Hints and Tips for Surviving the MSc Project

Mark Anthony MSc

ISG Summer Conference

September 2014

Mark Anthony MSc CISSP CISM

Working as a Security Consultant for Capita since February 2011

Background In IT Project Management \ Business Analysis \ Information Security

Solely working in Information Security since 2007

Passed ISO27001 Lead Auditor Exam in February 2007Passed CISSP Exam in July 2007Passed CISM Exam in December 2008Started the MSc in 2009, finished this year !Also passed CISA Exam in July 2014, (currently awaiting Verification)

Security Consultant

“The functional role of the Security Consultant is to provide internal corporate security consulting services, develop and enhance policy, architecture and processes, assess business risks, promote security awareness and strengthen relationships with business units by creating value for business stakeholders.”

Working with Local Authorities, Central Government Agencies, Financial Services Organisations and both small and Large Organisations.

CapitaCapita is the UK’s leading provider of customer and business process management. We play a key

role in clients operations delivering customer, administration and professional support services.

• FTSE 100 BPO and Professional Services Group• 62,000 staff spread across over 350 sites in UK, Ireland, Channel Islands and India• Over 20,000 client organisations with customer retention above 90%• Consistent values across all engagements - focus always on positive business outcomes

Capita IT Professional ServicesIT Professional Services formed by combining Capita Assurance and Testing, Smiths Consulting and Technophobia providing end to end capability from Programme and Project Management through Business Analysts to development and testing services

• We apply technology to drive through business change. • We design innovative end-to-end solutions ensuring business programmes deliver to

requirements.• We maximise quality and reduce cost.

The MSc Project

• Decide on the project subject as early as you can.

• Think about what you want the project to investigate.

• Think about what questions you are asking.

• Think about any development, testing, surveys etc you may want to carry out.

My Project

The Rise of The “Hacktivist” : An analysis of the Impact of politically motivated Hacking.

• Research the emergency of Politically Motivated Hacking (What, Who, Why etc.)• Research the recent emergency of Anonymous\LulzSec (Where from, Why?)• Analyse the impact to businesses from such hacking (Including Case Study)

(What was the impact? Direct & Indirect Impacts?, lessons learned? ) • Review the legislation in place, and the difficulties in investigation

(Is it suitable, does it cover the crimes correctly, compare to US Legislation)• Provide commentary on the future of politically motivated hacking

(Have the recent arrests dissuaded the hackers ? What if the attacks become more localised ? Is this likely to fade\burn out?)

Time Management

IndexSection  

I Cover

II Index

III Preamble and Thanks

IV Executive Summary

1 Introduction

1.1 The History of Hacking

1.2 Hackers V's Crackers

2 Emergence of Politically Motivated Hacking

2.1 Positive impact and critical acclaim

2.2 Tools utilised by Hacktivists

3 Impact to Business

3.3 Case study

4 Legislation

5 The Future of Politically Motivated Hacking

6 Conclusion

  Bibliography

  Appendices

Braindump

• Create an Outline based on the Index

• Split into multiple Documents based on the index

• Dump any thoughts, comments, quotes, references and URL’S into these sections

• Backup !

Plan Ahead

• Send out letters \ Surveys early, as you can’t predict response times.

• Use any Contacts you can !

• Expect the Unexpected

• Backup some more !

Resources

• Plan resources and don’t get caught up on “Fringe” resources

• Use Wikipedia, but with caution ! (Citation Needed)

• Don’t Blind Copy, always attribute.

• Follow links on pages (“Related Stories”)

Bibliography

• List all references & Links as you go along, don’t leave this till Later !

• Seriously. Note down all links, you may not find them again !

• The Bibliography is CRITICAL, you cannot state a quote or fact without attribution.

Project Writing

Project Writing

• Try to make it interesting

• Use Humour (Carefully)

• Make it engaging

• Get family \ Friends to Proofread.

• Check (and Recheck) formatting and pagination

Thank you for Listening

Any Questions?

Contact Information:

Mark Anthony MSc CISSP CISM

Email: anthony@fut.netwww.linkedin.com/in/mrainfosec