An Empirical Assessment of Cybersecurity Readiness and Resilience in Small Businesses

A cyber-attack can become costly if small businesses are not prepared to protect their information systems or lack the ability to recover from a cybersecurity incident. Small businesses that are not ready to deal with cyber threats are risking significant disruption and loss. In many cases the small business decision makers, owners or managers, do not have a strategy to improve their cybersecurity posture despite the known risk to their business. This research study focused on the relationship between two constructs that are associated with readiness and resilience of small businesses based on their cybersecurity planning, implementation, as well as response and recovery activities. An empirical assessment was conducted on small businesses’ level preparedness relative to their decision makers’ perceived risk of cyber-attack (perceived likelihood x perceived impact). Subject matter experts (SMEs) were used to validate a set of cybersecurity preparedness activities for the construct of cybersecurity preparedness. The SMEs approved 70 cybersecurity preparedness activities among the five functions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework to assess the level of cybersecurity preparedness of small businesses. The SMEs then assigned weights to the validated preparedness activities to enable an aggregated benchmark cybersecurity preparedness score (CPS). The construct the decision maker’s perceived risk of cyberattack (DMPRCA) was updated with a set of common cyber threat vectors and using simple definitions from the SMEs. A Cybersecurity Preparedness-Risk Taxonomy (CyPRisT) was then developed using the theoretical foundation of prospect theory and status quo bias. The four quadrants of cybersecurity risk postures were defined as indifference, susceptible, aversive, and strategic. The aggregated scores of CPSs and DMPRCA were positioned on the CyPRisT for each of the 216 small businesses who participated in this study. Statistical differences were found in the CPSs and DMPRCA by demographics industry, size (number of employees), and Information Technology (IT) budget (%). The findings of the quantitative analysis are presented along with the position on the CyPRisT for each demographic indicator of the businesses. The Cybersecurity Assessment of Risk Management to optimize Readiness and Resilience (cyberARMoRR) program for small businesses was developed as a cybersecurity strategy planning guide and collection of resources. The cyberARMoRR program was administered to 50 small business decision makers. The CPSs and DMPRCA were evaluated before and after participation in cyberARMoRR program and positioned on the CyPRisT to assess differences in the small businesses’ cybersecurity posture. The results of the paired sample t-test showed no significant differences between the pretest and posttest groups. However, there was an observed increase in both the CPSs and DMPRCA that moved the position toward the risk-aversive quadrant of the CyPRisT. An analysis of the empirical data was conducted on the cybersecurity preparedness activities that participants identified as most challenging to implement and their explanations of why. Data were collected from 15 semi-structured interviews and 50 surveys with five open-ended questions, one per each function of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. A two-cycle thematic analysis was performed using the responses that described the challenges of cybersecurity preparedness activities. The results of the qualitative analysis suggest that small business decision makers are more likely to improve their ability to mitigate cyber threats when the applicable technologies are uncomplicated, technical expertise is accessible, and cybersecurity educational material is easy to understand. The small business owners and managers also indicated that the cybersecurity preparedness activities are more attainable when the demand of their time did not change their focus away from business operations. Conversely, the small businesses that were able to improve their cybersecurity posture had committed to incorporating many of the cybersecurity preparedness activities into their routine business processes, such as allocating a budget for cybersecurity and performing vulnerability assessments. The effects of prospect theory and status quo bias are discussed in the context of the CyPRisT positions for the small businesses

A look at profiler performance

Since about 1974, Doppler radars operating in UHF and VHF ranges have been used increasingly to study atmospheric winds. Historically, large systems capable of obtaining data from high altitudes have focused attention on the mesosphere and stratosphere, rather than on the troposphere wherein abides most of the weather considered by most meteorologists. Research address some questions the meteorologist must logically ask first, viz., what is the actual performance capability of these systems, how accurate is the wind data of interest to meteorologists, and from what altitudes in the troposphere are the data reliably obtained

A Different Kind of Vision: The Critique of Consumerism in Flannery O\u27Connor\u27s Wise Blood

In the tradition of Jon Lance Bacon and Steve Pinkerton, this work endeavors to show how Flannery O’Connor, along with her secular humanist contemporaries, voices a critique of modern American culture that depicts the conflicting elements of consumerism as detrimental to an individual’s personal and social well-being. This study will focus on Wise Blood, in particular, as it represents a consumerist way of life as antithetical to a religious way of life. By illustrating the emptiness of materialism and the nihilism of consumerism, O’Connor hopes to persuade her readers that Christianity is a preferable alternative. The body of this study has two parts. The first chapter, “Led By Ropes, Scents, and Dog Whistles,” drawing on the language of cultural critics Marshal McLuhan, C. Wright Mills, and Vance Packard, explicates the novel’s conflicting conceptions of wise blood. O’Connor juxtaposes an authentic wise blood defined by its drive for salvation with a parodic version that is simply an introjection of the promises of advertising. Enoch, as a representative of the latter, seeks to improve his life through increased participation in consumerism, which ultimately ends in grotesque frustration. In the second chapter, “‘No One Was Paying Attention to the Sky,’” I expand on the first chapter’s premise by illustrating how O’Connor presents a return to Christianity—the exercise of an authentic wise blood—as the only way to address the issues of modernity. The chapter traces the dialectical structure of Hazel’s spiritual journey from the naïve faith of his youth, through his apostasy during the war and turn towards consumerism, and finally to the humbling of his secular egoism and return to a Christian faith. His return to faith, however, is grotesque and unsettling. Drawing on the work of John Hawkes, Frederick Crews, and John Ruskin, the conclusion will explore some of the questions that O’Connor’s emphasis on the grotesque raises. Particularly, can such an unsympathetic narrative tone positively and accurately depict an elevated spiritual life, or does it simply revel in the moral and spiritual squalor that it claims to reject

