Develop coherent paragraphs or points to be internally unified and function as part of the whole document or presentation.

The security posture of the information systems infrastructure of an organization should be regularly monitored and assessed (including software, hardware, firmware components, governance policies, and implementation of security controls). The monitoring and assessment of the infrastructure and its components, policies, and processes should also account for changes and new procurements that are sure to follow in order to stay in step with ever-changing information system technologies.

The data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is one of the largest in US government history. It provides a series of lessons learned for other organizations in industry and the public sector. Some critical security practices, such as lack of diligence to security controls and management of changes to the information systems infrastructure were cited as contributors to the massive data breach in the OPM Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Final Audit Report, which can be found in open source searches. Some of the findings in the report include: weak authentication mechanisms; lack of a plan for life-cycle management of the information systems; lack of a configuration management and change management plan; lack of inventory of systems, servers, databases, and network devices; lack of mature vulnerability scanning tools; lack of valid authorizations for many systems, and lack of plans of action to remedy the findings of previous audits.

The breach ultimately resulted in removal of OPM’s top leadership. The impact of the breach on the livelihoods of millions of people is ongoing and may never be fully known. There is a critical need for security programs that can assess vulnerabilities and provide mitigations.

There are 10 steps that will help you create your final deliverables. The deliverables for this project are as follows:

1. Security Assessment Report (SAR): This should be an 8-10 page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.
2. Risk Assessment Report (RAR): This report should be a 5-6 page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.
3. In a Word document, share your lab experience and provide screen prints to demonstrate that you performed the lab.

When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.

• 1.1: Organize document or presentation in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.
• 1.2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points to be internally unified and function as part of the whole document or presentation.
• 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer’s ideas.
• 1.4: Tailor communications to the audience.
• 1.5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
• 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
• 5.2 Enterprise Architecture: Knowledge of architectural methodologies used in the design and development of information systems, including the physical structure of a system’s internal operations and interactions with other systems and knowledge of stan
• 5.6: Technology Awareness: Explore and address cybersecurity concerns, promote awareness, best practice, and emerging technology