Journal Entry 1

The field of digital forensics intrigues me and is rapidly expanding, offering numerous advantages to those who are interested in researching it. There has never been more of a need for specialists who can review and assess digital evidence than there is now, as the usage of digital devices and technology in our everyday lives continues to grow. I value the opportunity my profession gives me to apply my knowledge of technology, ability to think critically, and meticulous attention to detail to solve complicated crimes and offer significant evidence in court processes. However, during my previous internship as a threat intelligence analyst, I found that the work involved reading a lot of news articles and simply regurgitating that information for what was most relevant to the business, which did not appeal to me. I also spent time creating fake social media accounts and working on brand management, which also wasn’t ideally how I’d like to spend my time.

Journal Entry 2

Empiricism, ethical neutrality, parsimony, objectivity, and determinism are some of these guiding concepts of how science related to cybersecurity. We may be objective in determining the underlying reasons of security breaches and creating practical remedies by focusing on empirical facts, being impartial, and favoring straightforward answers. Cybersecurity experts must uphold objectivity and follow determinism to identify the root causes of security breaches. We can design practical strategies for stopping future breaches while remaining unbiased to personal beliefs or prejudices by using a combination of empirical facts and straightforward explanations. These scientific ideas can help us safeguard systems and data.

Journal Entry 3

Researchers in the field of cybersecurity may find the information on data breaches that is readily available to them to be very helpful. Researchers may utilize this data to find patterns, build and test theories, develop new tools and procedures, and increase public awareness of the dangers posed by cybercrime. Such information can help researchers create novel and efficient solutions by shedding light on the nature and scope of cybersecurity threats. In order to aid enterprises in preparing for possible attacks, they may also utilize this data to examine the weaknesses of various systems and industries. Also, the usage of publicly accessible data can make it easier for academics and organizations to collaborate and share knowledge, resulting in a more thorough and well-rounded approach to cybersecurity.

Journal Entry 4

Physiological Needs: In terms of physiological needs, my Apple Watch helps me track my physical wellness by monitoring my heart rate, steps, and overall activity. This provides me with a sense of control over my health and well-being.

Security: For security needs, I use 1Password as my password manager to keep all my passwords in one secure place. This helps me feel safe and secure when navigating online.

Belongingness and Love needs: To meet my love and belonging needs, my family and I have multiple group WhatsApp chats where we share old memories, celebrate major milestones, accomplishments, births, and graduations. This helps us all feel connected and supported by each other.

Esteem: To meet my esteem needs, I use Duolingo to improve my Spanish capabilities. The immediate feedback from the app on my progress reinforces my efforts and gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Self-Actualization:  My YouTube channel allows me to express my creativity and share it with a wider audience. This provides me with a sense of fulfillment and allows me to achieve my self-actualization needs.

Journal Entry 5

1. Political: Cybercriminals frequently target the extremely profitable and competitive world of politics. It’s understandable that politicians and political groups are frequently targeted since millions of dollars are at risk and private information is constantly being traded. Hackers could make an effort to steal private information, sway public opinion, or even obstruct political campaigns. Political targets are appealing targets for cybercriminals because of the significant rewards that may result from a successful cyberattack.
2. Entertainment: The desire to expose corruption or injustice may be the driving force for a cybercrime, notwithstanding the absurdity of doing so for amusement. As a form of protest or activism, hackers occasionally attack significant businesses or governmental institutions. These assaults could be intended to expose unethical behavior, draw attention to security flaws, or even merely to create chaos. Even if these assaults may have good intentions, they nonetheless run the risk of catastrophic repercussions and might even land the hacker in legal trouble.
3. Recognition: The desire for recognition within the cybersecurity community may serve as a driving force for certain cybercriminals. These grey hat hackers could take part in penetration testing or vulnerability research in order to showcase their abilities and get notoriety. Although engaging in this kind of action may result in employment offers or other advantages, it may also land the hacker in legal problems if they cross the line into unlawful conduct.
4. Boredom: It is not a good idea to commit a cybercrime out of boredom. Script kids, or those who utilize pre-made hacking tools without fully comprehending the consequences of their activities, may unintentionally inflict serious harm. Even innocent-looking practical jokes can have negative effects and lead to legal repercussions.
5. Revenge: While carrying out cybercrime to exact retribution may seem like a reasonable strategy, it’s vital to keep in mind that the victims of revenge porn and other types of online harassment can lead to lawsuits.  Hackers who carry out revenge attacks risk facing harsh legal repercussions, such as jail time and fines. While it could be alluring to use cybercrime as a means of retaliation, it’s crucial to think about the possible outcomes before acting.

