Step 1: Consider the Purpose for the Research You have been given your assignment. It is now time to think about the purpose of your research. You have written papers in your classes and done some research for work projects. This project requires that you review your previous work and construct a basic research plan. At the graduate level, your work will be expected to meet a higher level of cognitive objective, using analysis, synthesis, and supporting conclusions with facts. There are several elements in the project that your department head will want to see to ensure that your work is on the right track. For one, he may want to see your research question to ensure that you are looking for the right information. If you can develop a specific and focused research question, you will have a good start. Next, you will look to see what information is already out there, and if your question has already been answered. Using a scientific approach, you will create a working hypothesis that will present your findings and conclusions. Remember that your ultimate objective is to arrive at a reasonable, well-supported analysis of the impact of the issue on your industry. This can be the first step that leads to practical solutions for your organization’s issues. Next, you will prepare to do your research. Step 2: Prepare to Do Research You already have your assignment and a purpose for your research. In this step you will prepare for the research. For more information, see Why Do We Do Research? on the Conducting Research page, also in Project 2. Another reason to do research is to answer basic questions. While there are many times that you should research using a traditional library and peer-reviewed journals, there will be many questions that are answerable by targeted internet searches. These are valid skills for you to develop and they will serve you well in your professional life. So, get acquainted with the Google Search tools so that you have them at your fingertips. To get some background on various Cybersecurity issues, read Critical Challenges in Cybersecurity. In the next step, you will select an issue.Step 3: Choose an Issue In the last step, you prepared for your research. Now it is time to focus on an issue. Choose an issue from your research on a trend in your industry that has potential for great impact on the field, and then draft a preliminary question. Next, do some preliminary reading to see if the question has already been answered, or if there is enough information on the topic. Refine your question and submit it to the “so what” test. Will your answer contribute to knowledge about the issue you have selected? Is the question answerable? Remember that in academic work you do not normally write normative or open-ended questions, which start with the words should or would. In the next step, you will create a hypothesis. Step 4: Craft a Hypothesis You have selected an issue to research. Now it is time to craft a working hypothesis as.

1. Step 1: Consider the Purpose for the Research
You have been given your assignment. It is now time to think
about the purpose of your research. You have written papers in
your classes and done some research for work projects. This
project requires that you review your previous work and
construct a basic research plan. At the graduate level, your work
will be expected to meet a higher level of cognitive objective,
using analysis, synthesis, and supporting conclusions with facts.
There are several elements in the project that your department
head will want to see to ensure that your work is on the right
track. For one, he may want to see your research question to
ensure that you are looking for the right information. If you can
develop a specific and focused research question, you will have
a good start. Next, you will look to see what information is
already out there, and if your question has already been
answered. Using a scientific approach, you will create a
working hypothesis that will present your findings and
conclusions. Remember that your ultimate objective is to arrive
at a reasonable, well-supported analysis of the impact of the
issue on your industry. This can be the first step that leads to
practical solutions for your organization’s issues.
Next, you will prepare to do your research.
Step 2: Prepare to Do Research
You already have your assignment and a purpose for your
research. In this step you will prepare for the research. For more
information, see Why Do We Do Research? on the Conducting
Research page, also in Project 2.
Another reason to do research is to answer basic questions.
While there are many times that you should research using a
traditional library and peer-reviewed journals, there will be
many questions that are answerable by targeted internet
searches. These are valid skills for you to develop and they will
serve you well in your professional life. So, get acquainted with

2. the Google Search tools so that you have them at your
fingertips.
To get some background on various Cybersecurity issues, read
Critical Challenges in Cybersecurity.
In the next step, you will select an issue.Step 3: Choose an
Issue
In the last step, you prepared for your research. Now it is time
to focus on an issue. Choose an issue from your research on a
trend in your industry that has potential for great impact on the
field, and then draft a preliminary question. Next, do some
preliminary reading to see if the question has already been
answered, or if there is enough information on the topic. Refine
your question and submit it to the “so what” test. Will your
answer contribute to knowledge about the issue you have
selected? Is the question answerable? Remember that in
academic work you do not normally write normative or open-
ended questions, which start with the words should or would.
In the next step, you will create a hypothesis.
Step 4: Craft a Hypothesis
You have selected an issue to research. Now it is time to craft a
working hypothesis as explained in How to Draft a Hypothesis
available on the Conducting Research page.
The next step will be the actual research.Step 5: Conduct the
Research
In the last step, you created a hypothesis. In this step, you will
begin your research.
Once you have a research question and working hypothesis, you
will conduct research to find evidence (facts) that support or
refute your hypothesis. You will then analyze the information to
produce findings and conclusions. I highly recommend that you
read Randolph Pherson's "The Five Habits of the Master
Thinker," a paper written for intelligence analysts, but
applicable to all analytical thinking and reasoning. Your
ultimate objective is to produce a well-reasoned, fact-based
analysis of your issue, and proposals to mitigate negative
conditions or improve the outlook for the industry.

