Identify a major cloud breach of a U.S.-based company that has occurred in the recent past (within the last five years). use Cloud Breach of a U.S Company- (Target Inc and Neiman Marcus). In an 8 page critical evaluation of your chosen breach, review and

Cloud Breach of a U.S- Based Company

Target Corp, Neiman Marcus, and Target Inc are three companies whose networks were breached over the holiday shopping season in 2014. I chose this topic because security breaches are becoming more prevalent in the U.S. Research shows that in recent years, retailers have improved their security, making it more difficult for hackers to obtain credit data using other approaches. In the 2014 attack, the main technique used by the attackers is through pieces of malicious software to steal data. One of the pieces of malware used is RAM scraper, or memory- parsing software which enables cyber criminals to grab encrypted data by capturing it when it travels through the live memory of a computer, where it appears in plain text.

I. Analyze and review of the breach of Target/Neiman Marcus

i. Analysis of the breach taken place

II. How did the breach take place and what went wrong?

i. Reasons for the breach

ii. When the breach took place

III. Parties responsible for the breach

i. Cyber criminals

ii. Method used by culprits to successfully carryout the breach:

a. Malicious software such as RAM scraper, or memory-parsing which allow the encryption of data

IV. How could the breach have been prevented

i. Steps that should have been taken to prevent it

V. Preventions taken to avoid future attacks

i. Steps to be taken to ensure and avoid attacks

VI. Conclusion

References

Arlitsch, K., & Edelman, A. (2014). Staying safe: Cyber security for people and organizations. Journal of

Library Administration, 54(1), 46-56.

Hughes, J. (2014). Data breeches in the cloud: Who is responsible? Retrieved from