Cybersecurity PhD Abstract Samples

Written by Dr. Jason T

Topic: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Cybersecurity in Medium-Sized Retail Firms: A Conceptual Framework

This study sought to appraise the degree to which artificial intelligence (AI) could influence cybersecurity levels in medium-sized retail firms. The analysis was based on qualitative interviews with 12 information technology experts and 6 managers. These practitioners shared their insights regarding the perceived barriers to the adoption of AI and its unique advantages allowing them to address the problems encountered in their organisations. These interviews informed a revision of the initial conceptual frameworks based on several established frameworks in the field including NIST that were used to structure specific cybersecurity dimensions and identify which of these elements could be improved via the adoption of AI. Such improvements were deemed necessary due to the fact that these models were developed with human specialists in mind without taking into account the potential leverage provided by the use of artificial intelligence. The resulting model was demonstrated to five retail firms and its viability and potential readiness for implementation were confirmed. With that being said, the findings also indicated that the rapid development of AI technologies development could introduce new opportunities in this sphere over the next several years. These advancements may potentially limit the generalisability of this study’s findings or inform the need for further model expansions.

Topic: Designing a Minimum Cybersecurity Controls Framework for UK SMEs: A Synthesis of Global Standards and Best Practices

While large corporations frequently implement highly effective systems protecting them from hacker attacks, these strategies usually require substantial resources. With the ‘costs’ of successful security breaches increasing on a year-to-year basis and most small and medium firms (SMEs) experiencing various limitations due to the post-COVID economic decline, there exists the need for effective solutions that can be utilised by SMEs and ensure the best possible cybersecurity performance on a highly limited budget. This study sought to propose a minimum cybersecurity controls framework specifically designed for small and medium firms. To address these aims, the author performed a systematic analysis of established global standards such as NIST and ISO/IEC 27001 as well as a systematic review of best practices found in secondary literature. This exploration resulted in the development of a new framework that was then tested via focus groups including managers of several UK SMEs. Their insights led to several phases of the proposed model’s revisions. The final version of the framework was tested in these selected firms for 3 months with positive and quantitatively measurable improvements being reported by firm information security managers. These results allow the author to recommend this model to SMEs from different industries despite the relatively low sample size potentially limiting its generalisability.

Topic: User Behaviour Analytics as a Cybersecurity Tool: Evidence from 5 European Companies

This study sought to explore the potential of user behaviour analytics as a cybersecurity tool. As found by several prior projects, this instrument provides rich data allowing experts to identify different actors by their convenient activity patterns and instantly identify when these conventional mechanisms get disrupted due to potential breaches. Within the scope of zero-trust security systems and other advanced cybersecurity instruments, deviation from these established ‘correct’ behaviours allows system administrators to trigger alarms in the case of unusual requests from potentially compromised accounts. This thesis utilised mixed methods research exploring both secondary analytics data from the 5 selected companies and primary data obtained via interviews with their cybersecurity teams. While the overall paradigm of this project can be characterised as a case study because of its focus on these particular firms, the findings may be potentially generalisable to other companies in the same industry. The positive results obtained after testing the revised model measured quantitatively as the number of threats identified, the time required to respond to such incidents, and overall levels of user compliance with established cybersecurity procedures strongly suggest that its implementation can benefit the majority of organisations. However, specific adjustments may be necessary to accommodate the identified influence of the share of remote/flexible workforce arrangements within a particular organisation.

Topic: Cybersecurity Training Schemes: Proposing a Model for South African SMEs

This study sought to explore the cyber threat landscape of South Africa and suggest the most optimal cybersecurity training schemes that can be actionable for local small and medium companies (SMEs). The region in question has the highest number of email and ransomware attacks in all of Africa and one of the highest numbers of cyberattacks on a global scale. At the same time, the resilience of local companies to this form of threat remains low due to poor education levels, antiquated regulations, insufficient law enforcement readiness, and outdated security systems. This mixed-methods study utilised surveys with 78 employees from small and medium firms and 7 interviews with information technology experts to develop a cybersecurity training model reflecting a shared vision of these two stakeholder groups. The resulting solution incorporated several earlier frameworks such as CATRAM that were updated with best practices to adjust them to the contextual challenges of South Africa. The proposed revised model was tested for four months in three local SMEs with positive results. With that being said, the study’s limitations such as a relatively small sample size and the focus on a small number of organisations from different industries may limit the generalisability of the findings, which requires further projects in this field.

