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Essay Available:
Pages:
4 pages/β‰ˆ1100 words
Sources:
3 Sources
Style:
APA
Subject:
Technology
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 21.6
Topic:

Virtual Teams and Protecting Information Assets

Essay Instructions:

Starting in the spring of 2014, eBay was subjected to a series of security intrusions into its database of user passwords. The breach occurred when hackers compromised some employee login credentials, giving them access to the eBay system. It took over two months for eBay to know it had been compromised. The eBay hack came on the heels of the massive Target hack. Target's security center was warned of the invasion but did nothing. At Neiman Marcus, alarms were set off as credit card data was being stolen. Sony with its enormously large and successful Cloud-based gaming system, the PlayStation network, also was attacked. Intrusions resulted in compromising financial data, including credit card numbers, for literally millions of participants. Moreover, this was not a single giant assault, but a series of recurring attacks (apparently conducted by a collective) that Sony's security experts seem to have been unable to stem. The result has been huge financial losses for the company and, potentially more seriously, damage to its reputation that it may never be able to repair.
You can read about these hacks in the following articles.
Mac, Ryan (2014). California joins other states in investigation of EBay hack. http://www(dot)forbes(dot)com/sites/ryanmac/2014/05/23/as-ebay-notifies-users-of-hack-states-launch-investigation/
Riley M., Elgin, B., Lawrence, D., and Matlack. C. (2014). Missed alarms and 40 million stolen credit card numbers: How Target blew it. March 13, 2014. http://www(dot)businessweek(dot)com/articles/2014-03-13/target-missed-alarms-in-epic-hack-of-credit-card-data
Elgin, B., Lawrence, D., and Riley, M. (2014). Neiman Marcus hackers set of 60,000 alerts while bagging credit card data, Feb 21, 2014. http://www(dot)businessweek(dot)com/articles/2014-02-21/neiman-marcus-hackers-set-off-60-000-alerts-while-bagging-credit-card-data
Mills, E. (2011) Attacks on Sony, others show it's open hacking season. CNET News. Retrieved June 13, 2011, from http://news(dot)cnet(dot)com/8301-27080_3-20069995-245/attacks-on-sony-others-show-its-open-hacking-season/#ixzz1PHwIH7dt
Mills, E. (2011) Who is behind the hacks? (FAQ). CNET News. Retrieved June 14, 2011, from http://news(dot)cnet(dot)com/8301-27080_3-20071100-245/who-is-behind-the-hacks-faq/?tag=rtcol;inTheNewsNow
Undoubtedly, you will wish to do some further research on this situation. A good place to begin would be googling a search term such as "Sony security problems" or some variant on that theme, and then following leads as they seem interesting to you.
Now you should consider some of the things that the security experts say about such challenges. Here are two useful articles that discuss information security in the context of Cloud-based systems, and how to respond to incidents:
Rudman, R.J. (2010). Incremental Risks in Web 2.0 Applications. The Electronic Library, 28(2), 210-230. [ProQuest]
Lanois, Paul. (2011). Privacy in the age of the cloud. Journal of Internet Law. 15(6), 3-17. [ProQuest]
In addition, the optional readings expand on many of the central points; you may also want to do some independent research of your own to clarify any issues that concern you.
As we noted before, if you don't really pay attention to this material, it's really unlikely that you can write an acceptable paper on the topic below, let alone an exceptional one. We spend quite a lot of time trying to identify useful sources for you that bear on our topics for analysis; while we strongly encourage you to conduct your own further research and identify additional useful sources, this should be an add-on to the basic material rather than a substitute for it.
SLP Assignment
When you have read through the articles and related material and believe that you have a reasonable understanding of the hacking situations, compose a 4- to 6-page critical analysis paper, on the topic:
-The best alternative(s) available to these firms who have been hacked and how to resolve their security crisis
Clearly, there are multiple possible answers that you probably will find during your research on this issue; there's no one necessarily best answer, although it is pretty clear that good solutions will have to be both social and technical (i.e., sociotechnical) in nature. Your paper will be assessed primarily on how well you are able to support your viewpoint with the literature and the evidence. Obviously, as noted below, this will obligate you to actually be able to present such evidence in an academically respectable manner.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Virtual Teams and Protecting Information Assets
Name
Institution
Virtual Teams and Protecting Information Assets
Introduction
The World Wide Web (WWW) has created a leeway for companies to continue expanding mainly in networking and cloud computing. This advancement of digital technology has seen many firms incorporate online businesses at an increased rate. However, because of the intangible and open nature of the internet, privacy and security of many businesses can be compromised. Many large firms such as Citibank, Twitter, Google, and Sony have fallen into the hands of hackers where personal information is stolen (Lanois, 2011). This means that companies need to address and take security measures that are stringent to avoid losing company or clients’ information to hackers. This paper aims at analyzing the best solutions for firms that have fallen victim to hacking and how they can enhance their security online.
Once a security vulnerability has occurred, the firm’s Information Technology (IT) team needs to focus on identifying security loopholes and address them immediately. This calls for a multi-layered approach using technological solutions (technical) and even through administrative initiative (social). The firm should begin with technical solutions such as a security audit by blocking any web activity that seems suspicious in nature. An anti-malware software has to be installed in the system that scans inbound and outbound traffic. This is an efficient way to check for malicious activities and block them to ensure that the system remains secure. A system update is crucial because hackers target areas where they see weakness. When the anti-malware software and the system are kept up-to-date, various security measures such as a secure firewall are ensured. A firewall makes sure that outside threats including viruses and hackers cannot enter into the network. In truth, when such measures are put in place, the IT department can recognize when suspicious activity occurs and act on it before a security breach occurs (Rudman, 2010).
The IT team should ensure the security audit secures the authentication, as well as encryption of the system. This means that strong authentication and encryption technologies such as unique and complex passwords secure the system. Changing of passwords often makes sure that hackers find it difficult to track an exposure in the network. The firm’s IT department also needs to have a monitoring and review program that checks all websites employees visit, bandwidth usage, the type of files they download, and the number of requests created. A reporting system can be designed to make the evaluation easy, and this ensures that everyone gets monitored closely to capture security breaches on time. Further, the IT team should check things like browser settings for all employees so that things like cookie control can be achieved (Rudman, 2010). This is because cookies allow personal information such as browser history and passwords to be saved, and this can be stolen by hackers.
The other technical technique for firms to deal with hackers is to ensure that they understand the legal tools of privacy regulations such as those by the European Union (EU) that protects peop...
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