IT/CYSE 200T

Journals  

1. NICE Workforce Framework 

As of right now, I am still uncertain of which career path I want to take through the cybersecurity field. But I am fairly certain that I want to do something protecting others from cyber related crimes and etc. Given this, I believe the protect and defend section of the NICE Workforce Framework would be of most use to me. This section would provide me information inhow to identify and analyze threats to IT systems/networks. Another section I believe I would use is the securely provision section. One part this section would help me do is build secure IT systems which I think would be very interesting. The section that would appeal to me the least would have to be the oversee and govern section. This section deals with leadership, management, and direction but it’s not something I see myself doing. This is really the only section that I’m not appealed to; although I think it would still be good to learn. The other section like analyze and investigate also seem interesting but I don’t think they focus on what I want to do; creating ways to defend against cyber related attacks.

2. Principle of Science Relation to Cybersecurity 

The argument that the principles of science can relate to cybersecurity can be brought back to Robert Bierstedt. He suggested that the social sciences adhere to the same principles as the natural science therefore implying these principles can be applied to cybersecurity. These scientific principles include relativism, objectivity, parsimony, empiricism, ethical neutrality, and determinism. The principle of relativism is simply meaning that all things are related. This can be applied to cybersecurity through a systems viewpoint by noting a change in one system leads to changes in another. Some of these systems that are affected by cybersecurity are the social system, educational system, and political system to just name a few. Objectivity relates to cybersecurity by stating how scientist should study topics in a “value-free” manner. Social scientist might have strong opinions on certain topics but shouldn’t let that affect the shape of their research. Parsimony is the principle that scientist should keep their explanation as simple as possible. This is so others will be able to understand the explanation and that it can be tested by others as well. Empiricism implies that social scientist should only study behavior which is real to our senses. In doing so, this leads us to not rely on opinions/hunches to conform our comprehension of cybersecurity. Ethical Neutrality is the principle stating that scientist have to adhere to ethical standards when conducting research. “Does limiting internet access to certain communities reduce cybercrime?” is just one of the many examples a social scientist might have to address containing underlying ethical implications. Determinism states that behavior is caused,determined, or influenced by a preceding event. The models of explanation within a determinism framework are the nomothetic model and the idiographic model. The nomothetic model identifies the relatively few causes of a behavior while the idiographic model identifies the multiple causes over times of a behavior.

3. Maslow’s Hierrachy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs suggests that all humans have needs which exist on a hierarchy. Is this theory, Maslow determined that as the lower levels needs are met, we begin to focus on trying to meet our upper level needs. The central to this belief is that our behavior is determined by our needs which can change over time, depending on which level we are on. Maslow stated that all individuals strive to reach self-actualization, the highest of the level, though few ever actually meet it. The hierarchy has three main parts: basic needs, psychological needs, and self-fulfillment needs. Basic needs can be broken down into the lowest level being physiological needs and then the next level, being safety needs. Psychological needs include belongingness and love needs, which is right above safety needs, and esteem needs above it. The final part is self-fulfillment needs, which only evolves self-actualization. We can relate experienceswith technology to each of these levels.
The hierarchy begins with our physiological needs which include food, water, warmth, rest,etc. Technology can be applied to this level by using an example of Door dash. People use this app to get food or other necessities. I can personally apply technology to this level because I use music to help me sleep. The next level, but still in the basic needs, is safety needs which is about security and safety. We use technology is this section through things like cameras and alarm systems. The next level in the hierarchy is belongingness and love needs. This level is talking about intimate relationships and friends. On the intimate relationship section, some people use tinder and apps like such to find partners. But on the friends’ sections we use our phones to stay in touch withothers by texting, calling, facetiming, etc. Next, we have the esteem needs section which is prestigeand the feeling of accomplishment. On this level, people use apps like Instagram so they can get likes and followers to feel accomplished.
On the final level we have self-actualization. This level is about people achieving their full potential, including creative activities. Technology can be applied to this level through things like Lumosity. In this, they have brain games in improve problem solving skills, memory, attention, etc.

