emerging applications of technologies

Your audience is a group of senior executives who will be meeting to decide which emerging applications of technologies should be selected for a security-focused, Internal Research & Development projects during the next budget cycle. Each of these executives is responsible for developing products and systems that support next generation systems in the nation’s critical infrastructure sectors.
The high-level visibility for your deliverable means that you need to start from a strong foundation of suitable research-based journal articles, papers published in conference proceedings, and doctoral dissertations. The basic question that must be answered about the selected technology is: what are the cybersecurity implications (good or bad) for the selected critical infrastructure sector?
In addition, the executives have expressed the following information needs, which must be met by the deliverable for this assignment:
characteristics of the critical infrastructure,
characteristics of the technology,
use of the technology to support or improve cybersecurity,
use of the technology to reduce or manage risk,
use of the technology to increase resistance to threats/attacks,
use of the technology to decrease vulnerabilities in an existing technology application,
use or exploitation of the technology by attackers, criminals, terrorists, etc. to accomplish their goals.
Instructions
Format your deliverable as a “descriptive or informative” annotated bibliography. (sub-heading “To get started”). APA style is recommended but, you may use another professional format for your annotated bibliography.
In addition to the list of sources and annotations, you must provide an introductory paragraph.
See the rubric for additional requirements for this assignment.
Note: If you have problems accessing any of the library databases, contact the UMGC librarians via the contact methods listed on the library’s home page engine questions (but will not do your research for you).
Choose a Critical Infrastructure Sector
“There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof” (Department of Homeland Security, 2016, p.1).
Choose a critical infrastructure sector to focus your technology review. For definitions of critical infrastructures, see You may wish to choose your emerging application of technology first and then select an appropriate critical infrastructure in which your selected technology can be applied or deployed.
Choose an Emerging Application of Technology
Choose an emerging application of technology that can be used in the computers, digital devices, and other electronic / electrical technologies (including networks and network infrastructures) that are deployed in or used to build, operate, support, or maintain a critical infrastructure sector (e.g. utilities, pipelines, transportation, smart cities, etc.).
Suggested technologies include:
Autonomous Vehicles (ground, sea, or air): Transportation Systems Sector
Deep Space Communication Networks: Communications Sector
Implantable Medical Devices: Healthcare and Public Health Sector
Precision Agriculture (integrated systems using satellite imagery, GPS, Sensors, Robots): Food & Agriculture Sector
Robot inspectors for physical infrastructures (buildings, roads, railways, pipelines, etc.): Multiple Sectors
Smart Grid (also called Advanced Metering Infrastructure): Energy Sector
Wearable Sensors for Hazardous Materials Detection (e.g. CBRNE): Emergency Services Sector
You are encouraged to look for and investigate additional appropriate technologies before deciding upon your technology choice for this assignment.
If you decide to research a technology that is not on the suggested technologies list (see above), you must first request and receive your instructor’s permission. Your instructor may require that you do preliminary library searches for research papers and technical papers to prove that you can find a sufficient number of resources to complete the assignment.
Find Appropriate Sources (“Survey the Literature”)
You may find it helpful to begin by reading the tables of contents for recent issues of the Communications of the ACM, IEEE Computer Magazine, IEEE Pervasive Computing, and IEEE Security & Privacy. These professional journals frequently publish highly readable, research-based articles about the cybersecurity implications of new and emerging technologies in the context of critical infrastructure sectors.
Next, brainstorm keywords that you can use to find additional articles, papers, and other scholarly publications (“sources’) which discuss and/or evaluate your selected emerging application of technology in the context of your chosen critical infrastructure.
Your selected sources must come from publications indexed in one or more of the following library databases:
Since the point of this search is to find information about emerging applications of technology for a critical infrastructure, your sources must have a publication date of 2017 or later (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). For papers indexed in Science Direct, you may also use papers that are marked “In Press.”