HLS 625 Module 4 Homeland Security

HLS 625 MODULE 4
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Institution of affiliation
Date
HLS 625 MODULE 4
Introduction
Information systems are critical to running small and large organizations globally. They present platforms for managing information and enabling decision makers to apply this information to make key decisions. Threats to information systems are serious and likely to have a large impact on the populace. An attack on government information systems such as the IRS platform would make it difficult for the IRS to fulfill its legal duties. Citizens across the US would also be unable to file their returns, resulting in their falling foul of tax laws. The government would also be unable to meet its revenue targets CITATION Uni111 \l 1033 (University of Washington, 2011). This threat represents a single threat amongst the cacophony of threats facing Information Systems today. These threats are dynamic, adapting to solutions, constantly changing and can be presented by state and non-state actors with the sole purpose of crippling key information systems. In attempting to mitigate the threat to our information systems, the federal administration has held talks with China on the issues of cyber security and hacking CITATION Mic13 \l 1033 (Swaine, 2013).
The paper, therefore, delves into the issue of information systems. The paper will look at some of the emerging technologies that pose a threat to information systems whether personal, business or government. The paper will analyze these threats to determine the exact type of threat and its capacity. The paper will also focus on what security hardware and software products are available on the market to mitigate security concerns.
Products that provide security solutions
As threats to security systems have evolved, so have the security counter measures need to mitigate these threats. A key solution is encryption. Encryption allows for sending and receiving information across networks, where only the intended recipient can decode the message. Encryption does not prevent interception of the information; it simply makes it difficult for the unauthorized recipient to determine the contents of the message. Unauthorized recipients would require skill and computational systems that would take years to decipher the message. Thus, even if the message is decoded, it will be irrelevant at the time and would have taken enormous resources to achieve that CITATION Bel00 \l 1033 (Bellare, 2000).
Encryption, however, only protects the data as it is being relayed. The point of reception presents a vulnerability point in the information system. Any individual with access to the system can view the message in its decoded and deciphered form. There is thus need to ensure the system used by the end user is secure. This can be done by using a combi...