The University of Queensland
CYBR7001 Fundamentals of Cyber Security
Assignment 1 – Individual
Work
Due Date: 02 September 1400hrs (Brisbane time)
Total possible score: 100 marks (which
contributes to 35% of total CYBR7001 assessment score)
Submission: Only via Learn.UQ Blackboard
site. Submit only in PDF format. Remember to put your name and student
ID on the submission
document.
Please observe strict academic integrity. All submissions will be checked by
Turn-it-in for plagiarism and for original written
content. Submissions with 20% or higher
similarity scores will be flagged for disciplinary action.
Part 1: Situation Assessment and
Policy Brief (50 marks)
In this part of the assignment, you will take on the role of policy
adviser of Lucky Country (LC) as part of a
hypothetical cybersecurity taskforce, preparing to
brief the LC Prime Minister’s Committee on National Security.
This assignment information
document contains fictional information on the background and current situation
involving a major
cyber incident affecting systems. The attacks notionally take place in 2024. The
scenario
presents a fictional account of political developments and public reporting surrounding
the cyber incident.
The LC Prime Minister’s Committee on National Security needs information
on the full range of response options
available to them regarding this incident. Your team has
been tasked with developing an appropriate course of
action for them to recommend to the LC Prime
Minister.
You are to consider as facts the following pages for formulating your
response.
You will use the fictional scenario material presented to write a Situation
Assessment and Policy Brief (no
more than 2 A4-sized pages; Arial font size 10):
Write an
analytical policy brief that provides a concise assessment of the situation, addresses potential
impacts
and risks, and discusses the implications of the cyber incident. Describe policy
considerations for different
potential state and non-state actors and explore the course of
action you are recommending in depth.
The length of the brief is limited to two single-sided
pages in length.
Part 1 marking rubrics:
- 15 marks – Quality of situational assessment
and analysis depth
- 10 marks – Quality of immediate/short-term recommendations
- 10 marks –
Quality of long-term recommendations
- 10 marks – Clarity of communication to appropriate
audience
- 5 marks – Writing style, grammar, structure and formatting
Keep these tips in mind
as you are reading and considering your policy response alternatives:
● Analyse the issues. The
goal of this assignment is to grapple with complex issues and weigh the strengths and
weaknesses
of sometimes conflicting interests. Priority should be given to analysis of the issues and not to
listing
all possible issues or solutions.
● Engage the scenario. Believe that the universe we
have created is plausible and that the events that happen in
it are realistic. Nevertheless,
remember to think critically about the intelligence you have been provided and
its
provenance.
● Think multi-dimensionally. When analysing the scenario, remember to consider
implications for other
organizations and domains (e.g. private sector, military, law enforcement,
diplomatic) and incorporate these
insights along with cyber security.
● Consider who you are,
and who you’re briefing. You are cyber policy professionals briefing the upper echelons
of the
Lucky Country government, which happened to have a very similar cyber security ecosystem as
that
of its ally Australia. As such, you should be ready to answer questions on agency responsibility,
provide
justifications for your recommendations, and have potential alternatives ready. In other
words, for ease of
describing the organisations in the ecosystem, you may use Australian
organisations/agencies (e.g.
LCCSC likened to ACSC, or any organisation from the Patrick Fair
overview) in your brief.
● Be creative. Cyber policy is an evolving discourse, and there is no
single correct course of action to the
scenario information provided. There are many ideas to
experiment with in responding to the crisis.
Note: Most of this part of the assignment is based
on and referenced from the Atlantic Council Cyber 9/12 cyber competition packages. All
materials
included are fictional and were created only for the purpose of this assignment. All scenario
content is for academic purposes and is not
meant to represent the views of the university,
authors, or any affiliated organizations. All names and places, if relating to any
real-world
characters or places, are purely coincidental. If you score really well, we may
nominate you to represent UQ at the next competition. J
CYBR7001 Assignment 1
2
From: Lucky
Country (LC) Cyber Security Centre
Re: Vulnerabilities in Key LC Systems Date: August 5th,
2024
As senior policy advisers preparing to brief the Prime Minister’s Committee on
National
Security on a developing threat to LC, I’ll let you know what her leading
worries are.
Based
off initial intelligence, the Prime Minister has indicated that she is concerned
about threat
vectors concerning the status of LC electricity supply security and how
it could affect the rest
of the nation. There may be other threat vectors that the
PM is not yet aware of.
Given the
unclear nature of the threat, the PM requests your team prepare a concise
assessment of the
ongoing situation and reporting. Your assessment should include:
How or where the relevant
systems could be vulnerable to exploitation, and
what steps can be made to mitigate these
vulnerabilities;
An assessment of potential risks and impacts to consider if the
vulnerabilities
are successfully exploited; and
Immediate and long-term responses the LC
government can or should consider to
address these vulnerabilities, taking into account the
severity and likelihood
of the threat.
To provide this assessment and policy recommendations,
you will apply your
understanding of UQ’s CYBR7001 (e.g. elements of cyber security
threats,
vulnerabilities, technologies involved, law, foreign policy, international
relations,
criminology) to synthesize useful policy measures from limited information.
Your
recommendation must analyse the possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and
threats of your proposed response.
As policy advisers, in formulating your response you
will be expected to have
considered, at a minimum:
All stakeholders when determining an
action or recommendation, including the
role of the government and private sector;
The long
and short-term impacts of your recommendation;
Which agency will be responsible for the action
you have recommended,
Whether you can, or should, attribute the threat; and
The covert or
overt nature of your response.
