Assignment Description: “Select a type of cybersecurity career and write a two-page paper describing how professionals in that career require and depend on social science research and social science principles in those careers. Pay specific attention to the key concepts learned in class and demonstrate how those concepts are applied in the career you selected. The focus should be on demonstrating how the material from class relates to cybersecurity professional’s daily routines. Specific attention should be given to how the career relates to marginalized groups and society in general. Students should use at least three reliable sources to write the paper.”
Introduction:
Cybersecurity Political Analyst (CPA) is a high-level career with ties to several social sciences. As described by Franklin University’s Cybersecurity program, CPA professionals “study the origin, development, and operation of political systems” (Franklin University, 2024). The career has plenty of alternative titles, including Policy Advisor, Legislative Policy Analyst, Budget/Policy Analyst, and Data and Policy Analyst (Franklin University, 2024). The CPA profession is dependent on the social sciences of political science, economics, and sociology, and has a hefty impact on the safeties for marginalized groups in societies or a workforce.
Social Sciences:
The first, and most involved social science, is political science. As mentioned in the introduction, a large part of the career is studying the origin and development of political systems to analyze what policies are most effective and decide how to enact similar policies in the cyber world. This dependency can be seen in the description of CPA job listings, with “policy analysis [being] the top specialized skill sought by employers, with 43% of all postings looking for that skillset” (Franklin University, 2024). Researching different political systems of countries around the world is one of the most important tasks to a CPA, especially one working on the federal or state level and not just in a company.
Alongside studying the political effects of policies worldwide and in the past, CPA’s have to study the economic effects. CPA’s need to have a firm understanding of the social science of economics to best understand whether policies are reasonable for the government or corporate entity they advise. As described in a federal job listing looking for CPA applicants, those seeking to apply need to be “able to work with stakeholders in functional and technical arenas” and provide advising about “Federal and commercial leading practices, relevant strategic initiatives, and emerging technologies/trends” (Hanes, 2024). Understanding what is going to be financially lost and gained through different policies is one of the most important aspects of a CSA. Any organization, government or corporate, needs to be able to protect their bottom line.
The last major social science involved in the CSA career is sociology. Since the career is about advising governmental or organizational policy, professionals need to understand how the policies will affect different social groups and cause change in human behavior. Professionals need to understand how to “communicate… technical solutions and implementation approaches as appropriate” ((Hanes, 2024) to ensure their policies are enacted in ways to minimize unintended harms.
Connection to Society:
Since the CSA career is so closely related to political science, economics, and sociology, it has a massive impact on the people living or working in the territory or company their policies are enacted in. From analyzing policies to drafting their own, professionals need to understand how different countries, economic classes, social groups, and individuals are affected by cybersecurity policies to ensure their safety and efficiency. This need to analyze the differences in political policies is described in an article posted in the Computers & Cybersecurity journal, stating “The main reason for this is that each country has its own set of policies. Given this heterogeneity, it is very costly and difficult for organizations to comply with all policies” (Mishra et al., 2022). Each policy is intended to have a beneficial effect for at least one group, and it is left to CSA professionals to analyze previous policies and make the choice of which ones to enact or change to benefit the greatest number of people and limit harm done to marginalized groups. The political science aspect of CSA is essential in this, as it enables professionals to “conduct public opinion surveys, analyze election results, or analyze public documents” (Franklin University, 2024) that help them understand how the public or employees are reacting to policy changes. Possible challenges to marginalized groups can include unequal funding or education that leave poorer districts less safe, preemptive excessive monitoring of a specific group’s cyber behavior over others, and legal or organizational loopholes that would allow offenders to escape punishment or detection for targeted behaviors such as cyber bullying, harassment, or fraud. Studying the effects policies have on different groups in society allows the profession to notice and change harmful policies before too much damage is done.
Conclusion:
The Cybersecurity Policy Analyst career is heavily reliant on interdisciplinary studies to understand how cybersecurity policies affect social groups and classes and enact the most beneficial policies. This is done through research methods like surveys that determine whether social systems are operating appropriately and that measure the social dimensions of political structures and workforces and how they affect the average person’s cyber hygiene and behavior. Using cost/benefit analysis, CSA professionals are able to determine how best to change and enact policy for the betterment of all.
References
Franklin University. (2024). What Do Cybersecurity Policy Analysts Do: Daily Work & Skills. Franklin University. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://www.franklin.edu/career-guide/political-scientists/what-do-cybersecurity-policy-analysts-do
Hanes, N. (2024). Cybersecurity Policy Analyst. Cybersecsource. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://www.cybersecsource.com/cybersecurity-policy-analyst
Mishra, A., Alzoubi, Y. I., Anwar, M. J., & Gill, A. Q. (2022, June 30). Attributes impacting cybersecurity policy development: An evidence from seven nations. Sciencedirect. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167404822002140