Research Paper on Cyber-attacks

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Traditional Research

Project Title: Cyber-attacks are increasing on the internet and smart phone devices. (The purpose of this research to find specific issues and potential solutions to these cyber-attacks. This research will use the qualitative approach to gather data from cybersecurity professionals in order to identify the issues and solutions of this cyber-attacks)

** ** This paper is the continuation of 3rd paper, I am attaching bellow.

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  • Discussion (pages as needed)
  • Conclusions (pages as needed)

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Running head: CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES Cyber-Attacks are Increasing on the Internet and Smartphone Devices 1 CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 2 Table of Contents Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………4 Research design…………………………………………………………………………………...4 Research Participants…………………………………………………...…………………………6 Instruments of research…………………………………………………………………………...7 Procedure………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Data Processing and Analysis …………………………………………………………………….9 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………10 References……………………………………………………………………………………......12 CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 3 List of tables Table 1: Participant’s demographic table…………………………………………………………6 CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 4 Methodology Cyber-attacks are attacks on computer devices through the internet. The attacks could be politically or socially driven targeting corporate and national organizations or the general public that depend on computer technology and networks. Cyber attackers use malicious codes (viruses) to interfere with the normal functioning of a computer system, malicious software (malware), monitoring software (spyware), distributed denial of service (making computer resources unavailable to intended users), spam (unsolicited e-mails), phishing (online identity theft), fake websites, unauthorized web access and other ways of stealing organizational or personal information (Gao & Ansari, 2015). Cyber attackers could perpetrate attacks on specific companies and organizations for monitory gains. For example, an attacker can bring down a bank's mail server and demand a lump sum of money to give the mail server back to the bank. On the other hand, some attackers carry out attacks just for fun, for example, one can hack into a friend's Facebook account just and perhaps show his/her hacking abilities (Lala & Panda, 2011). This poses a threat not only to the individuals but the entire community. Computer internet technology provides the backbone of modern living by enabling people to socialize, shop, communicate and get entertained using their smartphones and home computers. Therefore, with the increase in technological advancement, both monitory motivated and fun motivated attacks are on the rise which calls for sophisticated counter-attack measures for organizations and individuals (Arabo & Pranggono, 2013). Research design Qualitative research approach CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 5 In this research, qualitative research approach will be used to collect data. Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target participant's perception and range of behavior regarding specific issues or topics. It is a social science research that collects and works with nonnumerical data and seeks to deduce meaning from these data that help us understand social life through the study of a targeted population (Thomas, Nelson & Silverman, 2015). This research approach allows researchers to investigate the meaning people attribute to their actions, behavior, and interactions with others. This kind of research approach produces descriptive data that requires the researcher to interpret using systematic and rigorous methods of coding, transcribing and analysis of trends and themes. The qualitative research approach is best suited to research on cyber-attacks because it is focused on day-to-day experiences of the people. Most people spend a lot of their time on the internet through their smartphones on a daily basis. Smartphones also have low capabilities of protecting users from adverse cyber-attacks (Thomas, Nelson & Silverman, 2015). This increases their vulnerability to cyber-attacks carried out by the ever-increasing number of hackers. Qualitative research approach has the following benefits to our research; it will help us cover the issues of cyber-attack on internet and smartphones in depth and detail, interviewers can guide interview questions in real time, data collected will depend on participant’s experiences hence more compelling than in quantitative research and the direction and framework of research can be revised easily based on emergence of fresh information and findings (Gill, Stewart, Treasure & Chadwick, 2017). Therefore, in our research that requires real-time information on issues of internet and smartphone cyber-attacks, qualitative research is the best approach. CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 6 Research participants The participants for cyber-attack research will be comprised of thirty members of the general public. Thirty participants will be a good number to obtain a variety of responses to their experiences regarding cyber-attack on the internet and smartphones. These participants will be scheduled to either contribute to the research through an interview or the focus group; preferably, fifteen will participate through interviews and fifteen through the focus group. Participants will be of age between 18 to 40 years made up of fifteen males and fifteen females. A participant of age between 18 to 40 years is an ideal selection for this research since this age bracket comprises of many people using the internet and smartphones