Assignment:
In this assignment, you will choose and examine a significant cybercrime/cyberattack/data breach that interests you. "Significant" means that the breach was serious enough to warrant attention by the news media and has provided enough coverage in news, trade, and scholarly literature to allow you to find sufficient research for this assignment. Need Assignment Help?
You will review information on the attack and produce a case study that summarizes the events and impacts.
Step 1: Choose a significant cybercrime/cyberattack/data breach
Step 2: Conduct research
Explore 3-5 websites to examine different perspectives about the breach you have chosen. Refrain from relying on blogs as sources. To find credible sources, you might begin with the UMGC Library using OneSearch, Google Scholar, or web search (Google), government websites, and professional organizations.
Step 3: After reviewing the information on your chosen cybercrime/cyberattack, write a case study to summarize the case.
The case study should be written in paragraphs so that points have elaboration and connections that make it easy to understand the case.
For your case study, follow these steps:
- Begin with information about the victim, which will be a company, organization, agency or person.
- Include discussion of information about the victim to give context to the event. For example, if the victim is a company, then include its work, mission, location and other relevant points. If the victim is a person, report enough information so that the reader can understand the individual and the situation.
- Provide a brief overview of the attack.
- Create a timeline of the cybercrime or attack (details will vary based on how much information is shared in published documents). Be sure the timeline accounts for when the attack began, when it ended, and what happened between those times. The timeline format can be presented in chronological order with bullet points. The timeline can be presented in past-to-present format or present-to-past, if you are consistent.
- Identify the reported risks and/or vulnerabilities that made the attack possible. Consider why the attack happened to the company or person.
- Discuss the costs and/or damages from the attack. Costs can include finances, reputation, customers, and other types of impacts.
- Report the prevention measures stated by cybersecurity practitioners. Summarize what was learned from the event in a way that could help limit future victimization.
- Identify any factors that were not discussed but that you believe could impact future cybercrimes. Consider risk factors and aspects that create vulnerabilities.
- Cite the sources (APA 7 style) you used on a reference page at the end of the case study.
Colonial Pipeline Cyber Incident (estimated time: 2 hours)
This reading represents the sophistication of cyber attackers' abilities to infiltrate a critical infrastructure such as the Colonial Pipeline. The effects of this attack and others like it impact everyone.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2021, May 18). Colonial pipeline cyberattack highlights need for better federal and private-sector preparedness (infographic).
A 'Worst Nightmare' Cyberattack: The Untold Story of the SolarWinds Hack (estimated time: 2 hours)
The SolarWinds attack exemplifies the human errors and weak security policies that created an opportunity for attacks like the one that breached the SolarWinds system, which impacted thousands of organizations across the United States.
Temple-Raston, D. (2021, April 16). A 'worst nightmare' cyberattack: The untold story of the SolarWinds hack. NPR.
Thomas Matusiewicz Guns Down Ex-daughter-in-law and Friend in Courthouse amid Custody Battle (estimated time: 2 hours)
Christine Belford was cyber stalked by the Matusiewicz family for years. She was eventually killed by her ex-father-in-law. The significance of this case stems from three members of this family receiving life sentences for their cyberstalking actions that led to Belford's murder.
Dziemianowicz, J. (2023, December 15). Thomas Matusiewicz guns down ex-daughter-in-law and friend in courthouse amid custody battle. Oxygen.