The History of the CySec Project

This semester’s project is a continuation from the summer’s collaboration with the Carnegie Mellon Cylab. The summer’s work was focused on the development of the MySecureCyberspace.com website, which is aimed at an older audience of home computer users. The site’s goal is to provide information on cybersecurity and how to secure your personal cyberspace and also to offer solutions to cybersecurity issues.

During the summer, the MySecureCyberspace project involved the Carnegie Mellon Cylab, Clearspring Technologies, and the Entertainment Technology Center. The Cylab team was responsible for researching and formatting the information on cybersecurity to eb displayed on the site. The Clearspring team was responsible for creating the database that would store the information compiled by Cylab so that it could be dynamically accessed and displayed on the site. The ETC team (Amanda Kraemer, Emily Treat, Eddie Canaan, Brad Stokan, and advised by Don Marinelli) created the web interface that dynamically displays Cylab’s information by communicating with the database created by Clearspring.

Screenshots

The index page is a customizable portal where users can select which information they would like to view and can access the 3 step custom search for cybersecurity information

The 3 step custom search that allows the user to customize their information to where their computer is, what application they are using, and their skill level

The custom search brings the user to a category description page of the application they selected, with links to security threats, ethical, legal, and privacy issues, and any related links and resources. The user can then click on the security threats to be directed to a encyclopedia description of the threat and issues associated with it. This is also accessible through the drop-down risks/threats menu

The site also contains an archive of news feeds and technical tips from USCert.gov