Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society
Over the Fall 2022 Semester at Old Dominion Univeristy, we were asked to write many write-ups related to cybersecurity. Below are a few of my write-ups from what I have learned over the Fall 2022 Semester.
Write-ups
CIA Triad
The CIA Triad is a model designed to guide policies for information security within an organization (Chai, 2022, pg.1). The Triad is made up of Confidentiality, integrity, and availability. These three things play a major role in Cybersecurity.
CIA Triad
This article goes over the CIA Triad and what it does for cybersecurity. The CIA Triad stands for Confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The Triad is a model designed to guide policies for information security within an organization (Chair, 2022, pg.1). Confidentiality is a set of rules that limits access to information. Integrity is the assurance that the information is trustworthy and accurate, and availability is a guarantee of reliable access to the information by authorized people (Chai, 2022, pg.1). To sum these up, Confidentiality plays the role of privacy for users and makes sure others cannot access your data. while Integrity plays the role of making sure that all the information and data are credible and trusted for the users. For availability, this means that the information and or data is accessible to its correct user at any point they want. For example, your website would be up and running all the time with no bugs to give the user easy access to his or her data.
Authentication vs Authorization
Authentication falls under the Confidentiality section. Authentication is the process of the user authorizing themselves to show that what they are trying to access is theirs. For example, if you want to log into your banking app you would do a two-step authentication process to prove that it is you and not someone else trying to access your bank account. The authentication process has two sides to it, the other side being authorization. Authorization is the act of being authorized for what you are trying to access. For example, the bank would be authorizing you after you authenticate yourself to access your bank account information.
Conclusion
This article covered all the sections of the CIA Triad and showed why they consider the CIA Triad to be made up of the three most important concepts in Cybersecurity. The article went over the process of how they use authentication and authorization when a user tries to access their information online.
References
Chai, W. (2022). What is the CIA Triad? Definition, Explanation, Examples. Tech Target, 1.
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The SCADA System
This article teaches the readers about the SCADA System. The SCADA system is a bunch of hardware and software that monitor systems and help them run efficiently. Personally, I think a SCADA system is very important when handling multiple systems of software and technology.
The SCADA System
What exactly is a SCADA System? A SCADA system is a control center for infrastructure processes like water treatment, gas pipelines, and wind farms (Paragraph 1). Not only those, but they can also control facility-based processes like airports and space stations to the industrial scene. In the industrial processes a SCADA system can control production, power generation, or manufacturing. To control all of these categories, SCADA systems use subsystems. Subsystems are individual things that they use to run a SCADA System. The subsystems include a human operator which sees all the data the SCADA collects. A supervisory system which gathers all the data about the process. An RTU which is short for Remote Terminal Units which are sensors in the process which send signals to the digital data collection that send it to the supervisory stream. PLCs which are programmable logic controllers that are field devices. The last subsystem is the communication infrastructure which connects the RTUs to the supervisory system. For example, if you put all of these subsystems together you can have a water pipe system built and the SCADA system can use the sensors to tell if water isn’t flowing. Which will send an alert up to the system to notify the operator to now fix the problem.
SCADA In-Depth
Going in depth into a SCADA system and how it is used has many components to it. A SCADA system uses humans to interact with it. To do this, the system uses a Human Machine Interface. This is a device that is connected to the systems databases and shows the human how the system is running. For example, the device will show a diagram of the equipment it is hooked up to and will show alerts on the part of the equipment that has a malfunction. To make all of this possible the SCADA uses hardware. The hardware consists of the programmable logic controllers and remote terminal units. Using these two pieces of hardware allow them to program the device and set up smart controls to make sure everything runs smoothly within the system. All of the components that go into a SCADA system are very important. Without these there can be failures in systems which can potentially cost lives. In order to protect your home or business from these systems malfunctioning the hardware must be able to withstand high heat, voltage, strong vibrations and more. Adding some hardware is important because it can make it so you can replace items safely before it is too late. With that being said communication with the system is very important. SCADA systems are set up to be able to connect with IP and Ethernet so you can monitor the systems better.
Conclusion
SCADA systems are used a lot in industrial fields, and it is very important that all aspects of hardware can withstand time and use. Being able to monitor these systems is great and it is good how they set things up to be able to be fixed without harm. Safety is very important in these systems and the system being able to alert when there is a problem is crucial. Although there can be some issues with SCADA systems, It is great to see this technology being used and in a safe manner.
Source
Accessed (2022) SCADA Systems
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Human Factors in Cybersecurity
We were asked to act like we are Chief Information Security Officers with a limited budget. How would we balance that budget with training and or more cybersecurity? I want to balance it and not focus on only one of these aspects.
A Chief Information Security Officer is someone who is responsible for the vision of a company and make sure that the companies technology is protected. There are two important factors when budgeting for the cybersecurity of a company’s technology. One, putting money towards training your employees on what to do in one of the circumstances and how to prevent it. Two, purchasing better equipment and or technology to help your company’s security. Many people see things differently and will have different intentions with things. Because of this it is important to know what you want to protect more through the internet as a business.
Personally, I believe it is important to allocate funds to both of these important factors in cybersecurity. It is very important to have employees who know what they are doing when it comes to protecting important information. With a tight budget I would only train a few employees that I trust to learn how to properly handle things and make sure everything is protected. I would use the rest of the budget on updating my technology and getting any software that might be helpful in keeping my company’s information protected. With the help of both of these together you get a strong protection.
With people these days seeing things so differently and having different intentions with things, your company’s information may not be as safe as you think. This is why I believe using the budget on quality training for fewer employees and using the rest on high end cybersecurity technology is the best decision with protection.