Risk of Cyber Security in the Business-Free-Sample for Students

Question: Discuss about the Challenges in Cyber Security for Business. Answer: Introduction The literature review is the section which provides the secondary data details on the topic of research. The topic of research is Challenges in Cyber Security for Business for which different sources have been used to gain information and data. By Cyber Security we mean the protection of the valuable information and intellectual property of business which is in digital form from theft and misuse. Cyber security is an issue which is increasing in the todays global businesses. As per the US Government, Cyber security is one of the most critical ad serious issues which the businesses are facing these days. This challenge is faced by almost every country these days as the technology is growing and evolving. The coming age of Big Data, Internet of things and automation, the risk of Cyber security is increasing (Pandey, et al., 2016). Project Objective The main objective of the project is to identify the causes and factors which lead to the risk of Cyber security in the businesses. One more objective is to find out what cyber security challenges are present in the businesses. Project Scope The scope of the project is wide. It is because the topic of the research is one of the most critical issues the businesses are facing these days and there is lot to discuss on the topic. The literature review will include various real life examples to set up a clear understanding on the topic. The various forms of challenges and the causes of the same will be discussed by going through various journals, articles and web sources Literature Review AS the globalisation is evolving, majority of risks to business are seen due to technology. Cyber security has become a major challenge for the businesses and is growing at an alarming rate. There are different types of cyber threats like malicious attacks, attacks on networks and network abuse (Choo, 2011). Cyber security can be termed as the techniques used for the protection of businesses and computer systems from the unauthorised access and other cyber threats. As the cyber threats are increasing, the companies should adopt the approaches which help them in fighting with the complexity of the threats. Cyber security is a big issue because it has dramatically strengthened itself in past few years (Hutchings, 2012). According to Kaplan, Sharma Weinberg (2011) 46 per cent of the population of world is connected to internet which increases the chances of threats and cybercrime. Cyber security is a bigger issue now and it has been proved by conducting research on 25 global companies and the results shows so. The research found four common trends which includes that the digital data has become more widespread. It is also found that the corporations are now more open as compared to before. It also shows that the supply chains now are interconnected and that is how the attacks on technology are increasing. While technology is helping businesses to bring innovations in business, it is also creating so many threats for the businesses. The cyber security in business faces many risks in present business environment which are explained below: Ransomware It is the latest risk which prevents the users from accessing the significant information on their systems until they make a payment to the cyber criminals. The criminals tried to make more money once they were able to attack a user. The Internet of Things (IOT) The cyber criminals could make an access to the sensitive information contained by the user in their systems and this is a major privacy threat to the users. As per McAfee Labs 2017 Threats Predictions, around 1.78 million of devices will be in the hands of consumers and it will give more chances to hacking (Barclay Simpson, 2017). Social Engineering Social engineering involves manipulating the individuals to reveal their significant data and the information through the techniques of phishing. As per the data in recent year, these incidents have increased by 65% in 2016 as compared to 2015. Mobile Malware As the mobile usage is increasing day by day for the business tasks, there is more opportunity given to the cyber criminals to identify the weaknesses in the technology. As per the Kaspersky Lab, the attacks of mobile malware have tripled between the years 2015 and 2016. Fake Advertisements and Feedbacks The consumers nowadays are getting lots of advertisements at online platforms in which most of them are fake. These are phishing activities which affect the businesses and the consumer security measures (Barclay Simpson, 2017). In the opinion of Elmaghraby and Losavio (2014), many challenges are emerging due to the excessive use of technology. There are many instruments which are used in the businesses nowadays for making their operations easier but in return they face concerns such as privacy and this may affect their routine operations. Similar to this Tiwari, Bhalla Rawat (2016) suggests that Cybercrime has become inescapable because the sharing of networks and information has become so common in businesses. Cyber security is a mechanism which protect the computer systems and equipments from the unauthorised access. This will have positive impact on society and businesses. The typical cyber threats by which the business should be aware of includes Botnets, Malwares, Hacking, Phishing, Spam, Virus, Worms, etc. The author adds that Cybercrime have severe disruption in the businesses. It is a crime against business (Nojeim, 2010). Cyber security is when the properties or information of businesses are protected from the thefts and risks. Cyber security also provides some of the prevention tips to save itself from cybercrime. The users are advised to keep the defence systems up to date and to make sure that the systems are safe and secure. The users are advised to choose strong passwords and have security checks at regular intervals. The unfamiliar mails should not be touched and safe browsing should be encouraged. It can be said that in the modern era where technology plays a main role, cybersecurity is encouraged to have security from the cybercrime. Security has become a major concern and it should be taken as an integral part of the industry (Basamh, Qudaih and Ibrahim, 2014). In the opinion of Deore Waghmare (2016), Security of cyber information has become one of the greatest challenges across the world. Internet nowadays is used in almost each and every industry like ecommerce, communications, finance, banking and many more and this increases the chances of cyber-attacks for stealing the important data and information. Cyber security plays an important role in the ongoing development of IT. The cyber security faces number of challenges in fighting with the cybercrime. One of the main challenges is heavy dependency on Internet and Communications technology (ICT). ICT is nowadays used in businesses on a large scale and is a part of everyday life. This gives more chances to the attacks on the networks and infrastructures. The second challenge can be the increase in the number of users (Abomhara, 2015). As the popularity of internet is growing, the users are increasing cross the world and the number of targets for the attackers is also increasing. The third challenge is availability of devices and access to those devices. If an offense is to be committed it needs devices for the purpose. Software tools are available easily which contributes in promoting the cybercrime. This encourages the criminals to commit such crimes. The next challenge can be the availability of information. There is millions of webpages on the internet and it contains updated information. So the offend er targets the ones which have weak password protection systems and access the information. That information might be used for the wrong purposes which could cause serious security issues to the business. Another challenge is lack of mechanisms of control. In every communication