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Background
iPremier (A), iPremier (B), and iPremier (C) cases describe an IT security crisis, and raise issues of
risk management, preparation for crisis, management of crises, computer security, and public
disclosure of security risks.
After you experience the cases and debrief what you have learned, you should have a better
understanding in a number of areas, including the following:
1. Discover human biases that lead to ineffective behavior while responding to a crisis in
real time
2. Recognize the importance of crisis preparedness
3. Learn to ascertain and manage priorities during a crisis
4. Practice collaboration and decision-making to structure effective diagnosis and
response
5. Understand the complexities of communicating upward, outward, and internally
during and after a crisis
Instructions
• Shortly answer the following questions:
1. What is a “Denial of Service” (DoS) attack?
2. How easy is to lunch a DoS attack?
3. What is a “Distributed Denial of Service” (DDoS) attack?
4. What is the difference between a DDoS attack and an intrusion?
5. Does the fact that a DDoS attack has happened mean that an intrusion has also definitely
happened?
6. How common are DDoS attacks?
• Purchase iPremier (A), iPremier (B), and iPremier (C) for $10.85 using the following link and
read all three cases in detail:
•
CSEC 340
Assignment 1: iPremier Case Series
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• Answer the following case-relate questions. Use your critical thinking skills and discuss the
questions from multiple perspectives.
7. Identify the risks faced by iPremier as a result of the crisis.
8. Identify the priorities that should serve as the basis for crisis decision making (for
example: revenue, customer trust, and market value).
9. What was the only major choice of iPremier during the crisis event?
10. List of preparations iPremier might have made before the crisis? Now that the attack
has ended, what can the iPremier company do to prepare for another such attack?
11. In the aftermath of the attack, what would you be worried about? What actions
would you recommend? Should iPremier shut the business down for 36 hours?
12. Should iPremier disclose the attack to public? If yes, give the wording of a press
release explaining the outage.
• Submit your answers to the “short-answer” and “case-related” questions as a single pdf file
on D2L no later than Sunday Sep 15th, 11:30 p.m.
• Up to four pages
• Font: Calibri, Font Size: 11, Line Space: 1.0
• APA Citation Format (if needed)
Grading
This assignment values 10 points of your grade:
• Answer to “short-answer” questions: 3 points
• Answer to “case-related” questions: 7 points
