The following scenario is based on an actual attack deconstructed at a seminar I attended earlier this year. The names and locations have been removed to preserve the privacy of the organization in question.

Background:

No-Internal-Controls, LLC is a mid-sized pharmaceutical company in the Midwest of the US employing around 150 employees. It has grown over the past decade by merging with other pharmaceutical companies and purchasing smaller firms.

Recently No-Internal-Controls, LLC suffered a ransomware attack. The company was able to recover from the attack with the assistance of a third party IT Services Company.

Attack Analysis:

After collecting evidence and analyzing the attack, the third party was able to recreate the attack.

No-Internal-Controls, LLC has a number of PCs configured for employee training

These training computers use generic logins such as “training1”, “training2”, etc. with passwords of “training1”, “training2”, etc.

The generic logins were not subject to lock out due to incorrect logins

One of the firms purchased by No-Internal-Controls, LLC allowed Remote Desktop connections from the Internet through the firewall to the internal network for remote employees

Due to high employee turnover and lack of documentation none all of the IT staff were aware of the legacy remote access 

The main office has only a single firewall and no DMZ or bastion host exists to mediate incoming remote desktop connections

The internal network utilized a flat architecture

An attacker discovered the access by use of a port scan and used a dictionary attack to gain access to one of the training computers

The attacker ran a script on the compromised machine to elevate his access privileges and gain administrator access

The attacker installed tools on the compromised host to scan the network and identify network shares

The attacker copied ransomware into the network shares for the accounting department allowing it spread through the network and encrypt accounting files

Critical accounting files were backed up and were recovered, but some incidental department and personal files were lost

Instructions:

You have been hired by No-Internal-Controls, LLC in the newly created role of CISO and have been asked to place priority on mitigating further attacks of this type.

• Suggest one or more policies that would help mitigate against attacks similar to this attack
• Suggest one or more controls to support each policy
• Identify each of the controls as physical, administrative, or technical and preventative, detective, or corrective.
• Keep in mind that No-Internal-Controls, LLC is a mid-sized company with a small IT staff and limited budget
• Do not attempt to write full policies, simply summarize each policy you suggest in one or two sentences.  
• Clearly indicate how each policy you suggest will help mitigate similar attacks and how each control will support the associated policy
• 3-5 pages in length.
• APA format.. citations, references etc…

This assignment will address the third step in preparing for the Final Paper assignment, considering the relationship between psychology and physical health as applied to you, its relationship to your mental health, and approaches to enhance your physical and mental health.

This topic is covered in:

• The previous module text reading form Weiten, W., Lloyd, M., & Hammer. E. (2018).  Psychology applied to modern life: Adjustment in the 21st Century (12th Ed.) Chapter 5: Psychology and Physical Health, pp. 123-155 (32 pgs.)
• Read: Solan, M. (2018, September 7). Tired? 4 simple ways to boost energy. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/tired-4-simple-ways-to-boost-energy-2018090714678.
• Read: Quartz. (2018). The best way to keep fit changes as you age. Retrieved from https://qz.com/quartzy/1517773/the-best- way-to-keep-fit-changes-as-you-age.
• EXERCISE 5: How Do Your Health Habits Rate?
• Locate Community Resources.

Write a 1 to 3 page paper (500-700 words) with 3 paragraphs.

• First Paragraph – Identify an aspect or aspects of  psychology related to physical health that most prominently apply to you and why.
• Second Paragraph –  Describe the relationship between the aspect(s) of psychological and physical health you have identified relevant to your mental health and the effect(s).
• Third Paragraph – Describe approaches to enhance your physical and mental health that you have identified as a result of the information and assignments in the course up to this point and how you might make use of them.

#1

As discussed in this module, plural executive systems involve the separate elections of multiple positions in the executive branch. 

If a plural executive system were instituted at the federal level, would this be an improvement over the existing singular executive system?  How might national-level politics work differently under such a system?

#2

As discussed in the module, state judges are usually either selected through appointment or popularly elected.  Which of these systems seems preferable to you, and why?

max length 2 paragraphs no citations or quotations 

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Student Replies 

#1

I believe that a plural executive system would not be an improvement to our current system. A plural executive may have its advantages such adding more accountability and seriousness to the positions, but overall I think it would cause chaos and stalemates in our system. Whenever a party takes over office and is able to appoint people with similar values and ideas it is much easier to get things done. Leaders are on the same page with their peers and this overall creates ease in operations. When a political party takes office I think it is counterproductive for them to have added struggle to pass laws and policies. We already have the checks and balances system, there is no need to create more barriers from getting things done. Another issue with elected positions is the fact that a huge portion of the population actually has no idea what they are talking about when it comes to politics. They are easily swayed by flashy campaigns and propaganda. Elected officials are not always the best choice. At least if they are being appointed it is more likely they have a proven track record. Further more I do not think having more elected positions would help current political climate. The way our elections have been going have really been a circus. There is a true lack in actual political debates that cover real issues. They have evolved into slanderous, televised reality shows. 

