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- Creator:
- Misiaszek, Lorenia
- Description:
- Although most of today's successful companies are well aware of common data security issues and put a great deal of efforts towards preventing a data security breach, once a breach has occurred it is not unusual for organizations to enter a mist of confusion and chaos. This happens to all sizes of organizations whether big or small. However, large organizations are perhaps better prepared in terms of available resources to respond to a data breach than small to medium-size organizations. Small organizations do not have IT departments. The regular Systems Administrator is a “jack of all trades” and wears multiple hats. He or she is typically in charge of a broad array of duties including installing and updating software and hardware, maintaining servers, and supporting and troubleshooting the company’s network. They are on call and may even have the responsibility of overseeing the overall computer security of the company. What should the regular Systems Administrator do if a breach happens and a forensic investigation is needed? The training material included in this paper (Appendix B) was created as a response to this question and as response to one of the four recommendations the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-86, Guide to Integrating Forensic Techniques into Incident Response makes on its document: “Organizations should ensure that their IT professionals are prepared to participate in forensic activities.” What if they are not prepared? The training material offers some suggestions on how to initiate the first phase of the forensic process: Collection. The regular Systems Administrator can take on the tasks of identification, labeling and recording and then wait for the arrival of the trained digital forensic investigator who should finalize the forensic process.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Chapman, Erik
- Description:
- Organizations often expand exponentially before realizing the need for security based on the many, well publicized breaches, incidents, and outages. This Semester-In-Residence project developed the security framework for a well-known international sports equipment manufacturer, Company “X”. This occurred during the period “X” was in the process of a major divestiture from parent company “Y”. The project involved assessing the policies and security architecture that had been provided by Company “Y” and developing a plan for new policies and security architecture once Company “Y” no longer provided the infrastructure and services. Requirements included information security policy review, security processes, security assessment, compliance, procurement, implementation, and management of security tools. The product developed for Company “X” was a designed, purchased, and implemented defense-in-depth program, from the network edge to the endpoints.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- O'Neil, Jaja
- Description:
- While pursuing the M.S. Cybersecurity degree at CSUSM and as part of the semester in residence (SiR) requirement, I opted to pursue a subject not previously performed in my professional life and has the potential of being a real benefit in the realm of cyber forensics. The idea of developing a cyber forensics investigation Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) document was conceived from a real-world request to conduct a cyber forensics investigation on a person of interest (POI) who was believed to be transferring proprietary information to an unauthorized person. The request was from a pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, started by college friends who put together their own information technology (IT) infrastructure. As a cyber-security consultant, I sometimes rely on established methodologies to inform the work I do for my customers. Here, there was no published methodology and I reluctantly turned down the engagement, but it did spawn the question of where would I turn for a guide for conducting a cyber forensics investigation. The guide could be used within cybersecurity firms, cyber incident response teams (CIRT), or within other organizations whereby cyber forensics investigations are conducted. Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) publications have been a tradition in United States military doctrine. The TTP model contains detailed processes which can be used by people with little, to no instruction from an educator, trainer, or supervisor. The use of TTPs in the U.S. military has been quite successful and another tool in the arsenal from which the civilian, commercial sector can take note and incorporate into its own processes. Admittedly, during my time of working with my law enforcement committee member, Mr. Darren Bennett, I have learned that the law enforcement community develops TTPs solely to understand the behavior of the target / suspect / adversary! I kept the term “TTP”, as this document is intended for a wide audience of organizations that may conduct a cyber forensics investigation.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Martinez, Noel
- Description:
- Cybersecurity students must do a Semester in Residence (SiR) project to fulfill the requirements for the Master of Science in Cybersecurity. The main objective of my project was to develop the proper documentation and identify the security requirements to be in compliance with government regulations and contractual obligations. Therefore, security policies and procedures must include controls and safeguards to offset potential threats, as well as to ensure accountability, availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the data. Security measures must be taken to guard unauthorized access to, alteration, disclosure or destruction of data and systems, including against accidental loss or destruction. To comply with reasonably-expected security requirements the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and Organizations was used to create the proper documentation of security policies and procedures. One accomplishment of having a documented evidence is that Company X is more likely to win a lawsuit by demonstrating that reasonable precautions were used to protect its data and information systems among many other benefits. The security program documentation must be a living document and compliance is an ongoing effort that requires future work. Therefore, it is recommended to continue with technical compliance audits, conducting periodic risk assessments, and performing periodic reviews to be compliant and protect the business regardless of its size or resources and the most important aspect is to monitor the security of the program’s effectiveness and make changes as necessary.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Miller, Ryan