Additionally, this message is accompanied by several documents
that may assist your
team in preparing a comprehensive policy recommendation for the task
force:
Tab 1 – LCNN Article #1
Tab 2 – LCNN Article #2
Twitter feeds
CYBR7001
Assignment 1
3
LCNN Article #1
[Breaking] Devastating Power Outage Across
Lucky
Country’s East Coast
5th August 2024 0600 hrs LCT
Report by Jonathan de
Souza
A power cut has hit all cities and towns along the entire east coast of the Lucky
Country. The blackout
lasted just over five hours and started just before 11pm on 4th August
2024, causing service disruption
and possible life loss.
The blackout caused all traffic
lights and telecommunication base stations to malfunction and essential
services to run on backup
generator power. Several traffic accidents have occurred across most cities
along the east coast.
At least three hospitals reported power outages after their backup power were
depleted after
three hours, causing disruption to hospital operating theatres and intensive care
units
(ICU).
There have been unconfirmed reports of a handful of patients affected by the
disrupted operations and
social media coverage of the chaos at affected emergency
departments.
Prime Minister Michelle Macintosh said the blackout was attributed to the outage
of the grid system
linking the entire east coast of the country and cited possible cyber-attacks
on the country’s grid systems.
The PM has activated the LC Defence Force to assist in all
affected areas. She also urged all citizens
to remain calm and stay indoors wherever
possible.
The PM elaborated that the attack was likely caused by a state actor deploying an
advanced persistent
threat vector on the power grid’s industrial control systems. When asked by
LCNN, the PM refused to
name the state actor involved.
Cyber security expert Professor
Andrew Cole said the electricity and power supply industry has been a
sitting duck to
cyber-attacks for a long time, with power companies guilty of ignoring the risks
repeatedly
highlighted by the LC Cyber Security Centre and many cyber security
professionals.
He said that power companies are guilty of negligence and bad governance,
since the attacks were
similar to the attacks on the Ukrainian power plants in 2015 and 2016, the
January 2024 Ukraine cyber-
attacks on government websites, and more recently, a smaller scale
series of power outages on LC’s
Old North Wales (ONW) state in June 2024.
The
cyber-security company Information Security and Assurance Partners (ISAP) has linked the
incident
to the hack and ONW blackout in June 2024 that affected 225,000. It also said a series of
other
recent attacks in South America were connected.
CEO of Power Lucky Country, Mr
Bradley Wilson, the company managing the grid line on LC’s East
Coast, denied these accusations
and said that the company has passed all cyber security audits and
is certified to the ISO/IEC
27001 cyber security standard.
The chief police commissioner, Commissioner Wilfred Chan,
urged all members of the public to remain
indoors and report possible looting to the
police.
Access to electricity is a major contention as the price of electricity has risen
sharply across the country
despite the increased unreliability of the providers. The loss of
power could impact essential services
and businesses throughout Lucky Country. The debate seems
likely to continue further still as the
country enters one of the coldest winters on
record.
More to come…
CYBR7001 Assignment 1
4
LCNN Article #2
Lucky
Country Announces Sanctions on the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korrelle
20th May 2024 0900
hrs LCT
Report by Santokh Singh
The Prime Minister of Lucky Country Michelle Macintosh
has announced that Lucky Country will impose
economic sanctions and bans on all petroleum imports
and coal exports for the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korelle (DPRK).
With this
announcement, Lucky Country has joined at least five other nations announcing similar
sanctions
on the country embroiled in years of conflict with its neighbouring countries. The move is
likely
going to impact the already-impoverished DPRK, which has largely depended on fuel imports for
its
local economy.
United Nations experts said in key sections of a recently released report
obtained on 10th May by LCNN
that DPRK has also evaded sanctions through “targeted” cyber attacks
against officials of 10 countries
on the U.N. Security Council and on members of its expert
panel. They did not elaborate or identify
which of the 10 council nations were
targeted.
In the report to the U.N. Security Council, the experts said DPRK has maintained
its nuclear facilities
and continues to produce fissile material, including highly enriched
uranium, that can be used in nuclear
weapons. It has also continued “to develop infrastructure
and capacity for its ballistic missile program”
and moved ahead on construction of an
experimental light water reactor, they said.
CYBR7001 Assignment 1
5
Twitter
Feeds
(Note: Do not post these fictitious tweets online)
CYBR7001 Assignment
1
6
Part 2 – Case Study (50 marks)
In this part of the assignment, you will take on the
role of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Norsk
Hydro when it was just struck by a
cyber-attack.
See:
https://news.microsoft.com/transform/hackers-hit-norsk-hydro-ransomware-company-responded-transparency/
You
are encouraged to do your own research.
Write an advisory (limited to 800 words) for the
company’s senior management
o Using the Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain as a visual tool, detail
the events which led to the cyber-attack.
(5 marks)
o Describe the actor(s), motivation(s) and
vulnerabilities involved in this attack. (10 marks)
o Recommended actions for the company. (10
marks)
o In bullet point form, key things to note for a media press release to media companies.
(10 marks)
o Longer-term mitigation strategies for the company to prevent such attacks from
happening again (hint: many
strategies and approaches were described in the CYBR7001 lectures).
(15 marks)
(Note that the word limit is strict. Exceeding the word limit may result in
penalties).
End of Assignment 1
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