network, there is a need of central administration to ensure the operability. There is a need of laws, governance and standards which can have certain degree of control on the networks. The international dimensions of the business also create a challenge for the security of information and networks. This affects the cyber security in different nations (Wright, Dawson and Omar, 2012). Automation is a challenge for the cyber security of business. ICT has the ability to automate the processes and it also has many consequences. Automation can provide opportunity to the offenders to send spams in bulk and attack thousands of the systems in hours. Spams may be a serious issue in the developing countries and many victims can be created. Availability of resources and speed of data and exchange. The speed of data exchange has led to the fastest exchange of cybercrime. It takes few seconds for the criminals to exchange emails and viruses. Another challenge is anonymous communication where the origin of communication is not known. Because of this, the identity of the offenders is difficult to make. Like they can use fake email ids and offend the privacy of the secure information (Clemente, 2013). As per Babate, et al. (2015), the lack of leadership is also considered as one of the major challenges of cyber security. Security is maintained when there is a trust maintained between technology and people using it. So, leadership is needed to handle the challenges and issues occurring because of technology and people. Collaboration needs to be maintained which helps in meeting challenges of cyber security. People are needed to be educated so that the security can be maintained by the cyber security cells. It is seen that the people are not getting enrolled in the courses of cyber security which is creating more challenges. When people will be educated in this course, they will be able to handle the issues of the industry of Australia. The cyber-attacks have been increased in the last few years and for that a framework needs to be created. This framework should include the roadmap which could bee adopted to fight the challenge of fighting the cybercrime. There are some of the long term challenges which affect the cyber security efforts taken by the industry (Fischer, 2016). These challenges include the lack of proper designs of security systems, the lack of incentives which are given to the cyber criminals. That is why; they look out for an easier option and go for cybercrime. Also the lack of consensus from all the stakeholders creates problems for the cyber security cells (Gharibi and Shaabi, 2012). Government has taken various steps to meet the challenges of cybercrime. These include the monitoring systems and security of network. The government have taken steps like drafting the cyber security law for facing the risks of cybercrime. The plans are made to design the approaches to meet these risks. Different countries take different steps to meet the challenges like China has made cyber security laws while US, reforms are developed to improve cyber security. In the corporate world, the condition of cybercrime is getting worse year by year but the steps are planned to be taken to get over this. US have increased their budget of cyber security by 35% which shows that the problem is increasing and will continue in the coming years (James, 2016). As per James (2016), the businesses, government and individuals should double their protection of cybercrime. The average cost of a cybercrime attack is approx. $276000. In USA, it costs approx. $100 billion per year. People lack in knowled ge about cyber security which increases the risks gradually. There are 1404 cyber security vendors in the world and Australia have only 15 out of them whereas the other countries like UK, USA, India, Israel have 76, 827, 41 and 228 cyber security vendors respectively. As per the data given by McAfee 2016 Threat Predictions, in the next five years the volume and type of personal information which is tracked and stored will change. The autonomous systems are the next technology which integrates with operating technology and blend together to solve the issues of cyber security. According to Foreshew (2017), the businesses of Australia are facing the cyber security crisis as there is not enough staff with expertise to face the threats. So, the demand for the cyber security specialists is at peak. This is a real challenge to meet this demand. There is also problem of funding. Where on one other the other countries like USA is spending more than US$200 million on RD investment for cyber security, Australia is lacking in this area. It is currently spending less than $100 million for the same. For cyber security research, the nation could spend and invest more. There is also weak collaboration between the research and industry. Only 3% of the businesses collaborate with the universities and with other research institutes. The situation in the Australian Cyber security industry is Ambiguous. The industry of cyber security is getting funds from the corporations like Common wealth Bank of Australia, Telstra, Optus and more. The government also invests in developing the Australian Cyber Security Research Institute (ACSRI) which provides RD facilities across Australia. There are some universities as well which in collaboration with companies and government helps in developing the cyber security industry of the country (Foreshew, 2017). In Australia, Cyber security is important to be taken seriously as the use of information systems, networks and Internet is more and government should come up with better control systems to meet these challenges. In this, every stakeholder has to play their roles. These include the companies, government and individuals. The individuals should handle the data well at the workplace while the companies should take effective measures for the security of data. They should provide trainings to their workers to handle data well. The government should make regulations and laws which can be proved effective in managing the security of the business (Foreshew, 2017). Conclusion It can be concluded that many techniques and softwares have been developed for handling the cybercrime. For the privacy of data and information of the businesses, cyber security measures have been adopted and the challenges to these measures have been discussed in the literature which is collected through various sources. The literature explains different types of challenges and what all steps different countries are taking to meet these challenges. It is concluded that Energy, Banking and Communications were the top three targets of cyber criminals. But there are opportunities in the coming year as the awareness has been increased for cybercrime. The industry is employing more people for meet the challenges and resolve the issues. It can also be concluded that there are some pillars of cyber security which can resolve the issues of the same. It includes Education and awareness about the matter, planning and preparation about the same in advance, sharing and collaboration to meet the current and future risks and Ethics Collaboration to have professional field of expert. Cyber security is important to the economic future of the country and for the society as well. As thee economy and society will get developed, the cyber security will become more significant to be developed. Good cyber policy is required for the cooperation and creativity in the industry. References Abomhara, M Koien, G M 2015, Cyber Security and the Internet of Things: Vulnerabilities, Threats, Intruders and Attacks, Department of Information and Communication Technology. Abomhara, M 2015, Cyber security and the internet of things: vulnerabilities, threats, intruders and attacks,Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility,4(1), pp.65-88. Australian Cyber Security Growth Network, 2017, Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan. 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