My Statement of Purpose: Computer Security

When evaluating what career path to take, I wanted something more than just protecting sensitive data, rather pursuing and investigating cybercrimes. After researching cyber security careers I found that the FBI is the one of the best agencies to combat cyber threats. Furthermore, the FBI is on the front lines of chasing cyber threats around the globe and assisting in cyber intrusions to help protect the United States economy and national security. In turn, this information lead me to their Computer Scientist Program which fits the criteria of employment I am seeking for a number of reasons. First, I want to apply my knowledge to a career were I can help protect my country and fellow citizens from ongoing cyber threats we experience every

Cyber threats have increased dramatically over the past few years, with large companies such as Amazon, Netflex, PayPal, Wikipedia and most recently Equifax, experiencing high profile breaches. Traditional tools, defenses and responses have been strained with keeping up with the level and sophistication of an very organized and ubiquitous hacking community, which has coalesced into organized crime syndicates that the FBI and law enforcement continues to battle.

The top three trends in the Cyber Security field are salary, career advancement, and the need for predictions of the future in how information is exchanged.

Information security analysts have important roles in detecting and prevention of threats to electronic assets. They have valuable roles in keeping businesses safe from hackers and other threats to sensitive information. It is a growing field and it is worthwhile to obtain an information security analyst degree.

Some of these critical challenges that this industry faces are: network access control, identification, authentication, wireless and mobility, and most recently, securing cloud computing. With the increase of technology, wireless devices, and number of attacks happening, our main goal is protect your network and increase productivity by identifying and eliminate threats before they happen. There are companies that haven’t been so lucky. The costs and potential consequences of security problems can be devastating, if not, disastrous.

Cyber security must be an aggressive and evolving practice. Not only is it important to put security in place for current technology that can access electronic information, but also to look forward to future trends and strategies. Methods must also be developed that will continuously protect information regardless of growth and technological advances. As trends change and new technology develops it is the responsibility of businesses to balance cost saving measures with adequate security measures.

“The credit reporting agency Equifax said Thursday that hackers gained access to sensitive personal data of 143 million Americans”– The Washington Post. This was the news we woke up to on September 7th, 2017 with panic raging in the hearts of law abiding Americans who started wondering if their information was also stolen. News like this is what fuels my passion and resolve to pursue a career in cybersecurity because I want to help organization, individuals and government parastatals to help secure their networks and computers. The rate at which computer technology is advancing at such a short period of time is very rapid and the downside is that cyberterrorism, computer crimes and hacking is on the increase too. Consequently, people need to be equipped to protect themselves.

Over the years, advancing technology has created many opportunities for the world in several aspects. However, security breaches are a major downfall with advancing technology and are causing harm to millions of people in the United States. Security breaches affect the masses. Securing company data and personal information is detrimental to millions of individuals, businesses, and governments. Millions can be spent on security software within a single company to protect against hackers. In the future, improvement of softwares may decrease the likelihood of hackers retrieving confidential information.

Unfilled cybersecurity occupations prompt more current position. As the cybersecurity business keeps on prospering, profession openings are

There are many security organizations and associations all around the world that strive to make the cyber world and the physical world a safer place. Each of these organizations and associations offer their own solutions for security threats. These organizations and associations are helpful in preventing many different types of security breaches and are necessary for the continual protection of both business and people as they continue to develop more advanced technology. Without these organizations and associations, security would be a very disconcerting topic for many individuals.

With the quick growth rate of technology, cyber security is being utilized by millions of people every day. Furthermore, this industry will never die and will always have a constant stream of demand. The appealing sector of cyber security is demonstrated on what the value of a 10,000-dollar investment is now worth (see Exhibit A). From my perspective, cyber security is one of the few durable trends that investors can benefit from due to the booming technology industry. Moreover, with the increase of hacking incidents in the past years, the importance of cyber security is becoming vital for businesses and households (see Exhibit B). Thus, cyber security seemed like a logical and safe place to invest my funds.

As a child, I grew up enjoying mathematics and science; this led to my dream of becoming an Information Security Analyst by majoring in Computer Engineering in college. I chose this profession because over the past couple of years, the world has become more dependent on technology, which means that there is more technology that needs to be developed and better network security will need to be implanted to meet the progressing world’s standards. By being in this profession, there will always be job opportunities in small and large companies because networks, computers, cell phones and many other gadgets are prone to being compromised. For example, Boeing is a prestigious, global company that is one of the leading manufacturers of cyber security that offers several internship and job opportunities to undergraduates and graduates. Future graduates will be able to learn reliable information on what they need to become an information security analyst because an intensive amount of time was taken to research and find credible sources.

With the advent of what many refer to as the internet age, there have been numerous developments in the world as we know it and as time continues to pass, the developments keep on coming thick and fast. Over time we have arrived to an age where the use of computers and networks related to these computers has almost become commonplace. The advantages and benefits that can be drawn from these developments have been many and most of them have been welcome. Industries have been created, new markets have been created and the overall outlook could not be clearer. Simply put, the future looks bright as far as developments in the technological industry is concerned (Creery 215). However, with the massive improvements in the world of technology, the developments, the new and improved ways of doing things there has also come new vulnerabilities and problems. In this paper, I will analyze the different cyber threats that we face and highlight the factors that one ought to consider when developing cyber security policies.

Cybercrime has become a fast growing concern for the 21st century as businesses, institutions and individuals grow into an interconnected web of computer networks. Online business transactions, along with the sharing of personal information, are vulnerable to a host of disasters that can reap economic and social havoc. Some sources say that today, cybercrime costs more than $1.0 trillion to society--Global Industry Analysts, Inc. forecasted the world cyber security market to reach $80 billion by 2017 (Gale, 2011).

The timeline for the exploitation was rather trivial taking advantage of clear vulnerabilities documented in the wild and gaining access through easy enough exploits that anyone can get access to. The targets were the Public facing webserver and the internal web server due to the WordPress vulnerabilities. Once an initial shell was created, all attacks were successful although some required changing and modifying some permissions and security files, however, through the initial shell this was all accomplished. Further escalation from one web server to another as well as creating a user on each system was accomplished. Anything touching these two systems is now compromised by an attacker. The timeline of the scope of this pen test did not