Cybersecurity for open data

CSIA 360: Cybersecurity in Government Organizations

Project 1: Cybersecurity for OPEN Data

Scenario:

A federal agency has asked your cybersecurity consulting firm to provide it with a research report that examines the issues of usefulness and security in regards to Open Data services. The report is intended for a group of executives at the agency who are currently involved in converting paper-based data sets and data request forms to digital formats for distribution via digital government websites and mobile applications. This report is particularly important as the agency head has received inquiries from Congressional staff members who are conveying concerns that various elected officials have about potential issues with the integrity and authenticity of downloaded data. The agency’s executives were also surveyed and they provided the following security risks and related items in a list of concerns for the planned conversion to an Open Data delivery method:

a. Confidentiality / Privacy (ensuring proper redaction of personally identifiable information from government data sets)

b. Integrity (ensuring data sets are unchanged when moved from back-end servers to front-end, customer facing apps and websites)

c. Authenticity (origin of data is known and can be verified / proven)

d. Availability (reliability) of the Open Data service (mobile apps, website, network infrastructure)

e. Non-repudiation of data sets (assurance that the originating source cannot deny having provided the data or data set)

Research:

1. Read / Review the weekly readings for weeks 1-4 including readings marked as “optional” or “review.”

2. Research the federal government’s OPEN Data mandate. Here are some sources that you may find useful:

a. Open Data Policy-Managing Information as an Asset – OMB Memorandum M-13-13 (PDF file is in the week 2 readings). This Memorandum includes significant discussion of security issues and policy solutions including references to FIPS 199 and NIST SP-800-53)

b.

c. (see sections on Security, Privacy, and Data Quality and Retention)

d. Guidance for Providing and Using Administrative Data for Statistical Purposes – OMB Memorandum M-14-06 (PDF file is in the week 2 readings). This Memorandum includes discussion of privacy and security issues arising from the use of information collected for statistical purposes (e.g. the Census, employment, economic data, etc.).

3. Research how government information, e.g. OPEN Data, is used by businesses and the general public. Here are some sources to get you started:

a. Building on a year of open data: progress and promise

b. Open Data Day: Resources

c. 16 Innovative Applications and Businesses Created with Open Data

d. 27 Open Data Applications Ideas

4. Research the issues that can arise when businesses depend upon the confidentiality, integrity, availability, authenticity, and non-repudiation of government provided Open Data. Suggested sources include:

a. Authenticating Digital Government Information

b. Legal and Institutional Challenges for Opening Data Across Public Sectors

c. Risk Analysis to Overcome Barriers to Open Data

d. Reconciling Contradictions of Open Data Regarding Transparency, Privacy, Security and Trust

5. Find five or more best practice recommendations for ensuring the security (confidentiality, integrity, availability, authenticity, non-repudiation) of information provided by the federal government through its OPEN Data initiative. Note: For the purposes of this assignment, you may treat “licensing” concerns as an “availability” issue.

Write:

Write a five to eight (5-8) page research report which includes a summary of your research. You should focus upon clarity and conciseness more than length when determining what content to include in your paper. At a minimum, your summary must include the following:

1. An introduction or overview of OPEN Data which provides definitions and addresses the laws, regulations, and policies which require federal agencies to identify and publish datasets and information collections. Discuss the role of the executive branch’s Open Data / Open Government policies in making data available via Data.Gov. This introduction should be suitable for an executive audience.

2. A separate section in which you discuss the value (benefits) of Open Data. This section should provide several specific examples of how government provided Open Data is being used by businesses and the general public.

3. A separate section in which you address security issues for Open Data (confidentiality, integrity, availability, authenticity, and non-repudiation). Focus on how these issues can impact the availability and usefulness of Open Data. You should also discuss how these issues are currently being addressed by the U.S. federal government. Provide examples of issues and mitigations or solutions.

4. A section in which you address best practice recommendations for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, availability, authenticity, and non-repudiation of Open Data. Your recommendations should address use of the NIST guidance for risk management including security and privacy controls.

5. A separate section in which you summarize your research and recommendations.

Submit For Grading

Submit your white paper in MS Word format (.docx or .doc file) using the Project 1 assignment in your assignment folder. (Attach the file.)

