For example, attacks with Cain and Abel (http://www.oxid.it/cain.html) still represent a peril today.

Also the article at http://search.proquest.com/openview/2a6ac4e3e32a4511fb3ec128be8284aa/1 might be of interest for you.

Advanced Persistent Attacks (APTs)

An interesting topic might present itself in the field of software-defined networking, whereby the complexity involved in security network visualization overlay technologies and automation features introduce a number of unique challenges. You might find the following useful as a starter:

http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/guofei/paper/SDNScanner-Hotsdn13.pdf

http://www.rsaconference.com/writable/presentations/file_upload/sec-r01_security-risks-in-sdn-and-other-new-software-apps_copy1.pdf 

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6702553&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D6702553

Look for APT information. FireEye has much información about last atacks under investigation. 

APT, look at this:

https://www.websense.com/assets/white-papers/whitepaper-websense-advanced-persistent-threats-and-other-advanced-attacks-en.pdf

Botnets and their exploits of DNS is one of the areas that you can explore further for research. 

One of the papers to start with could be: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=79413

wireless network integrity  attacks like frame injection and data replay 

The amplification attacks which are caused by reflectors can cause huge DDoS. This topic might be interesting for you to investigate at network layer. 

APT, watering hole attacks, new phishing

APT, spear phishing

There is an interesting article published in Educause Review with title: "The Cyber Siege of Higher Education in North America"

http://er.educause.edu/blogs/2015/9/the-cyber-siege-of-higher-education-in-north-america

I think Mobile attacks have a lot os space to investigate. RSA hosted recently an interesting conference on the topic. A quick introduction can be found in: http://www.utc.edu/faculty/li-yang/5.mobilethreatsattacks.pptx

You can look into Transmissive Network attacks in different networks and Bio-inspired attacks.

inter-cooperate router cyber attacks, Mobile/smart-devices attack and bio-inspired self propagation attacks - I think

Leading steelmaker hit by ‘massive cyber attack’!

ThyssenKrupp, one of the world’s largest steelmakers, has revealed that it was the victim of a ‘massive cyber attack’ earlier this year.

The company was targeted by attackers from southeast Asia in what it has described as “organised, highly professional hacker activities”. The hackers were trying to obtain “technological know-how and research results”, according to the company...

https://pacetoday.com.au/steelmaker-cyber-attack/