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Respond to Discussion 1

Identify three of the most important benefits derived from performing an effective risk assessment and explain the relationship between the risk assessment and the development of a preparedness plan. Explain why a preparedness plan is critical for operations.

Cyber security is becoming a major talking point in the spectrum of both the business world and the personal life of consumers. For example, the hacking of Sony in 2014 and the debates around the idea of Apple creating a tool to unlock personal phones for legal use are conversations that cross into the safety issues that businesses and individuals experience within this technological phase. Completing a risk assessment is a vital step in creating an effective preparedness plan. First and foremost, completing a risk assessment does just that, it allows an organization or an individual to understand the amount of risk they are or potentially are taking on within their current operation. Many companies are completing these assessments through the hiring of professionals that can be called “hackers” to simulate attacks against their cyber systems. The goal of these simulations allow for companies to create the foundations that then become their cyber security defense plans.

Risk assessments are also beneficial because they can be used to help uncover weaknesses in overall operations planning. According to a 2014 piece in Business Wire, “Measures the effectiveness of initiatives that manage internal administrative vulnerabilities and critical assets resulting from personnel, organizational or business processes,” (Monahan, 2014). An assessment that helps uncover wasteful or problematic operation processes are a major benefit to an organization and facilitates the preparation of better measures in the future.

Provide two examples that demonstrate how preparation plans could ensure effective crisis management operations. Describe two risks that could surge if crisis management is not planned adequately.  

The laundry list of potential dangers that occur due to a lack of preparation is quite long. As referenced, the Sony hack is one of the biggest of its kind. According to Ryan Fraghnder of the LA Times, the company lost $15 million dollars in the third quarter of that year trying to recover from said incursion (Fraghnder, 2015). That type of financial loss would destroy many organizations and is the exact reason why more care needs to be placed on the completion of adequate risk assessments.

Respond to Discussion 2

· Provide three examples that demonstrate how a well-prepared incident response team (IRT) may minimize damages that an organization may experience after a disaster. Give your opinion of two quality control measures that could be used in order to validate actions of the IRT.

 A well prepared incident response team can create a systematic response by trying to conduct inventory which identifies all the specific organizational process and activities under incident management control, a well prepared incident response team will develop baseline metrics that justifies all elements under the incident management control  function are understood, documented and corrected. last example is that IRT can assign  the right resources that address the incident after the conduct of analysis about facts that are gathered in order to determine the level of response. 

· Suggest three factors that should be analyzed and three activities that should be performed when planning for incident management. Select which activity would offer the most effective response support for an organization and explain why.

Standard set of policies, procedures, environment, and resources such as technical skills of IRT staff members should be analyzed. Containment considerations, conduct of audit and penetration testing  should be performed. Conducting audit would offer the most effective response support for an organization because audits are designed to collect sufficient evidence by observing and documenting the specific behavior of the operation under examination, audit also guarantees consistent interpretation and it provides a degree of assurance to the performance of the function over time. 

Respond to Discussion 3

Determine three benefits that could be derived from designing an effective training and awareness program. Select what you believe to be the most important benefit to the organization and explain why.  

One of the most important benefits of a security training and awareness program is the increased confidence of consumers or contractors as a result. The Target data breach significantly lowered sales for that company as shoppers wondered whether their credit card information was safe. Security and training awareness programs show consumers and contractors that the company is protecting their information and is safe from attack (Wilson & Hash, 2003). Another benefit is, quite simply, increased operational security within the company. Many security breaches of modern companies end up bypassing expensive and elaborate security measure through simple phishing schemes sent through email to low-ranking employees. Security training and awareness will focus heavily on the personal actions and habits of these employees, and thus will reduce the likelihood of this kind of attack. Due to the frequency of these types of attack, this is the most important benefit of such a program (PCI Security Standards Council, 2014). Third, security awareness and training programs serve the purpose of defining and identifying levels of responsibility within the organization. Such programs clearly delineate the security responsibilities of regular employees, management, and specialize roles given to select individuals.

Suggest three focus areas that a security training program should cover and explain why you believe these areas should be covered. Give your opinion on how these focus areas mitigate potential risks and threats that an organization may face.

With these benefits in mind, the three most important areas of focus for an awareness and training program include: the company’s complete security awareness policy; the potential impact and risks of unauthorized access; and the importance of secure internet, email, password, and removable drive practices (Wilson & Hash, 2003). These focus areas mitigate risk by clearly outlining responsibilities and penalties; impressing the importance of security on all staff members; and addressing the most common kinds of security breach in detail, respectively.

Respond to Discussion 4

Evaluate the importance of designing a controls framework, ensuring proper performance, and ensuring proper support to determine how reliable the operational security function is for the organization. Describe how these measures help maintain operational capability. 

Information security measures for modern companies are not one-off events, but instead must be continually managed and evaluated in order for them to meet with success. For this reason, it is essential to develop a controls framework, to ensure proper performance, and to ensure proper support. More specifically, these ongoing controls and supports are necessary because of the speed with which malicious software and strategies develop every year (Northcutt, 2009). Security breaches can be extremely brief, or longstanding and invisible, and for this reason it is essential to continually monitor the reliability and performance of the system by means of the controls framework. The controls framework should include preventative, detective, and corrective controls, and these categories can be further divided into managerial, administrative, and behavioral controls (Northcutt, 2009). A breakdown of behavioral controls, for example, may result in employees bringing in removable drives from home, where they may not be protected from malicious software. The controls framework will detect breaches of this kind, and correct the action before significant damage is done.

Assess the importance of managing operational capability. Provide two examples of how managing operational capability ensures the execution security strategy of an organization. Describe potential challenges an organization may face by not planning adequate controls for managing operational capability. 

Operational capability describe the ability of the organization to continually manage its IT security system. Managing operational capability is essential because without such management, expensive and elaborate security systems may be breached in frustratingly simple ways (Paganini, 2015). One example of how operational capability management allows the execution of the security strategy is found in the recent hack of the Democratic National Committee servers by foreign operatives. Though the DNC was warned of a possible breach, it waited months before acting on the intel and ejecting the intruder. Operational capability management could have quickly put an end to the hack. Another example would be security breaches committed by high level executives with high level access to the company system. Operational capability management is careful to restrict any one user from having full access or the ability to change the security program itself (Paganini, 2015). Challenges to this kind of management include large numbers of employees, executives who refuse to submit to security protocols, and high cost of implementation.