Foundation Of Information

This is an individual research project. The objective of the research project is to develop
an Information Asset
Risk Assessment Report for an organization of your choosing, and
worth 25% of your total course grade. The report will be
due by the end of the 11
th
week
. The analysis should be conducted using only publicly available information (that
is, information obta
inable on the Internet, company reports, news reports, journal
articles, etc.). The risk analysis should consider legitimate, known threats that pertain to
the subject organization. Based on the information gathered, presumed vulnerabilities of
the company
or organization’s computing and networking infrastructure will be
identified. Then, based on the identified threats and vulnerabilities, you will describe the
risk profile for the subject organization and suggest recommendations to mitigate the
risks.
Yo
ur report should be 12 pages, double
–
spaced, exclusive of cover, title page, table of
contents, endnotes and bibliography. Your paper must use APA formatting with the
exception that tables and figures can be inserted at the appropriate location rather than
added at the end. Submit the report in your Assignment Folder prior to the submission
deadline.
Project Proposal
Prior to writing your report, you must submit a short (a page and half) Project Proposal,
indicating the name and relevant aspect(s) of the
organization you intend to use as a
subject for your report. The proposal must be accompanied by an annotated
bibliography submitted via the assignment folder. Your instructor will provide feedback
as to the suitability of your subject and bibliography. Ad
ditional details are provided
below.
You will submit
a
project proposal
of your Risk Assessment Report
by the end of
Session 4
. The project proposal will account for 10% of your research paper grade
(2.5% of your total course grade).
The project proposal
should be a page and half (double spaced) description of the
organization that you propose to analyze, with a summary of the scope (e.g., entire
organization, key business area, major system, etc.) for the risk assessment you are
expected to conduct. The
proposal should identify the subject organization with a brief
explanation of why you chose the subject for this assignment. The proposal should also
describe the research methods to be used and anticipated sources of research
information sources. Your ins
tructor will use the proposal to provide feedback on the
suitability of the proposed subject organization and the scope you propose, as well as
the suitability of the proposed research methods and information sources. If you do not
provide a proposal, you
will be preparing their Risk Assessment Reports “at risk;” i.e.,
they will run the risk of delivering a report that is not suitable for this course.

2
An important step in developing your Risk Assessment Report will be the construction of
an Annotated Bi
bliography. Having developed and described a subject organization and
scope of analysis in the proposal, the next step is to identify and assess the value of
potential research material. You should identify five (5) to six (6) significant articles
relevant
to your subject organization and to identifying and assessing risks in a context
similar to the scope of your report. For a report of this nature you may expect to find
useful sources in both business
–
focused (e.g., Business Source Premier, Business and
C
ompany Resource Center, ABI/Inform) and technically
–
focused databases (e.g., ACM
Digital Library, IEEE, Gartner.com). The annotated bibliography will consist of 100
–
250
words per article, that describe the main ideas of the article, a discussion of the
use
fulness of such an article in understanding various aspects of you report, and other
comments you might have after reading the article. For each article, there should be a
complete reference in APA format. Your Annotated Bibliography will then form the bas
is
of the sources for your report. (You may also supplement the references used in your
report with additional reference material.)
Some excellent guidance on how to prepare an annotated bibliography can be found at
https://www.library.cornell.edu/researc
h/citation/tutorial.