HI6008 Business Research Assignment Sample
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Challenges in Cyber Security for Business
Introduction
This study caters to the understanding of challenges related to cyber security in business. It holds utmost importance due to increasing threats of information theft and misuse of information in digital forms and intellectual property. In present scenario, cyber security is one of the major challenges in context to information technology and economic considerations faced by businesses. The utilization of technology in organizations is very common and therefore cyber security plays major role in shaping the cyber policies and securing the threats. It is important for organizations to evaluate the cybercrime challenges to understand the potential cyber threats because the misuse or leakage of information can lead to mismanaged business. The study investigates about the prospective challenges in cyber security, reasons of occurring cyber threats and strategies to combat cyber-attacks in businesses. The report clarifies that the cyber security practices are mandatory in current business environment and plays significant role in success of organizations.
Project objectives
The objective of this project is to determine the cyber security challenges for business. The vulnerability of cybercrime has led to the threat situation for organizations and it is important to understand the nature and eliminate these threats. The cyber threat can occur in various forms such as theft, misuse, blackmail, extortion, manipulation, destruction etc. The main objective of this study is to understand the challenges posed by cyber threats, their impact on business and recommendations to eliminate these threats within the business environment.
Project scope
This project has limited scope of investigating the challenges of cybercrime. There are continuous transitions in this era of digital transformations and it is necessary to understand the disadvantages of technology along with its benefits. The technological infrastructure needs to be protected from cyber threats so as to safeguard the business. The cyber security is a base building block for the information system and need to be safeguarded at all stages of business development. The project scope is to understand the risks from cyber threats in the current digital and technological environment, impact of cyber threats on business, and recommend the solutions to reduce the possibilities of cyber threats and encourage high levels of cyber security.
Literature Review
This section enables detailed understanding of the research topic and related aspects within the industry. Today, all scales of businesses are facing issues related to cyber security and looking for suitable solutions.
Emergence of cyber security
The scenario of data breaches and cyber security have continued from long time across the world. There are many organizations that are spending majority of budgets on upgrading their security systems and improving their policies of data protection. It is indicated that businesses have different needs related to cyber security (Halder, 2011). For example, a health care provider has higher demand of cyber security as compared to a restaurant business. The majority of cyber threats and data breaches are related to the resolution of matter as organizations pay lot of amount as court fees, compliance fines, investigations fees, spending on identity theft of employees or customers.
The cyber security business is emerging at large scale because the average cost of losing or compromising the information is way more than the spending on cyber security. The organizations have spent approximately $81.8 billion in 2016 on cyber security, which is an increase of 8% from 2015. The spending on cyber security has changed over the time (Balkin, 2006). The businesses are looking forward to improve their collaboration with information technology, digital age, internet of things and implement digital business models and advanced technologies to sustain in the competitive market landscape. It clarifies that the organizations need to be concerned about the cyber security because the benefits of technology have to be compensated with the high levels of cyber security in business. The cyber security solutions can be utilized for acknowledging the risks of cyber security, exposing the malicious issues in business and securing the technological infrastructure of organization.
Cyber threats
The businesses constantly look for technological advancements to compete in the market but at the same time, it is important to consider the importance of cyber security and protect the confidential information from prospective cyber-attacks. The information system of organizations needs to be protected from cyber-attacks and proper recovery process needs to be implemented to safeguard form security breaches (McQuade, 2009). The security of company can be leveraged through effective recovery plans because common vulnerabilities are utilized by attackers and lack of security measures in systems leads to cyber security breaches. Therefore, it is important to understand the potential security breaches so that the proactive plans can be developed for better security of information systems. The potential cyber threats for businesses are indicated below for enhanced understanding of study.
- Hacktivism – In this scenario, the important data or information is leaked publically without any consent of the concerned individual or business. The growing number of people breaks into the information systems with the intention of damaging the reputation of organization(Guttman, 2006). For example, the publishing of important documents or confidential information that poses security risks for business.
- Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks – These attacks are very common in context to cybercrime and many big brands are victims of DDoS attacks. Today, most of the organizations utilized cloud systems and other internet based platforms that pose major threat of security. For example, the election campaign of Donald Trump has been the victim of this attack. In denial of service attack, the temporary or indefinite disruption to the host services takes place with the help of internet connection and the attacker seeks the network resource or machine unavailable for the intended users(Moore, 2005). The services of host are unavailable for legitimate users and make it possible for attackers to hack the information.
- Ransomware – It is malicious software that harms the data and information stored in the system of businesses. It enables the denial and access of information within the information system environment. The access of data and information on the network or computer is prevented without payment. The important information is not open for the legitimate users or businesses and the cyber criminals extort money to free the particular information.
- Internet of Things – The users have variety of devices such as mobile, computer, laptop, tabs and many more. The hacking of system is a very common practice and the cybercrime can take place on any of these devices. There is a significant threat of privacy because smartphones contains sensitive information and the access of information to cyber criminals can lead to vulnerable situation for users(Richet, 2013). The hacktivism, ransomware and other backdoor options are utilized by cyber criminals.
- Social engineering – The efforts of social engineering is made by cyber criminals to bypass the complex systems of technology and information systems. The activities such as divulging the private and confidential information, phishing techniques, manipulation of data, deception techniques leads to cybercrime in businesses. It is indicated that the phishing attacks have increased by 65% from 2015 to 2016 and the most targeted industry is financial services industry across the world.
- Insider threats – The possibilities of cyber threats have increased significantly as the data breaches have increased in businesses over the time(Bowker, 2012). The users have malicious intent that causes threat to important information and other incidents are the results of inadvertent actors in business, which means neglecting the cyber security measures by users and accidentally involve in the cybercrime.
- Drones – The wireless technology or digital circuitry became an integral part of current information systems that raises the possibilities of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles. In this type of cyber threat, the wireless networks are hacked by cyber criminals and take advantage of the wireless services for hacking the system or technology within the business.
- Mobile malware – The utilization of mobiles especially smartphones have increased manifolds and even businesses are utilizing mobile devices for performing business operations and activities. It is likely that cyber criminals exploit the mobile technology(Halder, 2011). The mobile devices attacks have tripled in recent years and many businesses have identified the malwares in mobile devices. The mobile banking Trojans and ransomware have also increased at a significant rate in context to businesses.
- Machine learning – The machine learning is associated with algorithms of speed and performance enhancement. It also supports in handling the large data sets from the minimum inputs. The machine learning is used by businesses for product suggestions, marketing and communication campaigns and related applications. The machine learning is utilized for cybercrime and mostly leveraged by cyber criminals to identify high value targets and aids the fraudsters.
- Fake advertisements – In the era of digital environment, the online advertisements are very common and at the same time, fake advertisements are also bombarded at fast pace. The phishing attacks are also very common as they are utilized as internet based marketing collaterals and leads to theft of private information of users. These practices have also eroded the trust of consumers in online marketing and communications(Broadhurst, 2013). Moreover, the fabricated feedback practices have also led to significant cyber-attacks as it generates reliability and validity through online advertisements. The cyber criminals conduct these practices of fake advertisements and feedback to fetch the private and confidential information related to business and utilise the information for malicious intentions.
Mitigating the cyber security risks in businesses
It is clarified that cyber security risks have different forms and increased at a fast pace in current business environment. The businesses need to take proactive actions as well as corrective measures for reducing the possibilities of cyber-attacks and mitigate the risks by following security practices. The security practices in business are recommended below.
- The concerned team should test for web facing servers in specific intervals because hackers have different ways to exploit the server(Moore, 2005). The automated scans of servers can be scheduled by information security department but it is also important to scan the web servers manually at least once in a month to reduce the security risks. The multi-layered scanning can also be utilized for scanning the inside and outside of network properly.
- The security patches need to be utilized for securing the information system environment. There are different types potential vulnerabilities as hackers always find new loopholes ad methods to hack system software the community of hackers also share the flaws of network(Stouffer, 2009). The new software versions and patches are released frequently for fixing the new found issues and therefore, they should be setup properly and in regular intervals.
