Cybersecurity is one of those fields where the number of potential research topics is near-infinite. New data becomes available daily, and sorting through all the information waste can be challenging, especially on a tight deadline. So let us help you with a list of hand-picked cyber security topics for a presentation that will work for most classes.
What Makes for Good Cyber Security Topics for Research?
Before we shower you with options, let us explain how we came up with the ideas on the list. We’ve only chosen the topics that are:
- exciting for you to sink your teeth into and explore;
- relevant to your class and syllabus, within assignment parameters;
- fresh, dealing with the current cyber issues;
- researchable with enough reliable sources for you to cite.
If you have any doubts about your preferred topic, check in with your TA or professor and get their approval before you dive head-first into research.
60 Ideas for Your Research Paper on Cyber Security
Fresh Cyber Security Research Paper Topics
Most professors require you to use sources no older than five or ten years. But cybersecurity is a fast-evolving field of study, so instead of looking back five years, we focused on the last few months to come up with topics that won’t go stale within a year. While some may be challenging to research due to the lack of reliable references, most should be well within your ability to cover in a paper and presentation:
- The changes in the US cybersecurity policy after the SolarWinds fiasco.
- How to calculate the average duration of cybersecurity vulnerability fix.
- Cybersecurity risks to railways, airports, and other transport infrastructure.
- Future-proofing cybersecurity against quantum computing.
- Cybersecurity investments rise across the financial sector.
- Should the government offer cryptocurrency awards for information about nationwide cyber attacks?
- When should governments retaliate against a cyber attack?
- Do sanctions and blacklisting work to protect against future cyber attacks?
- When will the first AI-driven global cyber attack happen?
- Can diplomacy prevent the Cyber Cold War between the US and Russia?
- The rising threat of ransomware-as-a-service for corporate and government sectors.
- The risks of communication disruption in case of satellite cybersecurity attacks.
- The value of lost Covid-19 patient data due to security breaches.
- A tactical and strategic response to ransomware attacks.
- Has the time come for an International Cyber Treaty?
News-Inspired Computer Security Topics
Even if you don’t follow the news, you must be aware of the increasing cyberattack frequency. And if you turn on the TV or read a news feed online, you’ll see reports of breaches that happen daily across the globe. If that’s not a great source of information for your research paper and presentation, we don’t know what is. So we’ve analyzed hundreds of headlines and articles and came up with fifteen ideas you can explore in your assignment. And the best thing about each one is that you’ll be able to find reliable references with a quick Google search. And where there’s one news report, there will be editorial posts, analytics, and more, all ripe for the picking to be used as sources for your paper:
- The efficiency of current US legislation on cybersecurity.
- The need for zero-trust cybersecurity for businesses.
- Cybersecurity mandates for critical pipeline infrastructure in the wake of ransomware attacks.
- The cost of increasing cybersecurity for the US military operations.
- The growing demand for cybersecurity specialists: a five-year forecast.
- Successful fundraising campaigns among the cybersecurity startups.
- Calculating return on investment for cybersecurity strategy implementation.
- Analysis of the Cyber Security Evaluation Tool created by the Department of Homeland Security.
- The increasing government cybersecurity investment across the G7 states.
- The effect of AI development on future cybersecurity breaches.
- The reasons for cybersecurity ignorance in C-suite.
- Ransomware will become the pandemic of the 21 century.
- Cybersecurity market growth projections through 2030.
- Russia as the capital of ransomware attacks.
- Cybersecurity is the new front in the US-China cold war.
Winning Information Security Research Paper Topics
If you want your research paper to stand out, we’ve got you covered with a list of fifteen great topics to study. Unlike the previous ideas, these deal with serious issues that aren’t as obvious as those reported in the news. Choose one of the following ideas if you’re ready to do some heavy lifting with your research and analysis. Otherwise, skip to the next section.
- The civilian cybersecurity corps is the answer to current issues.
- How to establish cybersecurity across hybrid workspaces.
- What are the criteria of a national cyber-catastrophe?
- Lacking cybersecurity awareness among personal device users.
- Global collaboration is the only solution to cybersecurity threats.
- The potential uses of the rapid response cybersecurity teams.
- Cybersecurity attack frequency increase over the last ten years.
- How machine learning is helping and hurting cybersecurity.
- Lessons learned from cybersecurity breaches during the pandemic.
- How to mitigate HealthTech cybersecurity threats to protect personal data.
- What makes schools a prime ransomware target.
- Effective ways to increase cybersecurity literacy among the US population.
- Online payment increase and its potential cybersecurity risks.
- Cyber insurance is making the ransomware crisis worse.
- The cost of cybersecurity attacks for small and medium businesses.
Fast and Easy IT Security Ideas
Sometimes you don’t have the time or the desire to waste time writing a paper or crafting a presentation, even if it’s for a class vital to your major. That’s when you need an easy topic to research, something that has been done many times and that comes with plenty of sources for you to study and cite. We’ve come up with fifteen hassle-free ideas for you to research. While they are easier to handle than the previous topics, you will still have plenty of info to use for your paper and presentation. As long as you use reliable and credible sources (not Wikipedia), you’ll do fine.
- Cybersecurity education in the US universities: strengths and weaknesses.
- Ransomware attack prevention best practices.
- The worst cases of cybersecurity breach consequences.
- How to recognize the most popular cybersecurity exploitation techniques.
- Remote work support is a waste of the cybersecurity budget for businesses.
- Cybersecurity specialist to become one of the highest-paying jobs post-pandemic.
- Cybersecurity protocols and techniques to protect small towns and municipalities.
- Employees are the biggest cybersecurity risk for businesses and organizations.
- The biggest victims of cybersecurity attacks over the past year.
- Common supply chains of a cyber attack.
- How older employees help businesses deal with cyber attacks.
- Who is liable for cyber attacks on businesses?
- The menace of a zero-click cyber attack.
- The potential cybersecurity risks of smart home devices.
- The value of staff cybersecurity training for businesses.
The sixty topics above should cover most of your needs. But if you don’t find a good enough idea on our list, you’re welcome to reach out to our experts. They will gladly help you come up with a great research question. You can also outsource your writing and presentation to save time for other, more worthwhile projects.