EXAMINATION OFFICE

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RESEARCH ESSAY
Tasks for Course: DLMCSEAITSC01– Advanced Cyber
Security

CONTENT
1. Tasks ......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Task 1: Identity Management ..................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Task 2: Authentication ................................................................................................................................ 3
1.3 Task 3: Cryptology ...................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Additional information for the evaluation of the Research Essay..................................................... 4
3. Tutorial Support ......................................................................................................................... 4

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1. TASKS
There are different subject areas to choose from. Please choose one of the subject areas first. For the concrete
selection of your essay topic, you have two possibilities:
− You decide on one of the already given questions or
− You formulate a question yourself within the subject area which you would like to work on in your research
essay. In this case, please consider that the question must be agreed upon in advance with the tutor and
approved by them. The independent delimitation and formulation of a question represents a good
preparation and exercise, especially regarding the later thesis.
Introductory literature references are given for each of the subject areas, which can serve as a starting point. It is
expected that further literature sources will be researched and incorporated into the research essay. It should be
noted that the theoretical approach and the related literature research are the main focus of the research essay.

1.1 Task 1: Identity Management

Bertino, E. and Takahashi, K. (2010). Identity Management: Concepts, Technologies, and Systems. Nordwood:
Artech House.

Birch, D. (2017). Digital Identity Management: Technological, Business and Social Implications. Taylor & Francis.

Possible questions for the research essay:

Please select only one of the proposed questions.

– How can technology help to manage mechanical and personnel identities in reference to IoT?
– How can technology help to manage especially the mechanical identities in reference to industry 4.0?
– How can technology help to identify personnel and mechanical identities in the office IT and operational IT?
– Which methods exist to manage external identities (e.g. third parties like service provider) in their lifecycle in
a secure manner in company’s systems?
– How to detect fraudulent misuse (e.g. same passwords, passing on authentication factors, successful
cyberattack) of identities?

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1.2 Task 2: Authentication

Boyd, C. and Mathuria, A. (2013). Protocols for Authentication and Key Establishment: Information Security and
Cryptography. Springer.

Haber, M.J. (2020). Privileged Attack Vectors: Building Effective Cyber-Defense Strategies to Protect Organizations
(2nd ed.). NY: Apress.

Possible questions for the research essay:

Please select only one of the proposed questions.

– What kind of authentication mechanisms are productive for overcoming the basic authentication (username
and password) in times of targeted cyberattacks (i.a. Phishing and Malware) and how are they implemented?
– How can risk-based authentication help to improve the usability for end-users?
– Which cyberattacks are present to compromise the authentication and how is the functionality of them?
– How can WebAuthn and similar standards improve the security for web-based solutions (i.a. IoT devices, web
applications)?
– What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three general methods of authentication (knowledge,
ownership and inherence factors) concerning IoT, industry 4.0 scenarios and office infrastructure?
– How can passwordless authentication improve the current situation?

1.3 Task 3: Cryptology

Beutelspacher, A. and Fisher, C.J. (1994). Cryptology. Mathematical Association of America.

Ding, J. and Tillich, J.P. (2020). Post-Quantum Cryptography: 11th International Conference Proceedings.
Springer International Publishing.

Bernstein, D.J. and Buchmann, J. and Dahmen, E. (2009). Post-Quantum Cryptography. Springer .

Possible questions for the research essay:

Please select only one of the proposed questions.

– Which cryptographical method (symmetric or asymmetric) is more appropriate for the mega trend
digitalization and why?
– How can current cryptanalysis methods compromise the state of the art cryptographical methods?
– How can encryption in use help to prevent data disclosure in cloud computing?
– What are the state-of-the-art algorithms for post-quantum cryptography and how are they implemented?
– How to deal with data privacy requirements (e.g. in the GDPR right of deletion) in blockchain?

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2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH ESSAY

When conceptualizing and writing the written assignment, the evaluation criteria and explanations given in the
writing guidelines should be considered.

3. TUTORIAL SUPPORT
In this written assignment task, several support channels are open; as the student, it is your responsibility to select
your preferred support channel. The tutor is available for technical consultations and for formal and general
questions regarding the procedure for processing the research essay. However, the tutor is not required to
approve outlines or parts of texts and drafts. Independent preparation is part of the examination work and is
included in the overall evaluation. However, general editing tips and instructions are given in order to help you
get started with the written assignment.

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