Journal Entry 6

1. Y0utube.com is the fake website. The actual website should be (Youtube.com)
2. Netflix-login.com is the fake website. The actual website should be (Netflix.com)
3. Faccebook.com is the fake website. The actual website should be (Facebook.com)

Journal Entry 7

Journal Entry 8

The representation of cybersecurity in social media tends to display individuals with exceptional skills who are capable of “breaking into” networks and deciphering codes in an unrealistic time frame. Such portrayals often include intricate graphics and depictions of people typing in binary, which may inadvertently propagate a stereotype that cybersecurity professionals are akin to machines. Additionally, social media’s depiction of cybersecurity reinforces the misconception that all individuals in the field are hackers, socially challenged, and work in isolation under dim lighting conditions wearing hoodies. 

Article Review #1

Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy 

This journal investigates the vital significance of privacy and cybersecurity in contemporary society, particularly given the prevalence of networked systems and cutting-edge technologies like the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems. In order to offer safe and reliable networked services, the journal examines how the growing number of connections in these systems introduces new security risks and privacy issues.

The journal mostly uses a literature review approach when it comes to research methodologies, building on earlier studies and publications in the fields of cybersecurity and privacy. The author uses a descriptive writing style to highlight the major problems and obstacles that networked systems and new technologies face when it comes to cybersecurity and privacy. 

Important considerations concerning the trade-offs between security and privacy are brought up in the journal, especially in contexts like vehicle communications. The author points out that while utilizing identifying information for vehicular communications may jeopardize the driver’s, owner’s, or renter’s right to privacy, adopting an anonymous identity makes identification and safe communication difficult.

Along with highlighting these data kinds, the author also discusses the privacy and cybersecurity risks associated with them, including those related to personally identifiable information (PII) and medical records. The journal covers privacy issues that might arise from GPS tracking and cloud-based storage, especially when several national laws are in effect. 

Also, the journal clarifies the worries of underrepresented groups regarding cybersecurity and privacy, including patients in the healthcare industry and those with highly sensitive personal data. The author points out that when it comes to medical data and pharmaceutical information, cybersecurity breaches can have life-or-death ramifications.

Overall, the journal offers insightful information on the crucial role that privacy and cybersecurity play in contemporary society and emphasizes the necessity for more study in these fields to guarantee the privacy and security of networked systems and new technologies.

Works Cited

Rawat DB. Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy: A New Open Access Journal. Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy. 2021; 1(1):195-198. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcp1010010

Article Review #2

Threat intelligence sharing between cybersecurity vendors

The first section entails the rising security dangers that society is facing as a result of the volume and complexity of internet technologies and mobile apps. The journal also explains how businesses use security and monitoring tools to safeguard their valuable information system assets against harmful cyberattacks. However, there are still internal threats brought on by staff members intentionally and unintentionally disclosing sensitive information, which emphasizes the need for more study. The Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) is used in the study to examine the interactions between organizational social influence, calls to action, and PMT effects on workers’ reported current information security practices. The purpose of the study is to determine how corporate cybersecurity initiatives and employee information security habits are related. The research uses a quantitative research method to analyze the data obtained from the survey.

The study examines the connection between organizational factors and workers’ information security habits, which is related to the principles of social sciences. By identifying the variables that influence employees’ information security behavior, the study aids marginalized populations while also assisting corporations in safeguarding their valuable data and assets. 

A broad theoretical model of protection, that merges organizational cybersecurity efforts and users’ actual information security behaviors, is created and tested as part of the study’s contribution to society. The study builds on earlier results about how employees’ perceptions of cybersecurity threats and possible responses have an influence on their compliance habits. The study also explains the conflicting results of earlier studies on employees’ information security behavior.

