1) Applied Cyber Security

Cyber security risk assessment & mitigation strategy

Objective: Evaluate the cybersecurity posture of a small-to-medium business or simulated environment. Identify vulnerabilities, assess risks, and develop a prioritized mitigation plan aligned to industry standards (e.g. NIST, ISO)

Skills Required: threat modeling, NIST cybersecurity framework, project documentation, remediation systems, stakeholder communications

Activities:

• Review the organization’s IT environment or case study
• Conduct asset identification and classification
• Identify potential threats, vulnerabilities and business impacts
• Use a basic risk matrix to assess severity and likelihood
• Align findings with NIST or ISO compliance frameworks
• Recommend controls and remediation actions
• Draft a formal cybersecurity risk assessment report
• Create a visual summary or infographic for stakeholder communication

Deliverables:

• Cybersecurity risk assessment report
• Risk matrix and prioritization table
• Remediation plan with recommended controls
• Executive summary slide deck or infographic

SOC 2 Compliance roadmap development 

Objective: Create a comprehensive roadmap on how to reach SOC2 compliance. 

Skills Required: SOC2 audition, security controls, audit process, industry standards, relationship building, auditing 

Activities:

• Create the following as part of the compliance roadmap
• list of key security controls
• timeline for implementation
• preparation plan for audit purposes 

Deliverables:

• SOC2 compliance roadmap
• Summary report highlighting critical steps and resources needed

Cybersecurity framework and awareness training 

Objective: Develop and implement a comprehensive cybersecurity framework.  

Skills Required: incident response, endpoint security, secure password authentication, NIST cybersecurity framework, resilience, developing training materials, cyber security, project scoping

Activities:

• Conduct a risk assessment 
• Create key cybersecurity policies (e.g. data protection, acceptable use, incident response)
• Document security standards and practices
• Develop training materials on the basics of cybersecurity, focusing on safe online practices, recognizing phishing attacks, secure password creation and safe data handling 
• Provide recommendations to enhance data security based on risk assessment
• Create a comprehensive response plan for handling potential cyber threats and attacks
• Guidance on implementing endpoint security, data encryption, regular audits and employee vigilance measure 

Deliverables:

• Final report detailing policies, training, recommendations and the response plan

2) Cloud Security

Secure cloud architecture design for small enterprise

Objective: Design a secure cloud infrastructure for a growing small business, incorporating access controls, data privacy, and basic intrusion detection capabilities.

Skills Required: Cloud computing architecture (IaaS, PaaS), identity & access management (IAM), encryption methods, AWS/Azure/GCP

Activities:

• Assess the business’s current and future cloud needs
• Design a secure cloud deployment model with defined access levels
• Integrate basic intrusion detection tools and logging policies
• Create implementation documentation and a security walkthrough

Deliverables:

• Secure cloud architecture blueprint
• Implementation guide and access control matrix
• Security feature summary and risk mitigation plan

Cloud risk assessment and compliance audit

Objective: Conduct a security audit of a company’s cloud services using recognized standards and frameworks (e.g., NIST, ISO/IEC 27017).

Skills Required: Risk assessment, compliance frameworks, policy analysis, cybersecurity tools

Activities:

• Review current cloud security documentation and configurations
• Map controls to compliance standards
• Assess vulnerabilities and potential exposure
• Provide risk ratings and prioritized recommendations

Deliverables:

• Compliance gap analysis report
• Cloud risk matrix and mitigation plan
• Executive summary presentation for leadership

Blockchain-enhanced access control system

Objective: Design a proof-of-concept for a cloud-based access control system leveraging blockchain technology for auditability and integrity.

Skills Required: Blockchain fundamentals, smart contracts, access control models, cloud services

Activities:

• Explore use cases of blockchain in identity and access management
• Design the logic for decentralized access logging
• Develop a simple prototype (e.g., using Hyperledger or Ethereum testnets)
• Analyze the pros and cons of blockchain vs. traditional models

Deliverables:

• System design document
• Functional prototype or demo
• Security benefits and limitations report

Cloud incident response simulation

Objective: Simulate a real-world security breach in a cloud environment, investigating the threat, analyzing its impact, and designing an incident response protocol.

