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Page 1: IT Research Paper Final Draft for Website

Running head: The Importance of Cyber Security 1

The Importance of Cyber Security

Max Yoon

George Mason University

IT 103-221

2/25/14

"By placing this statement on my webpage, I certify that I have read and understand the GMU Honor

Code on http://oai.gmu.edu/the-mason-honor-code/. I am fully aware of the following sections of the

Honor Code: Extent of the Honor Code, Responsibility of the Student and Penalty. In addition, I have

received permission from the copyright holder for any copyrighted material that is displayed on my

site. This includes quoting extensive amounts of text, any material copied directly from a web page and

graphics/pictures that are copyrighted. This project or subject material has not been used in another

class by me or any other student. Finally, I certify that this site is not for commercial purposes, which is

a violation of the George Mason Responsible Use of Computing (RUC) Policy posted on

http://copyright.gmu.edu/?page_id=301 web site."

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The Importance of Cyber Security 2

Introduction

People store information in all kinds of places and one of the main places is on the internet. It is

stored virtually and can be accessed by the person who submitted the information. But it is not safe and

protected on the internet. There are methods to obtain information illegally or cause problems by

sending out viruses and other ways. Cyber security is a widely discussed topic. It is important and

affects everyone because it protects all kinds of information. Cyber security talks about the

infrastructure of technology and is used to defend information from various types of attackers that

cause cyber warfare. It was produced as a solution to these kind of attacks but as technology advances

it requires constant updates to prevent data from being stolen online. Without Cyber security most data

online would be accessible to anyone that has the means to whether it be illegal or legal. There are

many ways information can be protected online by either defending the information from attackers or

reacting after something has happened.

Background

The main thing that caused the creation of cyber security was the start of cyber crimes. Hackers

are people who exploit and use weaknesses in a computer system for various reason whether it be to

steal information, corrupt data, or illegally distribute all kinds of information. In 1984 the Counterfeit

Access Device and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was created. It was created as technology advanced

and found that there were ways of stealing information from people. The Counterfeit Access Device

and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was the first legislation created at a federal level that considered

obtaining credit or financial information through a computer a misdemeanor. The creation of this

legislation is what started the idea of cyber/computer security. At first not everyone used this legislation

and created statutes similar to it. This legislation gave notice to cyber crime and as other states learned

“there was an organized effort to try to define what exactly constitutes "computer crime"”(Psu).

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The Importance of Cyber Security 3

Technology is constantly growing and evolving as years pass. People are able to access information

more easily now because of all of this and it makes it easier for people to obtain information illegally

and it can cause many problems. There were many problems as technology grew. In Computer Crime,

Gale encyclopedia of American law (Batten, 2011). During the year 1987 there was a report that $3-5

billion is lost every year due to computer crime (“Computer Crime”). The reasons why cyber security

became so important is to protect the nation and its people and prevent these crimes from happening.

Cyber security is important as people realize once information is stolen and cyber security has grown

from the past to help reduce the amount of cyber crime per year.

Potential Benefits

There has to be more focus on cyber security. It needs to be researched more to prevent all sorts

of illegal activities. In Ensuring Safety, Security, and Sustainability of Mission-Critical Cyber–Physical

Systems (Banerjee, 2012) “Safety is essential given the mission critical deployments of many CPSs

such as in health management and avionics” (p. 4). It it important to prevent harm any kind of harm on

people in general. Cyber security helps keep people safe by the use of time other devote to it and create

preventative measures when something bad happens. Technology has not just grown in computers but

also for health reasons whether it be machines in a hospital or products used in our daily lives. Cyber

threats does not pertain to just stolen information, it can also affect people's lives. Hackers can stop

technology or use it against innocent people and cause many deaths. Cyber threats can be dangerous

like 9/11 because it impacted so many people and caused grief and panic in the United States after what

happened. The government reacted after that to prevent something terrible like from happening again

and they made changes to their cyber security. The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) “ordered

its nuclear power plant licensees to enhance their overall security. The order included specific

requirements for addressing certain cyber security threats and vulnerabilities.”(NRC). They made

various changes and determined that cyber attacks would be a threat that is necessary to defend against.

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The Importance of Cyber Security 4

There are many positive benefits to increasing cyber security as it would protect civilians from lethal

danger and losing private information.

Legal and Ethical Issues

Developing improved cyber security requires a lot of time and effort. In Conducting

Cybersecurity Research Legally and Ethically (Burstein, 2008), the author shows the “difficulty of

determining which of a large set of complex statutes might regulate a given research project”(p. 1).

There are obstacles in the way of research for cyber security based off of old statutes that were created.

