Malicious Activities 2.0

The three major types of malicious activities that organizations’ information systems face include:

  1. Hostile or malicious insider activity.
  2. Theft of private, proprietary, or sensitive data, by insiders or external attackers.
  3. Large scale DoS (denial-of-service) attacks.

Based on your research:

  • Describe a present-day example of your selected type of malicious activity and its impact on the organization.
  • Specify the countermeasures the organization took to address the malicious activity.

Assignment and Discussion

 

Week 10 – Discussion

Many people believe that the use of biometrics is an invasion of privacy. For example, an eye scanning device records the inner structure of a person’s eye and stores that image in a database. Critics worry that databases of human traits used to maintain corporate security may actually pose a privacy threat to individuals, if such data were used in other ways. In your view, are such concerns justified? Why or why not?

Writing Assignment – Wk 10

Some common biometric techniques include:

  1. Fingerprint recognition
  2. Signature dynamics
  3. Iris scanning
  4. Retina scanning
  5. Voice prints
  6. Face recognition

Select one of these biometric techniques and explain the benefits and the  vulnerabilities associated with that method in 3-4 paragraphs. 

Week-10 Discussion

 In no less than 250 words, describe a hacking tool that is used to gain access to a network.  Explain how the tool is used, how it works and how a netwoprk administrator can prevent this tool from access the network 

 

Week 10 Assignment

  • 10.1 What are three broad mechanisms that malware can use to propagate?
  • 10.2 What are four broad categories of payloads that malware may carry?
  • 10.3 What are typical phases of operation of a virus or worm?
  • 10.4 What mechanisms can a virus use to conceal itself?
  • 10.5 What is the difference between machine-executable and macro viruses?
  • 10.6 What means can a worm use to access remote systems to propagate?
  • 10.7 What is a “drive-by-download” and how does it differ from a worm?
  • 10.8 What is a “logic bomb”?
  • 10.9 Differentiate among the following: a backdoor, a bot, a keylogger, spyware, and a rootkit? Can they all be present in the same malware?
  • 10.10 List some of the different levels in a system that a rootkit may use.
  • 10.11 Describe some malware countermeasure elements.
  • 10.12 List three places malware mitigation mechanisms may be located.
  • 10.13 Briefly describe the four generations of antivirus software.
  • 10.14 How does behavior-blocking software work?
  • 10.15 What is a distributed denial-of-service system?

A suitable system to implement. This system must be a data processing system that concerns the creation, storage, management, processing and visualising of a set of data with which you are currently involved.

   

Specification

Introduction

A suitable system to implement. This system must be a data processing system that concerns the creation, storage, management, processing and visualising of a set of data with which you are currently involved. 

This implementation MUST be undertaken using the Python 3 programming language (as per the work you have done in your learning sessions).

Part 1 System Build

Provide a concise written description of your selected data processing system (guideline word count 500 words). This can include diagrams or images if this is required to best support your description. Also, include the user stories that describe the functionality of the system. Whilst this will not directly accrue any marks, it is required to establish if your software implementation satisfies the requirements of the system.

Produce a Python 3 implementation of your chosen system. This must provide the data processing and visualisation relevant to your system and provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to this processing and visualisation.

You must utilise object-oriented programming where appropriate and structure your solution using the module and package approach adopted by good idiomatic Python 3 implementations (also referred to as being Pythonic). It is expected that the structure of your submitted Python project will also reflect this

   

structure, utilising a main project folder (with any necessary sub-folders) and appropriate Python 3 script files.

You are also expected to provide full documentation of the details of your implementation by including appropriate code comments within your Python 3 script files.

Part 2 Automated Testing

Provide a set of automated unit tests (using a suitable Python 3 automated testing  framework  such  as  the  unittest module)  that  exercise  and demonstrate the correct functionality for 4 separate methods taken from a class (or classes) that is involved with part of the data processing in your system. You can choose methods related to any of the CRUD functions. Do not include any method which would require testing of the GUI (this is beyond what was included as part of your learning during the module). Ensure you fully document your test code using appropriate code commenting.

Your automated unit tests must be provided within the Python project in a way that properly separates these tests from the production version of your implementation. Also, the automated unit tests must be able to be run from within the PyCharm Community Edition IDE you have worked with in your learning sessions, using the automated unit testing integration offered by this IDE.

Part 3 System Function Traceability Report

Produce a report that traces the functionality provided in your software implementation back to the specific requirement for that function in your system description. This must be done by mapping the user stories that represent your system requirements to the various classes and methods of those classes that you have implemented in your software solution.

You must also provide for each trace back a short explanation as to how the mapped class and /or method directly contributes to satisfying the “So that…” aspect of the user story involved.

A recommended approach here is to tabulate your mappings so they can be easily traced.