Topic: Cyber Resilience Frameworks as an Instrument of Compliance Risks Management in the Post-COVID Era

This study sought to approach cyber resilience frameworks from the perspective of compliance risk management rather than cybersecurity. The selected vision was informed by the increasing significance of GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and other similar regulations presenting major threats to firms omitting best practices in handling customer data and ensuring its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The analysis involved document analysis of three partnering organisations that introduced cyber resilience frameworks in the five years preceding this study and interviews with 12 compliance officers and information technology specialists from these organisations to appraise the perceived impact of these practices on compliance risk levels. This combined audit allowed the author to obtain a balanced perspective of the studied topic with the results strongly suggesting that game-based training and video-based training were the most effective training methods ensuring superior outcomes in comparison with other methods. These insights informed several practical recommendations on improving the cyber resilience frameworks of the participating organisations specifically designed with the compliance risk management perspective in mind. While this project was limited in terms of its focus and sample size, its findings suggest the need to revise existing models in this sphere to account for this additional perspective. This knowledge can help companies improve their understanding of compliance risks posed by digital security challenges.

Topic: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Online Dispute Resolution: The Experience of 5 UK Retail Companies

Online dispute resolution is a complex procedure that requires a lot of effort on the part of companies due to its significance in ensuring customer satisfaction and avoiding adverse reputational consequences. Its high resource intensity explains the increasing interest of marketers towards optimisation and automation opportunities offered by modern technologies. This study aimed to explore the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in online dispute resolution. As opposed to earlier projects providing theoretical reviews of potential AI capabilities in this sphere, this thesis explored the experiences of 5 UK retail companies experimenting with this concept as a part of their long-term technological change strategies. Their insights were registered using qualitative interviews with 14 marketing and information technology managers. Their insights strongly suggest that the current role of AI may be associated with information collection and structuring as a supporting tool for issuing problem tickets. According to interviewee statements, such systems do not possess the overarching understanding of human emotions required for effective dispute resolution. With that being said, they provide unique savings in terms of automatic data processing allowing human specialists to handle such cases much more effectively. These insights have informed a set of recommendations that can be generalised to other retail companies.

Topic: Assessing the Impact of Cybersecurity Awareness Training on Employee Behaviour in Qatar Organisations

The effectiveness of cybersecurity in organisations largely depends on the level of their staff’s understanding of key threats in this sphere and the ways to address them. Such capabilities are developed through specialised awareness training programmes. However, the analysis of the literature revealed a major gap where individual studies highlight the significance of such initiatives but do not provide a holistic appraisal of their effectiveness in measurable quantitative performance indicators. This thesis assessed the impact of cybersecurity awareness training on employee behaviours in several Qatar organisations via quantitative surveys developed on the basis of preceding qualitative interviews with local cybersecurity experts. This exploratory sequential design allowed the author to revise initially created questionnaires and include the factors and influences specific to the analysed context. The results suggest that cybersecurity awareness training’s impact on employee behaviours within the scope of organisational, environmental, and technological factors was moderated by several variables including perceived barriers and self-efficacy. In this aspect, the formulated recommendations to Qatar organisations may involve an additional focus on these support elements that contribute to the effectiveness of such initiatives. With that being said, some of the identified relationships could be context- or culture-specific, which may limit their generalisability beyond Middle Eastern countries.

