Assignment:
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400 to 600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
This week, you will research the importance of a vulnerability and patch management strategy for an organization and communicate the benefits to key stakeholders and organizational leaders.
In some industries, computer systems are used to ensure that an organization is productive and the systems are required to have high availability, limiting downtime to perform needed maintenance. In other industries, the risk of a configuration change on critical systems may be too high and therefore, unacceptable. It is up to the cybersecurity manager to understand and be able to communicate his or her organizational needs for system criticality and availability. Some examples to consider include the following:
• A computer system used by anesthesiologists to administer anesthesia to patients in an operating room
• A large retail store's point of sales system on Black Friday
• A SCADA floodgate control system used to eliminate or reduce stormwater runoff
In your primary Discussion Board post, explain what a vulnerability management program is. What are the key considerations that cybersecurity managers should understand when developing a strategy to install patches to address system vulnerabilities for their organizations? Include the following areas:
• Vulnerability assessments
• Patch management strategy
• Difference between test and production networks
• National Vulnerability Database
Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:
• What did you learn from your classmate's posting?
• What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?
• What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
• What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates' postings?
For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.
Reading Assignment
Sturges, J. (2017) Great Presentations. Alexandria, VA: Association for Talent Development.
Library Database: Skillsoft
Assignment Objectives
• Apply the relevant cybersecurity theoretical and practical knowledge behind communication and persuasive speaking
• Practice critical thinking to construct and evaluate cybersecurity claims and arguments with positive outcomes