2025-292

You are the team leader in your firm’s Cybersecurity Department, responsible for maintaining four critical corporate networks: AegisNet, MercuryGrid, HeliosCloud and VanguardLink 

Early one morning, you notice that several nodes across all four networks have been unexpectedly shut down. A quick inspection of the system logs (graphically depicted below) reveals the exact sequence in which each node went offline. Your mission is to determine whether this incident represents a coordinated cyberattack targeting multiple systems simultaneously, or if it is merely the result of random hardware failures in aging equipment.

Time 0 : 

Time 1:  

Time 2: 

An attack is defined as shutting down nodes in decreasing order of current degree.  Based on the logs, your best assessment is:

A) It was an attack on all networks

B) It was an attack only on VanguardLink

C) It was an attack only on AegisNet and VanguardLink

D) It was an attack only on AegisNet, MercuryGrid, and VanguardLink

E) None of the above.

Original idea by: Carolina Albuquerque