Usage of Windows Event Log Analysis to Improve Cyber Defense; Looking Towards the Future: Autonomous Vehicles and Social Consequences

Cybersecurity is an ever-expanding field within the realm of computer science that focuses on the protection of networks, programs, or really any form of device that may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks. With cyber-crime on the rise, cyber-security is quickly growing to become a prominent tool used world-wide as a method of defense. I find it be incredibly fascinating, and plan on putting my knowledge in the field to use as I pursue a career as a cyber-defense analyst for the government after my graduation.
Completing these theses has been a wonderful journey. By doing so I have put my accumulated knowledge of cyber security to use, conveying both my technical understanding of the subject as well as the real world-social impact created by the technology. Doing so has allowed my personal reflection on the subject, and has served as an inspiration for my continued work within the field.
My technical paper discusses the completion of a multi-step assignment I was given by the DARPA sponsored P-CORE organization, whom I was doing cyber-security related research for at the time. For this assignment I was to create a virtual environment to run cyber-attacks in, and then record the windows event logs generated by the attacks in order to better detect similar cyber-attacks in the future. The paper was written to primarily describe the implementation of the process, with parts of the wording being simplified to make it easier for non-computer literate individuals to understand.
For the STS paper, the topic of focus was autonomous vehicles and their social impact on society. The framework chosen to aid in this examination was the social construction of technology (SCOT). Using the tenants of said framework, I examined how the technology was used by others, as well as the different social groups that were both positively and negatively changed by the implementation of said technology. From this research a conclusion was drawn that no matter what kind of ethical impact self-driving technology may have on society, it’s here to stay.
I thank Dr. Upsorn Praphamontripong and Professor Travis Elliott for the guidance and wise advice they provided during the creation of this paper. Additionally, I would like to thank my friends and family for the never-ending support they have graciously given me during my time at UVA. All of you mean the world to me, and I couldn’t have made it this far without your involvement in my life.

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Technical Advisor: Upsorn Praphamontripong
STS Advisor: Travis​ Elliott
Technical Team Members: Jake Smith, Rajiv Sarvepalli