University Cyber Security Research Report: Advanced E-Security

This report presents a comprehensive research on advanced e-security, emphasizing the critical importance of cyber security in protecting data, programs, devices, and networks from unauthorized access and attacks. The research highlights the increasing complexity of cyber-attacks and the need for robust security measures, including penetration testing using tools like Metasploit and N-Map. It discusses the financial, legal, and reputational impacts of cyber-attacks on organizations and institutions. The report details the methods used for the research, the challenges faced, and the necessity of adapting to evolving threats. The conclusion stresses the importance of a proactive approach to cyber security, focusing on mitigation strategies and the continuous development of advanced e-security methods to safeguard against digital threats and ensure data integrity.

Running head: RESEARCH IN ADVANCED E-SECURITY
Research in Advanced E-Security
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Importance of cyber security..................................................................................................2
Purpose of the Research.........................................................................................................2
Methods used for the research................................................................................................3
Challenges..............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The research topic that has been chosen for the research is taken as cyber security.
The body of practices, processes and technologies that are used for the design are made to
protect the data, programs, devices and networks from unauthorized access, damages or
attacks. The security consists of both the physical security and the cyber security, which are
used by multinational companies to protect their computerized systems and data centres from
unauthorized access (Knapp & Samani, 2013).
In the following report, a detailed research methodology would be put forward in
order to find the feasibility behind the need of mitigating the cyber-attacks. The consequences
and effects of the cyber-attacks have been mentioned and assessed in the discussion section
of the report. Thus the report would enlighten what impact the cyber-attacks has on the
organizations and the institutions, and on which basis researches should be conducted on
them with a proper methodology to help eradicating the problems further.
Importance of cyber security
Cyber security is essential for modern society as huge amount of sensitive and critical
data that are present in several connecting devices as well as computers needs to be protected
from malicious users and the data are spread across medical, corporate, financial, and military
and government institutions (Collins, 2016). With time, the complexity of the cyber-attacks
increases, which makes the institutions, bolster their security responses. This is done by
creating new methods for checking the security of the infrastructure and properly checking
the financial records that will maintain the integrity of their business. The information that is
generated every day with the utilization of networks contains a huge load of data that are
spread over a number of devices as well as networking systems. These networking systems
are present to properly check frameworks and data security for the protection of the security
infrastructure. In 2013, Intelligence Officials from the country forewarned that there are huge
chances of digital spying and digital attacks forming a huge threat to the national security
even more than terrorist attacks (Taylor, Fritsch & Liederbach, 2014).
Purpose of the Research
Digital attacks can change and result in a lot of budgetary and reputational harm to
even the strongest institutions. In the event that a user endures a digital attack, one can lose
business, reputation and assets. There are even huge chances of confronting regulatory
litigations and fines including the expenses of remediation. An effective attack can make real

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harm for the business. It can influence the primary concern, and additionally the business'
position and customer trust. The effect of security vulnerability can be extensively isolated
into three classes: money related, legal and reputational issues (Kott, 2014). This is why;
researches should be made to provide a feasible mitigation process to make sure that any
organization or institution be protected of these attacks that are susceptible because of the
risks with using internet (Suh et al., 2014).
For a vast enterprise, the financial hot to the enterprise can increase from a small scale
damage to a million dollar damage, however; the impact of the financial hit are not that
noticeably small due to their size. The purpose of this research is to make sure that the
organizations and institutions are safe from any external attacks given their huge size, since
the result it will bear cannot be handled while mitigating in terms of time and money.
Eliminating risk is necessary than surviving an attack and then providing any elimination
process because in the meantime valuable data as well as finances would be compromised.
Below is a table based on the comparative study of the incidents of cyber attacks and
their impacts on the organizations as a whole:
Types of Cyber-
attack Incidents
January – June
2017
January to June
2018
Percentage in
Increase or
Decrease (%)
Fraudulences 3540 2490 2
Intrusions 3314 2837 -22
Spam Activities 302 619 111
Malicious Code
transfer
464 553 25
Harassment over
internet
284 344 35
Copied Content 21 53 320
Attempts of
Intrusions
66 35 -56
Service Denials 13 21 -17
Reports of
Vulnerabilities
45 22 -76
Total 8049 6974
Table 1: Cyber Incident Attack Reports
(Source: Collins, 2016)
Methods used for the research
Safeguarding the IT infrastructure of every company is the job of every cyber security
expert in a company. One of the best methods for making the company free from cyber-

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attacks is Penetration Testing. It is a type of testing where the security IT system is assessed
and the vulnerabilities and the intentions of the malicious attackers are understood.
Metasploit is a good penetration tool for IT and security professionals and this method
would be very essential for the researches following the mitigation processes. The tool has
been used for years by security personnel to meet the objectives, such as, creating defence
methodologies, preparing security tests and checking the vulnerabilities. This tool can be
used in several places such as online networks and online applications. The utility makes sure
that the system is free from security vulnerabilities (Adams et al., 2014). Another tool used is
N-Map which is a free source network mapping, which includes several services such as
network attack surface mapping and service uptime monitoring. It runs on all known major
operating systems and is used for scanning both small as well as large networks.
Challenges
The toughest test in digital security is the regularly developing nature of security
dangers themselves. Normally, government and organizations have concentrated the vast
majority of their digital security assets on securing the perimeter to ensure their most
essential framework and protect against the known treats (Gupta, Agrawal & Yamaguchi,
2016). As the dangers progress and change more rapidly than institutions can adapt, this
approach has become not sufficient enough for recent threats. Recent cyber-attacks, like,
phishing are routinely effective at bypassing the controls of security perimeter. If the assault
isn't identified at the perimeter or by the client, most institutions battle to keep the attacker
from doing subsequent damage (Heard, Heard & Adams, 2016). Hence, it is necessary for
organizations to strengthen their detection techniques of post exploitation and hunt for the
attacker by assessing their environment that they use to gain their malicious motives. The
challenges have a huge impact on the research methodologies to fall apart.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that research methodology is absolutely necessary to
adapt to help find a way by which the cyber attacks can be eliminated and more feasible
cyber security methods can be implemented in the organizations. A brief definition of the
research topic has been mentioned in the introduction section of the report. The discussion
section has stated the importance of cyber security and its necessity for every organization.
The effects and consequences of cyber-attacks have also been assessed and evaluated. The
challenges that cyber security faces nowadays have been effectively discussed in the sub

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sequent sections. Finally, the research methodology that would be feasible to be applied in
finding a way to mitigate the cyber attacks are thoroughly discussed as per the assessment on
cyber attacks made on different organizations in the past few years.

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References
Adams, N., Heard, N., Adams, N., & Heard, N. (2014). Data analysis for network cyber-
security. World Scientific Publishing Co., Inc..
Collins, A. (2016). Contemporary security studies. Oxford university press.
Gupta, B., Agrawal, D. P., & Yamaguchi, S. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of research on modern
cryptographic solutions for computer and cyber security. IGI Global.
Heard, N. A., Heard, N. A., & Adams, N. M. (2016). Dynamic networks and cyber-security.
Imperial College Press.
Knapp, E. D., & Samani, R. (2013). Applied cyber security and the smart grid: implementing
security controls into the modern power infrastructure. Newnes.
Kott, A. (2014). Towards fundamental science of cyber security. In Network science and
cybersecurity (pp. 1-13). Springer, New York, NY.
Suh, S. C., Tanik, U. J., Carbone, J. N., & Eroglu, A. (Eds.). (2014). Applied cyber-physical
systems. Springer New York.
Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital crime and digital terrorism.
Prentice Hall Press.