US critical infrastructure-power—water, oil and natural gas, military systems, financial systems—have become the target of cyber and physical attacks as more critical infrastructure systems are integrated with the Internet and other digital controls systems. The lesson learned in defending and mitigating cyberattacks is that no entity can prevent or resolve cyberattacks on its own. Collaboration and information sharing is key for success and survival.

This is a group exercise, representing collaboration across all sectors, to support and defend US critical infrastructure. In the working world, a team like this would include some agencies, some industrial partners, and some private sector corporations. Each organization has different strengths and skills, different access to information, and different authorities to report to. When the sectors work together and leverage resources and skills, the result is that everyone benefits from the defense and protection of US IT infrastructure. In your teams, you can model the same collaboration, leveraging each other’s expertise, sharing each other’s knowledge, teaching each other, and providing contributions specific to your role in the scenario.

Financial Services Representative: special task in Step 3

Law Enforcement Representative: special task in Step 4

Intelligence Agency Representative: special task in Step 5

Homeland Security Representative: special task in Step 6

There are seven steps that will help you create your final deliverables. The deliverables for this project are as follows:

Security Assessment Report (SAR): This report should be a 14-15 page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.

After Action Report (AAR): This report should be a 10-15 page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.

This is a 5-8 slide PowerPoint presentation for executives along with a narrated or In-Class Presentation summarizing your SAR and AAR report.

When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.

1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.

2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.

4.1: Lead and/or participate in a diverse group to accomplish projects and assignments.

4.3: Contribute to team projects, assignments, or organizational goals as an engaged member of a team.

10.6: Possess knowledge of proper and effective communication in case of an incident or crisis.

Your team is assembled and you have a plan. It’s time to get to work. You have a suite of tools at your disposal from your work in Project 1, Project 2, and Project 3, which can be used together to create a full common operating picture of the cyber threats and vulnerabilities that are facing the US critical infrastructure. Begin by selecting the following links to brush up on your knowledge:

1. network security
2. mission critical systems
3. penetration testing

To be completed by all team members: Leverage the network security skills of using port scans, network scanning tools, and analyzing Wireshark files, to assess any suspicious network activity and network vulnerabilities.

Step 3: The Financial Sector

To be completed by the Financial Services Representative: Provide a description of the impact the threat would have on the financial services sector. These impact statements can include the loss of control of the systems, the loss of data integrity or confidentiality, exfiltration of data, or something else. Also provide impact assessments as a result of this security incident to the financial services sector.

To be completed by all team members: Provide submissions from the Information Sharing Analysis Councils related to the financial sector. You can also propose fictitious submissions. Also, review the resources for Industrial Control Systems, and advise the importance of them to the financial services sector. Explain the risks associated with the Industrial Controls Systems.

Step 4: Law Enforcement

To be completed by the Law Enforcement Representative: Provide a description of the impact the threat would have on the law enforcement sector. These impact statements can include the loss of control of systems, the loss of data integrity or confidentiality, exfiltration of data, or something else. Also provide impact assessments as a result of this security incident to the law enforcement sector.

Step 5: The Intelligence Community

To be completed by all team members: Provide an overview of the life cycle of a cyber threat. Explain the different threat vectors that cyber actors use, and provide a possible list of nation-state actors that have targeted the US financial services industry before.

Review this threat response and recovery resource and use what you learned from the resource to provide or propose an analytical method in which you are able to detect the threat, identify the threat, and perform threat response and recovery. Identify the stage of the cyber threat life cycle where you would observe different threat behaviors. Include ways to defend against the threat, and protect against the threat. Provide this information in the SAR and AAR.

To be completed by the Intelligence Community Representative: Provide intelligence on the nation-state actor, their cyber tools, techniques, and procedures. Leverage available threat reporting such as from FireEye, Mandiant, and other companies and government entities that provide intelligence reports. Also include the social engineering methods used by the nation-state actor and their reasons for attacking US critical infrastructure. Include this information in the SAR and AAR.

Step 6: Homeland Security

To be completed by the Homeland Security Representative: Use the US-CERT and other similar resources to discuss the vulnerabilities and exploits that might have been used by the attackers.

Explore the resources for risk mitigation and provide the risk, response, and risk mitigation steps that should be taken if an entity suffers the same type of attack.

To be completed by all team members: Provide a risk-threat matrix and provide a current state snapshot of the risk profile of the financial services sector. These reports will be part of an overall risk assessment, which will be included in the SAR and AAR.

Review and refer to this risk assessment resource to aid you in developing this section of the report.

Step 7: The SAR and AAR

All team members: After you compile your research, and your own critical assessments and analysis, determine which information is appropriate for a Security Assessment Report (SAR) that will be submitted to the White House, and an After Action Report (AAR) that will be submitted to the rest of the analyst community.

1. Prepare your SAR for the White House Cyber National Security Staff, describing the threat, the motivations of the threat actor, the vulnerabilities that are possible for the threat actor to exploit, current and expected impact on US financial services critical infrastructure, the path forward to eliminate or reduce the risks, and the actions taken to defend and prevent against this threat in the future.
2. Prepare the AAR. This knowledge management report will be provided to the cyber threat analyst community, which includes the intelligence community, the law enforcement community, the defense and civilian community, the private sector, and academia. The purpose of the AAR is to share the systems life cycle methodology, rationale, and critical thinking used to resolve this cyber incident.

The deliverables for this project are as follows:

1. Security Assessment Report (SAR): This report should be a 14-15 page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.
2. After Action Report (AAR): This report should be a 10-15 page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.
3. A 5-8 slide PowerPoint presentation for executives along with narration or In-Class presentation by each team member summarizing a portion of your SAR and AAR report.