For this research project, you will help identify best practices and strategies for encouraging business participation in public-private partnerships designed to improve cybersecurity for the the US Elections System. Your deliverable will be a research report that provides an overview of existing public-private partnerships (focus on Election Security), the types of cybersecurity improvements such partnerships address, the potential benefits to industry partners, and the potential risks and/or costs in resources. Your report should also address the types of
due diligence
activities a company should engage in before committing to participation in information sharing and other public-private partnership activities.
CSIA 360: Cybersecurity in Government Organizations
Project 6: Public-Private Partnerships for Election Systems Cybersecurity
For this research project, you will help identify best practices and strategies for encouraging
business participation in public-private partnerships designed to improve cybersecurity for the the US
Elections System. Your deliverable will be a research report that provides an overview of existing publicprivate partnerships (focus on Election Security), the types of cybersecurity improvements such
partnerships address, the potential benefits to industry partners, and the potential risks and/or costs in
resources. Your report should also address the types of due diligence activities a company should
engage in before committing to participation in information sharing and other public-private partnership
activities.
Research:
1. Read / Review the Weekly readings.
2. Research the concepts and structures for public-private partnerships as a means of furthering public
policy goals. Your starting resources are:
a. What are Public Private Partnerships (World Bank)
https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/overview/what-are-publicprivate-partnerships
b. The Policy Cycle
https://www.policynl.ca/policydevelopment/policycycle.html
3. Research existing or proposed public-private partnerships in cybersecurity and critical infrastructure
protection for Elections Systems Security. Here are some sources to get you started:
a. https://gcn.com/articles/2020/02/20/government-industry-partners-electionsecurity.aspx
b. https://www.lawandsecurity.org/Portals/0/Documents/Cybersecurity.Partnerships.pdf
c. https://fedtechmagazine.com/article/2020/04/role-dhs-can-play-election-security
4. Research the DHS-led public-private partnership for Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity
improvements in the area of Election Systems Security. You should also review the requirements
and provisions of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework for Critical Infrastructure Protection. Research
why DHS is encouraging the adoption of the NIST framework.
a. https://www.dhs.gov/topic/election-security
b. https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/tips/ST19-002
c. https://us-cert.cisa.gov/resources/cybersecurity-framework
5. Find additional sources that provide information about public-private partnerships for cybersecurity,
i.e. Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) or Information Sharing and Analysis
Organizations. Here are two overview/directory web pages to help you get started.
a. https://www.dhs.gov/isao
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CSIA 360: Cybersecurity in Government Organizations
b.
https://www.cisecurity.org/ei-isac/
Write:
Write a five- to seven-page research report that includes a summary of your research. At a
minimum, your report must include the following:
1. An introduction or overview for public-private partnerships that provides definitions and addresses
the laws, regulations, and policies that permit this type of cooperation between federal, state, and
local governments and private companies. This introduction should be suitable for an executive
audience.
2. A separate section that provides an overview of public-private partnerships for Elections Systems
cybersecurity that addresses the types of activities contributed by a company (e.g. information
sharing, development of threat intelligence, development of risk profiles, etc.). You should provide
three or more specific examples.
3. An analysis of whether participation in a public-private partnership in the area of Elections Security
is likely to have benefits for businesses (with specific examples of those benefits). After you address
the benefits, address the problem of costs and/or risks which a company could expect to face (with
at least three or more specific examples). (One risk to consider is how a partnership exposes
information about company operations to the federal government.)
4. A set of recommendations or best practices for companies to engage in before committing to
participation in a public-private partnership for cybersecurity. (Address the requirement for due
diligence in decision-making.)
5. A separate closing section in which you summarize your research and recommendation(s).
Submit for Grading
Submit your work in MS Word format (.docx or .doc file) using the Project 6 Assignment in your
assignment folder. (Attach the file.)
Additional Information
1. Consult the grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this assignment.
2. Your 5- to 7-page research report should be professional in appearance with consistent use of
fonts, font sizes, margins, etc. You should use headings and page breaks to organize your paper.
3. Your paper should use standard terms and definitions for cybersecurity.
4. The CSIA program recommends that you follow standard APA formatting since this will give you
a document that meets the “professional appearance†requirements. APA formatting guidelines
Copyright ©2020 by University of Maryland University College. All Rights Reserved
CSIA 360: Cybersecurity in Government Organizations
and examples are found under Course Resources > APA Resources. An APA template file (MS
Word format) has also been provided for your use
CSIA_Basic_Paper_Template(APA_6ed,DEC2018).docx.
5. You must include a cover page with the assignment title, your name, and the due date. Your
reference list must be on a separate page at the end of your file. These pages do not count
towards the assignment’s page count.
6. You should write grammatically correct English in every assignment that you submit for grading.
Do not turn in any work without (a) using spell check, (b) using grammar check, (c) verifying that
your punctuation is correct and (d) reviewing your work for correct word usage and correctly
structured sentences and paragraphs.
7. You must credit your sources using in-text citations and reference list entries. Both your
citations and your reference list entries must follow a consistent citation style (APA, MLA, etc.).
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