- There are non-technical solutions for reducing the possibilities of cybercrime such as increasing the awareness related to the matter. The users can subscribe to blogs, newsletters and feeds to understand various aspects of information system and protect the network. The education will help in better understanding of cyber threats in practical manner and in this manner; the users will be proactive in measuring and protecting the cyber threats within the organization.
- Training should be a regular practice in organizations because technology is never ending and knowledge of advancements is important to keep updated with the current technological environment(Kruse, 2002). The employees should be retrained in regular intervals and reminded about the prospective damages due to practices like opening malicious emails or attachments, loading software programs from outside network and not using protected passwords etc.
- The network needs to be scanned on regular basis because assessment is the key to prevention of cyber threats. The network scans are important but at the same time, physical walk-ins at the business location cannot be underestimated. It is necessary to look for suspicious users(Balkin, 2006). The organizations check the background of employees but there are many other people who have access to the premises such as utility vendors, delivery people, cleaning personnel and many more. The hackers take advantage of accessible users for leveraging the cyber-attacks.
- The anti-virus and anti-malware should always be monitored by businesses and ensure that the automatic update feature is enabled. The spot checking can also be conducted to ensure that program is running properly and up to date because there are more than 55,000 new viruses that are generated on daily basis.
It is indicated that there are high possibilities of cyber threats in current digital business environment. There are various security tools available for small and medium business to minimize these risks at low cost. The businesses need to utilize the combination of variety of vulnerability management solution while operating the business and at the same time, integrate the services with platforms such as cloud, internet, wireless, and software for enhanced security (Bowker, 2012). The cyber threats need to be assesses timely for finding the most suitable solutions and reduce the negative impact on business. However, it is always recommended to take proactive actions such as employee training, anti-virus program application, and user manual for using the information system and regular checks on web server and applications so that the cyber security is maintained in business. With the growing utilization of technology and other advancements, it is important for businesses to understand the cyber security challenges and provide best security practices.
Conclusion
The study has provided detailed understanding related emergence of cybercrime in business environment, possible cyber threats and their impacts on business, different types of cyber threats. The ways to mitigate the cyber threats in business are also detailed because the challenges of cybercrime need to be identified and resolved within the due course of time so that the business impact can be minimized in significant manner. It is clarified that there are increased risks of cyber threats due to utilization of internet and cloud based platforms in organizations and the mobile devices are also targeted by hackers for fetching and misusing the information. These factors are adding up to the cyber security vulnerabilities for organizations. The protection from cyber issues is an emerging issue in current business environment because large amount of data is transferred through networks on regular basis and involves different activities such as e-commerce, travel information, e-governance, general communications and many more. The process of strengthening the cyber security measures is time consuming but it helps in maintaining the performance level, credibility and shareholder value within the business environment. It is also required to create new cyber security policies, implement these policies in different branches and provide formal training to employees but the results are worthy. The high levels of cyber-security and enhanced data security systems provide a competitive advantage to the organizations because the investors and shareholders constantly look for reliable business that can safeguard their confidential information and gain success in future.
It can be concluded that the cybercrime challenges have emerged drastically in current business environment, technological infrastructure and have negative impacts on reputation, business operations, confidentiality and reliability of organizations. So, it is very important to manage the cybercrime challenges in proactive manner and mitigate the security issues before they scale up at high level. With consistent practices from reactive to proactive measures, the businesses will be able to achieve better security and enhanced performance in the market landscape.
References
Balkin, G. K. (2006). Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment. New York: New York University Press.
Broadhurst, C. L. (2013). Cybercrime in Asia: trends and challenges. New York: Springer.
Guttman, S. (2006). Generally Accepted Principles and Practices for Securing Information Technology Systems. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce.
Halder, J. (2011). Cyber crime and the Victimization of Women: Laws, Rights, and Regulations. Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global.
Kruse, H. (2002). Computer forensics: incident response essentials. Addison-Wesley.
McQuade. (2009). The Encyclopedia of Cybercrime. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Moore. (2005). Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime. Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing.
Richet. (2013). From Young Hackers to Crackers. International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction, 9(3), 53-62.
Stouffer, P. L. (2009). Guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security. National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce.
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