Are there certain areas that you would want to focus your career on? Explain which areas are most appealing to you and which are least appealing.

I feel as though I really need to work on work roles as I am unsure of which responsibility to take or what my role should be. Throughout the time it takes me to get my degree I hope to learn what “role” I would like to take therefore defining my career in a clear trajectory. The area most appealing to me is competency areas because I want to be able to perform tasks and have the knowledge and skills to do so. Being competent and knowing what am doing is crucial for me to be able to do the best job I possibly can.

How does the principle of empiricism enhance the effectiveness of cybersecurity practices? Reflect on how empirical data collection and analysis can help identify emerging threats, assess the effectiveness of current security measures, and guide the development of new strategies to protect information systems.

The principle of empiricism relies on observation, experimentation, and reliable evidence. Identifying emerging threats relies on observation first and foremost, noticing trends of specific threats appearing in cyberspace correlate with the principle of empiricism; by observing these threats proper countermeasures can be developed.  This same principle assesses the effectiveness of security measures by experimenting and applying different measures for security risks, gathering evidence in order to see what truly works and why it doesn’t. Empiricism overall is used to identify, develop, and assess in order to evolve the current strategies that are used to protect our systems in the ever-evolving cybersecurity field.

In “May 2025 Data Breach Analysis: LexisNexis and Harbin Clinic Lead Month’s Impact on Consumers” the analysis shows numeric data of how many data breaches LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Harbin Clinic experienced between May and June. The report shows the sectors that were affected within these companies. It is also important to note that LexisNexis is a data broker that specializes in gathering data to build a consumer profile; this data encompasses personal information that could be harmful when leaked to bad actors. Researchers can utilize this report to analyze a pattern of attacks within specific companies. The individual sectors that are highlighted in the report are also important to show which sectors (i.e. medical, education) are more vulnerable and repeatably attacked. Using this information and other reports with similar information for other months, researchers could most likely forecast future breaches.

May 2025 Data Breach Analysis: LexisNexis and Harbin Clinic Lead Month’s Impact on Consumers | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and explain how each level relates to your experiences with technology. Give specific examples of how your digital experiences relate to each level of need.

The way I interpret this question is that what levels correlate to the technology in my life. The first level physiological might correlate to simply having access to the internet and having a PC/Laptop. I remember being younger and not having access to a computer or Wi-Fi this means the first level was not being fulfilled. The second need “Safety” could refer to me installing an antivirus or using a strong password. The third level could be fulfilled by using social media like Instagram or Facebook in order to fulfill social needs. Esteem could be fulfilled the same way or by having more followers. Level 5 self-actualization is fulfilled by taking online courses, I for example take online classes to complete my degree.

Review the articles linked with each individual motive in slide/page #3. Rank the motives from 1 to 8 as the motives that you think make the most sense (being 1) to the least sense (being 8). Explain why you rank each motive the way you rank it.

Rating:
•1. For money: Monetary gain is ranked number 1 because of the attractiveness for an individual over the others in the list. Cars, women, property, and status are all thing that can be bought with money,

• 2. Political: There have been several cases where individuals or organizations have leaked or committed cybercrime in order to achieve a political goal.
• 3. Multiple reasons: There is no concrete way to know what reasons motivate cybercriminals or even motivates them as some don’t fall into these categories.
• 4. Recognition: Many people seek status and popularity which can be achieved by hacking and crime.
• 5. Curiosity: In the case of Jonathan, I feel as though curiosity can be an important but misunderstood factor.
• 6. Entertainment: Some hackers do criminal activities for fun like the linked in hacker.
• 7. Revenge: Revenge is always enticing to someone who has been wronged or is angry and many people feel that way specially online.
• 8. Boredom: I feel as though this is the least likely as the risk and reward ratio is virtually nonexistent.

Watch this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWCTHV96eQ&t=2sLinks to an external site.

and pay attention to what the biggest risk of cyber threats are.  After watching the video, post an entry describing what you think about the “human firewall”. 

The human firewall refers to how a person can act as the first line of defense from cyber threats. Social engineering and phishing emails target the human factors of cybersecurity, therefore by training and informing people they can be the most effective counter to cyber-attacks. AI specially is becoming a problem in cybersecurity due to its capabilities. The use of deepfakes and voice replication is also an increasing threat. This targets both day to day people and company data. Better training for the “human firewall” can help defend from these new threats. Although the difficulty level gap from a fake email or shady link and AI capabilities is huge, the human firewall could be the best defense we currently have.

