Case Study #1: Why should businesses invest in cybersecurity?

Case Scenario:

A client company has asked your cybersecurity consulting firm to provide it with a 2 to 3 page white paper which discusses the business need for investments in cybersecurity. The purpose of this white paper is to “fill in the gaps” in a business case that was already prepared by the company’s Chief Information Officer. The target audience for your paper is the company’s C-suite executives. These executives will be meeting later this month to discuss budget requests from department heads. The company has requested that your white paper use the same investment categories as are already in use for the CIO’s business case: people, processes, and technologies.

Definitions:

1.Business Case: a written justification for allocating resources to a project or investment which includes a description of the project and presents an analysis of the expected or anticipated benefits (return on investment) associated with successful completion of the project or investment. Such “benefits” are usually expressed in financial terms (e.g. profit, loss, expenses, cost avoidance, etc.)

2.White Paper: a white paper is an authoritative report used to present expert opinion and analysis about an issue or issues.

Research:

• Read / Review the Week 1 readings.
• Find three or more additional sources that provide information about ethics as applied to investments in cybersecurity. Suggested sources include:
  • http://insights.ethisphere.com/the-power-of-information-and-business-of-ethical-responsibility/
  • https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/cyber-security-and-the-obligations-of-companies/
  • https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/events/labor_law/2015/march/tech/wu_cybersecurity.authcheckdam.pdf
• Find three or more additional sources that provide information about best practice recommendations for investing in people, processes, and technologies related to cybersecurity. These additional sources can include analyst reports (e.g. Gartner, Forrester, Price-Waterhouse, Booz-Allen) and/or news stories about recent attacks / threats, data breaches, cybercrime, cyber terrorism, etc.

Write:

Use standard terminology including correctly used cybersecurity terms and definitions to write a two to three page summary of your research. At a minimum, your summary must include the following:

1.An introduction or overview of cybersecurity which provides definitions and addresses the business need for cybersecurity. This introduction should be suitable for an executive audience.

2.A separate section in which you address ethical considerations that drive the business need for investments in cybersecurity.

3.A separate section in which you provide best-practice based recommendations for additions to the client’s business case. These recommendations should be designed to strengthen the justification for cybersecurity-focused investments and must separately address each of the three investment categories: people, processes, and technologies.

• A closing section in which you summarize your recommendations for additions and changes to the business case.

Your white paper should use standard terms and definitions for cybersecurity. See https://www.isaca.org/pages/glossary.aspx for acceptable terms and definitions.

Submit For Grading

Submit your case study in MS Word format (.docx or .doc file) using the Case Study #1 Assignment in your assignment folder. (Attach the file.)

Additional Information

• Consult the grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this assignment.
• Your 2-3 page white paper should be professional in appearance with consistent use of fonts, font sizes, margins, etc. You should use headings and page breaks to organize your paper.
• Your paper should use standard terms and definitions for cybersecurity. See Course Content > Cybersecurity Concepts for recommended resources.
• The CSIA program recommends that you follow standard APA formatting since this will give you a document that meets the “professional appearance” requirements. APA formatting guidelines and examples are found under Course Resources > APA Resources. An APA template file (MS Word format) has also been provided for your use CSIA_Basic_Paper_Template(APA_6ed,Nov2014).docx.
• You must include a cover page with the assignment title, your name, and the due date. Your reference list must be on a separate page at the end of your file. These pages do not count towards the assignment’s page count.
• You are expected to write grammatically correct English in every assignment that you submit for grading. Do not turn in any work without (a) using spell check, (b) using grammar check, (c) verifying that your punctuation is correct and (d) reviewing your work for correct word usage and correctly structured sentences and paragraphs.
• You are expected to credit your sources using in-text citations and reference list entries. Both your citations and your reference list entries must follow a consistent citation style (APA, MLA, etc.).