Part 4 Reflective Report

You are to write a short reflective report (guideline word count 500 words) focussing on one future trend in computing and considering how new ideas and theories could be applied in the application domain you have developed for this assignment.

   

You should consider both the potential benefits of the new ideas as well as the inherent complexities and present your reasoned evaluation and conclusions regarding the application of those new ideas within your chosen domain.

If your application is work related, you could conclude your reflective evaluation with recommendations relevant to your employer regarding the adoption, or otherwise, of new advanced computing techniques.

For this reflective report you could consider any one of the following topics or chose any other current computing topic:

  Big Data / Data mining or analytics / Data visualisation

  Artificial Intelligence / Machine learning

  Robotics and Social Interaction

  Virtual or Augmented reality

  Security within Cloud computing

  The internet of things (IoT)

  Autonomous Transportation

  Wearable devices and sensors

You are not expected to reference research papers or present a very technical explanation of the topic – rather you are expected to focus on the advantages and complexities of applying the theory in your application area.

You should start your reflective report with a short description of your chosen topic (250 words or thereabouts would be appropriate for this) before presenting your evaluation of its application.

Citations of web sources for this is perfectly fine but your sources must be correctly cited and a reference list provided (as per the Harvard referencing scheme).

Quotations should be kept to a very minimum and 90% of the words should be your own.

Deliverables

A zipped archive of your main Python project folder which must include all relevant files need to both run your software implementation and run the automated unit tests. Also, include in this archive the word processed document that contains the concise description of the system and the associated user stories  (as  required in  Part  1).  Any details of  further  instructions  or  any additional Python 3 libraries (beyond those in the standard Python 3 installation) must also be provided in a  readme.txt file (to ensure your software implementation can be run). Provide this archive as a single zip file. This archive will be used when you provide your demonstration of your system.

A single word processed document that contains the traceability and reflective reports required for the Part 3 and Part 4 tasks. Make sure this document is

  

clearly organised into titled sections and that any diagrams and images are referenced with a figure number. Ensure it is evident which of these sections relates to which assessment task to avoid any ambiguity when your work is considered during marking. 

Also, ensure you provide any referenced work within this document (as per the normal Harvard referencing scheme).

Research paper

Choose the area of your preference, whatever you would like to describe in a dataset and explain using data mining. For example: actresses/actors, food, movies, sports, music bands, or anything you want.

Create a data file in .arff format containing about 20 entries, each described by

about 4 attributes, with the last attribute containing your preference (class attribute), e.g.

@relation food

@attribute calories numeric

@attribute taste {sweet, sour, bitter, salty} @attribute course (appetizer, main, dessert, drink} @attribute vegetarian {yes, no}

@attribute like_it (yes, no} @data

100, sweet, dessert, yes, yes%icecream 80, bitter, drink, yes, yes%beer

2, sweet, dessert,yes, no%cake

Compare 3 algorithms for classification of your data: decision trees, a classification or an association rule learner, and naive Bayes. For each algorithm check what the error is (which algorithm can explain your personal liking the best), and observe the generated rules (do they tell you anything interesting?).

Write a literature review about Blockchain Technology?

  

Length: Minimum of 1500 words. 

Using the University Digital Library or the Google scholar website locate articles discussing different use of Blockchain Technology. 

· Write a literature review about Blockchain Technology.

· Your final document should include an Abstract and a Conclusion. 

· This assignment should be in APA format and have to include at least 12 references.

Discussion

 

This is a required assignment worth 20 points (20-points/1000-points). Assignment must be submitted by the due date. No late assignments are allowed. Please discuss the following topics and provide substantive comments to at least two other posts.

Select from the following list four (4) topics and discuss. Use only 50-words max per topic to discuss and present your answer. The discussion questions this week are from Chapter 6   (Jamsa, 2013).

Chapter 6 topics:

  • Define and describe a SAN.
  • Define and describe NAS.
  • Describe how cloud-based data storage works.
  • Assume that you must select a cloud-based data storage solution for your company. List the factors you would consider when selecting a vendor.
  • Many users do not yet feel comfortable storing data within the cloud. Discuss some steps you can take to reduce their concerns.
  • Assume that you must select a cloud-based data storage solution for your company. List the factors you would consider when selecting a vendor.
  • List the pros and cons of cloud-based data storage.
  • List the pros and cons of a cloud-based database.

NOTE: You are required to use at least two-peer reviewed sources (besides your textbook) to answer the above questions.  The initial post is due by Wednesday at 11:59pm ET.  You must engage on at least three separate days (by Wednesday for the first post and two additional days of peer engagement).  Do not wait until Sunday to engage with peers, this should be an active conversation with your peers.  When replying to peers be sure to engage with substantial posts that add to the conversation.