- Description:
- This is the Semester-In-Residence project completed to fulfill the requirements of the Professional Science Master of Cybersecurity. I performed all related work for this project at a local retail chain known as Company X. Company X is headquartered here in San Diego County and operates retail store locations across multiple states. For this project, I developed an information security program that included performing an initial risk assessment, writing policies and controls including but not limited to an Acceptable Use Policy and Password Policy, and developing an information security awareness training plan. This involved determining threats and vulnerabilities Company X was susceptible to along with assessing the risks associated with these threats and vulnerabilities. I researched multiple information security frameworks before deciding on a publication produced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. I then applied what I learned in both coursework and from the publication to develop policies and controls surrounding what I determined to be high risks points for Company X. I rounded out the project by creating an information security and awareness training presentation that Company X can use to train all system and network end users. Finally, I provided recommendations for future features and updates to the information security program along with offering my assistance with the implementation of the information security program and end user training process.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Johnson, Karen
- Description:
- The Cybersecurity Master of Science Program at California State University San Marcos requires all students to participate in a Semester-In-Residence with a local business. I chose Redacted Tax Service (RTS), a small tax preparation company that has been in business in the San Diego area for more than 30 years. My final deliverables are a Risk Assessment and an Information Security Plan, detailing current security practices and providing recommendations for future improvements. Over the course of the Semester-In-Residence I became the company’s Chief Information Security Officer and, as my coworkers liked to call me, the IT Department. I ensured that all software was up-to-date, researched and installed a new antivirus software, ensured Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance when RTS began accepting credit cards, and mitigated any incidents. The most potentially serious incident occurred when the owner clicked on a link in a fraudulent email. The concern was that the entire computer, and potentially the network, could become encrypted. I was able to check log files, run an application to detect rogue software, and run a virus scanner on all network machines. In the end, I could determine that the malicious intent of the email hadn’t infected the network. Another large concern was physical security. The company had just moved into an office in a local downtown area and foot traffic increased dramatically. I coordinated the installation of a new alarm system, set-up a motion sensor by the front door, as well as a camera in the front office that could be viewed on a computer, tablet or cell phone. I also recommended the purchase of steel file cabinets with locks, which better protected sensitive client information. Some of the previous concerns were documented in the Risk Assessment I performed, including PCI compliance and physical security. Once the Risk Assessment was completed, I was able to determine the controls I felt were necessary using the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program’s (FedRAMP) Information Security Plan Template. I also documented the company’s system information, network configuration, and software applications used. I believe this may prove to be even more useful than the security controls, since it had never been documented before. Overall, I was able to complete a Risk Assessment, an Information Security Plan, and ensure a secure and maintainable network. There will always be work to be done but I am confident that Redacted Tax Service is much more secure, in both network and physical security, since I became involved.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Phillips, Cory
- Description:
- Students in the Cybersecurity Master’s Program at California State University, San Marcos are required to do a Semester in Residence (SIR) project to culminate their experience in the program. This SIR required students to work with a company on a cybersecurity project that could range from penetration testing, risk assessment, vulnerability reports, security awareness training, and much more. We searched for companies to work with during the Fall 2016 semester and worked on this project for a total of 16 weeks in Spring 2017. Once we found a company partner for our project to complete our residence, a project proposal was developed and reviewed during the Fall 2016 semester. I will not be listing the name of the company I worked with, or the staff member’s names due to privacy and security concerns. The company will be known as Company X in this report. Company X is a small non-profit organization with approximately 20 employees. Like many small organizations, Company X does not have an official Information Technology (IT) department, so they hired a third-party IT Company to assist with their technology needs. Company X is one of the smaller clients that the third-party IT company supports. The third-party IT support company will be known as Company Y. The staff member that I worked with was in upper management and will be known as Lisa. Lisa manages the IT support for Company X and their contract is limited to Server support, backups, and very basic desktop support. Students in the Cybersecurity Master’s Program at California State University, San Marcos are required to do a Semester in Residence (SIR) project to culminate their experience in the program. This SIR required students to work with a company on a cybersecurity project that could range from penetration testing, risk assessment, vulnerability reports, security awareness training, and much more. We searched for companies to work with during the Fall 2016 semester and worked on this project for a total of 16 weeks in Spring 2017. Once we found a company partner for our project to complete our residence, a