Towards an Empirical Assessment of Cybersecurity Readiness and Resilience in Small Businesses

Many small businesses struggle to improve their cybersecurity posture despite the risk to their business. Small businesses lacking adequate protection from cyber threats, or a business continuity strategy to recover from disruptions, have a very high risk of loss due to a cyberattack. These cyberattacks, either deliberate or unintentional, can become costly when a small business is not prepared. This developmental research is focused on the relationship between two constructs that are associated with readiness and resilience of small businesses based on their cybersecurity planning, implementation, as well as response activities. A Cybersecurity Preparedness-Risk Taxonomy (CyPRisT) is proposed using the constructs of cybersecurity preparedness and small businesses decision maker’s perceived risk of cyberattack. This work-in-progress study will provide an empirical assessment of small businesses’ level of cybersecurity preparedness relative to their decision maker’s perceived risk of cyberattack. Subject matter experts (SMEs) will be used to validate a set of cybersecurity preparedness activities for small businesses in efforts to develop a benchmark scoring for the measure of cybersecurity preparedness. The SMEs will also identify weights for preparedness activities to enable benchmark scoring of cybersecurity preparedness that mitigate common cyber threats among small businesses. The construct of the decision maker’s perceived risk of cyberattack is based on prior research. Additionally, this work-in-progress study will develop and validate the Cybersecurity Assessment of Risk Management to optimize Readiness and Resilience (cyberARMoRR) program for small businesses. The CyPRisT scores will be used to evaluate significant differences before and after participation in cyberARMoRR program

Factors affecting sperm recovery rates and survival after centrifugation of equine semen

Conventional centrifugation protocols result in important sperm losses during removal of the supernatant. In this study, the effect of centrifugation force (400 or 900 × g), duration (5 or 10 min), and column height (20 or 40 mL; Experiment 1); sperm concentration (25, 50, and 100 × 10[superscript 6]/mL; Experiment 2), and centrifugation medium (EZ-Mixin CST [Animal Reproduction Systems, Chino, CA, USA], INRA96 [IMV Technologies, Maple Grove, MN, USA], or VMDZ [Partnar Animal Health, Port Huron, MI, USA]; Experiment 3) on sperm recovery and survival after centrifugation and cooling and storage were evaluated. Overall, sperm survival was not affected by the combination of centrifugation protocol and cooling. Total sperm yield was highest after centrifugation for 10 min at 400 × g in 20-mL columns (95.6 ± 5%, mean ± SD) or 900 × g in 20-mL (99.2 ± 0.8%) or 40-mL (91.4 ± 4.5%) columns, and at 900 × g for 5 min in 20-mL columns (93.8 ± 8.9%; P < 0.0001). Total (TMY) and progressively motile sperm yield followed a similar pattern (P < 0.0001). Sperm yields were not significantly different among samples centrifuged at various sperm concentrations. However, centrifugation at 100 × 10[superscript 6]/mL resulted in significantly lower total sperm yield (83.8 ± 10.7%) and TMY (81.7 ± 6.8%) compared with noncentrifuged semen. Centrifugation in VMDZ resulted in significantly lower TMY (69.3 ± 22.6%), progressively motile sperm yield (63.5 ± 18.2%), viable yield (60.9 ± 36.5%), and survival of progressively motile sperm after cooling (21 ± 10.8%) compared with noncentrifuged semen. In conclusion, centrifuging volumes of ≤ 20 mL minimized sperm losses with conventional protocols. With 40-mL columns, it may be recommended to increase the centrifugal force to 900 × g for 10 min and dilute the semen to a sperm concentration of 25 to 50 × 10[superscript 6]/mL in a milk- or fractionated milk-based medium. The semen extender VMDZ did not seem well suited for centrifugation of equine semen

Analysis of airborne Doppler lidar, Doppler radar and tall tower measurements of atmospheric flows in quiescent and stormy weather

The first experiment to combine airborne Doppler Lidar and ground-based dual Doppler Radar measurements of wind to detail the lower tropospheric flows in quiescent and stormy weather was conducted in central Oklahoma during four days in June-July 1981. Data from these unique remote sensing instruments, coupled with data from conventional in-situ facilities, i.e., 500-m meteorological tower, rawinsonde, and surface based sensors, were analyzed to enhance understanding of wind, waves and turbulence. The purposes of the study were to: (1) compare winds mapped by ground-based dual Doppler radars, airborne Doppler lidar, and anemometers on a tower; (2) compare measured atmospheric boundary layer flow with flows predicted by theoretical models; (3) investigate the kinematic structure of air mass boundaries that precede the development of severe storms; and (4) study the kinematic structure of thunderstorm phenomena (downdrafts, gust fronts, etc.) that produce wind shear and turbulence hazardous to aircraft operations. The report consists of three parts: Part 1, Intercomparison of Wind Data from Airborne Lidar, Ground-Based Radars and Instrumented 444 m Tower; Part 2, The Structure of the Convective Atmospheric Boundary Layer as Revealed by Lidar and Doppler Radars; and Part 3, Doppler Lidar Observations in Thunderstorm Environments