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Computer science
1. The interesting article referenced below covers topics such as backdoors, corporate espionage, government fronts, and government spying.
Sanger, D. and N. Perlroth. (2014, March 22). N.S.A. Breached Chinese Servers Seen as Security Threat. The NY Times. Retrieved from http://nyti.ms/1rcQZRO (The article is also attached in this week’s Conference.)
a. What would you engineer into your equipment if you were a manufacturer of telecommunications, computing and/or Internet/intranet systems equipment and you wanted to be able to conduct corporate espionage and/or help your country or its proxies spy on other countries?
b. Discuss the specific things you as a purchaser of telecommunications, computing and/or Internet/intranet systems equipment should do to ensure that the equipment meets the security required for your work and industry during the acquisition phase.
c. What security hardening procedures would you implement to prevent these intrusions on a daily basis?
d. Describe specific procedures that need to be executed if you suddenly discover that your company which possesses considerable intellectual property has been a victim of unauthorized remote access.
2. You are in charge of migrating from Windows XP to the latest version of Windows for a large enterprise.
a. Provide a brief background on Windows XP, explain why Microsoft has stopped supporting XP and discuss the security implications of an organization that does not migrate.
b. Discuss the threats and vulnerabilities that are possible during the migration process.
c. Identify the countermeasures needed to address these identified threats and vulnerabilities.
d. Describe in detail a long term solution to help facilitate and secure future migrations of operating systems and application programs to newer versions.
3. Cyber security attacks may be possible when it comes to aircraft technologies and air traffic control environments.
a. Could an airline flight be a victim of hacking? If you agree with the claim, describe a possible scenario. If you disagree, state why?
b. Describe potential Wi-Fi security issues that can occur on a flight.
c. Do you see any security concerns that are common to both air traffic control systems and SCADA systems?
d. What threats do mobile devices pose during airline flights? What are the countermeasures?
4. The NY Times article below about the December Target breach contains a number of areas of concern regarding security vulnerabilities and measures. For example, it mentions the 3rd party factor and compliance in security. It also quantifies the cost so far for Target because of the December data breach (Harris, 2014). There has been a 46% decrease in business directly or indirectly related to the breach. Based on this and the many other related articles on this incident you can see that there were many individuals and organizations involved and responsible for Target security and operation. The referenced article claims CIO and Executive Vice President for Technology Services, Beth Jacob, was “encouraged” to leave Target because the incident came under her management.
There had been a similar outcry for people to be fired last fall when so many technical (including security) issues became apparent in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Insurance Exchange website. However, apparently, no one has been publicly identified as having been fired or encouraged to leave in that case.
Harris E . (2014, March 5). Target Executive Resigns After Breach. NY Times. Retrieved from http://nyti.ms/1f7B5yK (The article is also attached in this week’s Conference.)
a. Fully discuss the similarities and differences in the Target and ACA cases including what types of people and organizations were involved.
b. State and fully discuss and support your opinion about the decision for Beth Jacob to leave Target.
c. Discuss who and how you would have held responsible for maintaining and responding to security issues in both cases.
d. Why do you think there was a difference in how the Target and ACA cases were handled?