in their daily activities. Participants will be asked to participate in the research through invitations of willing individuals meeting the above conditions. Participant’s demographic table: Characteristics Sample size Number 30 Gender Male 15 Female 15 Age range (18-25) 30 Table 1: Participant’s demographic table CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 7 Research Instruments The purpose of this research is to find specific issues of cyber-attacks and potential solutions to these attacks. Therefore the in-depth collection of data from the targeted population is essential to find the issues and possible solutions. Qualitative research methods that will be used in researching the increase of cyber-attacks on the internet and smartphones include; Interviews Interviews involve one-on-one dialogue between the researcher and the participant. This method provides three approaches to interview questions; unstructured, semi-structured and structured questions. In an unstructured interview, the researcher doesn't have a predefined set of questions on cyber-attack. In this case, an interviewer may frame questions based on interviewee previous response. In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer has a predefined set of questions concerning cyber-attacks which act as guidelines for the interview, but the interviewer is not limited to those questions. He/she may ask the interviewee a question based on his/her previous response. A structured interview is strictly confined to a predefined set of questions. The questions are formatted in a way that limits a range of answers. All the three forms of interviews can be used on various participants to get a variety of responses to the experiences of cyber-attack. Interviews have the following advantages; • It allows face to face contact with the respondent hence first-hand information is collected. • Provides opportunity to explore topic in depth CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 8 • Allows an interviewer to the effective as well as cognitive aspects of responses. • Allow interviewer clarify or explain questions increasing chances of useful responses. • Allow flexibility in administering interview to particular individuals or in particular circumstances. Focus group Focus group is an ideal method when trying to get information from a group rather than individuals. It involves a gathering of people between 5-15 who have been affected by cyberattacks in their day-to-day activities. Several focus groups can be used to obtain optimal responses. It combines the elements of both interview and participant observations. Focus group utilizes group interaction to generate data and insights that would be unlikely to emerge on an individual interview. It allows observation of group dynamics, discussions, and first-hand insights into the respondent's attitude towards cyber-attacks (Gill, Stewart, Treasure & Chadwick, 2017). The above two qualitative research methods can be both used to provide optimal results on cyber-attack issues and respondent’s suggestions on how to counter cyber-attack. Procedure In researching cyber-attack, the willing participants will first be asked if they know what cyber-attack is. Those that give a positive response will be asked to give a short verbal understanding of cyber-attack (Barman, 2017). The ones that will give a negative response will be will be read a short verbal definition and description of cyber-attack. CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 9 They then will go to the next stage of the interview and focus groups. Ten participants will be interviewed individually while five will go to a focus group. Participants that will be interviewed will be expected to answer questions on cyber-attack including but not limited to; • What is the aim of personal and organizational information security? • How do cyber-attack affect smartphones? • Types of cyber-attack • Do combination characters, numbers and symbols form strong passwords? • Should cybersecurity professionals put more focus on threats or vulnerabilities? • What cyber threat concerns you more? • What role is played by the government to secure cyberspace? • How can a safer cyber world be build? Individuals participating in the focus group will be expected to answer some or all of the above questions including other questions that may emerge in the course of the discussion regarding cyber-attack (Barman, 2017). Data Processing and Analysis After data collection, data analysis should be done to make sense of it and to make accessible to the researcher a large amount of textual data that has been generated. Data analysis will consist of categorizing, tabulating, examining and recombining the data collected from the research. Content analysis will be done to uncover the issues of cyber-attack as provided by the participants during the interview and focus group. It is a procedure used to categorize verbal or CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 10 behavioral data for classification, summarization and tabulation purposes. Content analysis involves coding and classifying data with the aim of making sense of the data collected and t highlight important findings in issues of cyber-attack and its suggested solutions (Wright, Dawson & Omar, 2012). A computerized data analysis of the data collected during research can be done using SPSS (a statistical software package used to analyze data developed by IBM). Summary In the research section, researchers are expected to note down or record all the responses from the participants. This will help identify the various cyber-attack issues on internet and smartphones. The researchers are also expected to ask the participants their opinions on the possible solutions to the various cyber-attack issues they have encountered in their daily internet activities (Lala & Panda, 2011). Data analysis will give us a real picture of cyber-attack issues raised by the participants during research by categorizing