DHS Strategy: A Study On Combating Cyber Crimes

Each year, thousands of cyberattacks by overseas governments, terrorist groups, and transnational criminal organizations target U.S. entities. Because of the dependency we have on technology, we become very vulnerable to many cyber-attacks such as identity theft, breaches, ransomware, and hacking. While government entities and large organizations have the know-how and resources to fight cybercrime, many Americans and small-medium companies either lack the knowledge, or the resources (or both) to adopt proper cybersecurity protocols. This renders them vulnerable and inadequately protected from cyber-attacks. While the DHS and CISA, in particular, are dedicated to protecting our country, our industries and the population from cyber-threats, we seem to encounter an increasing number of attacks. This leads to loss of intellectual property, commercial and personal data, identity theft, but also financial and other losses. In this research, facts, and figures from secondary data are used to identify: Which industries are mostly attacked, i.e. how the ransomware by industry has changed over time? How ransomware damage and costs have increased? Which are the top countries that are expected to be attacked more frequently? This project will help better understand the threats of cybersecurity, and future trends.