The second section of this paper talks about how contemporary cyber risks favor cyber attackers. In a never-ending weapons race, the paragraph highlights the necessity of deploying innovative assault identification and mitigation defensive techniques. The section covers Cyber Threat Information (CTI), a new concept in defense that gives assets evidence-based knowledge about potential threats that can be used to guide choices about how best to respond to such threats. In the text, CTI items are divided into four categories according to their characteristics and consumption points. The questions in the passage concern how CTI may be applied to recognize and lessen online risks. The text further emphasizes the requirement for the implementation of fresh defensive strategies in response to the developing cyberthreats. Technical information is provided in this chapter, including a structured feed of regularly updated cyber-related data elements. The analysis of this data entails manually or automatically processing the feed and using it for analysis or prevention at the receiving end.

The study and the passage relate to the concerns of marginalized groups, as they both deal with protecting critical data and assets from cyber threats. The study identifies the factors that affect employees’ information security behavior, while the passage discusses CTI as an emerging defense concept that can be used to identify and mitigate cyber threats.

Work Cited

Li, Ling, et al. “Investigating the Impact of Cybersecurity Policy Awareness on Employees’ Cybersecurity Behavior.” International Journal of Information Management, vol. 45, 2019, pp. 13–24.

Career Professional Paper

A malware analyst is a cybersecurity expert who focuses on locating and examining harmful software, sometimes known as malware. Software known as malware is created with the intention of damaging computer networks or systems, stealing confidential data, or interfering with everyday computer processes. Identifying, analyzing, and reverse-engineering malware is a malware analyst’s main duty in order to comprehend how it functions and how it might be stopped and identified. To investigate and address security issues and vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks, they collaborate closely with other specialists in the field of cybersecurity. Malware analysts examine malware using a range of instruments and methods, such as debuggers, disassemblers, and other specialist software. Aside from that, they might work on creating new malware analysis methods and tools.

As the subject of cybersecurity evolves, it is becoming increasingly crucial to comprehend the social and psychological variables that lead to malware production and transmission. Malware analysts are tasked with finding and studying dangerous software as well as comprehending the goals and strategies of the people or organizations who created it. They must use a variety of social scientific theories and studies, such as those from criminology, psychology, and sociology, to accomplish this effectively.

By drawing on criminological research, malware analysts can gain insights into the social and psychological factors that contribute to the creation and spread of malware. Malware analysts must be able to identify patterns in the behavior of malware creators, as well as understand the motivations that drive them. Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior, and it seeks to understand the factors that contribute to criminal activity. One area of social science research that is particularly relevant to the work of malware analysts is criminology. Malware analysts must be able to grasp these psychological strategies as well as how to resist them. Malware analysts can learn how to identify and block these approaches by referencing psychological studies. Psychology is a different branch of social science study that is crucial for malware analyzers. The scientific study of human behavior and the mind is known as psychology. Because malware developers frequently employ psychological ploys to fool users into downloading and installing their software, psychology is especially pertinent to the work of malware analysts.

Additionally important to malware analysts is the field of sociology. Sociology, the study of society and social behavior, may aid malware analysts in comprehending how virus impacts various social groups. For example, some groups may be more vulnerable to malware assaults than others, and malware may affect different sectors of the population in different ways. They can learn how to create efficient plans for stopping and responding to malware attacks by consulting sociological studies.

Malware analysts must be conscious of the connections between their work and underrepresented groups and society at large in addition to using social science studies and ideas. Malware may have catastrophic repercussions on people and communities, especially those who are already weak or oppressed. Malware, for instance, might be used to target people or organizations based on their political views, sexual orientation, gender, or age. Malware analysts need to be aware of these possible effects so they can take steps to reduce and prevent them.

Additionally, the work of malware researchers may also have broader societal repercussions. Spyware can be used for espionage or as a weapon of war, and it can have serious economic and political repercussions. Malware analysts need to be aware of these bigger ramifications and make sure that their work is governed by moral standards that put people’s welfare and the welfare of society as a whole first.

In conclusion, malware analysis is a difficult and complicated area that needs a thorough comprehension of social and technological aspects. Malware analysts must use a variety of social science theories and studies, such as criminology, psychology, and sociology, in order to be successful in this discipline.  They need to be conscious of how their work affects underrepresented groups and society as a whole, and they need to take steps to prevent and lessen the potential effects of malware on people and communities. Malware analysts may be extremely important in preventing the negative impacts of malware by combining their technical proficiency with a thorough awareness of social dynamics.