Sample MIS607 Cybersecurity Assignment

MIS607 Cybersecurity Assignment Sample

Assignment Brief

Assignment Title - MITIGATION PLAN FOR THREAT REPORT

Individual/Group - Individual
Length - 2500 words (+/- 10%)

Learning Outcomes:

The Subject Learning Outcomes demonstrated by successful completion of the task below include:

b) Explore and articulate cyber trends, threats and staying safe in cyberspace, plus protecting personal and company data.

c) Analyze issues associated with organizational data networks and security to recommend practical solutions towards their resolution.

d) Evaluate and communicate relevant technical and ethical considerations related to the design, deployment and/or the uses of secure technologies within various organizational contexts.

Submission - Due by 11:55pm AEST Sunday end of Module 6.1
Weighting - 45%
Total Marks - 100 marks

Task Summary

For this assessment, you are required to write a 2500 words mitigation plan for threat report based on knowledge you gained about threat types and key factors in Assessment 2. You are required to use the Assessment 2 case as context to write a report to address or alleviate problems faced by the business and to protect the customers. In doing so, you are required to demonstrate your ability to mitigate threat/risks identified in Assessment 2 through the strategy you recommend (STRIDE).

Context

Cybersecurity help organizations to mitigate threats/risks, reduce financial loss and safety violations, decrease unethical behaviour, improve customer satisfaction, and increase efficiency, as well as to maintain these improved results. Threats can be resolved by Risk Acceptance (doing nothing), Risk Transference (pass risk to an externality), Risk Avoidance (removing the feature/component that causes the risk) and Risk Mitigation (decrease the risk). This assessment gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of cybersecurity and your capability to explain Risk Mitigation strategies for such threats. Mitigations should be chosen according to the appropriate technology and resolution should be decided according to the risk level and cost of mitigation.

Task Instructions for assignment help

1. Read the Assessment 2 Case Scenario again to understand the concepts discussed in the case.

2. Review your subject notes to establish the relevant area of investigation that applies to the case. Re- read any relevant readings that have been recommended in the case area in modules. Plan how you will structure your ideas for the mitigation plan for threat report.

3. The mitigation plan for threat report should address the following:

• Setting priorities for risks/threats

• Analyze the case in terms of identified risk categories and scenarios

• Apply standard mitigations

• Discuss specific resolutions for improvement, and justify their significance

• Provide recommendations for mitigating risk based on an assessment of risk appetite, risk tolerance and current risk levels (Choose techniques to mitigate the threats)

• Make recommendations to the CEO on how to conduct risk management, key issues involving your process improvement model, including a road map, the identification of appropriate technologies for the identified techniques, communicating the strategy, and a suggested timeline.

4. The report should consist of the following structure:

A title page with subject code and name, assignment title, student’s name, student number, and lecturer’s name. The introduction that will also serve as your statement of purpose for the report. This means that you will tell the reader what you are going to cover in mitigation plan report. You will need to inform the reader of:

a) Your area of research and its context (how to mitigate or manage threats)
b) The key concepts you will be addressing
c) What the reader can expect to find in the body of the report

The body of the report will need to respond to the specific requirements of the case study. It is advised
that you use the case study to assist you in structuring the report. Set priorities for identified threats from assessment 2, analyze the case in terms of identified risk categories and discuss specific resolutions and recommendations for improvements in the body of the report.

The conclusion (will summarize any findings or recommendations that the report puts forward regarding the concepts covered in the report.

5. Format of the report

The report should use font Arial or Calibri 11 point, be line spaced at 1.5 for ease of reading, and have page numbers on the bottom of each page. If diagrams or tables are used, due attention should be given to pagination to avoid loss of meaning and continuity by unnecessarily splitting information over two pages. Diagrams must carry the appropriate captioning.

6. Referencing

There are requirements for referencing this report using APA referencing style for citing and referencing research. It is expected that you used 10 external references in the relevant subject area based on readings and further research. Please see more information on referencing here:https://library.torrens.edu.au/academic skills/apa/tool

7. You are strongly advised to read the rubric, which is an evaluation guide with criteria for grading the
assignment— this will give you a clear picture of what a successful report looks like.

Submission Instructions
Submit Assessment 3 via the Assessment link in the main navigation menu in MIS607 Cybersecurity. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the LMS portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.

Solution

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to prepare a mitigation plan for the identified threats from assessment-2 threat modelling report. The context of this report is based on the threat mitigation strategy, STRIDE which was recommended in the earlier assessment. In this threat report, it has been possible for me to address the key cybersecurity threats/risks faced by the Business & Communication (B&C) Insurance organisation and concept of risk acceptance, risk transference, risk avoidance, & risk mitigations. Moreover, in this report, recent cyber trends and relevant threats have been articulated and explored.

Readers can expect to learn about the risk mitigation strategies for critical cybersecurity threats through this assessment. Last, but not the least, this threat report helps the key stakeholders of B&C Insurance company to choose appropriate technology and resolution for the risk level. It also helps to understand the cost of mitigation and structured their own ideas for the same.

Threats Identification, Specific Resolution respond to the case study

Setting priorities for risks/threats

Table 1: Risk/Threat Prioritization (Source: Canfield & Fischhoff, 2018, p. 828)

Analysis in terms of risk categories and scenarios

Table 2: Analysis of identified threats for particular scenario (Source: Canfield & Fischhoff, 2018, p. 830)

Standard Mitigations

After knowing the risk categories and relevant scenarios for this B&C Insurance case study organisation, it is necessary to identify and apply standard mitigation techniques as follows:

? Installing Firewalls to protect email/website

Firewalls are enabled to protect B&C Insurance company websites. It has been designed to create a buffer between IT systems and external networks so that it can monitor the network traffic, block anything that could damage the computers, systems, and private networks (Armenia et al. 2019, p. 405). Firewalls also prevent cyber criminals from breaking down into networks and block outgoing traffic that contains a virus.

? Installing antivirus software

Installing antivirus acts as an essential technological defence for the B&C Insurance company. Modern range of antiviruses generally provide protection against a range of malware (spam emails), key loggers, ransomware, adware, spyware, and so on (Ganin et al. 2020, p. 185).

? Patch management

For software updates, need to fix the vulnerability along with a patch management plan.

? Cybersecurity risk assessment

As per the International standard: ISO 27001, step-by-step guidance has been followed for cyber security risk assessment. It is a standard mutation applied to gain benefits (Zadeh, Jeyaraj & Biros, 2020, p. 5).

? Information security policy

It is the result of risk assessment which has been adopted by the organisation itself to prevent unauthorized access. Information security policy will review the effectiveness of the control.

? Sensitive data encryption

As suggested by Zheng & Albert, (2019, p. 2078), Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), encrypted data cannot be assessed by the criminal or hackers even if they break the systems. It only accessed by the authorized personnel i.e. CEO of the B&C Insurance with a decryption key.

? Remote working policy

Create a remote working policy for the B&C Insurance employees reshaped the organisational security services. It recommends two-factor authentication to any third-party services for personal use (Armenia et al. 2019, p. 410).

? Conduct vulnerability scans

Vulnerability scanning improves the overall cybersecurity effectiveness and security measurements.

? Create a different business continuity plan for B&C Insurance

It is also a standard mitigation that outlines the critical processes of an organisational operation in the event of a major disruption (Ganin et al. 2020, p. 188).

? Conducting penetration test

It is important to resist hacking on behalf of the B&C Insurance company. Automated scans enable the actors and leverage the weaknesses to gain a true insight. Penetration test is important to stop criminals, ethical hackers and implement defences (Zadeh, Jeyaraj & Biros, 2020, p. 12).

Specific Resolutions

After considering the cybersecurity threats for B&C Insurance company and discussing the standard mitigations, it has been possible for me to describe specific resolutions for improvement and justify their significance for the same. The following are the resolutions for B&C Insurance companies which can be implemented to ensure that the organisation does not become the victim of cyber-crime, hackers, or fraudsters (Zheng & Albert, 2019, p. 2080).

? Providing security training is a best resolution that aware the employees before clicking a malicious link or downloading fraudulent software.

? Updated strong anti-virus software is useful to protect internal organisational data (Armenia et al. 2019, p. 413).

? How to respond to the phishing threats from exploitation of software vulnerabilities has also to be considered.

? Strong password policy is a resolution to the threats and risks faced by the B&C Insurance company.

? As per the guidance of Ganin et al. (2020, p. 190), multi factor authentication is a resolution that allows B&C Insurance company to protect its compromised credentials. Attempting corporate applications, networks, and servers is also a resolution approach.

? Backing-up databases is also important. It could be the essential solution when the company lost almost its data after a cyber-attack (Zadeh, Jeyaraj & Biros, 2020, p. 20).
Recommendations for Risk Mitigation

Table 3: Mitigating Risk Assessment (Source: Wang, 2019)

Risk Management Roadmap
In this stage, on the basis of risk categories and key issues involved to the threat model a risk management has been conducted. It is included in the following table.

Table 4: Risk Management approaches and relevant criterions (Source:

Figure 1: Risk Roadmap
(Source: Bahaloo-Horeh & Mousavi, 2020, p. 123186)

Identification of appropriate technologies

STRIDE elements are identified from assessment 2 which is an appropriate technique to diversify the threats. This technique is identified for the relevant threats and how to act against it.

? Spoofing is identified for Authentication security property.
? Tampering technique is for Integrity.
? Repudiation is a recommended threat key factor accessed by the CEO in a non-repudiation context (Laessoe, Jensen & Madeleine, 2017, 5).
? Information Disclosure might be considered for confidentiality.
? Denial of Service is considered for availability.
? Elevation of Privilege is an authorized technique involved in this case.

On the other hand, the DREAD model is a technique which is associated with risks/threats. NIST is also similar to these.

Conclusion

After discussing the threats, vulnerabilities in the B&C Insurance company, it is necessary to summarize those findings and outcomes that will be put forward in future cases. The course of actions must be recommended to mitigate potential threats in future are:

? Validating the threat and engaging the stakeholders.

? Conduct a proper risk management which may be beneficial and provide specific resolution to the existing threats.

? Beware of unreliable external networks, emails from the next time to prevent this kind of cybercrime scenario.

References

Armenia, S., Ferreira Franco, E., Nonino, F., Spagnoli, E., & Medaglia, C. M. (2019). Towards the definition of a dynamic and systemic assessment for cybersecurity risks. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 36(4), 404–423. Retrieved on 18-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2556

Bahaloo-Horeh, N., & Mousavi, S. M. (2020). Comprehensive characterization and environmental risk assessment of end-of-life automotive catalytic converters to arrange a sustainable roadmap for future recycling practices. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 400, 123186–123186. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123186

Boeke, S. (2018). National cyber crisis management: different European approaches. Governance, 31(3), 449–464. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12309

Camillo. (2017). Cybersecurity: risks and management of risks for global banks and financial institutions. Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, 10(2), 196–200. Retrieved on 18-Apr-2021 from, https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/6998327984

Canfield, C. I., & Fischhoff, B. (2018). Setting priorities in behavioural interventions: an application to reducing phishing risk. Risk Analysis, 38(4), 826–838. Retrieved on 18-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12917
Coburn, A., Leverett, E., & Woo, G. (2018). Solving cyber risk: protecting your company and society. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1080082434

Ganin, A. A., Quach, P., Panwar, M., Collier, Z. A., Keisler, J. M., Marchese, D., & Linkov, I. (2020). Multicriteria decision framework for cybersecurity risk assessment and management. Risk Analysis, 40(1), 183–199. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12891

Laessoe, U., Jensen, N. M. B., & Madeleine, P. (2017). Examination of the gait pattern based on adjusting and resulting components of the stride-to-stride variability: proof of concept. Bmc Research Notes, 10(1), 1–7. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2623-8

Rytchkov, O., & Zhong, X. (2020). Information aggregation and p-hacking. Management Science, 66(4), 1605–1626. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3259

Saia, R., & Carta, S. (2019). Evaluating the benefits of using proactive transformed-domain-based techniques in fraud detection tasks. Future Generation Computer Systems, 93, 18–32. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.10.016

Wang, S. S. (2019). Integrated framework for information security investment and cyber insurance. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 57. Retrieved on 18-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2019.101173

Zadeh, A. H., Jeyaraj, A., & Biros, D. (2020). Characterizing cybersecurity threats to organizations in support of risk mitigation decisions. E-Service Journal, 12(2), 1–34. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/8978135163

Zheng, K., & Albert, L. A. (2019). A robust approach for mitigating risks in cyber supply chains. Risk Analysis, 39(9), 2076–2092. Retrieved on 19-Apr-2021 from, https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13269