also, social factors in digital forensics can also help to increase the social understanding of fields like criminology, since these 2 fields are often intertwined.