Information confidentiality is one of the major concepts that determine its reliability depending on its purpose. Availability of information on network demands for authorization and authentication of persons authorized to access that information. This paper will provide a summary on the sources of security threats based on various sources in the bid of understanding of information securities from different perspectives. Information on a network can be corrupted if the network is not secure. Confidential information should not be accessible to anyone who is not authorized and once it’s read or copied by unauthorized persons it loses its confidentiality.
One fact that remains true is that no one is immune to attacks on the internet we are vulnerable to having people who will gain unauthorized access to what we have had a security system on. Once the unauthorized person has access to any sensitive information they are able to manipulate it at will and commit crimes in a wide variety of ways(Riley 2011). Surprisingly, if we are not careful one might lose all they have through the actual immediate gain by the unauthorized person. Most institutions affected by these include insurance companies, brokerage houses, government contractors in all sectors, insurance companies and many others. This demands that the institutions have to get the professionals who will offer the best protection against any attack or leak of information in any way.
Security administrators and information technology professionals in every company need to decide the amount of time they will spend in order to come up with the appropriate security policies and controls. In the development of these policies security administrators also need to decide the amount of money they need and the effort needed in order to be effective. The amount of money to be spent depends on how vital the information is and the risk the company will face is the information lands on unauthorized persons. Every company has a different strategy and a unique security system, policies, and control; however, the principles of an effective security system are the same. Security is not a onetime activity but an integral part of a lifecycle which will save a company valuable time and provides a reminder of what needs to be done.
Personal information such as intellectual property, taxpayer details, medical records, social security records, financial records and other sensitive examples of sensitive information should be protected in the best way possible. Once this information is disclosed, stolen or copied, one of the basic reasons why this happens is with the intention of stealing the identity of the owner of this information. Critical operations and private transactions might be disrupted, deleted or modified to benefit the thief. Another major purpose of having this information is to benefit financially from the owner of this information.
Sensitive information as discussed earlier, authentication and authorization go hand in hand users must be authenticated, this makes security strong since it means that anyone in a particular institution must be authenticated before carrying out any activity they have been authorizing to do(Khalif, 2011). The authentication system keeps the information secure, makes readily available to the authorized person and allows the users to trust the information they find. Any activity that takes place can be well followed up and one is able to know who did a particular thing, this means that the user cannot later deny having done that particular activity.
There are various attacks that have a probability of taking place if the information one does not establish an effective and secure working information platform. One is malware that attacks the computer hardware, storage equipment, and servers. Software attacks is also another attack where the software is used as a weapon that stops the physical hardware from working. Often, a software damages another software the same way a software can be manipulated to utterly destroy or cripple a computer physically. That means that one can alter software to gradually make changes in computer hardware to ultimately destroy it beyond restoration.
There are various factors to consider during security enhancement, some of these factors are; identifying assets and vulnerabilities, likely attack tactics, methods, and techniques, establishing a strategy to handle all types of attacks and finally how effective and long-lasting the strategy is. Listing the security threats an organization faces helps the security administrator identify the best technique or method to be used in the occurrence of attack (Riley 2011). A good example is emails; there are various methods of breaking into an email which ranges from viruses
During security and while taking the necessary precautions one must come up with a strategy that will put the whole situation in control. One must determine the damage an attack will cause on a system compared to other threats. He/she must also determine the vulnerabilities exploited by an attack and during the attack, this allows for an effective strategy that will help sustain confidentiality and reliability of a strategy (Silik, 2000). A post-attack strategy is also vital in an institution. This strategy revisits the predicaments brought about by the attack for repairs and for reference during in preparation of a pre-attack strategy.
In conclusion, every organization must come up with strategies that will control the situation before an attack takes place, during the attack and after the attack takes place (Kizza,2017). Each strategy must be tested and given out positive outcomes through a simulation attack in a lab. Incidence response team must also be put in place, their work will be conducting system attack studies, research on viruses and developing other computer security tools.
Reference
Gupta, B., Agrawal, D. P., & Yamaguchi, S. (2016). Handbook of research on modern cryptographic solutions for computer and cyber security. Hershey: Information Science Reference.
Kizza, J. M. (2017). Guide to Computer Network Security.
Cliff Edwards, Olga Kharif, and Michael Riley (2011). Human Errors Fuel Hacking as Test Shows Nothing Stops Idiocy
Pesante, L. (2008). Introduction to information security. Retrieved from https://www.us-cert.gov/sites/default/files/publications/infosecuritybasics.pdf