project proposal was developed and reviewed during the Fall 2016 semester. I will not be listing the name of the company I worked with, or the staff member’s names due to privacy and security concerns. The company will be known as Company X in this report. Company X is a small non-profit organization with approximately 20 employees. Like many small organizations, Company X does not have an official Information Technology (IT) department, so they hired a third-party IT Company to assist with their technology needs. Company X is one of the smaller clients that the third-party IT company supports. The third-party IT support company will be known as Company Y. The staff member that I worked with was in upper management and will be known as Lisa. Lisa manages the IT support for Company X and their contract is limited to Server support, backups, and very basic desktop support. My responsibility was to work with Lisa to create a Cyber Risk Assessment report that included the following products: • Risk assessment • Vulnerability report • Recommended security policies • Analysis of outsourced IT department contract • Security awareness training documentation
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Humes, John and Barendse, Jeroen
- Description:
- The Cybersecurity Professional Science Master's program at California State University San Marcos was developed based on input from local technology companies and community partners. There is a widely acknowledged need for better cybersecurity practices across the nation, and demand for jobs and education is high. The initial cohort of students entering the Cybersecurity program is now preparing to graduate. This Semester in Residence project w as developed to address the needs of future students entering the program. The field of Cybersecurity encompasses very broad areas of knowledge, skills and abilities. It can range from extremely business oriented fields such as risk management and governance, to very technical work such as network security and malware analysis. Industry needs are correspondingly distributed across these domains. Reflecting this, Cybersecurity students come from a variety of professional and academic backgrounds. It is difficult for both advisors and prospective students to determine if the applicant has the required technical knowledge and experience to succeed in the program. Both instructors and students have identified technical preparedness as a challenge impacting This wide range of interests was reflected in a first cohort of students who had very different backgrounds and technical skills. While many of the students may have a technology background or relevant work experience, some students are inadequately prepared to tackle the technical requirements. Some students may not have been exposed to the concepts, while others may have a substantial chronological gap since being exposed to the concepts during their undergraduate degree. This means that some students may not possess the necessary foundational technical knowledge. During the first cohort, the program offered a series of “boot camp” courses to address these issues. For the second cohort, the program identified online resources for applicants, but has since determined that students will be more successful with a focused "boot camp" type of course specifically designed for the Cybersecurity program. The goal of this project is to establish several hands-on lab experiences as an additional resource in supplementing and reinforcing the foundational concepts necessary to understand and implement the more complex concepts such that are taught in Cybersecurity master’s program at California State University San Marcos. These labs are designed so that they can be used in a classroom environment or in an off-campus environment, thereby allowing for a greater flexibility as these labs could be implemented in an online learning class environment.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Brooks, Henry III
- Description:
- This paper presents a working implementation of a cyber security test bed with a focus on automating the process of generating reproducible and consistent lab environments for cyber security education.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Liu, Julie
- Description:
- For my Semester-in-Residence project, I tackled the conundrum of how to help non-technical people stay safe on the highly technical and complex Internet. According to the digital marketing agencies We Are Social and Hootsuite, an average of over a million new users join the Internet every 24 hours. Putting this in perspective, the world has approximately 7.8 billion people - 57% actively use the Internet, and 52% of these people access the Internet from a mobile device and these percentages continue to grow. In contrast, according to CPO Magazine, there are only 2.8 million cybersecurity professionals in the workforce. Clearly, we cannot rely on the small percentage of security experts alone to protect people from Internet harm. People must learn how to inoculate themselves against Internet harm. To add to this conundrum, according to a Microsoft and Time magazine study, the average attention span a person has to be engaged in a new subject is 8 seconds, and once engaged, the average attention span a person has to maintain interest in that subject is 10 minutes. How does this non-technical, short-attention-spanned population learn a “mundane” and complicated subject? Obviously all Internet users do not need to know everything about the Internet, but in order to have a base layer of protection, they must understand basics concepts behind the Internet. To address the challenge of promoting Internet-secure behaviors in this audience, I created a series of simple, illustrated books. I felt that using a visual and tangible art form would be able to engage a wide demographic ranging from preschool to seniors. www.jliuenator.com
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Romanski, John
- Description:
