Development of a Social Engineering eXposure Index (SEXI) using Open-Source Personal Information

Millions of people willingly expose their lives via Internet technologies every day, and even the very few ones who refrain from the use of the Internet find themselves exposed through data breaches. Billions of private information records are exposed through the Internet. Marketers gather personal preferences to influence shopping behavior. Providers gather personal information to deliver enhanced services, and underground hacker networks contain repositories of immense data sets. Few users of Internet technologies have considered where their information is going or who has access to it. Even fewer are aware of how decisions made in their own lives expose significant pieces of information, which can be used by cyber hackers to harm the very organizations with whom they are affiliated. While this threat can affect any person holding any position at an organization, upper management poses a significantly higher risk due to their level of access to critical data and finances targeted by cybercrime. The goal of this research was to develop and validate a Social Engineering eXposure Index (SEXI)™ using Open-Source Personal Information (OSPI) to assist in identifying and classifying social engineering vulnerabilities. This study combined an expert panel using the Delphi method, developmental research, and quantitative data collection. The expert panel categorized and assessed information privacy components into three identifiability groups, subsequently used to develop an algorithm that formed the basis for a SEXI. Validation of the algorithm used open-source personal information found on the Internet for 50 executives of Fortune 500 organizations and 50 Hollywood celebrities. The exposure of each executive and persona was quantified and the collected data were evaluated, analyzed, and presented in an anonymous aggregated form. Phase 1 of this study developed and evaluated the SEXI benchmarking instrument via an expert panel using the Delphi expert methodology. During the first round, 3,531 data points were collected with 1,530 having to do with the demographics, qualifications, experience, and working environments of the panel members as well as 2,001 attributing levels of exposure to personal information. The second Delphi round presented the panel members with the feedback of the first-round tasking them with categorizing personal information, resulting in 1,816 data points. Phase 2 of this study used the composition, weights, and categories of personal information from Phase 1 in the development of a preliminary SEXI benchmarking instrument comprised of 105 personal information items. Simulated data was used to validate the instrument prior to the data collection. Before initiating Phase 3, the preliminary SEXI benchmarking instrument was fully tested to verify the accuracy of recorded data. Phase 3 began with discovering, evaluating, and validating repositories of publicly available data sources of personal information. Approximately two dozen sources were used to collect 11,800 data points with the SEXI benchmarking index. Upon completion of Phase 3, data analysis of the Fortune 500 executives and Hollywood personas used to validate the SEXI benchmarking index. Data analysis was conducted in Phase 3 by one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results of the ANOVA data analysis from Phase 3 revealed that age, gender, marital status, and military/police experience were not significant in showing SEXI differences. Additionally, income, estimated worth, industry, organization position, philanthropic contributions are significant, showing differences in SEXI. The most significant differences in SEXI in this research study were found with writers and chief information officers. A t-test was performed to compare the Fortune 500 executives and the Hollywood personas. The results of the t-test data analysis showed a significant difference between the two groups in that Hollywood Personas had a higher SEXI than the Fortune 500 Executives suggesting increased exposure due to OSPI. The results of this research study established, categorized, and validated a quantifiable measurement of personal information. Moreover, the results of this research study validated that the SEXI benchmarking index could be used to assess an individual’s exposure to social engineering due to publicly available personal information. As organizations and public figures rely on Internet technologies understanding the level of personal information exposure is critical is protecting against social engineering attacks. Furthermore, assessing personal information exposure could provide an organization insight into exposed personal information facilitating further mitigation of threats or potential social engineering attack vectors. Discussions and implications for future research are provided

The Mathematics of Sound: Integrating Music into a Math Curriculum

The purpose of this project was to develop prototype lesson plans that connects and integrates musical and mathematical concepts at the 5th grade level. Both musical and mathematical concepts can be enhanced when studying the correlation between the two subjects. This project will provide lesson plans and activities using the Washington State Essential Academic Leaming Requirements as a basis for the concepts being taught. The goal of the project is to inspire teachers to use integration throughout the curriculum. An integrated curriculum develops and supports the coherence of ideas and concepts taught within our schools. By fostering our natural instinct to integrate our life experiences, curriculum integration can increase the understanding, motivation, and relevance of learning new concepts

The Perceived Influence Of The ALICE Training Principles On Survivors During A Violent Critical Incident