the issues according to similarities or frequency of their occurrence. Possible solutions to counter cyber-attack threat can then be proposed based on the findings from the research. Data analysis will also provide issues that affect most people in the society. This will help formulate ways of preventing rapid cyber-attack on internet and smartphones With recent rapid technological advancement, use of computers and smartphones interconnected through the internet is, without doubt, the backbone of our day-to-day activities. The whole world is embracing the idea of doing business transactions, shopping, socializing and communicating online (Sadeghi, Wachsmann & Waidner, 2015). With this trend, hackers seek every opportunity to carry out cyber-attacks on various computer systems and smartphones, CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 11 some for monitory gains while others for fun. Therefore developing systems and implementing measures to limit cyber-attacks is necessary to safeguard organizational and personal information. CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 12 References Arabo, A. & Pranggono, B. (2013, May). Mobile malware and smart device security: Trends, challenges and solutions. 19th International Conference on Control Systems and Computer Science (pp. 526-531). IEEE. DOI 10.1109/CSCS.2013.27 Barman, S. (2017). 20 Interview Questions and Answers for Cyber-security Professionals. Simplilearn.com. Retrieved 4 October 2017, from https://www.simplilearn.com/cyber-security-interview-questions-and-answers-article Gao, Z. & Ansari, N. (2015). Tracing Cyber Attacks from the Practical Perspective. TOPICS IN INTERNET TECHNOLOGY. IEEE Communications Magazine, pp. 123-131. Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E., & Chadwick, B. (2017). Qualitative research data collection methods: interviews and focus groups. Retrieved 4 October 2017, from http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v204/n6/full/bdj.2008.192.html?foxtrotcallback=true Lala, C. & Panda, B. (2011). Evaluating damage from cyber-attacks: a model and analysis. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part A: Systems and Humans, 31(4), 300-310. Sadeghi, A. R., Wachsmann, C. & Waidner, M. (2015, June). Security and privacy challenges in industrial internet of things. In Design Automation Conference (DAC), ACM (pp. 1-6). IEEE. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2744769.2747942 Thomas, J., Nelson, J., & Silverman, S. (2015). Methods for collecting qualitative research. human-kinetics. Retrieved 4 October 2017, from CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES 13 http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/explore-four-methods-for-collectingqualitative-research Wright, J., Dawson, M. E., & Omar, M. (2012). Cyber security and mobile threats: The need for antivirus applications for smart phones. Journal of Information Systems Technology and Planning, 5(14), 40-60. Running Head: PROJECT TITLE Cyber-attacks are increasing on the internet and smart phone devices 1 2 PROJECT TITLE Results The results section is a major section of your research paper and, as such, is preceded by a level one heading formatted in accordance with the requirements in the Publication Manual entitled “Results”. The results section is intended to provide a detailed discussion of the data collected during your research effort (including the manner in which it was collected and from whom it was collected). This section also provides a detailed discussion of the methodology you used to analyze the data you collected, as well as a discussion of the key analysis results. This section should not include any discussion of your evaluation or interpretation of the data or analysis results. Refer to the Publication Manual for additional guidance regarding the contents of the results section of your paper. Discussion The discussion section is a major section of your research paper and, as such, is preceded by a level one heading formatted in accordance with the requirements in the Publication Manual entitled “Discussion”. Having presented the results from your research effort in the preceding results section, you are now in a position to discuss your evaluation and interpretation of the implications of the data you have collected, especially with respect to how the data and analysis applies to proving or disproving your hypothesis. This section of your paper is where you examine, evaluate, interpret, and qualify the results of your research, as well as draw inferences from them. This is an extremely important section in your research paper inasmuch as it demonstrates your critical thinking skills with regard to applying your research findings to creating a solution to your stated problem and answers to your stated research question(s). Refer to the Publication Manual for additional guidance regarding the content of the discussion section of your research paper. 3 PROJECT TITLE Conclusion The conclusion section is a major section of your research paper and, as such, is preceded by a level one heading formatted in accordance with the requirements in the Publication Manual entitled “Conclusions”. This section should clearly and concisely summarize your key findings, as well as discuss the benefits that will result from having conducted your research. The conclusion section must clearly and concisely discuss whether you proved or disproved your hypothesis. A good conclusion clearly brings the paper to closure. This is also the section of your research paper in which it is appropriate to mention if there is further study that you believe should be conducted, as well as identify the specific areas in which you think the additional research may be needed, based upon your research findings. Use a hard page break at the end of the conclusions section. 4 PROJECT TITLE References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running head: CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