Skills Required: Digital forensics, log analysis, intrusion detection, incident response planning

Activities:

• Set up a simulated cloud environment with built-in vulnerabilities
• Conduct a mock attack (e.g., privilege escalation or DDoS)
• Investigate using logs, access patterns, and tools
• Draft an incident response and recovery plan

Deliverables:

• Incident investigation report
• Root cause analysis with forensic evidence
• Incident response playbook

DevSecOps policy and integration plan

Objective: Create a DevSecOps integration roadmap for a mid-size SaaS company, embedding security best practices into development and deployment workflows.

Skills Required: DevSecOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, threat modeling, cloud-native tools (e.g., containers, Kubernetes)

Activities:

• Analyze existing development workflows
• Identify security risks in software delivery
• Recommend tools and processes to integrate security
• Create a phased DevSecOps implementation plan

Deliverables:

• DevSecOps integration strategy
• Risk map of the software pipeline
• Tool recommendations and phased rollout plan

3) Data

Data Cleaning and Visualization 

Objective: Clean, analyze, and visualize trends in a dataset (e.g., city bike rentals, survey data). 

Skills Required: Excel or Google Sheets, Tableau/Power BI. 

Activities: 

• Remove duplicates, normalize values, create calculated fields. 
• Design 3–5 meaningful visualizations. 
• Extract simple insights and actionable recommendations.

Deliverables: 

• Clean dataset (CSV or Excel) with documentation 
• 1 dashboard (PDF or link) with 3–5 interactive visuals 
• Summary insights report (2–3 pages)

Predictive Analytics for Customer Churn

Objective: Predict customer churn using logistic regression or decision trees. 

Skills Required: Python, scikit-learn, pandas, basic ML theory. 

Activities: 

• Clean and explore a dataset (e.g., telecom churn data). 
• Train/test a classification model. 
• Evaluate accuracy, precision, recall. 

Deliverables: 

• Jupyter notebook with code and visualizations 
• Model evaluation summary (1–2 pages) 
• Recommendations for business based on prediction patterns

Analyze a Sustainability Dataset

Objective: Analyze a large sustainability dataset and create data visualizations that communicate key insights.  

Skills Required: Data literacy. Exploratory data analysis, insight extracts, oral and visual communication 

Activities: 

• Data exploration and insight discovery 
• Visualization design drafting 
• Refinement and user testing 
• Presentation and communication plan

ESG Analytics in Sustainable Manufacturing Management

Objective: Do an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) assessment for a manufacturing firm using advanced analytical tools and frameworks.  

Skills Required: ESG Frameworks, Sustainability in Manufacturing, Data literacy, IBM Envizi 

Activities: 

• Investigate key ESG issues in manufacturing operations.
• Evaluate and interpret ESG data (either real or simulated). 
• Explore how tools like IBM Envizi ESG Suite facilitate sustainability analytics. 
• Present insights and recommendations based on ESG report outputs.

4) Project Management

Project scoping and feasibility assessment 

Objective: Create a project plan for the launch of a mobile app. 

Skills Required: Project planning, risk analysis, MS Project or Google Sheets. 

Activities: 

• Define scope, deliverables, timelines, and stakeholders. 
• Develop a Gantt chart and risk matrix. 
• Create a simplified budget estimate. 

Deliverables: 

• Project charter document (2–3 pages) 
• Timeline and Gantt chart 
• Risk register and stakeholder matrix

Agile Project Simulation

Objective: Support a 2-week agile sprint for a product team. 

Skills Required: Agile/Scrum framework, backlog management tools (e.g., Trello, Jira). 

Activities: 

• Define user stories and organize sprint backlog. 
• Conduct simulated sprint planning and review. 
• Track sprint progress and retrospective feedback.

Deliverables: 

• Sprint backlog with 8–12 user stories 
• Burndown chart and task tracking board 
• Sprint retrospective summary (2 pages)