Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluating The Gasday Security Policy Through Penetration Testing And Application Of The Nist Cybersecurity Framework, Andrew Nicholas Kirkham

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis explores cybersecurity from the perspective of the Marquette University GasDay lab. We analyze three different areas of cybersecurity in three independent chapters. Our goal is to improve the cybersecurity capabilities of GasDay, Marquette University, and the natural gas industry. We present network penetration testing as a process of attempting to gain access to resources of GasDay without prior knowledge of any valid credentials. We discuss our method of identifying potential targets using industry standard reconnaissance methods. We outline the process of attempting to gain access to these targets using automated tools and manual exploit creation. We propose several …

Exploring The Cybersecurity Hiring Gap, Adam O. Pierce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing segments of information technology. The Commonwealth of Virginia has 30,000 cyber-related jobs open because of the lack of skilled candidates. The study is necessary because some business managers lack strategies for hiring cybersecurity professionals for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies business managers in DoD contracting companies used to fill cybersecurity positions. The conceptual framework used for this study was the organizational learning theory. A purposeful sample of 8 successful business managers with cybersecurity responsibilities working for U.S. DoD contracting companies that successfully …

Development Of A Cybersecurity Skills Index: A Scenarios-Based, Hands-On Measure Of Non-It Professionals' Cybersecurity Skills, Melissa Carlton

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Completing activities online are a part of everyday life, both professionally and personally. But, conducting daily operations, interacting, and sharing information on the Internet does not come without its risks as well as a potential for harm. Substantial financial and information losses for individuals, organizations, and governments are reported regularly due to vulnerabilities as well as breaches caused by insiders. Although advances in Information Technology (IT) have been significant over the past several decades when it comes to protection of corporate information systems (IS), human errors and social engineering appear to prevail in circumventing such IT protections. While most employees …

Homesafe: A Mobile Application Utilizing Encryption And Access Control, Kenneth Trumpoldt

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Our society is becoming more virtual and mobile everyday. The purpose of this application is to transform a physical card system into a virtual card system that meets the demands of a technologically-oriented society. Parents will be able to create their own child identification cards more quickly and cost efficiently. Cards can be easily edited instead of having to order an updated replacement. Immediate and frequent alteration of cards allows for information to be more accurate. Cards can be shared globally and instantly via the Internet or shared connections such as Bluetooth. The fast access to and virtual duplication of …

An Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Based Biometrics Investigation For Authentication: A Human-Computer Interaction (Hci) Approach, Ricardo J. Rodriguez

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Encephalogram (EEG) devices are one of the active research areas in human-computer interaction (HCI). They provide a unique brain-machine interface (BMI) for interacting with a growing number of applications. EEG devices interface with computational systems, including traditional desktop computers and more recently mobile devices. These computational systems can be targeted by malicious users. There is clearly an opportunity to leverage EEG capabilities for increasing the efficiency of access control mechanisms, which are the first line of defense in any computational system.

Access control mechanisms rely on a number of authenticators, including “what you know”, “what you have”, and “what you …

The Indiana Cybersecurity Services Center (Incsc): A Cost-Benefit Analysis For K-12 Schools, Hans Christian Vargas Silva

Open Access Theses

The aim of this thesis is to determine if there are greater benefits than costs associated in the participation of public K-12 school corporations in the Indiana Cybersecurity Services Center (INCSC). This thesis is an ex-antecost-benefit analysis policy assessment of the INCSC. The study consisted of a sample of 6 school corporations from which 5 were classified as small and 1 was large. Three methods were considered for data collection; however conducting interviews was the most effective method due to the interaction with IT personnel from each organization in order to analyze current costs related to 4 areas of …

A Knowledge Discovery Approach For The Detection Of Power Grid State Variable Attacks, Nathan Wallace

Doctoral Dissertations

As the level of sophistication in power system technologies increases, the amount of system state parameters being recorded also increases. This data not only provides an opportunity for monitoring and diagnostics of a power system, but it also creates an environment wherein security can be maintained. Being able to extract relevant information from this pool of data is one of the key challenges still yet to be obtained in the smart grid. The potential exists for the creation of innovative power grid cybersecurity applications, which harness the information gained from advanced analytics. Such analytics can be based on the extraction …

Assessing The Role Of User Computer Self-Efficacy, Cybersecurity Countermeasures Awareness, And Cybersecurity Skills Toward Computer Misuse Intention At Government Agencies, Min Suk Choi

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities are causing substantial financial losses for governments and organizations all over the world. Cybersecurity criminals are stealing more than one billion dollars from banks every year by exploiting vulnerabilities caused by bank users' computer misuse. Cybersecurity breaches are threatening the common welfare of citizens since more and more terrorists are using cyberterrorism to target critical infrastructures (e.g., transportation, telecommunications, power, nuclear plants, water supply, banking) to coerce the targeted government and its people to accomplish their political objectives. Cyberwar is another major concern that nations around the world are struggling to get ready to fight. It …