Cybersecurity : Technology Review #2: Emerging Application of Technology in a Critical Infrastructure

Technology
Review #2: Emerging
Application of Technology in a Critical Infrastructure
Objective
The purpose of this technology
review is to identify, discuss, and evaluate the cybersecurity implications of an
emerging application of technology in the context of a critical infrastructure sector.
Your selected technology may be hardware, software, or systems that rely upon
both hardware and software. Your research will also include an examination of
the cybersecurity implications of using this technology in critical
infrastructures. This type of research is also referred to as a survey of the literature. Allowable
sources for your literature survey are journal articles, papers published in
conference proceedings, and research studies published in dissertations.
Overview
Your audience is a
group of senior executives who will be meeting to
decide which emerging applications of technologies should be selected for a security-focused,
Internal Research & Development projects during the next budget cycle. Each of these executives is responsible for
developing products and systems that support next generation systems in the
nation’s critical infrastructure sectors.
The high-level
visibility for your deliverable means that you need to start from a strong
foundation of suitable research-based journal articles, papers published in
conference proceedings, and doctoral dissertations. The
basic question that must be answered about the selected technology is: what are the cybersecurity implications
(good or bad) for the selected critical infrastructure sector?
In addition, the
executives have expressed the following information needs, which must be met by
the deliverable for this assignment:
(a)
characteristics of the critical
infrastructure,
(b)
characteristics of the technology,
(c)
use of the technology to support or
improve cybersecurity,
(d)
use of the technology to reduce or
manage risk,
(e)
use of the technology to increase
resistance to threats/attacks,
(f)
use of the technology to decrease
vulnerabilities in an existing technology application,
(g)
use or exploitation of the technology
by attackers, criminals, terrorists, etc. to accomplish their goals.
Format your
deliverable as a “descriptive or informative” annotated bibliography. The UMGC
library provides information about how to complete this type of assignment. See
http://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/bibliography_apa.cfm (sub-heading “To get started”). APA style is
recommended but, you may use another professional format for your annotated
bibliography.
In addition to the
list of sources and annotations, you must provide an introductory paragraph.
See the rubric for
additional requirements for this assignment.
Note: If you have problems accessing
any of the library databases, contact the UMGC librarians via the contact
methods listed on the library’s home page https://sites.umgc.edu/library/index.cfm
. They will be able to assist you with login issues and/or search engine
questions (but will not do your research for you).
Choose a Critical
Infrastructure Sector
“There are 16
critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether
physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their
incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security,
national economic security, national public health or safety, or any
combination thereof” (Department of Homeland Security, 2016, p.1).
Choose a critical
infrastructure sector to focus your technology review. For definitions of
critical infrastructures, see https://www.dhs.gov/critical-infrastructure-sectors.
You may wish to choose your emerging application of technology first and then
select an appropriate critical infrastructure in which your selected technology
can be applied or deployed.
Choose an Emerging
Application of Technology
Choose an emerging application of technology that can be used
in the computers, digital devices, and other electronic / electrical
technologies (including networks and network infrastructures) that are deployed
in or used to build, operate, support, or maintain a critical infrastructure
sector (e.g. utilities, pipelines, transportation, smart cities, etc.).
Suggested
technologies include:
·
Autonomous Vehicles (ground, sea, or
air): Transportation Systems Sector
·
Deep Space Communication Networks:
Communications Sector
·
Implantable Medical Devices: Healthcare
and Public Health Sector
·
Precision Agriculture (integrated
systems using satellite imagery, GPS, Sensors, Robots): Food & Agriculture
Sector
·
Robot inspectors for physical
infrastructures (buildings, roads, railways, pipelines, etc.): Multiple Sectors
·
Smart Grid (also called Advanced
Metering Infrastructure): Energy Sector
·
Wearable Sensors for Hazardous
Materials Detection (e.g. CBRNE): Emergency Services Sector
You are encouraged to look for and
investigate additional appropriate technologies before deciding upon your
technology choice for this assignment.
If you decide to research a technology
that is not on the suggested technologies list (see above), you must first
request and receive your instructor’s permission. Your instructor may require that you do
preliminary library searches for research papers and technical papers to prove
that you can find a sufficient number of resources to complete the assignment.
Find
Appropriate Sources (“Survey the Literature”)
You may find it helpful to begin by reading the tables of
contents for recent issues of the Communications
of the ACM, IEEE Computer Magazine,
IEEE Pervasive Computing, and IEEE Security & Privacy. These professional
journals frequently publish highly readable, research-based articles about the
cybersecurity implications of new and emerging technologies in the context of
critical infrastructure sectors.
Next, brainstorm keywords that you can use to find additional
articles, papers, and other scholarly publications (“sources’) which discuss
and/or evaluate your selected emerging application of technology in the context
of your chosen critical infrastructure.
Your selected
sources must come from publications indexed in one or more of the following
library databases:
·
ACM Digital Library http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=http://www.acm.org/dl
·
Dissertations & Theses (Pro Quest) http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/pqdtft/advanced?accountid=14580
·
IEEE Computer Society Digital Library https://www-computer-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/csdl/home
·
Science Direct http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/search
Since the point of this search is to
find information about emerging
applications of technology for a critical infrastructure, your sources must
have a publication date of 2017 or later (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). For papers
indexed in Science Direct, you may also use papers that are marked “In Press.”
Allowable source types are: (a) professional journals, (b)
conference proceedings, (c) dissertations or theses, and (d) technical
magazines (published by either the ACM or IEEE). Each of your selected sources
must have a reference list containing at least 3 references for authoritative
papers. (See http://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/scholarlyjournals.cfm)

