Month: July 2023

Early this week, I sent my project title to Dr. Kenneth Eustace and received positive feedback about my project title. I started developing the project plan and tried to obtain the required tools and applications for my project. I decided to use Zotreo software to generate APA7 required formatting, and while the outcome was mostly correct, I realised there were some errors I needed to fix manually, referring to the guide provided by the CSU library. I have used google scholar and CSU Primo to find some of my peer-reviewed and decent articles and resources. I spent hours reviewing the articles to develop critical key questions and write my project brief assessment. During my research, I learned about the potential research gaps in my topic and the suggested area of research advised by other researchers. I applied new findings to my project brief and tried to fill the recommended study gaps in my key questions. After studying related articles and finding my resource materials; I am confident enough to start working on my research and required tasks for assessment 2.

My name is Alireza, and I am completing my Master of Cyber Security. I have worked as an IT technical support for several years and have an undergraduate degree in networking. Besides pursuing a cyber security profession, I have also published short story books and am interested in human behaviors. My interest and passion for human factors in cyber security and cyber mitigating techniques lead me to the following initial research areas:

-Cyber Terrorism and Radicalisation in Online Spaces

-Human Factors in Preventing and Mitigating social engineering driven cyber attacks

After several weeks of brainstorming different ideas around cyberwarfare and cyberterrorism, I wondered if I could meaningfully develop a research topic in cyberterrorism for this subject. Meanwhile, a slight shift in my approach got me closer to a topic where I could include my interest in human factors to address technology, issues, application, and innovation more confidently. As part of my initial research, I came across ACSC’s Annual Cyber Threat Report and learned about the increasing threat of Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks. I then used keywords such as “human factors,” “cyber attack mitigation,” and “authentication factors” to further develop ideas around BEC. I eventually felt pretty confident choosing the following topic for my ICT571 project.

“Evaluating the Effectiveness of Multi-Factor Authentication and the Impact of Human Factors in Preventing and Mitigating Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks.”