 Create a meme for your favorite three.

The meme highlights the importance of checking whether a link has HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) or HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). When a link starts with HTTP, it could signify that the site is not secure leading to compromise by stating (it’s giving virus) which is slang for describing the “vibe” of something.

Watch this video and pay attention to the way that movies distort hackers. Scientists Rate 65 Scenes from Movies and TV | How Real Is It? | Insider – YouTube Links to an external site.

Movies often over exaggerate for sake of entertainment. This has been done not only for hackers but for several other professions. Several movies show hacking and in turn cybersecurity as something either completely untechnical or magical. For example, in one scene they plug in unknown devices into their personal devices which is not a correct way of doing things. The devices could be infected therefore plugging it could prove disastrous. Media also often uses incorrect terms or UI that does not match the actual real-world action. They also promote a culture of anarchy and invasion of privacy. This makes a wider audience be exposed to a more negative view of cybersecurity.

Watch this Video:

Social media and cybersecurityLinks to an external site.

Complete the Social Media Disorder scale Download Social Media Disorder scale. or please find the attachment here: Social Media Disorder Scale-1.pdfDownload Social Media Disorder Scale-1.pdf

How did you score? What do you think about the items in the scale? Why do you think that different patterns are found across the world?

I scored a 2 which indicates risky usage. I fear that this is probably a low score due to how often social media is used in today’s age. A year ago, I would have probably scored a 5 but due to the recent decision to uninstall most social media apps I have gotten a lower score. Social media will sometimes negatively impact relationships due to the constant bombardment of negativity that is promoted in social media posts. In several posts, relationship standards or expectations are raised to an unrealistic level that several people take as facts or are entitled to which leads to several problems in their individual lives.

Read this and write a journal entry summarizing your response to the article on social cybersecurity

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958825000831Links to an external site.

The main takeaway from this article is how social behavior contributes to cybercrime and how Machine Learning can help identify suspicious behavior. Although tactics are ever changing which makes it hard to combat or defend against cyber-crimes, the implementation of the social sciences and detection methods could serve useful to detect and prevent cybercrime. Metaheuristic methods such as algorithms that detect cybercrimes also could play a large role in cybercrime preventions. Cybercrime is often linked to technical terms and computers, but the exploitation of social behavior is often disregarded. The article also contains multiple surveys and research compiled in one place which is helpful to further study cybersecurity.

Read this https://dojmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/Glasswasherparts.com_.pdfLinks to an external site. sample breach letter “SAMPLE DATA BREACH NOTIFICATION” and describe how two different economics theories and two different psychological social sciences theories relate to the letter.

The breach letter shown informs a customer of Glasswasherparts that his information might be compromised due to a malware attack. Two different economics theories that could apply to this letter are Laissez-fare economic theory and Classical economic theory. Laissez-fare applies to the government intervention that will occur due to the breach i.e. company notifying the authorities. Classical economic theory could correlate to how the customers of Glasswasherparts were willing to provide their personal information to the company. Two different psychological social sciences theories could be Neutralization Theory and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. Neutralization Theory could be used to explain the malware that stole the customers data, by justifying with denial of injury. Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory could also explain the reward driven intention of the attack i.e. stealing credit card information.

A later module addresses cybersecurity policy through a social science framework. At this point, attention can be drawn to one type of policy, known as bug bounty policies. These policies pay individuals for identifying vulnerabilities in a company’s cyber infrastructure.  To identify the vulnerabilities, ethical hackers are invited to try explore the cyber infrastructure using their penetration testing skills.  The policies relate to economics in that they are based on cost/benefits principles.  Read this article https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/7/1/tyab007/6168453?login=trueLinks to an external site.  and write a summary reaction to the use of the policies in your journal.  Focus primarily on the literature review and the discussion of the findings.

The article appears to be empirically data driven by using HackerOne to research the cost/benefit of bug bounties. Findings include the effectiveness of bug bounties for several industries and many bounties as they age receive fewer and fewer reports and attention. Bug bounties are concluded to be cost effective although an interesting finding is that most hackers finding these bugs in HackerOne are not majorly motivated by monetary gain. Another finding that stood out was the largely unchanging number of reports despite a larger amount of bug bounties and the lack of reports for certain sectors like finance and healthcare.