University Cybersecurity Report: Awareness and Defense in Depth

This report delves into the critical aspects of cybersecurity awareness and defense in depth, highlighting the increasing significance of digital technology in daily life and the associated security challenges. It emphasizes the importance of user awareness regarding security threats, particularly in the c...Read More

Running head: AWARENESS AND DEFENSE IN DEPTH
AWARENESS AND DEFENSE IN DEPTH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1AWARENESS AND DEFENSE IN DEPTH
Abstract
The advancement of technology has made application of digital technology in daily life a significant
part, so much so that it is justified to say that, today digital technologies rules all over the world
replacing analog revolution that once had a great impact on society. However, even though digital
technologies has made day to day operations efficient and improved, it brings some additional
issues as well which needs strategic evaluation. One of these issues are lack of awareness about
security threats that these technologies brings as this effects the efficiency of the security measures
developed to minimize the effect of the security threats.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:.........................................................................................................................................3
Discussion:...........................................................................................................................................3
Emerging security threats and importance of awareness:................................................................3
In-depth defense techniques:............................................................................................................4
Conclusion:...........................................................................................................................................4
References:...........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction:
One of the main issues of digital evolution is that though lot of users are associated with it,
very few have detailed knowledge about how this system works (Robinson et al., 2019). For
example, computer in the early days were such that it required an extensive technical knowledge to
execute these machines and this made it possible for them to identify reason behind any issues that
is associated with this system. However, as technology has become advanced, level of abstraction
has increased significantly which has made it easy to use technology, but at the same time it has
made people less aware about the architecture and functioning at basic level.
Discussion:
Emerging security threats and importance of awareness:
Integration of AI or artificial intelligence has made security vulnerabilities and its defense
techniques even more complicated. With AI, various advanced and powerful techniques are
available to cyber-criminals. This has made cyber-criminals target people and take advantage of
their lack of awareness about sophisticated security vulnerabilities and exploit systems (Robinson et
al., 2019). Now it is not possible to design a defense technique without having knowledge about the
methods that are considered by criminals. Hence awareness is necessary for ensuring defense-in-
depth as both of these process are complementary (Singh et al., 2017).
Several threats like Botnet (bots in a botnet are capable to behave like human and provides
an effective platform for executing many cyber-attacks.), DDoS, SQL injection, Cross-site scripting
are some of the newest addition to the cyber-crime techniques.
Also, cyber-criminals these days combine machine learning, along with speech recognition
which is followed by natural language processing (NLP), to improve the quality of phishing emails
or other smart and advanced attack techniques to make these process more humanlike and more

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effective as well (Singh et al., 2017). Hence it is extremely important to create awareness about
these techniques for defending these issues properly.
In-depth defense techniques:
In order to effectively manage this issues, situational awareness model are gaining
popularity. This model is developed with intelligent information fusion engine (IIFE). This model
integrates a program called Intrusion detection system (IDS) which helps defenders to identify any
possible type of attacks on the system and network (Robinson et al., 2019).
Some of the defense techniques that are considered for in-depth defense are either host
based or network based (Singh et al., 2017). These techniques are:
Host based technique - API hook which detects any malicious codes, and then minimizes
effect of the packers, polymorphic and deformation technology which is associated with the
malicious threat. Network based technique - Honeypot-based approach, Network traffic-based
analysis, Active & passive monitoring, Signature-based technique, Anomaly-based detection and
these techniques are considered for developing cyber-security defense system.
Conclusion:
It is already identified that no matter how in-depth security measures are taken, if proper
awareness is not ensured, it is not possible to ensure maximum effectiveness of the security
measures because both of these process are closely integrated. Hence both of these process have to
be improved in close association for improving efficiency and effectiveness of the system.

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References:
Robinson, M., Jones, K., Janicke, H., & Maglaras, L. (2019). Developing cyber peacekeeping:
Observation, monitoring and reporting. Government Information Quarterly, 36(2), 276-293.
Singh, R., Kumar, H., Singla, R. K., & Ketti, R. R. (2017). Internet attacks and intrusion detection
system: A review of the literature. Online Information Review, 41(2), 171-184.