Risk Mitigation Step Plan

Computers and other innovative devices have become vital for different business processes. An essential use of IT assets in business is communication and transactions with the customers. These digital devices and other IT assets, such as the internet, have increasingly been adopted by small, medium, and large businesses worldwide. However, they are increasing one of the key targets by cybercriminals (Parn & Edwards, 2019). Thereof, despite the numerous benefits of innovations in business IT, it also presents various risks and threats to both the customers and the company. When organizations such as Gail Industries and others experience a security breach, they may incur significant losses through legal issues and destruction of public image they already enjoy. This report focuses more on the risks associated with online transactions for Gail Industries, as requested by Smallville clients. It will also focus on threats related to OS, network, system software, and risks associated with adopting a distributed environment model.

Risk and Threats of Transacting over the Internet

As part of its functions, Gail Industries oversees millions of digital transactions daily on numerous back-office processing agreements. The city of Smallville has more than 2.5 million individuals. The Smallville Collections Processing Entity (SCOPE) is one of the essential customers for Gail Industries. Having in mind the large number of people served by SCOPE, it would be crucial for Gail Industries to expose all the risks and threats to the customers. The information will enable all stakeholders to implement measures aimed at protecting the consumers from the loss that may result from online fraud or other threats and risk them may be exposed (Parn & Edwards, 2019). The online payment website used by SCOPE to process transactions presents various risks to the city residents that are served by the entity. Some of these threats may be accidental, while others may be purposeful in defrauding or committing online crime. Other risks may be due to human error. The most common threats the SCOPE customers may face are electronic payment systems, data misuse, e-cash, or card fraud.

With the rapid development of computers, the internet, and mobile network, online transactions have become part of our daily lives. In this case, the Smallville city residents can make their payments through checks, credit, or debit cards. Example of cash is for the parking tickets within the city, licensing fee, tax payments, and court costs for the municipality to the SCOPE, increasing payment efficiency for the customer and the company by reducing the paperwork and labor cost. However, customers are likely to be faced with the risk of fraud. There are different authentications, such as security questions or passwords used by these devices aimed at determining the identity of such a person (Parn & Edwards, 2019). When the system matches the security authentication, it does not care who is on the other end but authorize their payment. If an individual has access to passwords or security answers, they will have access to the money in the system even if they are not the real owners. The customers also face the threat of identity theft if unauthorized people have access to the payment data held by Smallville city.

Threats Related To OS, Networks, and System Software

Most of the payment processes at Smallville city have been automatized and are available on the internet. The residents of Smallville are exposed to numerous threats related to OS, network, and system software. Trojan horse is one of the most common risks for the residents. It traps the user login credential such as passwords or security questions. This information is sent to the malicious or unauthorized users who can later log in and access the system. The trap door is the other common threats that expose Smallville's OS. (Novokhrestov, Konev & Shelupanov, 2019). This situation refers to when a program designed to work as they are, but they have a security hole in its codes used in performing illegal transactions. The other OS associated threat is the virus, which compromises the entire system by unauthorized users.

When conducting transactions over the internet, Smallville residents face system threats. The worm is one of the most common risks and refers to a process that chokes the system software by using the system resources to extreme levels. Worms will affect the system efficiencies or even shut down the entire network. Port scanning is also another common threat associated with system software that exposes Smallville residents, a mechanism used by hackers or unauthorized users to detect system vulnerabilities, makes it easier for the cybercriminal to attack the system (Novokhrestov, Konev & Shelupanov, 2019). Spyware is the other system threats that the Smallville residents who conduct transactions over the internet will face. Spyware is software designed to track internet users; browsing habits. Spyware installed in the victims' computers or other devices without their knowledge. They often contain vital loggers that record, passwords, email addresses, credit card numbers, and additional personal information.

Risk of Different Database Deployment Models in a Distributed Environment

Databases are often desirable targets for cyber-attacks due to the sensitivity of the information they contain. Financial and personal data provided in the SCOPE defenses increases the risk of attack. Their attackers may utilize the personal or financial information of Smallville residents to commit cybercrime, such as fraud, through the stolen identity. The cybercriminals will most likely make a profit by breaching the information security within the datacenters. Poor encryption techniques are other common threats associated with deploying in a distributed environment (Pevnev & Kapchynskyi, 2018). There are network interfaces within the databases that hackers quickly tracked when software security is weak or compromised. However, organizations can avoid this by using SSL or TSL encrypted communication platform.

Weak or complex database infrastructure is another common threat that Smallville residents use to conduct their online transactions. Hackers do not often take the entire control of the database at one go. They often opt to determine a particular weakness within the database infrastructure and use it for their advantage. The hackers would then launch a string of attacks to reach the backend. The standard security software used by SCOPE may not adequately protect the system from these manipulations. Even if the security team at SCOPE pays attention to specific security flaws, it is imperative to ensure the entire database is not too complicated (Pevnev & Kapchynskyi, 2018). When the system becomes too expensive, the security team will always forget or neglect to check and fix its weaknesses, enhances the capabilities of hackers to manipulate the system much comfortably. Therefore, all the departments at SCOPE need to ensure they maintain the same level of control and often segregate the system to ensure the focus is decentralized while reducing the possible risk associated with databases in distributed environments.

References

Novokhrestov, A., Konev, A., & Shelupanov, A. (2019). Model of Threats to Computer Network Software. Symmetry, 11(12), 1506.

Parn, E. A., & Edwards, D. (2019). Cyber threats are confronting the digital built environment: engineering, Construction, and Architectural Management.

Pevnev, V., & Kapchynskyi, S. (2018). Database security: threats and preventive measures.