One problem is that “a variety of federal and state statutes either prohibit activities that would provide

cyber security researchers with data about real systems and real attackers, or cast such doubt on

research activities that researchers modify their programs or conduct them with a sense of uncertainty

as to their legality.”(p. 1). An issue with cyber security research is that some times there are not legal

ways to proceed and that of course is a problem with the law and causes some set backs. There is also a

lack of trust with some researches based on their backgrounds since some have had a dark past. A

general problem that cyber security researches stumble upon because of legal issues is sharing and

publishing network traces. Researchers may feel obligated to share information with each other, but it

is not legal to disclose important data or records to other people without consent or an appropriate court

order. This law affects covered service providers and they “may not disclose non-content records to any

'governmental entity' without consent or the appropriate order”(p. 4). They can not provide information

that could potentially help others develop more while researching about cyber security. However what

is stated above applies to only providers of communication services to the public. “Others may disclose

non-content records.”(p. 4). There are ways to obtain the information researchers need legally but it is

really a situation of ethics if it is okay to publish these network traces. This is just one example of what

researchers can or need to do in order to gain valuable information and it is not illegal. The issue is

mainly ethical and what people would think about it.

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The Importance of Cyber Security 5

Security Concerns

The concerns are related to the development of research as researchers get closer to a solution.

The methods they use can cause issues for companies or people because sometimes it requires the use

of private information. Researchers can share this information with others if they wanted to and that

would be a concern for the owner of the information and it would cause distrust between the

researchers and information holders. In Guide to Computer Networking (Kizza, 2013), the author talks

about recent security standards. Research is constantly being developed to help combat cyber threat. He

shows it by the work put into cyber security is given guidelines when its put into use. They “provide

security policies and procedures that are measured against each other in the same industry” (p. 182).

They follow the guidelines given to themselves and show positive results. The reason they are

compared to others in the same industry is to learn more from each other and develop more ways to

prevent threat in the future.

Social Problems

Cyber Security is important as a whole because it provides safety to people. There are some

general risks to people as the research can sometime require more effort or the information acquired

could be shared publicly even if it is meant to be used privately. Some researchers also try to allow

hackers to break in so they can research habits and methods, but it is for the better in most cases as it

allows them to improve or create new ways to improve cyber security.

Further Research

Further research is always necessary for cyber security. As technology continues to evolve so

does everyone else including hackers or people who create cyber threats. It is necessary to help prevent

cyber threats in the future and hopefully there will be changes in legislation so researches will not have

a big problem doing what they need to do for their research. If cyber security becomes more recognized

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The Importance of Cyber Security 6

because it is helpful in our daily lives then change will occur for the safety of everyone and laws could

be changed around.

Conclusion

Overall cyber security is an important aspect of protection in this world. It is necessary to put

more emphasis on research for it and for people to realize the importance of cyber security. With more

focus on cyber security it can potentially prevent any major threats from actually happening in the

future and create some peace.

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References

(2013, March 14). Cyber security: its importance and relevance to the modern world. Retrieved

February 24, 2009, from http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/j/m/jms6423/Engproj/History of

Computer Crime.xhtml

A research website that has been updated recently in the year 2013. It talks about the history of

cyber security and how important it actually is. It talks about major acts that have been passed

in order to combat cyber threats and it also describes what are cyber threats and the reactions

nations have against them. It is reliable website because all of the information was researched

and cited on the website.

Batten, D. (2011).Computer crime: gale encyclopedia of american law. Retrieved February 24,

2009

Talks about history of laws passed down in America. One section of the book is about computer crimes

and how it affected the nation in the past. It has statistics about what has happened and a record of laws

passed down for many other purposes other than cyber crimes. Reliable source because it is a published

encyclopedia with a lot of information.

(2012, October 19). Backgrounder on cyber security. Retrieved February 24, 2009. From

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6061910&tag=1

It has background information about cyber security. It is an example of steps some companies

or facilities have taken as preventative measures for the future. They talk about themselves

mainly to help provide information and prevent more cyber threats like 9/11. It is a reliable

source that uses information from past events and talks about the changes they implemented.

Banerjee, A. (2012, January). Ensuring safety, security, and sustainability of mission-critical

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The Importance of Cyber Security 8

cyber–physical systems. Retrieved February 24, 2009, From

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6061910&tag=1

It is a research paper that was published about the security and safety of physical systems. It provides

information on issues and some solutions based off of physical systems. It also includes information

about how it is sustainable and ensures security itself where ever this information is used.

Kizza, J. (2013). Guide to computing. Retrieved February 24, 2009

It is a textbook that has the fundamentals to computing. It talks about computer security and the

concerns about security. It takes in all the risks from computer security. The textbook itself is a reliable

source as it contains vasts amount of information and is used in other locations.

Burnstein, A. (2008). Conducting cybersecurity research legally and ethically. In A. Burnstein

(Ed.), Retrieved February 24, 2009, From

https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/leet08/tech/full_papers/burstein/burstein.pdf

It is a research paper that is concerned about the research of cyber security. It talks about issues

researchers have with the law and ways to get around it in a way. It also raises ethical concerns about

what the researchers do with the information. It is a reliable source as it was published by the

University of California and provides citations for all of the information the author provided.