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Introduction

Over the past years, there have been increasing cases of information security threats. As the information technology professionals stay up to date with the latest technologies, they navigate through complicated playing field. There has been a newly introduced terminology that has brought a lot of confusion in the area of technology. This paper focuses on the background of information security. It also looks at the information technology threats as well as the importance of planning policies to mitigate these risks.

History of Information Security

The computers were initially created to facilitate the swift exchange of information from one person to another (Jouini, 2014). The initial information technology infrastructure was created around the mainframe computers while others were established around the personal computers. At first, it seemed impossible to advance these computers to the present generation computers and information technology gadgets. However, as information technology revolutionize, new avenues are opening for the possibility of crimes. Cyber criminals take advantage of these opportunities to steal the passwords of the computers and get access to the private information as well as make devastating effects on computers and networks.

The nature of the use of computers has changed over the years. Various networks have been developed to enable the sharing and circulation of information and data. Regulating the access to these possessions is problematic as one need to stabilize the need for access to free information with the value of the content of the data he or she receives (Layton, 2016). Most of the information today is very sensitive while others are not. The information technology has today progressed over just the usernames and passwords. The field today encompasses digital strategies, the process of biometric identification and integrated security strategies.

The Need for Security

Many organizations agree that putting up the policies for information security is expensive and time-consuming. Most users also get interrupted by the substantial security policies that complicate their works and in turn develop bad politics within organizations (Omar, 2017). As such, it is essential to plan an audit policy on large networks that may consume a lot of time and money. Most users believe that there is no need to implement the security policies if there is no secret work done.

Developing a poor security plan can lead to detrimental effects and even devastating disasters. A password policy which enables the users to use weak or poor passwords is the paradise for the hackers (Von Solms, 2013). The absence of firewall or protection for the proxy between the firm and the local area network is a loophole for the company to become a cybercrime target.

Organizations should figure out the amount it may take them to efficiently implement the information security policies to safeguard their information as well as their assets. This cost can be compared with the value that the organizations would incur suppose they lost their information, assets, and hardware, as well as their services, gets disrupted. The central notion behind this strategy is to find the best balance between the two (Layton, 2016). If the information only needs to be protected at a minimal level, and any data loss may not lead to the disruption of the services in the company, then it will cost less to defend this data. However, if the information of the firm is susceptible, this means that it will need maximum protection and therefore will be more expensive.

Security Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities

Data is the most crucial asset in any firm. The enterprises get their competitive advantage in the market by knowing how to handle their information successfully (Rhodes-Ousley, 2013). The dangers of information security come from the people who would like to get the information and misuse it so that they can interfere with the standard business practices in the firm.

The entity of security is to safeguard the sensitive or valuable information of the organization while making it accessible to the authenticated users.

The attackers attempting to interrupt the standard business processes make good use of the vulnerabilities by using some methods, tools, and techniques (Omar, 2017). They always have motives or goals of disrupting the standard practices in the business to steal the most private information and use this information later on to manipulate the organization. Information technology managers should understand the different aspects of security to establish the policies and measures that can be used to safeguard the information and assets of an organization as well as restrict their vulnerabilities.

Natural Disasters

It is nearly impossible to stop nature from happening. Hurricanes, earthquakes, lightning, floods, and fire can cause severe damage to the computer systems, therefore, interfere with the information that is present in these computers (Jouini, 2014). This can lead to the loss of private information, interruption, and loss of productivity as a result of the disruption of the services in the firm. The information technology administrators can implement a few safeguards to protect the computer systems against the damage resulting from the natural disasters. The best strategy is to develop a disaster recovery and a contingency plan that would include other threats such as wars, riots and terrorist attacks.

Human Threats

Malicious threats can also be caused by the employees of an organization as well as non-employees who just want to interrupt and damage the company. The most dangerous attackers are the employees who were once employed in a group (Siponen, 2014). This is because they are aware of all the security codes in place as well as the security measures implemented by the firm. The insiders are most likely to develop objectives and goals and finally have legitimate access to the system. They are always very accustomed to the computers and the applications used in the organization. The insiders can use Trojan horses, plant viruses, and worms that will enable them to browse through the system's file.

The insider attackers can influence all the components of the information security. They can reveal all the private information of the firm by just browsing through the system (Layton, 2016). Trojan horses are dangerous to the confidentiality and the integrity of the data found in the computer system. The inside attackers affect the accessibility of the information by overloading the storage and processing capacity of the computer systems and finally make the computer system to crash.