Cyber-Attacks are Increasing on the Internet and Smartphone Devices

1

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

2

Table of Contents
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………4
Research design…………………………………………………………………………………...4
Research Participants…………………………………………………...…………………………6
Instruments of research…………………………………………………………………………...7
Procedure………………………………………………………………………………………….8
Data Processing and Analysis …………………………………………………………………….9
Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………10
References……………………………………………………………………………………......12

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

3

List of tables
Table 1: Participant’s demographic table…………………………………………………………6

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

4

Methodology
Cyber-attacks are attacks on computer devices through the internet. The attacks could be
politically or socially driven targeting corporate and national organizations or the general public
that depend on computer technology and networks. Cyber attackers use malicious codes (viruses)
to interfere with the normal functioning of a computer system, malicious software (malware),
monitoring software (spyware), distributed denial of service (making computer resources
unavailable to intended users), spam (unsolicited e-mails), phishing (online identity theft), fake
websites, unauthorized web access and other ways of stealing organizational or personal
information (Gao & Ansari, 2015).
Cyber attackers could perpetrate attacks on specific companies and organizations for
monetary gains. For example, an attacker can bring down a bank's mail server and demand a lump
sum of money to give the mail server back to the bank. On the other hand, some attackers carry
out attacks just for fun, for example, one can hack into a friend's Facebook account just and perhaps
show his/her hacking abilities (Lala & Panda, 2011). This poses a threat not only to the individuals
but the entire community.
Computer internet technology provides the backbone of modern living by enabling people
to socialize, shop, communicate and get entertained using their smartphones and home computers.
Therefore, with the increase in technological advancement, both monetary motivated and fun
motivated attacks are on the rise which calls for sophisticated counter-attack measures for
organizations and individuals (Arabo & Pranggono, 2013).
Research design
Qualitative research approach

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

5

In this research, qualitative research approach will be used to collect data. Qualitative
research is designed to reveal a target participant's perception and range of behavior regarding
specific issues or topics. It is a social science research that collects and works with non-numerical
data and seeks to deduce meaning from these data that help us understand social life through the
study of a targeted population (Thomas, Nelson & Silverman, 2015). This research approach
allows researchers to investigate the meaning people attribute to their actions, behavior, and
interactions with others.
This kind of research approach produces descriptive data that requires the researcher to
interpret using systematic and rigorous methods of coding, transcribing and analysis of trends and
themes. The qualitative research approach is best suited to research on cyber-attacks because it is
focused on day-to-day experiences of the people. Most people spend a lot of their time on the
internet through their smartphones on a daily basis. Smartphones also have low capabilities of
protecting users from adverse cyber-attacks (Thomas, Nelson & Silverman, 2015). This increases
their vulnerability to cyber-attacks carried out by the ever-increasing number of hackers.
Qualitative research approach has the following benefits to our research; it will help us
cover the issues of cyber-attack on internet and smartphones in depth and detail, interviewers can
guide interview questions in real time, data collected will depend on participant’s experiences
hence more compelling than in quantitative research and the direction and framework of research
can be revised easily based on emergence of fresh information and findings (Gill, Stewart, Treasure
& Chadwick, 2017). Therefore, in our research that requires real-time information on issues of
internet and smartphone cyber-attacks, qualitative research is the best approach.
Research participants

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

6

The participants for cyber-attack research will be comprised of thirty members of the
general public. Thirty participants will be a good number to obtain a variety of responses to their
experiences regarding cyber-attack on the internet and smartphones. These participants will be
scheduled to either contribute to the research through an interview or the focus group; preferably,
fifteen will participate through interviews and fifteen through the focus group.
Participants will be of age between 18 to 40 years made up of fifteen males and fifteen
females. A participant of age between 18 to 40 years is an ideal selection for this research since
this age bracket comprises of many people using the internet and smartphones in their daily
activities. Participants will be asked to participate in the research through invitations of willing
individuals meeting the above conditions.
Participant’s demographic table:

Characteristics
Sample size

Number
30

Gender
Male

15

Female

15

Age range (18-40)

