School of Computing and Engineering

Title

 Assignment

Module

Cyber Security

Module Code 

CP60059E

Module Leader:

Dr. Waqar Asif

Set by:

Dr. Waqar Asif

Moderated by:

Dr. Abel Yeboah-Ofori

Assignment

Assignment

Hand in arrangements

This assignment will be submitted via Turnitin.

Structure of assignment

The assessment consists of a portfolio of 2 elements. Each Element has a specific weighting, and its own criteria. The assessment is described below. The learning outcomes of the module are assessed by a successful completion of the whole portfolio.

Assessment

Type

Weighting

Week due

1

Assignment 1

50%

          22^nd April 2022

2

Assignment 2

50%

30^th May 2022

Learning outcomes

1

Understand the essential concepts and critically evaluate mechanisms and processes involved in securing information in an enterprise system environment.

2

Demonstrate expertise in understanding and independent application of encryption/decryption algorithms and design encryption/decryption algorithms

3

Analyse and apply knowledge and skills to investigate and protect against specific security threats.

Title

Assessment 1

Task details

Playfair cipher was a revolutionary approach of its times. It solved issues with existing approaches and ensured that regular frequency distribution of the English language would not work as a valid cryptanalysis approach. Playfair cipher only uses 25 alphabets in its key and this is one of its main limitations.

Consider that you are one of the developers at an organization. Your organization is committed to the use of Playfair cipher. They want to use this algorithm to encrypt all passwords that are being shared among systems. You are expected to ensure that you can make this algorithm work. Keep this in mind that Playfair cipher only uses alphabets whereas, a password should have symbols.

In this assignment, you are expected to explain the following:

• What is Playfair cipher
• How the conventional algorithm works
• Changes you propose to this algorithm
• Benefits that you gain from these changes
• Encryption and decryption based on this new variation
• What are the weaknesses of this new approach

Explain each step and make sure that you explain things in a way that your document can be used to explain the concept to a person new to the logic.

Note: Your assignment must be submitted as a single PDF report.

Marking Guide

Criteria

Issues

Marks

Background

What is encryption and what is the rationale behind Playfair cipher

5

Explanation of the current algorithm

How Playfair cipher works

 10

Proposed changes and encryption

What are the proposed changes and how does the encryption work? Explain all steps

15

Decryption algorithm

Explain the decryption process

10

Potential weaknesses of the algorithm

What are the potential weaknesses in the algorithm

10

Total

50

Overall Description

Title

Mobile application security

Due to the increasing use of mobile devices for everyday tasks, security of mobile applications has become a significant challenge within cyber security. For this assignment you are required to do the following:

3. A reflective summary of the current threat landscape for mobile applications

4. Present an in-depth study of a specific mobile application threat (for our chosen platform) aided by evidence of experimentation

- Basic description of the threat and its significance for mobile applications

- Experimentation to simulate the threat

- Recommended protection mechanism for the threat

Note: Due to the availability of multiple mobile application platforms, the choice of mobile platform such as iOS, android, windows, blackberry is your choice.

Criteria

Issues

Mark

Reflective summary of current threat landscape

Significance of threats for mobile application (5 marks)

A reflective insight into the current threats for mobile application (5 marks)

10

In depth study of a mobile application threat

Basic description of the threat and its significance for mobile applications (5 marks)

Detailed description of how to setup an environment to test mobile applications for security vulnerabilities (10 marks)

Experimentation to simulate the threat accompanied by appropriate illustration (10 marks)

Recommended protection mechanism for the threat including step-by-step illustration of process to implement the protection(10 marks)

35

Organization and Documentation

Have references and citations from various sources been used appropriately

Logical and fluent organization of content

Presentation (layout, use of sections, headings, diagrams, contents list, etc.)

5