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), since 2000, there has been a significant increase in active shooter events throughout the United States. The assailants frequently chose targets or establishments with the highest mortality rates, such as schools/universities, businesses, government agencies, houses of worship, and healthcare facilities. Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate (ALICE) is part of Navigate360’s collection of active assailant preparedness solutions, which teaches civilians how to protect themselves during Violent Critical Incidents (VCIs). The problem addressed in this study was the lack of available research regarding the effectiveness of courses, such as ALICE’s Active Shooter Response training, on participants’ perception of self-efficacy and the successful utilization of the principles during an actual VCI. This transcendental phenomenological study aimed to understand the influence of ALICE-trained participants’ self-efficacy in surviving an active shooter incident. The theories guiding this study were Albert Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory (SET) (1977) and Social Cognitive Theory (1986). SET posited that one’s self-confidence was the motivator for future performance. In the context of this research, if ALICE-trained individuals believed that they could successfully endure, their perseverance contributed to their ability to survive. Data collection incorporated interviewing survivors of active assailant incidents that previously attended the ALICE training. This research provided empirical data on the efficacy of ALICE principles in changing attendees\u27 mindsets and how this change affected survival outcomes

Experimenting with Cavendish: The Heuretics of Social Literacy in the Writing of the Thrice Noble Princess, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle

This dissertation takes a heuretic approach to the study of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673), focusing on her dramatic anthology Plays, Never before Printed (1668). This dissertation argues that the textual practices of Margaret Cavendish can act as performative displays of complex social thought. Cavendish constructs intellectual, textual, and cultural networks as a mode of engaging and participating in social critiques and conversations. Through this process, Cavendish creates a network of literacy practices in her use of dialogue and imagined debates. By using fancy, imagined conversations, literary constructs, and judicial fora as experimental spaces, Cavendish experiments with language and teaches her readers how to interpret her work and how to understand the world through her characters. Following a social sciences approach focused on gender theory, this dissertation demonstrates that Cavendish stages and executes literacy work that is social and gendered. Cavendish practices and imagines social relationships between friends and communities filtered through gendered relationships and representations while reaching beyond the actions of the players, where the text implicitly speaks to or positions her future readers to engage in the process of learning. Further, this dissertation produces alternative methodological practices influenced by digital and rhetorical frameworks, resulting in the creation of a digital project based on the study of Margaret Cavendish entitled The Digital Cavendish Project. This project argues for hybrid methodological and technical frameworks to challenge the limited infrastructures available to scholars and readers of Cavendish's works, including an XML transcription of The Convent of Pleasure as one method of providing access to Cavendish’s text for digital textual analysis

Do Federal Programs Affect Internal Migration? The Impact of New Deal Expenditures on Mobility During the Great Depression

** Revised version 2005** Using a recently-uncovered data set that describes over 30 federal New Deal spending, loan, and mortgage insurance programs across all U.S. counties from 1933 to 1939, this paper empirically examines the New Deal's impact on inter-county migration from 1930 to 1940. We construct a net migration measure for each county as the difference between the Census's reported population change from 1930 to 1940 and the natural increase in population (births minus infant deaths minus non-infant deaths) over the same period. Our empirical approach accounts for both the simultaneity between New Deal allocations and migration and the geographic spillovers that likely resulted when spending in one county may have affected the migration decisions of people in neighboring counties. We find that greater spending on relief and public works and a larger value of loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration were all associated with migration into counties where such money was allocated. The FHA's stimulus to the housing industry and large-scale public works projects explain most of the regional variation in migration rates across the country. New Deal loans and agricultural spending to take land out of production had negligible effects on migration patterns.

The Impact of New Deal Expenditures on Local Economic Activity: An Examination of Retail Sales, 1929-1939

**Revised version 2005** This paper empirically examines the New Deal's impact on local economic activity, as measured by retail sales, during the 1930s. Using a recently-uncovered data set that describes over 30 federal New Deal spending, loan, and mortgage insurance programs across all U.S. counties from 1933 to 1939, we estimate how the various New Deal programs that were designed to accomplish different objectives influenced retail spending. Our empirical approach accounts for both the simultaneity between New Deal allocations and economic activity and the geographic spillovers that likely resulted when spending in one county may have affected the economies of its neighbors. We find that New Deal spending on public works tended to promote retail sales in both the county where the money was spent and in contiguous neighbors, while spending on work relief increased economic activity in the county where the money was spent but at the expense of neighboring counties. Agricultural spending that limited production was associated with lower retail spending. New Deal loan programs appear to have had little or a somewhat negative effect. Finally, increases in the value of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration had a strong positive effect on local economic growth during the Depression.