Topic: Developing a Framework for Evaluating Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing among Public Sector Organisations in the UK

This thesis aimed to create a structured framework for assessing the effectiveness of cyber threat intelligence (CSI) sharing in public sector organisations. While the majority of commercial enterprises utilise strong measures in this sphere based on open-source intelligence (OSINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), and signals intelligence (SIGINT), these programmes require substantial expertise and resources. One possible way of addressing this problem for public sector organisations with limited resources is the use of threat intelligence sharing platforms (TISP) that help institutions share insights, experiences, and all forms of threat-related information helping their peers fight hackers and prevent cyber attacks and security breaches. The analysis utilised the explanatory sequential design starting with the collection of secondary data via surveys of several public sector organisations from the UK the researcher had access to. This exploration was supported by the evaluation of existing cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST to identify the criteria used by institutions to share cyber threat intelligence. The identified problems were further explored using qualitative interviews with 11 experts informing practical recommendations on how these practices and procedures can be improved to enhance CSI effectiveness. The findings also suggest that issues of trust towards other partnering organisations within such frameworks and potential accountability for disclosing sensitive internal information act as strong barriers to positive outcomes.

Topic: Phishing Attack Susceptibility: A Systemic Review of Key Risk Factors and Background Characteristics of Affected Users

Phishing represents one of the most problematic cyber threats in the modern environment due to several key reasons. While ransomware, SQL injections or denial-of-service attacks can be recognised and mitigated using automated detection systems, phishing largely relies on social engineering and the use of psychological manipulations exploiting user’s lack of awareness and cybersecurity skills. With that being said, there exists a gap in modern literature related to the lack of systemic reviews of key risk factors and background characteristics shared by the affected users. This thesis aimed to address this ‘grey area’ by synthesising these elements to create a holistic model that allows practitioners to predict phishing susceptibility and effectively appraise the risk profiles of their organisation’s workforce. From a methodological standpoint, this systematic literature review was supported by 17 interviews with cybersecurity specialists utilised as a part of the explanatory sequential study design to confirm the comprehensiveness of the proposed framework and introduce possible improvements to it. The resulting model was offered to three organisations for appraisal with positive feedback being received from all of these companies. With that being said, the study did not test this framework in a comparative manner in several industries, which may reduce its generalisability to all contexts.

Topic: The Impact of Cybersecurity Culture on Incident Response Effectiveness: A Review of 5 UK Medium-Sized Businesses

Cybersecurity culture is usually defined as a set of procedures determining the course of action for all organisation members to ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA). As noted by multiple past studies, it has a strong positive influence on a variety of performance dimensions in commercial firms. With that being said, cybersecurity is closely related to the problem of incident report effectiveness since some stakeholders may not be willing to report their mistakes or problematic behaviours in this sphere due to the fear of punishment from their employers. This study sought to evaluate the impact of cybersecurity culture on incident response (IR) effectiveness. From a methodological standpoint, it relied on a mixed-methods exploratory sequential design where interviews with 11 key stakeholders (information technology specialists responsible for IR activities) informed consecutive anonymous employee surveys assessing perceptions of cybersecurity culture and incident response effectiveness. As shown by the findings, a strong cybersecurity culture has a positive impact on incident response effectiveness with this relationship being mediated by trust towards the organisation. In this scenario, the perceived ability to report any problematic issues without getting punished for mistakes and omissions served as the strongest motivator to openly communicate them to information technology specialists. With that being said, the sample of the study was limited to 5 UK medium-sized businesses, which may impact the generalisability of the findings.

Topic: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Zero-Trust Security Strategies in Reducing Cybercrime in European Companies

With the costs of individual cyberattacks reaching millions of euros, preventing hackers from accessing sensitive company data becomes a priority for information technology specialists. Zero-trust security strategies are one of the solutions used to achieve this goal by promptly recognising potential credential theft issues and limiting the scope of damage caused by intruders. This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of these instruments in reducing cybercrime in European companies. To answer the posed research questions, the author surveyed 413 information technology (IT) professionals. The forms included queries related to incident frequency before and after the implementation of zero-trust security strategies as well as the queries exploring specific zero-trust instruments used and additional positive effects created by them. The findings suggest that these strategies are generally effective in reducing cybercrime levels in the analysed European organisations with no major differences being identified between the countries in which the surveyed specialists resided at the moment of the study. This may suggest that zero-trust instruments can be recommended to the majority of organisations willing to improve their performance in this sphere due to their universal positive contribution to organisational security and resilience. With that being said, the generalisability of the findings beyond Europe may be influenced by local standards differing from GDPR and other applicable regulations in this sphere.