These malicious people are always referred to as hackers or crackers. Their main aim is still to steal the information of the organization and some hardware such as laptops (Rhodes-Ousley, 2013). They use various techniques and tools to gain access to the private knowledge of the company. The hackers can then sell this information to the competitors to use this information to beat the company in the market.

Attackers are not the only human that can cause damage to the information and the computer systems of an organization. The significant threat to the integrity and privacy of organizational data is the authorized users who are not aware of the activities they engage in that could be damaging to the firm. The authenticated users can cause errors and oversights can make an organization to lose its data, get the computer system damaged or changed (Siponen, 2014).

The non-malicious threats always come from the employees who do not know how to use the computers well and are not aware of the security vulnerabilities and threats. For instance, the users who use notepad to create documents then save these documents in Microsoft word can severely damage the information stored in the report.

Motives, Objectives, and Goals of the Malicious Attackers

There is a robust connection between the privacy of data and physical security (Omar, 2017). The aim of some attackers is not necessary to physically destroy the computer systems but to penetrate and remove all the sensitive information of the organization for personal use and satisfaction. They can then use this information for their gain.

Methods Used by the Attackers

Deleting and Changing Information

The malicious attackers who modify or delete information have the motives of taking revenge on the target. The internal attackers do this because they may be disappointed about something in the organization (Von Solms, 2013). The external attackers on the other side do this to prove to the team that they can manipulate the body.

Information Theft and Fraud

The information technology is progressively used to engage in fraudulent activities and stealing the resources of organizations. The computer systems can be subjugated in various ways by using both the traditional and the modern ways to get access to the private information of the firm (Jouini, 2014). The financial organizations are not the only firms that are subject to fraud. Other objectives are the associations that regulate the availability of the resources such as attendance systems and time, school grading systems, inventory system and long distance systems among others.

Disrupting the Normal Business Processes

The attackers may attempt to interrupt the normal operations of the businesses. In any circumstance as such, the attackers always have bigger goals to accomplish (Siponen, 2014). The attackers employ various techniques to achieve their objectives and goals and perform their missions.

Tools and Techniques used for Information Security Attack

Viruses

The attackers can establish dangerous codes called viruses. They can then use the hacking techniques to break into the computer systems and cultivate the viruses. Viruses are a general threat to any information technology tool (Layton, 2016). There are different forms of viruses and take time before they start damaging the systems.

Trojan Horses

These are malicious software codes and programs which are hidden in the regular applications in the computer systems (Omar, 2017). When the user opens the regular schedule, the hidden software code runs as well. It then begins to delete some files and causing other destruction to the computer system. They are distributed majorly by attachment in the emails.

Worms

These are malicious programs running freely and traveling from one computer to another across different computer networks (Rhodes-Ousley, 2013). Worms can disintegrate and have different portions running through different machines. They do not change the existing programs on the computer.

Password Cracking

This is an approach used by the attackers to secretly gain access to the systems through the accounts of authorized users (Von Solms, 2013). This is facilitated by the weak passwords created by the users. The two primary problems with passwords are that they can easily be manipulated and also vulnerable to the attacks from the dictionaries found in the computers.

Denial of Service Attacks

This type of attack takes advantage of the urge to have an available service. There is an increasing trend of this kind of attack on the internet as the websites promote a secure platform for abuse (Layton, 2016). The attackers can quickly flood the internet servers and therefore make it busy. As such, the companies linked to this website experience a DoS attack that may allow other attacks to be passive.

E-Mail Hacking

Email is one of the most crucial internet features used by different companies and individuals as well as businessmen. There are several threats associated with the use of emails. They include impersonation, packet replay, eavesdropping, packet modification, intrusion attacks and social engineering.

In impersonation, the address of the sender cannot be reliable as the sender can make a false return address. The main aim of imitation in emails is to get to manipulate information from the target person or organization. In eavesdropping, the email content and headers are conveyed in a clear text that uses encryption. As such, the information in the email can be changed in transit. The header, on the other hand, can be used to redirect the data to the internet attackers.

Packet replay means the recording and retransmission of the information packets in the network (Jouini, 2014). This is a substantial threat to the computer programs that call for authentication sequence as an imposter could echo specific authentication sequence information to gain access to the computer system. Packet modification encompasses one system that interrupts and changes the information packets that are destined for other systems. The data can not only be changed but also destroyed.