To complete this part of the assignment, you may need to
review 15 – 20 sources (search results) in order to find 10 papers or articles
that are usable for this assignment. The sources you choose must provide technical information about your selected
technology (see selection requirements for each paper).
Create Your Bibliography (List of Sources)
Choose the 10 best sources from your
searches for articles, papers, and dissertations. Focus on the ones that give
details about your technology and how it can be used in an emerging application
of technology. Next, write the reference list entry (APA, MLA, or another
appropriate professional citation style) for each source. Alphabetize your list
of reference list entries. After you have the correctly ordered list, number
your entries from 1 to 10. Note: different reference entry formats are used for
different types of sources. Review the UMUC Library’s “Get Help > Citing and
Writing for samples and explanations of the formatting rules. If you are using
APA format, your list should look something like the following.
1.
Authors. (date). Article title. Publication name, vol(issue), #-#.
2.
Authors. (date). Paper title. Published
in the Proceedings of conference-name, pp. #-#.
3.
Author …
Write
Your Annotations
In an annotated bibliography, the
annotation is a paragraph or two placed under the reference list entry for each
source. For this assignment, the annotation should be a combination of factual
information from the source and your evaluation (opinion) of that information.
To accomplish this, you should read the abstract, introduction section, and
closing sections for each article or paper. For dissertations, look over the
Introduction and the Literature Review (usually Chapters 1 & 2). From this information,
develop a one to three paragraph informative or descriptive summary of the source
that includes: (a) a description of technology and its characteristics, (b) planned
uses of the technology in the critical infrastructure, and (c) your thoughts and
opinions as to how you could use this paper to justify selecting the technology
for an Internal Research & Development study.
In each annotation, you should provide at
least one specific example of a characteristic and/or application of the
technology, e.g. an emerging technology, which impacts cybersecurity.
For example, for an annotation for an
article about robots used to inspect dams and bridges, you could focus upon the
need to secure the WiFi communications used to operate the device (“command and
control” links). Improving the security of the WiFi transmissions would reduce
the risk that attackers could take control of the robot or otherwise interfere
with its operations. This in turn will decrease the probability of loss of
availability caused by a successful attack. Decreasing the probability of a
negative event will decrease the risk
associated with that event
Note: Remember that the security
posture of a system or product is framed in terms of risk, threats,
vulnerabilities, etc. Improvements to the security posture (positive security
implications) will result in reduced risk, increased resistance to threats or
attacks, and decreased vulnerability.
Negative impacts on the security posture will result in increased risk,
decreased resistance to threats / attacks, and increased vulnerability
(weakness).
As you write the annotations for each
article / paper / dissertation, make sure that you include YOUR thoughts and
ideas about the security implications of this technology. Use standard
terminology per the resources in this course and in your previous coursework.
As you brainstorm the security
implications of this technology (if these are not specifically discussed by
your source), you should consider use of the technology to improve
cybersecurity. Then consider applications or uses which will negatively impact
the security posture of the identified critical infrastructure. It is very
important that you consider BOTH SIDES OF THIS ISSUE.
Putting
It All Together
1.
Consult the
grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this
assignment.
2.
Your 5-8 page
annotated bibliography should be professional in appearance with consistent use
of fonts, font sizes, margins, etc. You should use headings and page breaks to
organize your paper.
3.
Your paper should
use standard terms and definitions for cybersecurity. See Course Content >
Cybersecurity Concepts Review for recommended resources.
4.
The CSIA program
recommends that you follow standard APA formatting since this will give you a
document that meets the “professional appearance” requirements. APA formatting
guidelines and examples are found under Course Resources > APA Resources. An
APA template file (MS Word format) has also been provided for your use
CSIA_Basic_Paper_Template(APA_6ed,DEC2018).docx.
5.
You must include
a cover page with the assignment title, your name, and the due date. Your
reference list must be on a separate page at the end of your file. These pages
do not count towards the assignment’s page count.
6.
You are expected
to write grammatically correct English in every assignment that you submit for
grading. Do not turn in any work without (a) using spell check, (b) using
grammar check, (c) verifying that your punctuation is correct and (d) reviewing
your work for correct word usage and correctly structured sentences and
paragraphs.
7.
You are expected
to credit your sources using in-text citations and reference list entries. Both
your citations and your reference list entries must follow a consistent
citation style (APA, MLA, etc.).

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