Discussion

Class, this week we will do something a bit different and experimental. This weeks conference assignment is a bit of a thought excercise attempting to showcase our own security weaknesses and get us thinking like a malicious hacker. There are two parts. Please read carefully as this will be different than our standard weeks:

Part 1: Create a top level post on the following topic:
-I want you to identify and explain all the times during a typical work/school day that your PII effectively is in the cloud. By cloud, I mean the data is not fully under your control (such as a home network). Please list each time you can think of, and put some thought into it. Remember that cell phones are also computers that are connected to a network. (Hint: everyone should have at least 1 time their PII traverses a network they don’t control, since you logged into Blackboard). I also want you to identify any security weakness you have in place for each incident you list. Do NOT reveal personal details such as passwords or usernames, merely explain the situation and any poor security controls in place. 

Part 2: Reply to at least 1 fellow student with the following:
-Your task for your reply is to think like a hacker. Choose a post and identify at least 3 methods you would personally use to attempt to hack into and steal the PII of the original poster. Please be specific and cite source material, as well as indicate which vulneribility or security weakness you will target. 

Grading for this week will be a 30/70 split between initial post and reply. Part 1 does NOT require source material or APA citation and will be graded for content and graduate level writing. Part 2 requires citation and will be graded using the percentages shown in the rubric for a top level post. Part 1 is due Friday at 11:59pm, with part 2 due Sunday at 11:59pm. 
Important!!!: Please approach this assignment from a technical perspective. Do not get offended by anyones attack methods. Our job is to think outside standard security controls and identify weaknesses so that we can better protect ourselves and our technology environment. I can assure you that I have a number of security vulneribilities myself. I have not changed many of my personal passwords in over a year and my social media password in over 2 years. My phone PIN is only 4 characters as well. Consider this a security assessment (which normally people pay for). Remember that the quality of post 2 directly comes from the detail in post 1, so PLEASE put some effort into post 1 and really identify what you consider security weaknesses with your standard operations.