Additional Information

1. Consult the grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this assignment.

2. Your 5 to 8 page research report 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.

3. Your paper should use standard terms and definitions for cybersecurity.

4. 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. An APA template file (MS Word format) has also been provided for your use CSIA_Paper_Template(TOC+TOF,2021).docx.

5. 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.

6. You should 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.

7. You must 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.).

Copyright ©2022 by University of Maryland University College. All Rights Reserved

Cybersecurity for OPEN Data

Introduction

OPEN DATA is a big deal. It’s the foundation of our democracy, and it’s also a crucial part of building up a more sustainable economy. The Open Data movement aims to make government data available to everyone on an open and transparent platform. However, there are many challenges involved in making sure your data stays secure when it’s publicly available—and this includes cybersecurity considerations as well! In this article, we’ll cover some important points about what OPEN DATA means for businesses: why its so important to secure your data; how OPEN DATA can be hacked; and how you can keep yourself safe from hackers with cybersecurity for OPEN DATA solutions in place at all times.

What is OPEN Data?

Open Data is a term that refers to data that has been made available for use by anyone. The most common type of open data is government-published information, such as census data and environmental reports. However, there are many other types of open data too:

  • Businesses can release their own sector-specific datasets and make them available on their website or in an app
  • Individuals or companies with an interest in particular topics may decide to create “open databases” containing relevant information about those topics

Why is it important?

Data is one of the most important assets of an organization. It’s where you get information on your customers, employees and more. But if it’s not protected properly, it can be stolen or lost.

OPEN Data is data that is already available to the public—but not in a structured and secure format. We call this “unstructured” because there isn’t any standard way for people to access this type of data; rather than being organized by topic or category like traditional databases are, OPEN Data sources often exist as lists of records with no specific order or meaning behind them (think: different types of customers). In other words: The information may be out there—but how do we get at it?

A new breed of hackers and threat actors are using OPEN Data, sometimes in unexpected ways.

As you may have heard, open data is a big deal. It’s not just about government data or public data—it can be used for all sorts of purposes. Hackers and threat actors have begun to take advantage of this new breed of hacker toolkits, which use OPEN Data as an attack vector.

Open Data is valuable to hackers because it offers them access to information they wouldn’t normally be able to get access to by breaking into databases or stealing credentials from employees at big corporations like Equifax or Experian (which was recently hacked). That said, there are many ways in which hackers can use OPEN Data without even breaking into databases or stealing passwords from employees in order for them get at private information about you and your family members:

  • Social media profiles – You might have posted something online once upon a time; now someone else has that post saved somewhere else on the internet (like Facebook). If someone were able-bodied enough with programming skills then they could probably use these posts against us too!

Cybersecurity for OPEN Data should be part of the business partners’ overall strategy.

Cybersecurity for OPEN Data should be part of the business partners’ overall strategy. It is important to have a strategy for security, data and the business.

In order to have a successful cyber-attack on your organization’s data, you will need to understand how your organization uses or stores confidential information and what kind of risks are associated with these practices. This can include identifying sensitive information stored in files or databases that may be vulnerable if compromised by hackers who wish to steal this information or use it against them (such as personal health information). You should also consider whether there are any gaps in current protection measures that could leave sensitive data exposed while they’re being used by employees at work-related activities outside normal working hours such as meeting rooms where sensitive materials may be visible or accessible via mobile devices left unattended inside office spaces where employees don’t always take proper precautions when handling confidential documents such as bank statements containing account numbers etc…

Technology should be built into systems to monitor data and detect anomalies.

You can’t just implement technology to monitor data and detect anomalies. Technology should be built into systems to monitor data and detect anomalies.

The main goal of cybersecurity for OPEN DATA is to ensure that all of your data stays safe and secure.

To ensure that all of your data stays safe and secure, you should look at the overall strategy of your business partners. They should have a policy on how they plan to protect their databases from vulnerabilities in software or hardware. This can be done through technology built into systems that monitor data and detect anomalies.

If you’re working with an organization that doesn’t have this type of security framework in place, it’s important that you speak up about what needs improvement before things get out of hand!

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of ways that cybersecurity for OPEN DATA can protect your organization. The key takeaway is this: it’s important to make sure all of your data stays safe and secure. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use new technologies or tools; in fact, those would help tremendously! Instead, it means having a plan in place so that when something does go wrong with data storage systems or cloud storage services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), users know what steps they should take next time around – whether they’ll need more resources from IT staff or just deal with the issue themselves.

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