{"id":387,"date":"2026-05-10T05:13:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/?page_id=387"},"modified":"2026-05-10T05:20:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:20:53","slug":"discussion-boards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/discussion-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"Discussion Boards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Protecting Availability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWS can help achieve high availability across IT systems (Perry, 2021). As a CISO, I would deploy the system across multiple Availability Zones (Degani, 2020) so that if one zone fails, services can fail over to another. In contrast, deploying the system in a single Availability Zone creates a single point of failure, which could bring down the entire company.\u00a0The use of AWS and multiple Availability Zones is an essential practice for public companies with investors who depend on their systems being continuously accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Degani, A. (2020, September 8).\u00a0AWS availability: Using single or multiple availability zones<\/em>. NetApp.\u00a0https:\/\/www.netapp.com\/blog\/aws-availability-using-single-or-multiple-availability-zones\/Links to an external site.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perry, Y. (2021, June 7).\u00a0Understanding AWS high availability: Compute, SQL and storage<\/em>. NetApp.\u00a0https:\/\/www.netapp.com\/learn\/understanding-aws-high-availability-compute-sql-and-storage\/Links to an external site.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The NIST Cybersecurity Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From my readings of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, organizations benefit from having a structured, standardized approach to managing cybersecurity risk. The framework keeps businesses accountable and provides a gold standard to follow when protecting their infrastructure. It outlines five core functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. These functions ensure that every aspect of security has a defined role in safeguarding assets, holding stakeholders and those who have IT roles accountable, and creating a plan to respond to and recover from a compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At my future workplace, I would use the framework as a baseline to assess current security practices, identify gaps, and strengthen risk management strategies. It would guide policy development, employee training, incident response planning, and continuous improvement efforts, ensuring the organization remains resilient against evolving cyber threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Malicious Code<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article \u201cMalicious code written into DNA infects the computer that reads it\u201d aimed to demonstrate how biological data can interact with digital technology in unexpected ways. In the experiment, researchers encoded malicious code into a strand of synthetic DNA. When the DNA was sequenced and processed by data analysis software, the resulting digital data triggered a vulnerability in the program. Because the software did not properly validate the size of incoming data, it was vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack. Buffer overflows occur when software allows more data into a memory buffer than it was designed to hold. This allowed the researchers to overwrite memory in the buffer and execute malicious code on the computer running the sequencing software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reduce the risk of similar biological-to-digital exploits, the researchers recommended stronger isolation strategies when processing DNA sequencing data. One proposed method is running DNA analysis tools inside virtual machines (VMs) or containers. These isolated environments separate the sequencing software from the host operating system and other critical systems. If malicious input were to exploit a vulnerability, the damage would be limited to the isolated environment rather than spreading to the entire network or laboratory systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treating biological data as untrusted input until it can be verified helps mitigate potential harm as we move into a future where DNA is increasingly digitized. As biotechnology and computing continue to merge, organizations must balance scientific innovation with cybersecurity protections. Developing stronger biocybersecurity policies, secure coding practices, and system isolation strategies will be essential to safeguarding both research systems and sensitive genetic information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protecting Availability AWS can help achieve high availability across IT systems (Perry, 2021). As a CISO, I would deploy the system across multiple Availability Zones (Degani, 2020) so that if one zone fails, services can fail over to another. In contrast, deploying the system in a single Availability Zone creates a single point of failure, … Continue reading Discussion Boards<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32038,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/387\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/kirstie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}