This ePortfolio contains two article reviews that analyze and summarize key ideas from selected readings. Each review explains the main points of the article, connects them to relevant course concepts, and provides a personal reflection on the information presented. The purpose of these reviews is to deepen understanding of the topics and show how they relate to real-world issues and what has been learned throughout the course.

Article Review 1: The Human Element of Cybersecurity

This article relates to the social sciences because it focuses on human behaviors rather than just computer code or hardware. In social science, we study how people’s internal traits and their environment influence their actions. This specific study examines “social determinism,” which is the idea that our actions such as following security rules are determined by our personality and how we perceive the world around us. Instead of looking at cybersecurity as a strictly IT problem, the authors treat it as a behavioral science problem.

Article Review 2: Controlling Cyber Crime through Behavioral Compliance

This study by Ghaleb and Pardaev treats cybersecurity as a human challenge rather than a technical one. It embodies several core social science principles:

• Empiricism: The researchers use real data from 261 employees to back up their claims rather than making guesses.
• Determinism: The study suggests that security behavior is not random but has specific identifiable causes, such as environment and workplace relationships.
• Objectivity: By using statistical modeling, the authors keep personal bias out of their conclusions.
• Cumulative Knowledge: The research builds upon existing theories, adding to the collective understanding of behavioral science.