Social engineering in emails is the most common type of cracking the internet and getting the most crucial and private information of an organization. It can be applied by both the external attackers as well as the insiders (Siponen, 2014). It involves tricking people into revealing their passwords and other information that can be used to gain access to the computer systems of a targeted organization. Finally, intrusion attacks involve a hacker who uses certain hacking trappings to get access to the computer system of a targeted firm. These tools include hacking protocol tools, password hacking tools, and manipulation tools. These tools can assist the attackers to determine the modifications that occur within the networks and the systems of the target institution.

Security Vulnerabilities

As seen before, the malicious attacker applies various techniques to take advantage of the weaknesses of the computer system to accomplish their malicious objectives (Rhodes-Ousley, 2013). Vulnerabilities are the weak facts or ambiguities in information security that the attacker uses to get access to the computer system. Some of the weak points of the information security include:

Passwords

The selection of passwords can be a weak point provided the users have to create one. The problems come about when the user has to remember a password from the several others that he or she already has (Omar, 2017). As such, the user may choose a simple password that the attackers can easily guess. They end up creating simple passwords so that they cannot quickly forget them. As a result, the attackers can easily guess their passwords and get access to the system and then accomplish their missions. It is therefore considered a vulnerability as it offers the attackers the opportunity to guess the passwords.

Protocol Design

The protocols for communication my at times have weak points. Attackers can easily sue these weak points to access the private information and ultimately get access to the computer systems and perform their missions (Layton, 2016). The most common computer protocols which are very vulnerable to security attack include telnet protocol and file transfer protocol.

Commands That Reveal the Private Information of the User

It is challenging to find interoperability between various versions of UNIX and Microsoft products (Von Solms,2013). The commands that display the information of the users pose a significant threat to information security breach because the attackers can use this information to break into the computer system of the users and organizations.

Prevention of Information Security Threats

Implement Security Policies

The security policies should encompass all the processes that help in the prevention and detection of misuse and the strategies applicable for investigating the malicious insiders (Rhodes-Ousley, 2013). These policies should also spell out the potential outcome of misuse of organizational information.

Protect the Physical Security of the Computers

It is essential to keep people away from the critical infrastructure that may be vulnerable to the security threats. The organizations can apply tight access control to these systems. They can also use the key cards that are less expensive and flexible to prevent the attackers from manipulating their selves into the system.

Screen New Employees

It is essential to conduct a background check on the new employees to ensure that they are not malicious people sugarcoating themselves as employees.

Strong Authentication

The hackers have advanced technologies for cracking the passwords. As such, it is essential to have strong passwords that include numbers, symbols, punctuation marks and letters and that cannot be easily cracked (Jouini, 2014). Similarly, companies can use fingerprint scanners and sensitive application systems that only allow the authenticated users to access the systems.

Secure the Desktops

The users cannot be trusted to be responsible for all their arrangements. It is therefore essential for administrations to secure their desktops to prevent the potential threats. This can be achieved by plugging information leaks in the desktops and the computer systems.

Conclusion

There is an increasing concern for the information security threats as various organizations are exposed to the risks of information security. The computer systems can be susceptible to the natural disasters that can happen anytime. Similarly, malicious attackers use different tools, methods, and techniques to exploit the vulnerabilities of the computer systems and gain access to the private information of the organizations. As such, it is imperative for an organization to implement the strategic risk management and contingency plans to protect their confidential information and organizational assets.

References

Jouini, M., Rabai, L. B. A., & Aissa, A. B. (2014). Classification of security threats in information systems. Procedia Computer Science, 32, 489-496.

Layton, T. P. (2016). Information Security: Design, implementation, measurement, and compliance. CRC Press.

Omar, S. (2017). Information system security threats and vulnerabilities: evaluating the human factor in data protection (Doctoral dissertation).

Rhodes-Ousley, M. (2013). Information security: the complete reference. McGraw Hill Education.

Siponen, M., Mahmood, M. A., & Pahnila, S. (2014). Employees’ adherence to information security policies: An exploratory field study. Information & management, 51(2), 217-224.

Von Solms, R., & Van Niekerk, J. (2013). From information security to cyber security. computers & security, 38, 97-102.