Programming Question

Assignment due Friday, February 20, 2026 by 11:59pm

Assignment 1: Cyber ThreatRiskAttack Landscape Survey

Weight: 20%

Assessment Type: Survey

Format: Individual Assignment

Description:

In this assignment, you are required to research and analyze and conduct in-depth survey of the current cyber threatriskattack landscape, exploring the evolving nature of cybersecurity challenges faced by organizations today. You need to focus on cyber threat landscape from a global, GCC and UAE perspective that

changes both over time and has significant impact on the organization and the internetworked users (IU).

The objective is to examine and critically assess how risks, threats, and attacks interrelate, and how they shape business vulnerabilities in various industries and what organizations are doing to protect themselves.

You are expected to:

Part A: Identify at least 10 real-world examples of cyber incidents from recent years, analyze their causes and impacts, and evaluate the broader trends these cases reveal. The analysis should include specific discussion of:

Risk: The potential for loss or damage to assets, systems, or data.

Threat: The actors, vectors, and conditions that could exploit vulnerabilities.

Attack: Specific incidents or actions taken to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability.

Identify and analyze the emergence and discovery of threats and the associated vulnerabilities that

provide cybercriminals with new attack opportunities (pre covid and post covid).

Part B: Review and comment on current best practices and strategies organizations employ for risk mitigation, including frameworks, technologies, and governance approaches. Identify the global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic compelling organizations to make major changes to their IT infrastructure.

Deliverable:

A comprehensive written report (~2,000 words) that:

(Use this report template)

1. Explains the relationship between risk, threat, and attack in the cybersecurity context.
2. Provides at least three detailed case studies from recent real-world incidents.
3. Identifies patterns and trends in the current cyber landscape.
4. Discusses the effectiveness of current industry/business best practices for risk mitigation.

Assignment Evaluation Criteria:

Depth and clarity of analysis.

Relevance and credibility of cited examples.

Integration of theory with real-world evidence.

Critical evaluation of mitigation strategies.

Report structure, writing quality, and citation of sources (APA format).

Assignment Information