ENHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL CYBERSECURITY: A HANDS-ON IMMERSIVE LEARNING PROJECT

Abstract

The growing popularity of Internet-based e-commerce, e-banking, e-investment, e-payment, e-education, e-government, social media, and Internet of things around the world now is bringing increased privacy and security threats to people, businesses, and governments. The cyber attackers’ primary purpose of cyberspace intrusion and attack was to steal customer data, defame celebrities, damage brands, and manipulate markets for illegal financial gains. The cybercrimes gave attackers 1,425% return on investment. This paper introduced a real-world immersive learning project for computer information systems students to develop hands-on skills of assessing the security and vulnerability of e-business, e-government, and social media sites by (1) reviewing the current cyber world to better understand what is going on with the cyber-world security and threats; (2) developing a cybersecurity auditing instrument; (3) identifying a company, a government agency, or an organization that needs assistance to measure the cybersecurity of its e-business, e-government, or web services; (4) working in team and using the auditing instrument to examine the cybersecurity strengths and vulnerabilities of the website systems; (5) applying their intelligences and developing proactive solutions to the problems related to cybersecurity; and (6) presenting a written proposal for solving the real-world web security problems. The pedagogical and practical implications of the project were also discussed.