GPS measurements of deformation associated with the 1987 Superstition Hills earthquake: Evidence for conjugate faulting

Large station displacements observed from Imperial Valley Global Positioning System (GPS) campaigns are attributed to the November 24, 1987 Superstition Hills earthquake sequence. Thirty sites from a 42 station GPS network established in 1986 were reoccupied during 1988 and/or 1990. Displacements at three sites within 3 kilometers of the surface rupture approach 0.5 m. Eight additional stations within 20 km of the seismic zone are displaced at least 10 cm. This is the first occurrence of a large earthquake (M(sub S) 6.6) within a preexisting GPS network. Best-fitting uniform slip models of rectangular dislocations in an elastic half-space indicate 130 + or - 8 cm right-lateral displacement along the northwest-trending Superstition Hills fault and 30 + or - 10 cm left-lateral displacement along the conjugate northeast-trending Elmore Ranch fault. The geodetic moments are 9.4 x 10(exp 25) dyne-cm and 2.3 x 10(exp 25) dyne-cm for the Superstition Hills and Elmore Ranch faults, respectively, consistent with teleseismic source parameters. The data also suggest the post seismic slip along the Superstition Hills fault is concentrated at shallow depths. Distributed slip solutions using Singular Value Decomposition indicate near uniform displacement along the Elmore Ranch fault and concentrated slip to the northwest and southeast along the Superstition Hills fault. A significant component of non-seismic displacement is observed across the Imperial Valley, which is attributed in part to interseismic plate-boundary deformation

Growing pains: a qualitative study of personal growth experiences of collegiate student-athletes

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the perceptions of collegiate student-athletes with regard to: (a) their perceptions about the meaning of personal growth, (b) the characteristics of their personal growth experiences, and (c) the impact of their sport-related personal growth experiences on sport and non-sport aspects of their lives. The participants were eight male, Caucasian college student-athletes who had competed in NCAA Division I athletics for three or more years. Because the perceptions of student-athletes provided the basis for the study, qualitative research methods were employed. This study was conducted using an in-depth, semi-structured interview guide during two sessions with the participants. In the first session, the student-athletes described their perceptions of personal growth and their sport-related growth experiences during their college athletic careers. In the second session, the participants clarified and/or elaborated on their responses from the first session. The student-athletes described personal growth as a process of achieving balance and expanding the capabilities.The participants achieved balance in four areas: (a) priorities; (b)emotions; (c) perspectives; and (d) responsibilities. The student-athletes expanded their capabilities by improving their athletic and interpersonal skills. The types of experiences that the student-athletes described as growth experiences included: (a) success and hardship; (b) interaction with others; and (c) event-related emotions. These sport-related experiences influenced the student-athletes’ lives academically and socially. They Applied the lessons that they learned through their sport-related experiences to enhance their academic performance and their ability to interact and communicate with others. Participants’ descriptions of their perceptions of the meaning of personal growth in sports followed the theories of individual development of college students. The results are discussed with regard to related research on personal growth and college student development. Recommendations for future research are presented

Analysis of Arabidopsis AIR12 and Brassica carinata CIL1 in root development and response to abiotic stress

The development of plants challenged by environmental stress alters plant architecture through several pathways, including those involving plant hormone responses and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Auxin, a phytohormone associated with every aspect of development, and abscisic acid (ABA), a phytohormone involved in abiotic stress responses, both interact with ROS. These ROS are used as secondary messengers to activate transcription of abiotic stress genes, and also in developmental responses such as cell elongation. To understand the mechanisms involved in the abiotic stress response and how the response intersects with auxin, ABA, and ROS, I examined COPPER INDUCED IN LEAVES 1 (CIL1) from Brassica carinata and its Arabidopsis orthologue, AUXIN INDUCED IN ROOTS 12 (AIR12). Expression of both genes increases in response to auxin and recent work has placed both CIL1 and AIR12 within a family of plant-specific cytochrome b561 proteins thought to be involved with transmission of ROS signals. This suggests a link between auxin and ROS production resulting from abiotic stress. Antisense CIL1 B. carinata plants produced fewer lateral roots and were resistant to salinity stress during vegetative growth. Mutant air12 plants showed a 50% reduction in lateral root number, lateral root length, and H2O2 root distribution. Growth in the presence of H2O2 was able to restore lateral root length to control levels. In silica analysis of the CIL1 and AIR12 amino acid sequences detected an attachment site for glucosylphosphatidylinositol, predicting that the protein is targeted to the extracellular leaflet of the plasma membrane where it could be cleaved and released into the apoplast. Subcellular localization using p35S::GFP-CIL1 and p35S::GFP-AIR12 translational fusions confirmed that CIL1 and AIR12 localize to the plasma membrane and are released into the apoplast. Organ localization of AIR12 using the pAIR12::GFP-AIR12 construct in stably transformed Arabidopsis showed fusion protein accumulation in the apex of the primary root and in the vascular tissue. Fusion protein also localized to cells flanking emerging lateral roots. Investigation of pAIR12::GUS Arabidopsis showed GUS accumulation in the apex of elongating lateral roots. I demonstrate that AIR12 is an extracellular protein and that air12 seedlings are susceptible to salt stress, but not osmostic stress and display increased and decreased sensitivity to ABA during germination and primary root elongation, respectively, suggesting that AIR12 acts downstream of abiotic stress recognition