Technology Review #1: Emerging Application of Technology (Consumer or Business).
Objective
The purpose of this technology review is to identify an emerging application of technology, suitable for use by businesses or consumers, and then research the cybersecurity implications of the technology using journal articles, papers published in conference proceedings, and research studies published in dissertations. This type of research is also referred to as a survey of the literature.
Overview
Your audience is a group of senior executives who will be meeting to decide which emerging technologies or emerging applications of technologies should be selected for one or more security-focused, Internal Research & Development projects during the next budget cycle. Each of these executives is responsible for a business area that will (a) develop products that incorporate emerging applications of technology or (b) depend upon such products to support their organization’s operations.
The high-level visibility for your deliverable means that you need to start from a strong foundation of suitable research-based journal articles, papers published in conference proceedings, and doctoral dissertations. The basic question that must be answered is: what are the cybersecurity implications (good or bad) of a specific emerging application of technology.
In addition, the executives have expressed the following information needs, which must be met by the deliverable for this assignment.
- characteristics of the technology,
- use of the technology to support or improve cybersecurity,
- use of the technology to reduce or manage risk,
- use of the technology to increase resistance to threats/attacks,
- use of the technology to decrease vulnerabilities in an existing technology application,
- use or exploitation of the technology by attackers, criminals, terrorists, etc. to accomplish their goals.
Instructions
Format your deliverable as a “descriptive or informative” annotated bibliography. The UMGC library provides information about how to complete this type of assignment. See http://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/bibliography_apa.cfm (sub-heading “To get started”). APA style is recommended but, you may use another professional format for your annotated bibliography.
In addition to the list of sources and annotations, you must provide an introductory paragraph.
See the rubric for additional requirements for this assignment.
Choose an Emerging Application of Technology
To begin, choose an emerging application of technology, which is suitable for future use in a consumer-oriented product or service (i.e. a new product for personal or home use) or a business-oriented product or service. Applications of technology that are currently in the emerging stages include:
- Machine Learning and/or Artificial Intelligence
- Data Science (especially when used to identify patterns and indicators of threats and attacks)
- Blockchain Technology
- 5G Telecommunications Networks
- Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) (devices & electrical circuits)
- Graphene
- Nano machines
- Neuromorphic computer chips
You are encouraged to look for and investigate additional appropriate technologies before deciding upon your technology choice for this assignment.
If you decide to research a technology that is not on the suggested technologies list (see above), you must first request and receive your instructor’s permission. Your instructor may require that you do preliminary library searches for research papers and technical papers to prove that you can find a sufficient number of resources to complete the assignment.
Find Appropriate Sources (“Survey the Literature”)
Brainstorm keywords that you can use to help find articles, papers, and other scholarly publications (“sources’) which discuss your chosen emerging application of technology.
Your selected sources must come from publications indexed in one or more of the following library databases:
Since the point of this search is to find information about emerging applications of technology, your sources must have a publication date of 2016 or later (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). For papers indexed in Science Direct, you may also use papers that are marked “In Press.”
Allowable source types are: (a) professional journals, (b) conference proceedings, (c) dissertations or theses, and (d) technical magazines (published by either the ACM or IEEE). Each of your selected sources must have a reference list containing at least 3 references for authoritative papers. (See http://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/scholarlyjournals.cfm)
To complete this part of the assignment, you may need to review 15 – 20 sources (search results) in order to find 10 papers or articles that are usable for this assignment. The sources you choose must provide technical information about your selected technology (see selection requirements for each paper).
Note: If you have problems accessing any of the library databases, contact the UMGC librarians via the contact methods listed on the library’s home page https://sites.umgc.edu/library/index.cfm . They will be able to assist you with login issues and/or search engine questions (but will not do your research for you).
Create Your Bibliography (List of Sources)
Choose the 10 best sources from your searches for articles, papers, and dissertations. Focus on the ones that give details about your technology and how it can be used in an emerging application of technology. Next, write the reference list entry (APA, MLA, or another appropriate professional citation style) for each source. Alphabetize your list of reference list entries. After you have the correctly ordered list, number your entries from 1 to 10. Note: different reference entry formats are used for different types of sources. Review the UMGC Library’s “Get Help > Citing and Writing for samples and explanations of the formatting rules. If you are using APA format, your list should look something like the following.
- (date). Article title. Publication name, vol(issue), #-#.
- (date). Paper title. Published in the Proceedings of conference-name, pp. #-#.
- Author …
Write Your Annotations
In an annotated bibliography, the annotation is a paragraph or two placed under the reference list entry for each source. For this assignment, the annotation should be a combination of factual information from the source and your evaluation (opinion) of that information. To accomplish this, you should read the abstract, introduction section, and closing sections for each article or paper. For dissertations, look over the Introduction and the Literature Review (usually Chapters 1 & 2). From this information, develop a one to three paragraph informative or descriptive summary of the source that includes: (a) a description of technology and its characteristics, (b) planned uses of the technology (products, services, etc.), and (c) your thoughts and opinions as to how you could use this paper to justify selecting the technology for an Internal Research & Development study.
In each annotation, you should provide at least one specific example of a characteristic and/or application of the technology, e.g. an emerging technology, which impacts cybersecurity.
For example, for an annotation for an article about graphene’s applications to product design, you could discuss how it could be used to manufacture cell phone cases or laptop cases which are less breakable than cases made with current materials. This could positively impact availability because the new case design using graphene would be expected to decrease the risk of breakage. Decreased risk of breakage will decrease the probability of loss of availability caused by a broken case. Decreasing the probability of a negative event will decrease the risk associated with that event
Note: Remember that the security posture of a system or product is framed in terms of risk, threats, vulnerabilities, etc. Improvements to the security posture (positive security implications) will result in reduced risk, increased resistance to threats or attacks, and decreased vulnerability. Negative impacts on the security posture will result in increased risk, decreased resistance to threats / attacks, and increased vulnerability (weakness).
As you write the annotations for each article / paper / dissertation, make sure that you include YOUR thoughts and ideas about the security implications of this technology. Use standard terminology from the readings and glossaries provided in the LEO classroom.
As you brainstorm the security implications of this technology (if these are not specifically discussed by your source), you should consider use of the technology to improve cybersecurity. Then consider applications or uses which will negatively impact the security posture of an organization or the security of individual consumers or users of the product. It is very important that you consider BOTH SIDES OF THIS ISSUE.
Putting It All Together
- Consult the grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this assignment.
- Your 5-8 page annotated bibliography should be professional in appearance with consistent use of fonts, font sizes, margins, etc. You should use headings and page breaks to organize your paper.
- Your paper should use standard terms and definitions for cybersecurity.
- The CSIA program recommends that you follow standard APA formatting since this will give you a document that meets the “professional appearance” requirements. APA formatting guidelines and examples are found under Course Resources > APA Resources. An APA template file (MS Word format) has also been provided for your use CSIA_Basic_Paper_Template(APA_6ed,DEC2018).docx.
- You must include a cover page with the assignment title, your name, and the due date. Your reference list must be on a separate page at the end of your file. These pages do not count towards the assignment’s page count.
- You are expected to write grammatically correct English in every assignment that you submit for grading. Do not turn in any work without (a) using spell check, (b) using grammar check, (c) verifying that your punctuation is correct and (d) reviewing your work for correct word usage and correctly structured sentences and paragraphs.
- You are expected to credit your sources using in-text citations and reference list entries. Both your citations and your reference list entries must follow a consistent citation style (APA, MLA, etc.).