#2

I certainly am all for popularly elected in most cases; however, when it is in regards to electing judges, I prefer them to be appointed. I don’t like the idea of the public popularity aspect coming into play. I like the idea that judges would be somewhat free from the pressure of political pressure when making the decisions that they have to make. I think the stakes are too high for judges to be elected and run a part of a political party. I do understand that it is still somewhat politically connected based on who is in office and appoints them. You are never completely free of political pressure in political offices, but I do feel that judges being appointed helps this in some way. They should definitely be able to make decisions objectively and be in pursuit of justice without the typical ugliness that comes with political battling between parties. It seems that appointing judges takes out some of the negative outcomes that can stem from being concerned with contributions and approval from voters. The job of a judge is so important that it is one area that you just want a sound, rational, but most of all fair person making those decisions. Of course in politics nothing is 100% fair or black and white, but I do think that appointment judges has less negative complications than relying on popular vote.

Max is 4 sentences each

Indian women that are mothers are primarily responsible for raising their daughters to the gender socialization culture in India. According to Hindu doctrine, women where created to provide company for the men, and to facilitate procreation, progeny and the continuation of the family lineage, (Char, 2014). Women are expected to remain home and take care of the family, while the husband goes out and finds work. Although their contribution to economic survival was vital, women’s social status remained secondary and supplemental to that of men. Women are often less educated and less wealthy because of the need to stay home and remain a caretaker (Buckley, 2015).

 In Indian culture, women where considered to be subservient to their male counterparts. Either by religious dictation or cultural custom, the females in society were expected to be serve as child barriers in order to propagate the family lineage of her male companion. Women are supposed to be supervised by a male whether it be the husband, older son, or father, when going into the village. Women are also not allowed to learn how to drive because of the supervision rule (Buckley, 2015). In their culture this is supposed to be a luxury for women to not have to worry about the stress of driving. However, I feel this puts limitations on women being able to go where and when they want.

The sex ratio among the Indian children is primary masculine. There are reports that 100 million baby girls were missing from India. Also, there are about 41 million “missing women” died from maltreatment and resulted in a male-biased population. This bias is also seen as the children are growing up. The male child will receive attention and food where the female child will appear neglected. These girls present signs of malnourishment which is called stunting (Pillai & Ortiz-Rodriguez, 2015).

Reference

Buckley, A. (2015). Retrieved from https://people.smu.edu/knw2399/2015/04/30/gender-oppression-inequality-and-gender-roles-in-india-and-southwestern-united-states-how-british-colonial-rule-and-american-internal-colonialism-perpetuated-gender-roles-and-oppression/

Char, Desika. Hinduism and Islam in India: Caste, Religion, and Society From Antiquity to Early Modern Times. Princeton: Markus Weiner, 1993. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

Pillai, V. K., & Ortiz-Rodriguez, J. (2015). Child Malnutrition and Gender Preference in India: The Role of Culture. Health Science Journal, 9(6), 1-5.

Culture, is an interesting component to human development.  Not only do we learn why we do things but we begin to understand the influences behind it.  Culturally, there is a difference among the way humans interpret this influence.  How it is integrated in everyday life.  

Cross-cultural examination is very important when evaluating differences in disorders, development and so on.  One example mentioned by Cole. M, (2013) is the example about a disorder of ASD and different cultures.  The example is that of Asperger’s syndrome, one of the key characteristics is to advert the eyes when talking.  In the Chinese culture this is seen as disrespect, however the child cannot comprehend any different.  Can not easily adjust the behavior.  Cole, goes on to explain that this was confusing back in the 1970’s and was debated between cross cultural examinations among psychologists (Cole. M, 2013).

The importance of cultural examination among a broad spectrum, is to understand where the world is headed.  To apply these theories and study and research for the betterment of human development as it progresses.  In the article by Cole. M, (2013), he mentioned things are similar or circling back to 1970 where there was so much confusion among the way culture was being interpreted.  We could say that is happening again.  Russell, S. T. (2015), argues that, “… if we value the role of human developmental research for promoting social change and justice, we will consider potential or real contribution to social justice as one of these dimensions upon which we judge the merit of research.” This is why it is necessary to value opinion based on research rather than emotion or personal bias.  As good as it sounds and as good intended as it may imply it doesn’t promote better development of the human race or the development of culture.  

In our world today, there are repeated characteristics of which we have already been through, and some new ones.  Things seen from movies or predicted in dystopian futures or books.  George Orwell’s 1984, or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.  If we continue to ignore proper research and don’t carefully examine different cultures, than mental illness and other disorders will plenty of land of which to roam.  What it looks like now is children not being able to read hands on a clock, or having mobile phones at the age of 3 or 9, not knowing cursive.  Changing math as some have experienced this “new” method which doesn’t work.  The importance lies in the statement, “… if we value the role of human developmental research for promoting social change and justice, we will consider potential or real contribution to social justice as one of these dimensions upon which we judge the merit of research.” (Russell, S. T., 2015).

References

Cole, M. (2013). Differences and deficits in psychological research in historical perspective: a commentary on the special section. Developmental Psychology, 49(1), 84-91. doi:10.1037/a0029623

Bloom, H. (2007). George Orwells 1984. New York: Chelsea House.

Boerma, L. (2014, September 02). Kids with cell phones: How young is too young? Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kids-with-cell-phones-how-young-is-too-young/

Bradbury, R. (1967). Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Russell, S. T. (2015). Human Developmental Science for Social Justice. Research In Human Development, 12(3/4), 274-279. doi:10.1080/15427609.2015.1068049

Should schools continue to teach kids how to tell time? (2018, May 05). Retrieved from https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/should-schools-continue-to-teach-kids-how-to-tell-time/275-549062867