SECURING INFORMATION SYSTEM

SECURING INFORMATION SYSTEM

In an organization, to operate a business today, we need to make security and control, a top priority.

1. Security: Policies, procedures and technical measures used to prevent unauthorized access, alterations, theft or physical damages to information system.
2. Control: Methods, policies and organizational procedures that ensure safety of organization’s assets, accuracy and reliability of its accounting records and operational excellence to management standard.

Why systems are vulnerable?

When a large amount of data is stored in electronic form, they are vulnerable to many more kinds of threat than they existed in manual form. Through communication network, IS in different location are interconnected where the potential for unauthorized access abuse or fraud is not limited to a single location. But can occur at any access point in the network.

in the multi-tier client/server computing environment, vulnerabilities exist at each layer and in the communication between the layer.

Users at the client layer can cause harm by introducing errors by accessing systems without authorization.

It is possible to access data flowing over a network, still vulnerable data during transmission or alter message without authorization.

Intruders can launch denial of service (DOS) attack or malicious software to disturb the operation of IS.

• