Category: Cybersecurity

Growth hacking is a method in marketing that was established by technology startups that apply inventiveness, diagnostic rationality, and social metrics in order to retail goods and acquire disclosure. It could be viewed as a branch of the online advertising network, as in many cases growth hackers are using techniques such as search engine optimization, website analytics, content marketing and A/B testing (The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking par. 2). Moreover, growth hackers aim their attention towards low-priced and groundbreaking replacements for outdated advertising, for example, exploiting social communications and viral advertising rather than purchasing public notices for sale by the means of more classical correspondence such as broadcasts, journals, and visual and audio entertainment. Growth hacking is predominantly significant for the establishment of the new ideas, as it permits for a lean launch that focuses on growth first, budgets second. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Dropbox are all companies that use growth hacking techniques (Growth Hacking par. 2).

To my understanding, in contrast to the marketers, who conventionally are not as much of technical specialists, growth hackers pursue only one goal, which is to expand the organization where they work. This goal can be achieved by the means of a variation of strategies that are labeled hacks, due to an absence of better terms. These hacks usually are cheap and for the most cases entirely free; furthermore, they are intended to advance the viral constant.

Ryan Holiday, the author of the Growth Hacker Marketing, has stated that the advertising issues that are currently confronting many startups are a separate budget that is dedicated specifically to advertising and a classical advertising experience. In order to replenish the absence of monetary funds and advertising background, growth hackers address advertising with an emphasis on novelty, invention, scalability, and the relations with users. Nonetheless, the representatives of growth hacking do not insulate the plan and the efficiency of the output from advertising. Growth hackers aim their efforts towards building the impending development and expansion of the production, including user acquisition, onboarding, monetization, retention, and virality, into the product itself. Fast Company used Twitter Suggested Users List for an example; this was Twitters real secret: It built marketing into the product rather than building infrastructure to do a lot of marketing (Biyani par. 2).

The essence of growth hacking appears to be in the persistent emphasis on growing as the only result that really makes a difference. Mark Zuckerberg, who is one of the creators of Facebook, is believed to have this attitude while creating Facebook. While the particular approaches diverge from organization to organization and from one business to the next, the mutual goal is always expansion. There are a few commanders that appeared to be a theme to as abundant disapproval and disputes as Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Stockholders have protested against his aspiration towards the growth of the company, and many have appealed that Zuckerberg is publically incompetent and inexperienced and youthful as well to be a director of a business that huge.

Nonetheless, despite this disapproval, Zuckerberg without doubts is one of the most prosperous magnates and impresarios in commercial history. His minor venture that was developed while Zuckerberg was a college undergraduate has evolved into a worldwide superior in the business and is advancing and escalating to this day.

Those organizations that have effectively applied the growth hacking technique possess a viral circle frequently that is installed on the onboarding process as anticipated. Fresh consumers of the production naturally learn about the merchandise or maintenance by the means of their system. Moreover, by working with the merchandise or maintenance, the customers use it in common with their associates one after another. This circle of attentiveness, usage, and distribution is able to cause an ascending growth and expansion of the organization (Holiday The Secret That Defines Marketing Now par. 5).

Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Pinterest, YouTube, Groupon, Udemy, and Instagram appear to be the corporations that have been applying growth hacking methods in order to promote labels and advance incomes up to this day (Emerson par. 4). Moreover, applying growth hacking methods of marketing has also massively committed to the advancement and the extension of the social media, which densely utilizes the methods of permission marketing; friending, liking, and following, all closely associates to the idea of Permission Marketing (Barwise and Strong 20). For example, Facebook or YouTube offers primary instances of permission- based samples  either it offers to post, like, or repost, the user will have to send a friend request (or permission) to the likely anticipators. As a result, it could be observed that the combination of the growth hacking methods and the permission-based marketing appear to be one of the most efficient techniques towards marketing that is low-cost and effective. In the words of Ryan Holiday, advertising is not accidental; it is engineered with taking into account every little detail that may hinder the growth of the company (Holiday 44). The growth hackers plunge genuinely into the data that is accessible to them and perfect it until they receive supreme outcomes.

Works Cited

Barwise, Patrick and Colin Strong. Permission-Based Mobile Advertising. Journal of Interactive Marketing 16.1 (2002): 14-24. Print.

Biyani, Gagan 2013, Explained: The Actual Difference between Growth Hacking and Marketing. Web.

Emerson, Rip 2013, Chamath Palihapitiya on Growth Hacking and How to Create a Sustainable User Acquisition Engine. Web.

Growth Hacking 2015. Web.

Holiday, Ryan. Growth Hacker Marketing, London, United Kingdom: Portfolio, 2014. Print.

. The Secret That Defines Marketing Now. 2013. Web.

The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking. 2013. Web.

Changes to a single system component causing the need for changes to the controls

The risk treatment actions involve the avoidance of risk, reduction, transfer, and acceptance. This sequence is a part of a larger cycle that includes establishing the context, identification of the risk, its evaluation, treatment, monitoring and review (Treat Risks, 2009).

The first component of the risk treatment framework (avoidance) refers to the decision not to go through with the procedures that may present a risk; the second one (reduction) stands for the minimization of the possibility of a risk in the future; the third component (transfer) involves outsourcing the potential risk to the other parties so that the risk outcomes affect the other areas; finally, the last component (acceptance) stands for the admission of risk as an existing factor whose level is monitored and taken under control (Treat Risks, 2009). When the changes are introduced to any of these elements of the system, the whole structure changes. For instance, when the stage of avoidance is not followed, the risk remains and keeps requiring new controls. The same happens when the second, third, and fourth steps are not addressed. In other words, the cycle remains incomplete and needs to be reevaluated with the addition of new or different control measures.

The necessity to modify the Cyber Insurance coverage in case of a change to a system component

Carter (2015) mentions an example of changing the cyber risk insurance policy for a purpose to add the aspects protecting the company and the employees from bodily injury and property damage. Such modification will expand the terms and conditions of the policy and introduce changes into the activities which the policy is expected to cover and respond to. The newly added aspects may contain potential threats to security. As a result, due to the change in one or more of the system components, the whole sequence of the risk treatment actions is to be re-visited to address the new dangers. Namely, the component of risk transfer is being adjusted due to the changes in the security insurance. The policy directly correlates with the component, and that is why the change in one of the elements will require the other party to be modified as well.

The application of pre- and post-implementation assessment when implementing a control

According to SANS Analyst Program, the controls may cover versatile dimensions such as the applications and the vulnerabilities of network and endpoint devices, malware defense, data protection, and the access and recovery (Hietala, 2013). For the information security professionals to choose which controls are the most applicable to the particular situations, they are to apply a pre-implementation assessment.

Also, after the control is in place, the specialists are to conduct another evaluation and make sure that the control fulfills its duties and objectives correctly. This activity is called a post-implementation assessment. During the control implementation, the professionals must use the results of the pre-implementation. Hietala (2013) also maintains that the networks become more resistant to the attacks when the controls of different types are in place. For example, the critical security controls may be added to the existing controls and strengthen the protection. One aspect the specialists are to take into consideration is that the controls should not clash with one another; otherwise, such contradictions may result in security risks and breaches.

Addressing the remaining risk after implementation of a new control and a post-implementation assessment

In a situation when the control has already been placed, but the post-implementation assessment reveals the risk persists, a professional has several primary options and actions to undertake. First of all, the existing risk should be assessed and evaluated; it is possible that the level of the risk is minor, and it can be accepted within the fourth component of the risk treatment action. Secondly, if the evaluation shows that the level of risk is too high and cannot be accepted, it is possible that the specialists choice of control was flawed. The newly placed control is to be re-visited for a purpose to identify its compatibility with the system and its needs.

If the control was chosen wrongly, the specialist is to follow the risk management framework once again to see which stages contain errors (the context establishment, identification of the risk, evaluation of the risk, its treatment, monitoring, and review) (Risk assessment and risk treatment, 2014). Also, the client is to decide, if the risk can be tolerated by their company or whether or not the risk should be treated. If all the steps were done correctly but the risk remains, it is important to perform a cost-benefit analysis and find out whether or not the risk can be addressed.

References

Carter, J. S. (2015). Does Your Companys Cyber Risk Insurance Cover Cyber-Related Bodily Injury and Property Damage? Web.

Hietala, J. D. (2013). Implementing the Critical Security Controls. Web.

Risk assessment and risk treatment. (2014). Web.

Treat Risks. (2009). Web.

Cybersecurity frameworks may differ significantly depending on the way in which the data is stored. Data servers may require regular supervision and maintenance, whereas usage of the cloud partially delegates cybersecurity to the service provider (Michels and Walden 383). Hence, it may be essential to thoroughly analyze the market and choose the most secure and cost-efficient option. However, regardless of the storage method, it may be vital to address several internal and external cyber threats.

The human factor plays a considerable role in the reliability of cybersecurity, as both user error and abuse of access-related privileges represent cyber threats. First, it may be highly beneficial to educate employees about cybersecurity in order to mitigate the probability of errors. Second, software-defined networking should be utilized to improve network visibility and flexibility. Software-defined networking can also be used to implement micro-segmentation, which may separate secure networks from public networks and prevent cybersecurity breaches by limiting the ability to access secure data from the public segment (Bakhshi 15). Therefore, both employees and external users will be able to access only the data they need.

It is also essential to introduce a comprehensive approach to external cybersecurity threats. A wide variety of threats, including ransomware, social engineering, malware, cloud security breaches, and phishing attacks, should be considered (Alsmadi 229). It may be highly beneficial to rely on third-party cybersecurity providers as they have extensive experience in the field and they may reduce security-related costs. Such providers as Cisco ASA, FortigGate, Sophos, and Meraki offer reliable firewalls for enterprises of different sizes. Nonetheless, it is critical to analyze the cybersecurity landscape in order to identify the most appropriate firewall in terms of both hardware and software.

Works Cited

Alsmadi, Izzat. The Nice CyberSecurity Framework: Cyber Security Intelligence and Analytics. Springer, 2019.

Bakhshi, Taimur. State of the Art and Recent Research Advances in Software Defined Networking. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, vol. 2017, 2017, pp. 135. Web.

Michels, Johan David, and Ian Walden. Cybersecurity, Cloud, and Critical Infrastructure. Cloud Computing Law, 2021, pp. 382418. Web.

As cybersecurity has been an intensely debated and widely researched issue, its application in the legislative context is also essential to explore. In the Security Magazine article, Henriquez (2020) discusses the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act and what it means for the public and the government. The reason behind the Acts signing into law was to address risks related to supply chains within the federal governments as a result of insecure devices with minimum requirements for security. Specific requirements of the Act include the mandatory publishing of standards and guidelines on the use of IoT devices by the federal government or the NISTs updates of IoT standards, procedures, and policies once in five years.

Because many IoT applications are designed in a way to allow digital interactions with other programming interfaces, it has become a priority to identify and reduce the occurrence of security vulnerabilities. Through the Acts implementation, digital devices can be secured using alternative and effective methods (Henriquez, 2020, para. 5). Important data that the legislation would safeguard include medical records, workplace plans, personally identifiable information, and any other sensitive data that can become available when devices connect to private corporate networks. Criminals often look for information to steal and use for fraud because the decreased prioritization of security measures in vulnerable products allows them to do so. Therefore, the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act is a step in the right direction for ensuring device protection when they connect to high-priority networks. Besides, with the Acts implementation, it will be curious to see whether companies increase the security of devices targeted to consumers as a result of the increased expectations of safety.

Reference

Henriquez, M. (2020). IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act signed into law. Security Magazine. Web.

Synopsis

Applying existing knowledge to real cybersecurity threats is an excellent academic reflective strategy to conduct research and assess the quality of ones skills. Given the need to select the most recent cybersecurity events, I have decided to address the most pressing topic of recent weeks, namely the war that Russia has launched against Ukraine. I will avoid discussing political issues, but I will touch on a severe aspect related to cybersecurity. Specifically, a week ago, it was revealed that the international hacker group Anonymous had launched a cyber war against the Russian government and media, causing serious damage to the countrys reputation (Pitrelli, 2022). News stories reported that official websites of Russian ministries and some government-controlled TV channels were subjected to DDoS attacks, bringing their functionality to a halt. Data from 92 strategically important databases were reportedly compromised by a hacker group (Pitrelli, 2022). Some of that data was wiped, while others were renamed putin_stop_this_war. In addition, Anonymous orchestrated the theft of federal data from government oversight agencies, after which this data was released into the public domain.

In this situation, the critical cybersecurity issue defines the ability of an anonymous group of independent hackers to hack and influence entire countries government digital systems. This story demonstrates perfectly that even strong countries are not immune to cyberattack threats, and data theft and manipulation can cause damage to government agencies. On the other hand, Anonymous actions show that Russias cyber defenses are far from perfect; it would seem that such important federal data and state media should be well protected, but Anonymous showed otherwise.

Consequences

Any hacker attack is, first and foremost, a reputational damage to the organization whose bases were compromised. From this point of view, Russia had a major reputational crisis since Anonymous clearly showed that the digital assets of even a strong country, positioning itself as a superpower, can be compromised relatively easily. This has implications for investment flows as well; independent investors may lose interest in companies in a country whose resources are attacked by independent hackers. Of course, the current geopolitical agenda is already hardly conducive to foreign investment in Russia, but this blow reflects even more strongly the inability of developers and cybersecurity specialists inside the country to protect such vital data. In this sense, it should also be emphasized that the loss of trust and investment interest is likely not only from the outside but also from within. Russians, who observe how an independent hacker group can hack into government data and publish it, are likely to become less trusting of domestic companies and suspend investment in them.

In addition, the loss of databases for an organization has implications for the potential development of fraud. It has been reported that many of the personal data of government employees, including mailing addresses, names, and phone numbers, have been released to the public (Pitrelli, 2022). From this perspective, criminals and fraudsters, including those not affiliated with Anonymous, could use this information for blackmail or even physical crimes. Among other things, mailboxes can be hacked, and additional strategically important information can be compromised from them, creating new conditions for reputational and organizational risks.

Nor should we ignore the fact that employees who have failed to protect an organization from cyberattacks are not highly qualified. By now, there are a considerable number of ways to combat DDoS attacks, so the inability to provide adequate protection may be an indication of their low level of professionalism. As a consequence for Russia, this scenario is likely to lead to a wave of layoffs and personnel restructuring within government agencies. Many of the cyber-attacks are not always implemented by direct hacking because there is a phenomenon of social engineering. There is no guarantee that any of the employees of Russian federal agencies and media were not exposed to such attacks and phishing, which led to the data leaks. In addition, Russia might be interested in exploring measures to maximize protection so that there are fewer such threats in the future.

Finally, the nature of the published data should be taken into account  it is information from federal agencies, so it is classified as strategically important material. Any country or terrorist organization unfriendly to Russia could use this to prepare an attack or industrial espionage. As a consequence, one would expect physical threats from data leaks, which could follow immediately after other governments or terrorists understand how such data can be used.

Official government media sites have also been hacked, which has a consequence for spreading propaganda. Some of the TV channels and online news portals have been inaccessible for a long time, making it impossible for users to get information. Moreover, as we know, not all of the media outlets were attacked, but only those that are difficult to call independent; they supported Putins regime. For Russians, the blocking of such portals  when truly independent journalism was not attacked  demonstrated the true face of state media. As a consequence, it may have affected the loss of audience and decreased trust in such platforms.

Most likely, Russian government agencies and state media are now beginning to invest more finances and resources, including talented programmers, in cybersecurity. This situation has shown how flawed previous security practices were and has created a field for the development of new capabilities. This could include exploring new measures to protect against cyberattacks, using more muscular encryption systems, and rethinking access level systems. Since it is not out of the question that social engineering may have been the likely cause of the massive leak, organizations leadership can engage in retraining and a close investigation to identify the potential culprit employee. In addition, companies have lost much of their data if backups were not used. It may then be a conclusion for organizations to physically store all information from databases and the need to protect backups more securely. Moreover, it is likely that government agencies will have to create new databases and populate them anew if access to them has been lost. This creates a huge layer of necessary work that Russian authorities and the media will have to do in the coming months not only to get back up and running but also to ensure adequate functioning in the future. In the meantime, these enterprises will have to do a thorough propaganda job to regain their reputation not only before the Russians but also before the international community and investors. Only these steps seem to me to be the most appropriate in the current circumstances in order to regain their reputation and restore the former trust in their products.

Reference

Pitrelli, M. B. (2022). Anonymous declared a cyber war against Russia. Here are the results. CNBC. Web.

Technological innovations and globalization have allowed international organizations and local businesses to provide workers with remote access to their networks and servers. However, working from home has its set of disadvantages, primarily in cyber security, as it increases the chances of mishaps that might expose critical company information to competitors and third parties with selfish or destructive intentions. All individuals working remotely and within the institution should observe high operational standards and adopt strategies to limit cyber security threats due to negligence. Thus, the following policy brief details the initiatives and guidelines that administrators and information managers in a criminal investigation department should observe to protect against breaches of information and unauthorized access due to careless remote access work practices.

Background of Information

Employees with remote work access experience several benefits due to the flexibility and efficiency of completing their tasks at home or on the move. However, working from home risks the safety of organizational information. It exposes its servers and networks to risks due to inappropriate cyber security practices and attacks by malicious parties that may access the data through public networks and insecure channels. Subsequently, these threats bear severe implications for all shareholders in the organization. Therefore, it is better to ensure positive outcomes by guiding staff members on what to avoid when working remotely. In addition, it is necessary to offer support and assistance to ensure that all devices used to work remotely are updated with the latest antivirus security and protected from unauthorized access by third parties.

Purpose and Scope of the Policy Brief

Over the past years, instances of unauthorized access to critical organizational information and security breaches have increased due to external attacks targeted at the New York criminal investigations department. However, an evaluation shows that most cyber-criminals and offenders take advantage of gaps in systems adopted for remote working initiatives as the department observes high levels of information security within its setting (Curran, 2020). Therefore, the following brief intends to align the cyber-security practices of staff members working remotely in a crimes investigation department in New York. The policy brief will cover areas of access restriction using passwords, connecting to secure or private networks, and using updated antivirus applications to limit third parties from accessing the institutions information.

Causes and Implications of Inappropriate Remote Work Access Practices

Working remotely allows employees to manage their schedules and deliver on their obligations regardless of location and time. Additionally, it enables organizations to improve their prospects by enhancing their efficiency (Georgiadou et al., 2022). However, distant working limits the amount of control organizations have over their employees and obligates them to depend on the staffs dedication to organizational standards (Wang & Alexander, 2021). As a result, negligence often results in mishandling organizational data, carelessly storing passwords, and practices such as logging into user account using insecure networks and devices with obsolete antivirus software applications. Additionally, lacking awareness of the essence of data security limits employees from taking strict measures to protect organizational information (Ramadan et al., 2021). Therefore, institutional standards should establish guidelines to prevent inappropriate work-from-home practices that may result in data breaches and unauthorized access.

Cyber security issues such as third parties unauthorized access to critical information and data breaches have adverse implications on employees, institutions, and the individuals they serve. Exposing vital information to the wrong people can harm an organizations reputation and question its ability to handle critical issues (Curran, 2020). Additionally, accessing individuals private information puts clients at risk of blackmail and defamation. In turn, fewer people may want to engage or do business with organizations that do not observe the tenets of confidentiality, which may reduce the number of consumers and loyal customers (Wang & Alexander, 2021). Moreover, employees may face reparations due to litigation or suspension. Therefore, it is advisable to prevent these outcomes by adhering to guidelines that oversee the appropriate use and enhanced security of institutional systems in work-from-home initiatives.

Recommendations and Policy Implications

Standardized policies are critical in guiding all individuals in the institution toward the right direction in ensuring data security. The proposed recommendations aim to reduce unauthorized access to institutional information and data breaches due to staff negligence while working from home. Therefore, all individuals should adhere to the stipulations and immediately report to the concerned department in case they need assistance or in case of issues such as lost devices and misplaced passwords.

1. Employees working from home should pay attention to high levels of cyber security practices. Thus, the organization expects them to familiarize themselves with all the requirements and checklists for keeping their passwords and devices safe. Generally, employees should store their passwords far from others reach. Additionally, they should use secure networks to access user accounts since hackers can quickly obtain information from public networks.
2. The organization will occasionally offer premium antivirus software packages that all individuals should install and run on their devices. Keeping up with the latest spyware will help prevent third parties from interfering with the system and its servers using computer viruses. In addition, they will keep organizational files encrypted and safe from destruction.
3. Finally, the institution will provide occasional training sessions that all employees must attend. The sessions will involve education regarding cyber security issues and assessments to evaluate participants understanding. These programs are critical in informing staff members of the adverse implications of data breaches and solutions to protect their data and devices from unauthorized access.

Adopting standard cyber security practices, using the latest antivirus software, and informing employees of the need to observe high levels of data security are critical to the organizations success as these initiatives limit breaches and attacks. As a result, the institution will keep its promise of confidentiality to its customers and avoid the implications of unauthorized data access, including lawsuits, customer dissatisfaction, and lost revenue. Therefore, observing the policy recommendations will allow all staff members in the organization to benefit.

Work-from-home opportunities provide organizations and employees with numerous benefits due to flexibility, increased efficiency, and self-management. However, remote working exposes organizations to cyber security threats due to staffs negligence and inappropriate practices such as using public networks and ineffective antivirus software. Therefore, policies that target increasing employee awareness of their role in securing organization data, providing staff with access to the latest spyware and antivirus software solutions, and championing appropriate cybersecurity practices when working remotely can help mitigate the organization Against associated adversities. Paying attention to the appropriate utilization of institutional systems at home also protects the institutions customers from parties that may harm their reputation. Thus, all individuals working remotely should observe the recommended policy guidelines as they will help avoid losses and unnecessary problems.

References

Curran, K. (2020). Cyber security and the remote workforce. Computer Fraud & Security, 2020(6), 11-12. Web.

Georgiadou, A., Mouzakitis, S., & Askounis, D. (2022). Working from home during COVID-19 crisis: a cyber security culture assessment survey. Security Journal, 35(2), 486505. Web.

Ramadan, R. A., Aboshosha, B. W., Alshudukhi, J. S., Alzahrani, A. J., El-Sayed, A., & Dessouky, M. M. (2021). Cybersecurity and Countermeasures at the Time of Pandemic. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2021. Web.

Wang, L., & Alexander, C. A. (2021). Cyber security during the COVID-19 pandemic. AIMS Electronics and Electrical Engineering, 5(2), 146157. Web.

Introduction

The world cruise industry continues to be characterized by a significant growth rate. In the global cruise community, two such American giants as Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) dominate. The modern cyberspace and the level of development of information technologies provide unique opportunities to manage the most complex technological processes in the industry of cruise lines. Such a wide range of possibilities is increasingly being used for criminal purposes by hackers. Even though cruise ships are equipped with the most advanced technologies, they remain vulnerable to cyber attacks that may lead to economic, political, and social damages.

Cyber Security Concerns

In 1819, the first steam engine called Savannah was constructed, and it entered the history as a pioneer of transatlantic cruise shipping, making the first cruise from Savannah, GA, the US to Liverpool, England. However, upon returning to the US, the steam engine was dismantled, and the ship continued to cruise under sail. The leader in transatlantic cruises of the 20th century was the British ship company White Star Lines, which had a very ambitious plan to build the first cruise fleet (Gladden 59). The company created a new class of ships and built three vessels: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. These were the most grandiose liners of that time, the biggest and the fastest, with their interiors striking the imagination of contemporaries. These giant ships were used for the transportation of poor people on the lower decks and, at the same time, of richer individuals on the upper decks during cruise trips.

Since the 1970s, the cruise tourism industry has continued to evolve. The size of ships has been increasing, more and more diverse entertainment for passengers is available on board, and one can visit almost every country in the world today. The cruise ship industry, similar to any other major sphere of activity, develops in parallel with the technical progress: ships become more technologically-advanced as more and more processes are automated, computerized, and internet-based (Kirby). Electronic systems on cruise ships are used to store and process the personal information of customers and employees, and all organizations without exception are obliged to follow certain rules and implement technologies to secure data processing in order to minimize possible harm to individual identity, financial status, and so on (International Cruise Ship Industry 1).

Considering that almost everything controllable by technologies has a weak spot, any security gap on the ship will increase the system vulnerability, which modern hackers will aim to exploit for both financial and personal gains, as well as for the thrill of cybercrime. The problem is that black hat hackers (or cyber criminals, in other words) usually have extensive knowledge about breaking into computer networks and bypassing security protocols, and are also frequently engaged in writing and disseminating malware, which is a method used to gain access to these systems (Symantec Corporation). By using their skills, not only can they steal important and sensitive data but may control the ship distantly. Therefore, managers should strive to ensure a high level of compliance with security standards to avoid data breaches and any other adverse events that involve hacking.

Motivation for Hacking

The paramount question that should be addressed is what drives hackers. Taking into account the importance of obtaining an answer to the above question, Thycotic, working in the field of cyber security, conducted a survey of 127 hackers at the Black Hat USA conference in 2014 (What makes todays hackers tick?). It was revealed that 51 percent of respondents reported that their main motivation was to search for emotions and fun, while 18 percent said that they were stimulated by the need for money. The overwhelming majority of them, to be more precise, 86 percent, were also convinced that they would not be held responsible for the implementation of their cyber attacks; therefore, they continued to commit their malicious acts (What Makes Todays Hackers Tick?). The conclusion of the study is as follows: the number of attacks carried out is much higher than the level of system monitoring. Todays hackers are more adaptable than ever before, and this allows them to perform numerous attacks on various systems, increasing the success of their actions without increasing the degree of risk.

There are three pivotal reasons that make hackers target the cruise ship industry. The first one is a personal challenge as they perform these attacks to prove something to themselves. This does not mean that there is no element of danger from such attacks. Personal benefits compose the second motivation as numerous cyber attacks are made for the purpose of stealing personal data or money. It may also be one of the forms of vandalism. Sometimes, this is done to sow chaos by triggering an accident of IT systems (What Makes Todays Hackers Tick?). In other cases, there is a certain political aspect called hacktivism as, for example, conveyed by the groups of hackers who work under the name Anonymous. The key goal is IT administrators  people with direct access to servers and systems where a large amount of confidential information is stored, in particular, those of customers or users. This means that when a hacker has gained control over access codes, he or she can easily and quickly take control of the entire system.

Cyber Attack Vulnerabilities

According to the report of European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), the analysis of cyber security aspects in the maritime sector raises puzzling statements that cyber security awareness is low or even nonexistent, including the industry of cruise ship. A small concern with cyber threats is also noted by the International Cruise Ship Industry, partially specializing in the safety of the marine industry (2). In particular, the fact that many employees in the maritime sphere are accustomed to being part of an almost invisible industry makes them feel secured. More often than not, if an ordinary person does not live near a significant port, he or she cannot imagine the real scale of the entire industry.

Along with the growing reliance on automation, the risk of external interference and disruption of the operation of key systems is significantly exacerbated. Hackers may interfere with the management of the vessel or the operation of its navigation systems, disconnect all external communications of the vessel, or acquire confidential data, as stated in Express report on the safety of navigation for 2015 (Kirby). The issue of relevance is complicated by the fact that not all information about successful attacks is widely publicized. Business owners can often keep silent about it, fearing such consequences as loss of authority, claims from clients and insurance companies, and initiation of investigations conducted by third-party organizations and government bodies

The complicated nature of cruise ships as well as their low protective measures contributes to vulnerability. For instance, Voyager of the Seas with the displacement of 137,000 tons is almost one and a half times that of its predecessor, the giant Queen Elizabeth II. The operator of the liner is the American company Royal Caribbean. In 1557 cabins, half of which has balconies, there are 3840 passengers, and the crew team consists of 1180 people (Voyage Further. Discover More). The length of the ship is 311 meters, the width is 48, and the height from the keel to the top of the chimney is 72.3 meters.

Voyager of the Seas has 15 decks, four of which are called Royal Promenade and have a length of 120 meters. According to the plan of its designers, all four Royal Promenade resemble the Burlington Passage in London with shops and restaurants. The ships theater is named La Scala, and the performances in it can be viewed by 1,350 spectators (Voyage Further. Discover More). The largest restaurant for 2100 seats occupies three decks in height, and a special rock of ten meters high is built on one of the decks where climbers can practice. There is an arena with an artificial ice rink. Moreover, this cruise ship provides an opportunity to get married  on the upper deck, just behind the pipe, there is a church.

Such a great variety of services requires a rather complicated system of equipment, monitoring, electricity, and control. On the largest cruise liner in the world called Oasis of the Seas, the total length of electrical wiring is sufficient to stretch it across the whole of North America. As one more vivid example, the ship is held in place by the special Global Positioning System (GPS), which is connected with three unique steering columns called azipods. Technically, azipod can be compared with the reversible engine of the aircraft with an emergency stop as it allows the ship to quickly reduce its speed to zero. Had Titanic had an azipod unit, it could have stopped just before the iceberg and escaped collision. Energy nodes have such a reserve and autonomy that during an accident Voyager of the Seas retains half of its capacity.

In addition to personal data of passengers and crew members that can be stolen, there are more dangerous threats associated with navigation, docking, and entering other countries ports. It is essential to identify two main systems that navigate cruise ships. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) serves for the transfer of a ships identification data (including its cargo), information about its condition, current location, and course (Kazimierski and Stateczny 1143). The device works by transmitting signals through the very high frequency (VHF) range between vessels, floating relays, and shore AIS-gateways that are connected to the Internet. In its turn, Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) collects and uses AIS messages, data from radars, GPS, and other ship sensors from the gyrocompass and compares them with stitched cards (Kazimierski and Stateczny 1144). It is used to navigate, automate some tasks, and enhance navigational safety.

There are two directions of hacker attacks: the first is for AIS-providers collecting data from AIS-gateways installed on the coasts to collect AIS information and, further, to provide commercial and free services in real time (for example, MarineTraffic). The second type of attack is at the broadcast level directed at the AIS protocol. The attack on the protocol may be carried out using software-defined radio (SDR). The protocol architecture was developed for quite a long time; a senders validation mechanisms and encryption of the transmitted data were not provided since the probability of using expensive radio equipment to compromise the technology was regarded as low (Kazimierski and Stateczny 1146). One may note the possibility of the following scenarios: provision of false weather information to specific vessels to force them to change course to circumvent a nonexistent storm; falsification of Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) signals that activate alarms in nearby ships; and the possibility of conducting a DoS attack on the entire system by initiating an increase in the transmission rate of AIS messages.

If one considers a hypothetical situation of a hacker attack, some potential consequences may be outlined. For example, the placement on the AIS-maps of the non-existent military ship of the country A in the territorial waters of the country B can provoke a diplomatic conflict. In addition, an attack by a hacker can lead to a deviation of the ship from the course as a result of substituting messages about a possible collision or moving it to a certain point in the water area by creating a false emergency beacon signal. In the complete set with ECDIS-systems, there are usually no means of information protection. It is also worth noting that Windows-based systems deployed on long-stayed ships do not always manage to receive even critical safety updates within reasonable time.

Vulnerabilities found by the researchers, largely associated with the server Apache, are installed in conjunction with the system. The implementer of malicious code can be an external infringer acting through the Internet or a team member using a physical medium to update or supplement navigation maps (Bothur et al. 85). The vulnerabilities found could read, download, move, replace, and delete any files on the workstation. With this development of events, an attacker gains access to reading and changing data from all service devices connected to the ships on-board network. Therefore, correct operation of the ECDIS-system is rather important, while its compromise can lead to the most adverse consequences such as injuries and even deaths of people, environmental pollution, and large economic losses.

Actual Examples of Past Events

On June 22, 2017, the US Navy Department received a message that the captain of the ship near Novorossiysk, Russia discovered that the GPS had incorrectly located its position (Weise). It allegedly was on land, in Gelendzhik airport. Having ascertained that the equipment is working properly, the captain contacted the neighboring vessels and found that the signals from the aeronautical information service indicated that they all occurred at the same in the airport. It touched at least 20 vessels. Weise notes that although the incident has not yet been confirmed, experts believe that this is the first recorded case of GPS manipulation  a long-spoofed attack, in which case spoofing is a fake signal from a ground station that misleads a satellite receiver.

In 2017, Danish shipping and logistics company Moller-Maersk reported that the virus that led to serious financial losses entered the system through the Ukrainian computer program (Baker). The company published a financial report for the second quarter of the above year that emphasized the impact of Petya virus attack at the end of June. Maersk preliminary estimated that financial losses from cyber-attacks are $200-300 million (Baker). The company claimed that as a result of the attacks suffered, the sea container traffic Maersk Line, operator APM Terminals as well as the logistics company Damco were engaged in collapse. Petya virus blocked computers, encrypted the information contained on them, and extorted money for unlocking the system. Microsoft declared that the virus was distributed through the accounting software M.E.Doc.

Another vivid case of compromise of satellite systems occurred in July 2013. The students from the University of Texas at Austin were able to decline $80 million yacht from the course using equipment that did not cost more than $3,000 (Dodson). Using a GPS simulator that is applied, for example, to calibrate equipment, they duplicated the signal of a satellite and gradually increased the power, thus managing to convince a ships navigation system to receive messages from the spoofing device and to reject the signal of the real satellite as interference (Dodson). After the navigation system began to work through the data of two satellites and the attacking device, the researchers managed to deflect the vessel from the initial course.

Responses to Threats and Their Improvement

As one of the measures to combat cyber attacks, it is important to note the second edition of the Guide to Cyber Security on Ships prepared by Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), the International Union of Marine Insurance, the International Association of Cruise Lines, the International Maritime Forum of Oil Companies, the Ministry of Railways, Intercargo, and Intertanko. The second edition of the Guide includes information on insurance issues and recommendations for effective isolation of networks (Wilkie). It also includes new practical guidelines for connecting the ship to the shore interface and managing cybersecurity when it enters a port and when it communicates with shore organizations.

The chapters on contingency planning and response to cyber attacks have been rewritten to reflect the fact that the guidelines are aimed specifically at ships and take into account remote conditions in the event of a breach of ship protection. In addition, a new insurance subsection has been added, providing for insurance coverage after cyber attacks, which is an integral part of the risks to ship owners (Wilkie). The Sectoral Guidelines are consistent with the recommendations given by the Guidelines for the Management of Cyber Security of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which were adopted in June 2016.

To unify the navigation and meteorological information transmission system for the purpose of ensuring the safety of navigation on cruise ships, the Navigation Warnings on the Web (NAVAREA) world navigation warning service was developed. It is called to ensure the coordination of the transmissions of navigational warnings on the radio by all maritime countries. The transmission of navigation warnings, meteorological information, as well as alarms and necessary information when searching and saving should be protected by means of special technologies. What is also essential, crew training should prepare them for cyber attack related emergencies and their further elimination.

Conclusion

To conclude, it should be emphasized that poor preparedness of cruise ship industry in the times when cyber attacks are widely used by hacktivists, criminals, and terrorist groups is the main cause of vulnerability. In addition to the vulnerabilities of software and other weak points in the technical protection of these systems, the problem of the inability to instantaneously apply security updates for systems on ships on a voyage or in remote ports is also critical. Several cases when cyber attacks mislead ships systems were noted. As it can be seen from the report, there is an urgent need to disseminate existing policies and guidelines and increase the awareness of the identified problem.

Works Cited

Baker, Joe. Did the Maersk Cyber Attack Reveal an Industry Dangerously Unprepared? Ship Technology. 2017.

Bothur, Dennis, et al. A Critical Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities and Countermeasures in a Smart Ship System. The Proceedings of 15th Australian Information Security Management Conference Held 5-6 December 2017 at Edith Cowan University, edited by Craif Valli, 2017, Perth, Western Australia, pp.81-87.

Dodson, Brian. University of Texas Team Takes Control of a Yacht by Spoofing Its GPS. New Atlas. 2013.

Gladden, Graham P. Marketing Ocean Travel: Cunard and the White Star Line, 19101940. The Journal of Transport History, vol. 35, no. 1, 2014, pp. 57-77.

International Cruise Ship Industry. Cyber Security  Is The Cruise Industry Ready? HubSpot, 2014.

Kazimierski, Witold, and Andrzej Stateczny. Radar and Automatic Identification System Track Fusion in an Electronic Chart Display and Information System. The Journal of Navigation, vol. 68, no. 6, 2015, pp. 1141-1154.

Kirby, Will. Terror Fears At Sea: Cruise Ships Could Be Sunk by Cyber Terrorists, UK Government Warns. Express.

Symantec Corporation. What Is the Difference Between Black, White and Grey Hat Hackers? Norton, 2018.

Voyage Further. Discover More. Royal Caribbean, Web.

Weise, Elizabeth. Mysterious GPS Glitch Telling Ships Theyre Parked at Airport May Be Anti-Drone Measure. USA Today.

Wilkie, Gemma. Cyber Security Guidelines for Ships Launched Today. BIMCO. 2016, Web.

What Makes Todays Hackers Tick? Thycotic, Web.

Cybersecurity refers to protecting systems linked to the Internet, including software, data, and hardware, from online threats. Individuals, governmental and non-governmental institutions, business entities, and companies use the practice to secure against unsanctioned access to information centers and other computerized networks. Cybersecurity aims at providing vital protection to organizational servers, computers, mobile devices, and the stored data on the gadgets from hackers with malicious intentions.

The Threat of Cyberattack for an Organization

Cyber-attackers can access, erase, or extort an entitys or individuals sensitive information, making cybersecurity essential. Vital information stored on business servers contains confidential data that may be utilized by a third party to blackmail a company for ransom upon a successful hack (Lallie et al., 2020). Safeguarding an organization and employees requires firms to implement robust cybersecurity measures and utilize the correct equipment. The tools include various risk management approaches, training, and regular system update as technologies continue to evolve and transform (Vartolomei & Avasilci, 2020). Managing dangers entails identifying, assessing, and controlling threats against a business entitys earnings and capital.

A threat management scheme can help organizations incorporate identifying and managing risks to their digital assets. A businesss digital advantages include proprietary pooled data, personally identifiable information (PII) of a customer, and intellectual assets. Every institute anticipates or faces an unplanned risk, harmful impacts that may lead to financial loss (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019b). Risk management enables an entity to prepare for unanticipated hack-attacks by reducing the harms and extra incursions before they happen.

Categories of Cybersecurity Threats

Maintaining new security trends, technologies, and vulnerability intelligence remains a challenging task for most businesses. However, data protection and security of other assets from cyber threats form an essential part of Information Technology security (Booth, 2020). The risks include malware, ransomware, phishing, and social engineering.

Malware refers to a mode of spiteful software that utilizes any program or file to harm an organizations computer user, including viruses, worms, spyware, and Trojan horses (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019a). Ransomware attacks involve a third-party locking a legitimate users computer system files, usually via encryption, demanding remittance to decrypt them. Therefore, IT training must tackle such factors as a way of ensuring the safety of their networks.

Social engineering entails a hack dependent on human activities, which deceives users into breaching security protocols to access crucial data. It occurs in various forms and can be undertaken in places where people frequently interact. Human risk manifests in two primary ways using social engineering in the business environment. First, any dissatisfied employee may use the privilege of access to steal an organizations confidential information or disrupt the system, which results in losses (Sadeh-Koniecpol et al., 2016).

Second, loyal employees may unintentionally divulge confidential details or provide the third party with the opportunity to enter internal systems. Therefore, organizations must ensure awareness and training program entails measures of tackling the threat.

Characteristics of an Effective Cybersecurity Awareness in Training Program

Awareness training on cybersecurity entails the formal process to educate an organizations employees on computer security. The programs often aim at transforming behaviors or fortifying proper security operations. According to Aldawood and Skinner (2019b), awareness differs from training in that the purpose of the former focuses on security. The realization initiative generally targets enabling individuals to acknowledge information technology security and act accordingly (Sadeh-Koniecpol et al., 2017). Thus, awareness hinges on the concentration of the broader audience with enticing packaging methodologies.

The skills gained during training enable employees to have an insight on security basics and literacy medium. However, the program may not necessarily result in a formal certificate from a college. Nonetheless, a learning course may have similar material as those in higher learning institutions (Vartolomei & Avasilci, 2020).

Business firms should train system administrators on IT Security courses, which address the organization control approaches. The session should include the implementation of operational benchmarks and technical directions (Booth, 2020). Management jurisdiction comprises policies, IT security initiatives, risk management, and life safety. Therefore, functional controls should include users and individual issues, contingency planning, handling incidences, and computer support actions.

Regular tutoring remains essential in businesses with higher turnover rates and heavily dependent on temporary, contract, and contingent workers. Effective cybersecurity training programs must include an evaluation of need. An assessment of need helps determine a businesses awareness and training requirements (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019a). Therefore, the analysis outcome provides justifications to persuade the management to provide adequate resources in meeting the established consciousness and security training urge.

Factors Influencing Effective Cybersecurity Training

Cybersecurity awareness training and transforms employees behaviors and increases their ability to make security decisions in a business environment logically. Lallie et al. (2020) note that educating and training employees about cybersecurity is essential as cyberattacks chances continue to increase. Thus, the rising security breaches during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted from the directives by various businesses requiring staff to operate remotely (away from the usual work-stations), which led to challenges for many organizations.

Availing proper methods of dealing with cybersecurity to employees plays a significant role in enhancing awareness coaching. Entities should use language and words that can be easily understood by employees in a specific environment. Therefore, companies should assess their applications, systems, and data familiar to users (Ficco & Palmieri, 2019).

Training of remote staff on safe working practices also helps firms to prevent cyberattacks. Many businesses allow their workers to operate their gadgets, which are considered a tremendous cost-saving strategy that allows flexible working (Sadeh-Koniecpol et al., 2016).

However, such privilege is also risky for businesses as hackers may find an opportunity to access a companys data using an employees computer that lacks proper cybersecurity techniques. According to Zandani (2016), workers should be reminded of the importance of locking individual devices. Therefore, any loss must be immediately reported to network providers to stop the third party from accessing and infiltrating available data.

Personnel working from home require additional training in understanding on safe usage of Wi-Fi networks. Fake public Wi-Fi services and networks in open places such as coffee shops and public utility areas are considered a significant threat to an organizations system (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019).

The networks often leave the end-user at risk of feeding information into non-secure and unsafe public servers. Companies should focus more on educating the employees on the safe usage of Wi-Fi or be advised to evade using such networks (Booth, 2020). Thus, a recommendable training initiative can also enable workers to detect any potential Wi-Fi threats.

In the contemporary business environment, companies must continue to remain vigilant on the issue of phishing. Firms should institute training programs and awareness initiatives that enable employees to identify phished emails and social engineering hacks (Sadeh-Koniecpol et al., 2016). The lessons should also highlight the impacts of the actions the staff may have on the establishment. Therefore, the threats can be controlled and reduced through adequate training of the end-user to recognize possibly detrimental emails and alert the dubious ones.

Persons to be Trained

Conducting the evaluation should involve key personnel and roles to be addressed in terms of special coaching includes;

1. The executive management, such as the firms leaders, should wholly comprehend laws and directives, forming the cybersecurity program base. They must also understand their leadership duties in guaranteeing compliance by system operators in their units.
2. Security operators, including program managers in charge of security, system owners, and enforcement officers. They act as expert consultants for the business firm hence must be well trained on security initiatives and recommended practices. System owners should have a broader knowledge of IT security policies and requirements relevant to their control system.
3. System admins, IT support persons, operation managers, and system users. These individuals require a higher training extent and technical knowledge in efficient security policies and implementation. They also need security consciousness and training on system management they use in conducting business operations.

Completion of a need evaluation for cybersecurity training can enable businesses to develop plans and awareness schemes. According to Booth (2020), the initiative should act as the official document in discussing elements such as the scope, responsibilities, and functions of the organizations persons developing, designing, implementing, and maintaining the consciousness and teaching equipment. The assessment should also investigate the security control of a firm by analyzing the vulnerabilities.

Supply Chain and Cybersecurity

High profile businesses continue to be devastated due to prevalent cyberattacks practices, leading to losses in finances and damaging the brands esteem. According to Sadeh-Koniecpol et al. (2017), companies are today striving to protect the available information, data integrity, and confidentiality. IT has become more complicated and complex due to constant innovations that involve large data storage, the usage of cloud-based guides, and predictive analytics. Electronic equipment, including e-sourcing and robotized acquire-to-pay systems, further compounds the challenges (Vartolomei & Avasilci, 2020).

The value chains include foreign and domestic manufacturers, importers, logistic firms, agents, and third-party transport utility providers. The value chains have recently become the main target of hackers seeking to hold ransom institutions by infiltrating (Sadeh-Koniecpol et al., 2016). Businesses often rely on trusted relations with third-party distributors and service providers to undertake other functions. Most contracted firms encompass essential suppliers of constituents and preservation, while others provide professional services, including IT, marketing, and accounting (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019b). Therefore, attackers often use such situations to access a business security system and servers, notwithstanding the existing cybersecurity threat management policies.

Regulations and Laws Requirements on Cybersecurity Awareness and Training Programs

Most state laws across the world continue to promote strategic proposals in addressing cybersecurity targeted at business entities. Cyberattack threats are increasingly transforming thanks to the speed of new technological advancements, prompting lawmakers and government agencies to make the attacks a top priority (Booth, 2020). For instance, about forty-three states in the United States, including Puerto Rico, initiated approximately thirty bills dealing exclusively with cybersecurity. In contrast, thirty-one states ratified legislation on cyber-attack in 2019. Some of the regulations include;

1. Making it mandatory for businesses to execute training or specified forms of security plans and practices
2. Creation of commissions or task forces that address the security of linked devices
3. Restructure of organizations affected by cyberattacks for advanced safety
4. Provision for the safety of utilities and censorious structures
5. Regulation of cybersecurity within the insurance agencies

Cybersecurity standards are critical in helping organizations to protect their businesses from hackers. In most cases, companies hire experts to implement recommended practices. The qualities apply to all establishments regardless of the industry or size (He & Zhang, 2019). Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) refers to the Department of Defense specified alternative to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which provides purchase directives particular to the DoD (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019b).

Therefore, accession officials from the government and contractors transacting business with the Defense Department must stick to the DFARS regulations.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ratification aims to secure personal data and develop more openness. The policy was initiated in Europe in May 2018 to create transparency in organizations that transacted with the European Union (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019a). The rigorous data consent and protection regulations have also affected the U.S. businesses in Europe that utilize private client data for marketing purposes. The policy also requires data managers to distinctly impart any data collection and state the legal basis and motive for the processing.

Return on Investment Opportunities in Awareness and Training Program

Cybersecurity protection has presented many companies with difficulties as a result of improper handling of network security. Information Technology staff training forms an essential part of ensuring appropriate mechanisms are utilized (Ficco & Palmieri, 2019). Internet security coaching, including authentication for IT experts, provides updated knowledge that enables personnel to make appropriate resolutions. Hence, the empowerment forms a significant part of the extensive return on investments for cyberattacks awareness and training. In the contemporary environment, data forms an essential part of daily business operations. Costs and returns present more compelling evidence in measuring the finances of a technology.

According to Vartolomei and Avasilci (2020), 86% of establishments determine technology-based structures using Return on Investment approach. The RoI of safety awareness training appraises the financial benefits achieved through investments and the execution of a security consciousness coaching plan (Zandani, 2016). Therefore, the practice does not lead to increased revenue; instead, profits are measured as the value saved from the prevented cyber risk.

Sample Topics Valuable to Company Departments in Supply / Value Chain

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) serves as a national laboratory that promotes innovations and business competition in various organizations. The body formulates research standards to strengthen company structures and safeguard their safety recognition and training strategies. NIST emphasizes certainty awareness and tutoring as constituents of the protective function of cybersecurity structure (Sadeh-Koniecpol et al., 2017). The below topics can be subdivided into comprehensive sub-topics to serve as a list for training staff members. Some of the issues include;

• Regular data access monitoring
• Safe web browsing
• Safeguarding business using complex protection layers
• Malware and removable media
• Physical and mobile safety

Vetting of vendors before the commencement of partnerships is essential for a companys procurement department. According to Sadeh-Koniecpol et al. (2016), most establishments have little or no ability to reduce breaching incidents. Evaluating all distributors and logistic partners safety policies and privacy strategies decreases computerized attacks (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019a).

For instance, conducting a security self-evaluation on the type of certainty tool, the type of privileged access recognition policies available, and their status updates on servers and systems are fundamental in reducing cyberattacks. Therefore, performing audits on suppliers and regular undertaking of penetration analyses can guarantee the safety of businesses.

Integration of Awareness and Training into the Rate of Exchange

Technology continues to influence financial services for companies in various ways. For instance, training and awareness of cybersecurity address themes that business executives can use to develop a strategic plan. The use of technology, coupled with new monetary transaction models, continues to replace traditional mediators for financial affairs (Aldawood & Skinner, 2019b). Microfinance agencies face transitional challenges related to markets and models indistinguishable from more prominent financial service sectors. Therefore, awareness and training should focus on the integration of significant security breaches that new businesses face.

Covid-19 and Cybersecurity Awareness Training

The coronavirus outbreak has led to an increase in the likelihood and influence of security breaches as entities continue to grapple with operational and monetary challenges. The nature of cyber-attacks is increasingly changing as hackers exploit unprecedented instances. According to Pranggono and Arabo (2020), various business responses, such as allowing people to work remotely, have had a negative effect on cyberattacks incidences. The existing dangers remain unattended as expenditure and IT transform, coupled with the emergence of new possibilities ravage many firms.

Training and awareness programs have enabled many companies to switch to remote working. Most staff members operate from home, and therefore, there would be a significant impact on cybersecurity and the entire IT structure of an organization. Booth (2020) states that the application of security controls may be unavailable to the new strategies and systems to support workers in remote operation. In addition, available protocols and exercises may be sidelined or unavailable (Lallie et al., 2020). Therefore, coaching employees on cybersecurity can significantly help businesses to monitor their systems even when working from home.

Covid-19 has led to a change in business operations for most companies. Priorities have shifted as establishments prepare for or continue to encounter notable operational and economic challenges. The change has made cybersecurity issues ignored as more resources are now being channeled towards gaining entities financial stability. The awareness and coaching programs have proved efficient during the pandemic-associated scams (Lallie et al., 2020).

Hackers have adjusted and re-evaluated new methods to take advantage of the current Covid-19 situation. They have now pivoted from dispatching phishing communications such as inquiring for bitcoin to a more pandemic-related and personal approach. Therefore, employee education on cyber-attacks has increasingly become crucial in the last past months.

Data-theft fraud is also an added challenge during the pandemic awareness and training practices have had to address. Attackers are now fixing codes into websites that bear a close resemblance by providing real information regarding the virus. For instance, hackers had developed a similar kind of map of global coronavirus cases with implanted malware (Pranggono & Arabo, 2020). Therefore, business owners have recently been advising their staff to ensure that devices such as cellphones, laptops, and applications are up to date and install necessary patches.

In conclusion, an organizations staff remains one of the biggest threats to its cyber safety. Most IT professionals perceive human error as the leading cause of data breaches. IT experts often play an integral role in tackling cybersecurity issues in the organization. If provided with sufficient training and awareness of the knowledge required to detect cyber-attacks, the IT personnel can help firms prevent significant breaches and formulate strategies to avoid them before they occur. Therefore, implementing cyber safety coaching initiatives can help prevent the network and system dangers that an entity may face, including malware, email scams, password safety, removable devices and media, and safe internet practices.

References

Aldawood, H., & Skinner, G. (2019a). Reviewing cybersecurity social engineering training and awareness programs  Pitfalls and ongoing issues. Future Internet, 11(3), 73.

Aldawood, H., & Skinner, G. (2019b). Challenges of implementing training and awareness programs targeting cybersecurity social engineering. 2019 Cybersecurity and Cyberforensics Conference (CCC), 111117.

Booth, D. (2020). Building capacity by guarding against cyber-attacks. Journal of Environmental Health, 83(4), 2830.

Ficco, M., & Palmieri, F. (2019). Leaf: An open-source cybersecurity training platform for realistic edge-IoT scenarios. Journal of Systems Architecture, 97, 107129.

He, W., & Zhang, Z. (2019). Enterprise cybersecurity training and awareness programs: Recommendations for success. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 29(4), 249257.

Lallie, H. S., Shepherd, L. A., Nurse, J. R., Erola, A., Epiphaniou, G., Maple, C., & Bellekens, X. (2020). Cybersecurity in the age of COVID-19: A timeline and analysis of cyber-crime and cyber-attacks during the pandemic. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv: 2006.11929. Web.

Pranggono, B., & Arabo, A. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic cybersecurity issues. Internet Technology Letters, 23(4), 2-3.

Sadeh-Koniecpol, N., Wescoe, K., Brubaker, J., & Hong, J. (2016). Method and system for controlling context-aware cybersecurity training (United States Patent No. US9373267B2).

Sadeh-Koniecpol, N., Wescoe, K., Brubaker, J., & Hong, J. (2017). Mock attack cybersecurity training system and methods (United States Patent No. US9558677B2).

Vartolomei, C., & Avasilci, S. (2020). Digitalization concept: Cyber-risks and damages for companies in adhered industries. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 898(1), 4-8. Web.

Zandani, S. (2016). System and method for cyber-attacks analysis and decision support. (United States Patent No. US9426169B2). Web.

In the contemporary world, organizations have been subjected to new threats emanating from advancements in technologies. Cybersecurity is essential for safeguarding computer systems and networks in an online space. As new computer crimes continue to emerge, cybersecurity innovation is required to counteract vulnerabilities in the Information Technology (IT) environment (Lezzi et al., 2018). Cyber attacks are getting more complex, and current skills and capabilities do not answer them effectively. This paper explains the role of innovation in the cybersecurity industry, identifies the major developers related to inventions, and also outlines how technology innovations influence risk management in the cyber defense domain.

Innovation plays a crucial role in cybersecurity because new ways of combating computer crimes are constantly needed. Innovative ideas help experts level the playing field in the fight against cybercrime. The primary areas of cybersecurity innovation are visibility and automation, and as such, organizations should focus on the fundamentals and not ignore the human factor of security (Li et al., 2019). Examples of activities that benefit from innovation are the removal of the redundant network and access privileges, data movement monitoring, and Software running privilege distribution (Mahdavifar & Ghorbani, 2019). In addition, Innovation-driven automation makes it easier to implement changes consistently across the entire network.

Today, a large number of organizations are developing cybersecurity-related inventions. Examples of these firms are Microsoft, International Business Machines (IBM), Cisco Lockheed Martin, and CyberArk Software. Some individuals have contributed greatly to the fields development. Kevin Mitnick, Joanna Rutkowska, and Tsutomu Shimomura have a monumental impact in the field of computer security (Mahdavifar & Ghorbani, 2019). In essence, research and development will enable the IT domain to continue finding new ways of improving cybersecurity techniques.

Today, there are numerous ways in which technology innovations can shape risk management in the cybersecurity space. First, real-time visibility has become more available, thereby allowing organizations to uncover threats and develop a response strategy. Also, the component of automation is essential in aiding a corporation to maintain a superior level of security. Moreover, risk management in cybersecurity is influenced by current technologies because of the introduction of securer devices. As such, new strategies for securing data, including facial recognition and fingerprints, are used (Sun et al., 2018). These approaches have minimized risk since information can only be accessed by authorized individuals.

In conclusion, researchers should continue to develop their studies to gain further insights into the emerging threats facing the IT space. Innovation is extremely important for cybersecurity as it provides new ways to fight cybercrime. The major developers of cybersecurity-related inventions, such as Kevin Mitnick, Joanna Rutkowska, and Tsutomu Shimomura, have a great impact in this sphere. At the same time, risk and risk management the cybersecurity are impacted by technology innovations through such tools as real-time visibility, automation, and biometric techniques. Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Cisco, and other monumental firms have immensely contributed to building cybersecurity techniques. As technology continues to advance, new threats will also keep emerging, which will need to be answered preemptively. Therefore, cybersecurity experts must find new ways of addressing such threats.

References

Lezzi, M., Lazoi, M., & Corallo, A. (2018). Cybersecurity for Industry 4.0 in the current literature: A reference framework. Computers in Industry, 103, 97110. Web.

Li, L., He, W., Xu, L., Ash, I., Anwar, M., & Yuan, X. (2019). Investigating the impact of cybersecurity policy awareness on employees cybersecurity behavior. International Journal of Information Management, 45, 1324. Web.

Mahdavifar, S., & Ghorbani, A. A. (2019). Application of deep learning to cybersecurity: A survey. Neurocomputing, 347, 149176. Web.

Sun, N., Zhang, J., Rimba, P., Gao, S., Zhang, L. Y., & Xiang, Y. (2018). Data-driven cybersecurity incident prediction: A survey. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 21(2), 17441772. Web.

Introduction

I am currently working as a Paraprofessional for the Board of Education in the city of New York, and I am looking to change my career to cyber security. I would like to put little bit more emphasis on how cybersecurity can protect our children at home and in our schools who are our future leaders. The increase in occurrences of data breaches in our health care and educational institutions has had a direct impact on my family and my kids. Our daughters school informed us in May 2022 that student data had been compromised, including enrollment information, such as schools attended, dates of attendance, grade levels, graduation dates, assigned teachers, and guidance counselors, as well as scholar demographic information, and academic information.

My choice to undertake this important career move was influenced by the fact that I am a teacher. I feel that society as a whole, my family, friends, and especially the students who are just starting their lives are all so vulnerable to these cyber attacks that sometimes one feels completely helpless to stop them. I will do my best to make the most of this opportunity to learn about cyber security in order to safeguard our future academics and leaders. I will also take advantage of this chance to further my studies and attempt to earn a Masters degree in the field of cyber security.

Overview

The basic principles of cybersecurity are needed as a constant daily knowledge for school staff and students alike. Cybersecurity is becoming important for schools due to the ever-increasing number of risks, the typology of which is becoming more extensive and diverse. As a rule, the tasks of cybercriminals include stealing private information for its use with mercenary intentions. Every school that does not have some basic online crime prevention parameters in place is exposed to the possibility of hacking and data leakage with unpredictable results. Information stolen by criminals can be used to break into other information databases in order to withdraw money. Another way to use confidential data is blackmail, when representatives of an organization or students and their parents are blackmailed with sensitive information for financial gain.

Potentially, private fee-paying schools may contain the payment information of the parents of students, their bank account addresses. Also, access to information may imply the possibility of using it to manipulate data, the distortion of which also pursues a thirst for profit. Distortion of data can not only deprive the money of their real owners, but also wreak havoc in the school system by seriously sabotaging its work. That is why a cybersecurity specialist is needed in any institution, and they must give basic instructions for protecting themselves on the Internet to students, their parents, and school staff. At the same time, it is necessary to protect not only school general equipment, but also personal devices of students, especially considering that they must be integrated into school educational Web 2.0 resources.

Types of Cybercriminals

Cybercriminals who steal or otherwise exploit other peoples information can be from different demographic groups. Cyber intruders range from online criminals and scammers who aim to profit from any potential internet scam to expert hackers. They differ from ordinary online criminals in their knowledge of program codes that allow them to extract information without deceiving the user, but by hacking the computer system itself. A more local variant of information leakage is also possible, since a school, like any organization, may have a spy insider who steals and redirects confidential information into unscrupulous hands.

Undoubtedly installation of various spyware and unfair use of other peoples information can occur due to the assistance of unsuspecting users. Often, school employees or students themselves can be extremely careless in entering personal data on shared devices, for example, they can save passwords in browsers and personal accounts. This information is thus free to access, and the attacker gets the opportunity to take over the account, personal data, and access to the correspondence of the unlucky user. Finally, among the perpetrators of cyberattacks and data leaks, school students themselves often turn out to be motivated by testing their computer programming skills in extreme conditions. Cybercrime is the result of a combination of these factors, where cybersecurity breaches, employee negligence, and malicious hackers cause widespread disruption to the data systems of individual schools.

Risk Management

Risk management is probably the best way to test the robustness of defense systems against hacker attacks. Critical infrastructure, which includes school cybersecurity, is based on risk management with specific frameworks. Monitoring the changing situation in cyberspace is the basis of the observational process and allows you to identify new risks, for example, those associated with new ways of information regulation. The search for initial internal weaknesses in the existing information system is also very important. For example, the absence of a two-factor authentication parameter in the system can already be characterized as a serious assumption of a cyber threat. The cybersecurity professional must also keep track of all risks associated with software deliveries and software updates, as information technology vulnerabilities can be the most technically problematic to fix. As the most suitable manual for risk management, the publication of the National Institute of Standards, which provides regulatory information for government systems, is valuable (NIST, n.d.). These standards can be applied to the work of any organization, since they include the identification of risks, vulnerabilities and possible consequences with an assessment of damage.

Risk management is also an element of this framework, with the answer following for each individual issue. To mitigate risks, the most successful practices are considered to be the introduction of such restrictions as firewalls, special data encryptors, as well as the installation of special software that monitors the threat of viruses, Trojans, and phishing links. Do not underestimate the constant updating of software and the complete rejection of the use of pirated software. In order to further work on increasing the information awareness of school staff and students, it is recommended to use special training programs in a playful way that reinforce cybersecurity skills. Finally, a regular backup of all valuable data and their careful storage can help to avoid, if not leakage, then at least the loss of valuable information.

Assessment Frameworks and Monitoring

The identification of risks regarding users confidential information is also a concern in other security management frameworks. In particular, the ISO 27001 standard requires that risk management include evaluation with data that is both accurate and valuable and yet comparable (Naden, 2020). Risks should always be assessed within the chosen system and be owned by specific owners. Once a particular problem has been resolved, an assessment of the effectiveness of the chosen strategy is required to determine whether it meets the security requirements put forward by the organization. Then, authorization of the updated system is required, that is, its transfer for evaluation to a senior specialist in the instance, who will help approve its effectiveness. One should not forget about the last controlling stage, that is, monitoring, aimed at maintaining awareness of the previously existing problem and already approved strategies for solving it.

Cybersecurity monitoring after the implementation of a new technological solution is also important at the level of log monitoring, that is, searching for problematic encodings in databases. Thus, it becomes possible to track any anomalies in user functions and cut off potential external threats. Installing software that can handle large data sizes and turn it into interpretable information could make things easier for the IT professional and cybersecurity manager. Changes such as failed login attempts, password changes, logging in with an old login from a new device, and any external attacks like mallware spam or attacks on the server can be logged through the monitoring log. All of them can mean one or another danger for a student or any other user in the general network, because through this type of activity, one can probe the system and find out its principles of operation.

In turn, this probing may allow the attacking system to choose the most flexible strategies for bypassing locks and firewalls in order to deliver malware. These can be both fake applications with Trojans or viruses, and phishing links that collect personal or hidden information about the user, such as passwords. Unwittingly, the user may become a victim of fraud by accidentally installing an unverified pseudo-application that turned out to be a virus agent. Log monitoring is able to prevent all these dangers by exposing the entire computer system to visibility and automatically distributing this detected data. IT staff at the school, led by the chief of cybersecurity, can analyze this data and figure out ways to counter possible attempts to undermine the security of the schools computer systems.

Work with Scholars and Employees

The system being built should be prepared not only in the programming department, but also affect each employee of the organization, making them involved defenders of their own and corporate information security. Interaction with employees is important for the reason that it is their private responsibility that guarantees accuracy in the future use of databases. Each employee, for example, must learn how to choose complex passwords for their confidential information. The ability to create complex and hard-to-guess passwords is a way that does not require financial influence to store information with sufficient efficiency (NSCS, 2022). Employees and students should be strongly encouraged during briefings or workshops not only to create complex passwords, but also to use different passwords for each of their accounts on multiple Internet resources or social networks. Information leakage is likely on each of the resources used by a person, and therefore it is necessary to prevent the possibility of mass opening of personal accounts and large-scale data leakage on the domino principle.

Two-factor authentication, that is, an inseparable link-confirmation of a password through two devices, for example, through a computer and a mobile phone, also neutralizes the risk of stealing private information. Double identity verification can also increase its security by using a reliable legally purchased password manager, a special offer that organizes all passwords in quick access. It is necessary to write down passwords in order to avoid accidental loss of access to information, and all employees and students must be clearly warned about this. Saving personal data on a shared device is a potentially dangerous action, so it is necessary to convey to people that logging out of your account for any longest time of absence is necessary as a rule, requiring the development of automatism. Thus, employees and students themselves, with proper instruction from a cybersecurity specialist, may be able to independently protect their data from the threat of hacking and leakage. However, we should also mention other ways to protect information that are already being implemented by professionals in the technical security environment.

Another important measure that could seriously contribute to maintaining a high level of cybersecurity in the school is the use of USB media specially issued by the school. Removable data drives in the school should not be used outside of it so that the risk of introducing malware from outside is excluded. The USB host must also be password-protected so that no third-party agent can place virus programs or malware on the media. Finally, the school should be prohibited from using media other than those given by the administration. As for programs programmed to start automatically, they must be turned off in advance.

Conclusion

Thus, the students themselves learn cybersecurity not only at school but also at home, carefully handling information carriers, mastering the basics of privacy in working with computers. The job of a cybersecurity specialist is to create a working digital ecosystem that would be able to assess its own state for risks, dangers, outcomes and ways to prevent problems. At the same time, the tightness of the system is ensured by its constant monitoring and detailed interpretation of the information array passed through computers. However, computer users themselves must follow the basic rules of digital security, and the task of a cybersecurity specialist is also to instill this knowledge in students and school staff.

References

Naden, C. (2020). Keeping an eye on information security. ISO.

NIST. (n.d.) Risk management. NIST.

NCSC. (2022). Cyber security for schools. National Cyber Security Centre.