Students are required to write a paper on the topic of cybersecurity challenges and threats. Specifically, students will select one country (other than the U.S., United Kingdom, China, and Russia) and provide an analysis of the specific international cybersecurity challenges and threats facing the county and the country’s responses to the cybersecurity challenges and threats. Students should carefully read and follow all of the writing assignment instructions and paper guidelines provided below. The paper is due on Wednesday, August 7, 2024. The paper should be emailed to the instructor either as a Word document or a shared Google document. No other document format will be accepted. The paper is worth up to 100 points. The scores for the papers will be posted in MyGrades on Blackboard. Late papers will be penalized two points each day after August 7th. The paper is evaluated on the basis of the writing assignment scoring rubric (see rubric at the end of the syllabus). The writing assignment should include each of the following four sections, which should be clearly indicated by the bolded headings as shown below. Each section has a minimum page range. Sections may be longer than the minimum page range, buy they should not be shorter than the minimum page range.
I. Introduction (2 to 3 pages) – This section should consist of a general overview of the primary cybersecurity threats faced by states, international organizations, corporations, and individuals in the 21st century. Except for mentioning your selected country at the end of this section, do not mention any particular country or countries, or examples of cyber-attacks against any particular country or countries, in this section of the paper. At the end of this section, please indicate that you will be focusing on the international cybersecurity challenges and threats faced by (selected country) in the following sections of the paper. See below for more instructions for this section of the paper:
- Make sure to divide this section of the paper (and all of the sections of the paper) into appropriate paragraphs. In your paragraphs, do not simply summarize your sources of information. You should write this section of the paper, not your sources.
- You should use and properly cite a minimum of three different academic and other professional sources of information in this section of the paper. Three sources are a minimum, not a maximum. Use as many sources as is necessary to properly write this section of the paper.
- Do not directly refer to the names of scholars or authors, the titles of articles, or the names of publications in this section of the paper, except in parenthetical citations (which should include the last name of an author or the name of an organization and the publication year or date). All of the information regarding a source should be provided on the references page or (if appropriate) in a footnote.
- Do not express your opinions about cybersecurity threats in this section of the paper.
II. Cybersecurity Challenges (2 to 3 pages) – This section should consist of your summary of the international cybersecurity challenges and threats, as well as specific cyber-attacks, faced by your selected country during the past two decades. What are some of the external sources of the cybersecurity challenges, and what are some of the internal targets of cyber-attacks? What have been some of the economic and other consequences of the cybersecurity challenges? See below for more instructions for this section of the paper:
- You should use and properly cite a minimum of three different academic and other professional sources of information in this section of the paper. Three sources are a minimum, not a maximum. Use as many sources as is necessary to properly write this section of the paper.
- Unless you are attributing quoted words to a scholar or author, do not refer to the names of scholars or authors, the titles of articles, or the names of publications in this section of the paper, except in parenthetical citations (which should include the last name of an author or the name of an organization and the publication year or date). All of the information regarding a source should be provided on the references page or (if appropriate) in a footnote.
- Do not express your opinions about the cybersecurity challenges and threats faced by the country in this section of the paper.
III. Responses to Cybersecurity Challenges (2 to 3 pages) – This section should consist of your summary and analysis of the strategies, policies, laws, and regulations adopted and implemented by the government of your selected country during the past two decades in response to the international cybersecurity challenges and threats summarized in the previous section. How have government agencies, as well as non-governmental entities, in your selected country specifically responded to the cybersecurity challenges and threats in the past two decades? See below for more instructions for this section of the paper:
- You should use and properly cite a minimum of three different academic and other professional sources of information in this section of the paper. Three sources are a minimum, not a maximum. Use as many sources as is necessary to properly write this section of the paper.
- Do not simply summarize information from a source about a country. It should be your analysis of a country’s strategies, policies, laws, and regulations regarding cybersecurity challenges, not your source’s analysis of the country.
- Unless you are attributing quoted words to a scholar or author, do not refer to the names of scholars or authors, the titles of articles, or the names of publications in this section of the paper, except in parenthetical citations (which should include the last name of an author or the name of an organization and the publication year or date). All of the information regarding a source should be provided on the references page or (if appropriate) in a footnote.
- Do not express your opinions about the country’s responses to cybersecurity challenges and threats in this section of the paper.
IV. Conclusion (2 to 3 pages) – This section should consist of your evaluation or assessment of the international cybersecurity challenges and threats faced by the country, as well as the country’s responses to the challenges and threats. In your opinion, has the country responded appropriately to the cybersecurity challenges and threats? Why or why not? In your opinion, what are the future prospects facing the countries in the area of cybersecurity?
References – At the end of the paper, all sources of information cited in parenthetical citations should be listed in alphabetical order on the References page, including the author’s full last name/first name or the formal name of the organization, publication year or date of the source, the title of the article or document, the name of the publication, volume number, and page numbers (see pages 41-55 in the Political Science Style Manual). For scholarly articles obtained from the internet, a short version of the URL (uniform resource locater) or the DOI (digital object identifier) may be included on the References page. If you provide a hyperlink to a web address, make sure that the hyperlink goes directly to the source. If a hyperlink does not go directly to the source or cannot be accessed without having to sign into an account, please do not include those types of hyperlinks on the References page. Please do not use the phrase “Retrieved from” on the References page in this paper. It is not necessary to indicate the date on which you “retrieved” a source. For sources that do not have a publication date, you should indicate the date on which you “accessed” the source. Sources of information, such as an international agreement, cited in footnotes do not need to be listed on the References page. Please do not refer to the References page as “Works Cited”. Below is an example of how information about a source should be provided on the References page.
References
Greiman, Virginia A. 2015. “Cyber Security and Global Governance,” Journal of Information Warfare,
vol. 14 (4), pp. 1-14. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26487502.