- One of the most valuable assets in most modern organizations is the data it collects or generates. This data can range from personally identifiable information (PII) to intellectual property to client information. Some data must be protected by law (PII) and the value of other data can reflect the resources or research required to develop it, or the strategic advantage it offers. A data breach can have a substantial fiscal impact. According to the University of Maryland there is a cyber-attack every 39 seconds. It is easy to see how, if measures are not taken, a breach could end a business. The goal of this project is to explore the realm of cyber insurance. It is a topic that at first glance might seem straight forward, as many of us are used to the concept of insurance (life, car, health, etc.). However, unlike many of these examples, the idea of “data” is a lot harder to quantitate and qualify. This is an important concept, because we are entering a world where you are more likely to have someone attempt to hack you each day than not. Obviously, every cyber insurance company is going to claim that buying cyber insurance is worth it, as that is their business model. It is very difficult to argue that the coverage provided by these plans are unnecessary or a waste of money, however is the average cost of a plan equivalent to the cost of an incident? Is five years’ worth of insurance more costly than a company bearing the full cost of an incident? This project covers all the variables that go into this decision and will give its reader the tools to make an educated choice.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Jousselin, Matthew
- Description:
- Company X focuses on providing support and training for individuals with developmental disabilities. The overall cybersecurity posture of the organization does not rank high on their funding priority list. As a rule of thumb, an organization should spend between 7% and 10% of its IT budget on security (Violino, 2019). Company X requires a considerable amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to perform their services. This includes: parents’ address, clients’ Social Security Number, State Identification Number, medical insurance number, medical history, and bank account numbers. Clearly, this is a substantial amount of sensitive information. Such PII should and must be protected by HIPAA law. The cybersecurity resource burden falls hard on nonprofit organizations and cybercriminals have discovered the gold mine that is nonprofit data (Nimishakavi, 2017). Although cybercriminals are equally likely to target nonprofits and major companies, nonprofits struggle to meet the expense of providing adequate protection for the data they collect. In 2019, The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a total of 467,361 complaints with reported losses exceeding $3.5 billion. The most prevalent crime types reported were Phishing/ Vishing/ Smishing/ Pharming, Non-Payment/Non-Delivery, Extortion, and Personal Data Breach (Gorham, 2019). What makes the issues more troubling is the fact that a considerable amount of that information can be stored on the managers’ and employees’ personal laptops and cell phone. This can increase the risk of a cyber-related events occurring. With that in mind, the purpose of this project is to create a security plan for Company X to protect such confidential information.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Fields, Jacqlynn
- Description:
- Ransomware is a form of malicious software (malware) that attacks computer systems, encrypts the victim’s files, and prevents the victim from accessing their data. Ransomware attacks on critical information technology systems can cause loss of service and productivity. State and local government agencies are especially vulnerable to attacks due to their limited access to resources and lower than standard industry pay which makes it difficult to recruit top talent. This project, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Cybersecurity, examines the issue of ransomware attacks. Utilizing National Incident Management Systems protocols created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for natural disaster responses, this project creates tabletop training exercises to be used by cybersecurity professionals and other government officials in order to prepare for and respond to these incidents. Trained facilitators will guide the participants through each exercise which concludes with a debriefing session. This project is designed to inform and educate those participants in order to prepare them for an actual event. This project includes a detailed description of how FEMA and NIMS operate in relation to disaster recovery and how that relates to designing a tabletop exercises geared towards responding to a ransomware attack. This project focus on ransomware attacks against state and local government agencies since this is a growing situation that they are facing. My goal with this project is to create a tabletop exercise for agencies to implement in their training programs to better prepare them for a ransomware attack on their agencies. These tabletops are designed to simulate an actual response to a ransomware attack and will help agencies develop an idea of how prepared they are for an attack and make a plan for one.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity
- Creator:
- Jousselin, Matthew
- Description:
- Company X focuses on providing support and training for individuals with developmental disabilities. The overall cybersecurity posture of the organization does not rank high on their funding priority list. As a rule of thumb, an organization should spend between 7% and 10% of its IT budget on security (Violino, 2019). Company X requires a considerable amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to perform their services. This includes: parents’ address, clients’ Social Security Number, State Identification Number, medical insurance number, medical history, and bank account numbers. Clearly, this is a substantial amount of sensitive information. Such PII should and must be protected by HIPAA law. The cybersecurity resource burden falls hard on nonprofit organizations and cybercriminals have discovered the gold mine that is nonprofit data (Nimishakavi, 2017). Although cybercriminals are equally likely to target nonprofits and major companies, nonprofits struggle to meet the expense of providing adequate protection for the data they collect. In 2019, The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a total of 467,361 complaints with reported losses exceeding $3.5 billion. The most prevalent crime types reported were Phishing/ Vishing/ Smishing/ Pharming, Non-Payment/Non-Delivery, Extortion, and Personal Data Breach (Gorham, 2019). What makes the issues more troubling is the fact that a considerable amount of that information can be stored on the managers’ and employees’ personal laptops and cell phone. This can increase the risk of a cyber-related events occurring. With that in mind, the purpose of this project is to create a security plan for Company X to protect such confidential information.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Cybersecurity