4. Motives for Cybercrime 

Why exactly do criminals commit the crimes they do? This is because each of them have their own motives. These motives include for entertainment, political reasons, for revenge, out ofboredom, for recognition, for money, or they have multiple reasons. People can put these motives in any kind of order of importance, but today I will explain which I think make the most to least sense. I would put for multiple reasons at the top of the list. This is because this could include any of the reason below; for example, the committed the crime for money and revenge. And, because most of the time, people don’t do things for only one reason. All the choices we make are backed up by multiple reasons. The next motive I would put the makes the most sense is for money. Whenever I see a company gets hacked, the criminals want millions of dollars if the company wants their info back. If somebody had the ability to gain millions over one “job” they would jump on that opportunity. Next on my list is revenge. It’s hard to forgive people but it’s easy to get revenge. From the mind of a criminal, if I could hack somebody’s phone that wronged me to make their life that much harder I would. Next, I would put for political reasons. I personally don’t talk about politics that much, but I know people that are into politics, are really into politics. They would take any opportunity to help their side out. Now down to the reasons I feel that don’t make much sense, these can kind of get interchanged. Entertainment I feel doesn’tmake much sense is because I feel as if there are a lot of better ways to “have fun” than to try to hack someone. Plus, this would take a lot of time and effort to pull off. This is also why I feel like boredom doesn’t make sense. If they are bored, they could do things that require a lot less effort,time, and even money. And for the final reason I feel that makes no sense is for recognition. I personally don’t here much about hacking or such that happen, but that could also be that I don’treally watch the news. Even so I still find out about things going on around the world, but hacking isn’t one of them. Any of these motives can be changed depending on someone’s situation but this is just what I personally think makes the most sense.

 

Career Professional Paper

The career I chose to do my career professional paper on is an information security consultant. An information security consultant, also sometimes called a security analyst, pinpoints vulnerabilities in computer systems, networks, and software programs and works toward solutions to strengthen them against hackers (WGU).

Requirements

 In order to even get your foot in the door for this job you need to get a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. And then getting a master’s degree could open even more doors throughout this career. Along with getting the bachelor’s degree, and master’s degree if you choose to do so, there are some certificates your specific job might require you to have. Some of these certificates are CEH: Certified Ethical Hacker, CISM: Certified Information Security Manager, CompTIA Security+, CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional, and GSEC: SANS GIAC Security Essentials (Field Engineer).

You also have a lot of other requirements in order to enter this career. Some of these other requirements include excellent technical skills for building security architecture, strong computer coding and endpoint security skills, communication skills, high analytical skills, organizational skills, and decision-making skills (Betterteam).

 

Responsibilities

The career of an Information security consultant also comes with many responsibilities that mainly focus on protection but doesn’t stop there. Some of their duties that focus on protection include maximizing efficiency in protecting data and information systems, networks, and software against hacker attacks, oversee and conduct tests for system vulnerabilities, and update and upgrade security systems as needed (WGU). Their other responsibilities can include to deliver technical reports and official papers relating to test findings, to give professional supervision and guidance to security teams, and to calculate accurate cost estimations and categorize integration issues for IT project teams (Field Engineer).

Relation to Social Science Principles

The career of an information security consultant can be related to many of the social science principles as they relate to cybersecurity. The first of the social science principles that it can relate to is parsimony. Parsimony means that explanations should be kept as simple as possible and information security consultants have to give reports to their higher ups that should be reported as simply as can be. Another social science principle the career of an information security consultant relates to is empiricism. These workers have to use their sense to create the systems used to defended against cyber-attacks. Relativism is also a social science principle that can relate to their career. With each input of code, they use and can affect a part of the system somewhere else.

Conclusion

            The career of an information security consultant revolves around protection, using programs to protect against hackers. Throughout their career, they relate to social science principles like parsimony, empiricism, and relativism.            

Sources

  1. https://www.wgu.edu/career-guide/information-technology/security-consultant-career.html#close

 

  1. https://www.betterteam.com/security-consultant-job-description

 

  1. https://www.fieldengineer.com/skills/cyber-security-consultant