30

Table 1: Participant’s demographic table

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

7

Research Instruments
The purpose of this research is to find specific issues of cyber-attacks and potential
solutions to these attacks. Therefore the in-depth collection of data from the targeted population is
essential to find the issues and possible solutions. Qualitative research methods that will be used
in researching the increase of cyber-attacks on the internet and smartphones include;
Interviews
Interviews involve one-on-one dialogue between the researcher and the participant. This
method provides three approaches to interview questions; unstructured, semi-structured and
structured questions. In an unstructured interview, the researcher doesn't have a predefined set of
questions on cyber-attack. In this case, an interviewer may frame questions based on interviewee
previous response.
In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer has a predefined set of questions concerning
cyber-attacks which act as guidelines for the interview, but the interviewer is not limited to those
questions. He/she may ask the interviewee a question based on his/her previous response. A
structured interview is strictly confined to a predefined set of questions. The questions are
formatted in a way that limits a range of answers.
All the three forms of interviews can be used on various participants to get a variety of
responses to the experiences of cyber-attack. Interviews have the following advantages;


It allows face to face contact with the respondent hence first-hand information is
collected.



Provides opportunity to explore topic in depth

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

8



Allows an interviewer to the effective as well as cognitive aspects of responses.



Allow interviewer clarify or explain questions increasing chances of useful responses.



Allow flexibility in administering interview to particular individuals or in particular
circumstances.

Focus group
Focus group is an ideal method when trying to get information from a group rather than
individuals. It involves a gathering of people between 5-15 who have been affected by cyberattacks in their day-to-day activities. Several focus groups can be used to obtain optimal responses.
It combines the elements of both interview and participant observations.
Focus group utilizes group interaction to generate data and insights that would be unlikely
to emerge on an individual interview. It allows observation of group dynamics, discussions, and
first-hand insights into the respondent's attitude towards cyber-attacks (Gill, Stewart, Treasure &
Chadwick, 2017). The above two qualitative research methods can be both used to provide optimal
results on cyber-attack issues and respondent’s suggestions on how to counter cyber-attack.
Procedure
In researching cyber-attack, the willing participants will first be asked if they know what
cyber-attack is. Those that give a positive response will be asked to give a short verbal
understanding of cyber-attack (Barman, 2017). The ones that will give a negative response will be
will be read a short verbal definition and description of cyber-attack.
They then will go to the next stage of the interview and focus groups. Fifteen participants
will be interviewed individually while the remaining fifteen will go to a focus group. Participants

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

9

that will be interviewed will be expected to answer questions on cyber-attack including but not
limited to;


What is the aim of personal and organizational information security?



How do cyber-attack affect smartphones?



Types of cyber-attack



Do combination characters, numbers and symbols form strong passwords?



Should cybersecurity professionals put more focus on threats or vulnerabilities?



What cyber threat concerns you more?



What role is played by the government to secure cyberspace?



How can a safer cyber world be build?
Individuals participating in the focus group will be expected to answer some or all of the

above questions including other questions that may emerge in the course of the discussion
regarding cyber-attack (Barman, 2017).
Data Processing and Analysis
After data collection, data analysis should be done to make sense of it and to make
accessible to the researcher a large amount of textual data that has been generated. Data analysis
will consist of categorizing, tabulating, examining and recombining the data collected from the
research.
Content analysis will be done to uncover the issues of cyber-attack as provided by the
participants during the interview and focus group. It is a procedure used to categorize verbal or
behavioral data for classification, summarization and tabulation purposes. Content analysis

CYBER-ATTACKS ON INTERNET AND SMARTPHONE DEVICES

10

involves coding and classifying data with the aim of making sense of the data collected and to
highlight important findings in issues of cyber-attack and its suggested solutions (Wright, Dawson
& Omar, 2012). A computerized data analysis of the data collected during research can be done
using SPSS (a statistical software package used to analyze data developed by IBM).
Summary
In the research section, researchers are expected to note down or record all the responses
from the participants. This will help identify the various cyber-attack issues on internet and
smartphones. The researchers are also expected to ask the participants their opinions on the
possible solutions to the various cyber-attack issues they have encountered in their daily internet
activities (Lala & Panda, 2011).
Data analysis will give us a real picture of cyber-attack issues raised by the participants
during research ...


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