Case Scenario 2: Street Smith Company

Content Type

User Generated

User

zrxrgurqba

Subject

Computer Science

Course

CMAP 605

School

University of Maryland Global Campus

Description

Scenario:

The employees at Street Smith Company recently completed training on current social-engineering techniques that can be followed up with phishing attacks. Overall, the employees feel confident they understand both social engineering and phishing and, as a result, understand how to avoid being scammed.

One employee, Bradley Jones, was recently overlooked for a promotion. Bradley has heard rumors the company might be laying off some workers…including him. While he has not been happy at Street Smith Company for years, he has enjoyed the salary and benefits. Not being promoted has only increased his resentment of the company. As a result, he has decided to take sensitive files with him to a new job he has found with a competing company. He justifies his actions by telling himself that even though Street Smith Company has not appreciated his efforts, his new job will.

Bradley begins by talking to his coworkers about a special project he is working on that requires access to specific files. Bradley tells his coworkers he will email them an attachment explaining the project and the specifics of what he needs. The attached file he sends is an .html file in disguise. Upon opening the attachment, his coworkers are directed to a website containing malicious code. The code triggers a pop-up notification, which tells the workers that they have been logged out of Microsoft 365 and will need to re-enter their login information. As a result, Bradley collects the credentials of his coworkers, allowing him to access the system to obtain the files he really wants to take with him when he leaves the Street Smith Company.

Street Smith Company did not realize what Bradley had done until two months after he was laid off. Now, the company executives would like your expertise to help them understand how this happened despite the training the employees completed in detecting and avoiding such scams. The company executives want to know what they can do to better protect the company in the future.

Instructions:

In a 4- to 6-page paper, (not including the title or references pages) answer the following questions in your role as a consultant to the Street Smith Company.

Explain what kind of threat Bradley was at Street Smith Company. What signs were present? How might this company monitor these sorts of insider threats in the future?
Discuss the role authentication options may play in reducing similar attacks at the company in the future. Provide specific examples to ensure clarity for the company executives. Provide an example of a policy the executives should consider in role authentication.
The executives ask you about password security. Explain how passwords did or did not significantly impact the attack. What else could have been done to protect the company, even though the firm had provided mandatory training just weeks before Bradley began his attack? Discuss current trends in password characteristics that the company should use for all employees.
The company executives are not familiar with the concept of access control. Explain that concept, so they can understand it. Discuss its role in cybersecurity and how the company can implement at least two tactics, such as limiting access to data and assigning least privileges to employees, to control access.
File access control relates to the secrecy dimension of security. What is the relationship between an access control matrix and the integrity of the objects to which access is being controlled
Discuss why Street Smith Company should develop cybersecurity policies. Give two reasons why policies are paramount in cybersecurity practices and that go beyond updating hardware and software. Consider the human element in security.

Requirements:

Back up your paper with sources. Refrain from relying on blogs as sources. To find credible sources, you might begin with the UMGC Library using OneSearch, Google Scholar, or web search (Google), government websites, and professional organizations.
Include a references page of the sources you used in your research.
Use APA 7 formatting throughout your paper.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

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Case Scenario 2 Street Smith Company

Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Date:

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Case Scenario 2 Street Smith Company
Bradley's threat to the firm
From the case above, the Street Smith Company failed to consider Bradley for
promotion. In the process, he took sensitive files that he found essential for his potential role at a
competing firm. It is essential to mention that Bradley presented an insider threat to the business
(Georgiadou et al., 2022). In this case, such a challenge arises from within the internal operations
of a firm. Bradley exhibited various signs that the management and the employees would have
noticed to prevent such an occurrence.
In most cases, Bradley argued that he was overlooked following the failure of the
employer to promote him to his role. He resented the workplace since, regardless of his
continued work at the company, he was not promoted. Similarly, Bradley learned that the firm
would likely lay him off with others. This possibility further affected Bradley's perception of the
company, which translated into additional resentment. In another dimension, Bradley claimed
that he had been assigned a special project, which he had discussed with the other employees.
However, none of the other workers learned that the management had not assigned Brandley
special tasks. Instead, the senior teams would not engage Bradley further since he would be laid
off. The workers and the senior teams failed to notice these cues, leading to the incident. Lastly,
Brandley sent an email masquerading as a request for additional files leading to the attack.
Businesses can monitor and control insider threats using various methods. For example,
progressive assessment of the employee's behavior through automated resources like the UEBA
tool can determine users who present potential threats to the firm (Georgiadou et al., 2022). For
example, it is possible to identify the workers who access certain files or systems without
authorization or at times when the others are unavailable. Further, the continued screening of

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inbound and outgoing traffic, primarily focusing on corporate emails and the associated
attachments, can determine potential threats against the company.
Authentication role
When allocating roles to the employees, the primary concern should be the level of
clearance that each worker exhibits according to the sensitivity of the files in the context.
Bradley might have taken sensitive files by exploiting the credentials harvested from the
employees through phishing. This incident can be reduced by adopting a multi-factor
authentication model. In this case, the firm should ensure that...