Government Programs in Cybersecurity Education and Awareness - Essay Example

Government Programs in Cyber Security Education and Awareness Cyber security is the tendency of ensuring protection to computer-based equipment, information and services from unexpected or rather unauthorized access, alterations or sabotage (Maconachy & Bosworth, 2009). It encompasses adoption of stringent security standards that seek to minimize the number of successful attacks on cyber security. Topic 1 The Unites State government lounged programs and campaigns that sensitizes the American people of the growing cyber threats and empower them to be safe and secure online. The campaigns projects towards understanding the cyber threats and consequently equipping people with the protection tools against these threats. (Gattiker, 2009) Presently, the United States suffers a deficit in the number of professionals in cyber security; a fact that compromises predictions of America’s future needs. The demand for improved cyber security education would bolster America’s future workforce (Rudolph, 2009). Recent survey conducted by Zogby International suggests that cyber security education would be a significant contributor in the economic growth of the US. That small business owner registering high returns needs employees with cyber security skills. Another recent study by Microsoft indicates a significant demand for cyber security education in America’s K-12 classrooms (Gattiker, 2009). Therefore, the government programs, through cyber security education, would contribute in the economic growth of US and the sensitization of America’s K-12 classrooms among other contribution. Recommendations a) The US government should raise the national awareness about cyber threats and associated risks. It should improve risk knowledge and cyber security vulnerabilities as well as engage in the promotion of the use of cyber security tools and resources. This can take the form of; encouragement of campaigns such as Stop.Think.Connect, Strategy promotion for cyber risk management training engagement in partnership with external stakeholders and encouragement of participation in activities, in line with cyber security. b) The cyber security workforce’s pool of individuals should be broadened by engaging in the promotion of interests in computer science and cyber security. This can be undertaken through an increase of diversity and quality of computer science programs in high schools, improvement of both undergraduate and graduate cyber security curricula and promotion of research and development on cyber security. c) The government should encourage the cultivation of globally competitive cyber security workforce. It should encourage the adoption of national cyber security framework as well as its development. This can take the form of building consensus among the stakeholders developing and validating the framework, development of the tools and resources that would encourage and supervise the framework adoption and apply the lesson learnt in the adoption of the framework in state and federal governments, as well as, the private sectors. Topic 3 Software Policy Dilemma About a month ago, I installed two operating systems on my laptop; windows XP and windows and windows 7 ultimate. All the documents in the windows XP could open in compatibility mode as normal, and I could be able to edit and save them. However, in windows 7, all the documents opened as Read Only documents rendering me incapable of editing and/or saving them. I went to the Microsoft word 2010 trust center containing security and privacy settings and disabled all the File Block settings. Unfortunately, I could not disable the binary documents and templates for Microsoft word 1997 and 2003 since they do not have a checkbox for their deactivation. Creating a word document with the help of .docx extension could allow the documents to be edited and saved (Christian, Kabay, Henry & Schneider, 2009). I went to my windows XP documents and took ownership of them so that I could be able to change them. However, this move did not solve the issue as they still opened as Read Only documents. I saved the files in my laptop’s disk drive and not on any network thus no one else could access them. All the .docs opened on Ms Word 2010. The only problem was that they opened in compatibility mode in windows XP and as Read Only documents in windows 7. The Solution I conducted a little research about the problem, and as it turned out, many users running on windows 7 exclusively also had the same encounter. The course of the problem was that the MS Word .doc was opening from its containing folder using windows explorer. Double-clicking on the file resulted to a Read only warning pop up. However, righting-clicking on the file and selecting the open option from the menu would have allowed the document to open normally. The explanation for this is that both windows 7 and vista encounter fairly widespread Read Only problems. Microsoft explains this problem to be associated with files in folders that are typically ignored by accessories, windows and windows components. The Read only attributes as well as systems’ is used by windows explorer to determine the specialty of the folder. An example of such is a system folder’s view customized by windows or a folder customized by the help of a customizing tab at the property dialogue box of the folder. The only successful way that helped me cub the problem was to turn off the User Account Control. This allowed me to edit all the documents and even music files. TOPIC 4 Recommendation The improvement of cyber security can suffer a significant blow if it does not come after the improvement of authentication and identity management (Christian, Kabay, Henry & Schneider, 2009). Authentication should not be only about people anymore. In this line of reasoning, it is a recommendation that the federal government should establish identity management to make online transactions safer. Identity management also offers protection against unauthorized release of personal identity information. The federal government should consider building a cyber security-based identity management visions as well as strategies that would seek to employ various approaches. It should use myriad information, benefit programs and services to interact with the citizens thus safe guarding the public’s private information in the process. In 2008, the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) subcommittee, which dealt with issues of biometrics and identity management, submitted a report providing the vision of the federal identity management and outlined recommendations attributable to research and development is this field. It is a recommendation that the federal government should at least consider using this report as a start on the implementation of identity management. Work Cited Christian, C., Kabay, M.E., Henry, K., & Schneider, S. (2009). Professional certification and training in information assurance. Gattiker, U. (2009). European graduate work in information assurance and the Bologna Declaration. Maconachy, V & Bosworth, S. (2009). Undergraduate and graduate education in information assurance. Rudolph, K. (2009). Implementing a security awareness program. Read More