3. You may start with the sources that you found in your top
trends assignment and dig deeper to learn more about the issue
under examination. Choose your sources wisely to find credible
sources (if appropriate for the issue). If your issue is covered in
contemporary online news sources, please use them. For more
information, review resources on Conducting Research from
Project 2.
The next step will be to put it all together in your paper. Step 6:
Write Your Paper
Now that your research is complete, you can begin to draft your
1,250- to 1,500-word paper, ensuring it is as error-free as
possible. Include a cover sheet, introduction, findings,
conclusions with recommendations, and references.
Suggested Resources:
Kinds of Assignments You Will Write
References and Citations
Next, you will submit your paper.
Annotated Bibliography: Trends in Cyber Security
By
17 October 2016

4. For my project I am going to discuss cyber security trends.
It always has intrigued me about how network managers adapt
to changes in technology. The cyber security field constantly
challenges the workers to grow and learn new things. I am
excited to research network penetration, cyber investigations,
and assessing overall network security for different
organizations.
References
Kaminsky, D. (2006). EXPLORATIONS IN NAMESPACE:
WHITE-HAT HACKING ACROSS THE DOMAIN NAME
SYSTEM. Communications Of The ACM, 49(6), 62-68.
The author describes a technique he employed to determine the
global penetration of Sony Corp.'s rootkit installations on
computers. By using the Domain Name System (DNS), he was
able to trace connections to a Sony Web site and estimate the
extent to which personal computers had been infected by the
Sony rootkit installation, which sent information to Sony about
computer users' music copying and also made it difficult for
purchasers of Sony Music to copy their music to iTunes or other
music players.
Metasploit Penetration Testing Cookbook. (2013). Network
Security, 2013(11), 4. doi:10.1016/S1353-4858(13)70125-9
Metasploit is a favorite tool of people wearing white hats, black
hats and every shade in between. As a penetration testing tool,
it is immensely powerful (sometimes dangerously so). And the

5. same goes for its use as aa hacking tool. This is a very
interesting article showing how powerful tools can be used for
both good and bad.
Sández, M. R. (2015). A Review of Technical Problems when
Conducting an Investigation in Cloud Based Environments.
This article shines the light on how difficult it is to maintain
security and adopt new technologies. It explains how cloud base
computing has done wonders for businesses by making
resources easier to access and cheaper. It also divulges how
criminals can steal data from clouds and also hide nefarious
data in other peoples’ cloud storage.
Schut, H., Scanlon, M., Farina, J., & Le-Khac, N. (2015).
Towards the Forensic Identification and Investigation of
Cloud Hosted Servers through Noninvasive Wiretaps.
doi:10.1109/ARES.2015.77
This article actually gets into the nuts in bolts of conducting a
cyber investigation in a cloud environment. It discusses one of
the big challenges as conducting an investigation when you
might not have the cooperation of the people who own the
server.
Liu, V., Tesfamicael, A. D., Caelli, W., & Sahama, T. R.
(2015). Network security and performance testing for health
information system management.
This article discusses the unique challenges that a hospital
presents fornetwork security. One of the main focuses is on
encryption (hospital traffic needs to be secure as it as patient
data in it).
Dixit, S. (2016). Holding the fort: a business case for testing
security. Network Security, 2016(6), 16-18.
doi:10.1016/S1353-4858(16)30059-9
This article talks about what to do when the costs of data
breaches keep skyrocketing year after year. An interesting note
is what can you do when the companies you hire keep being
breached.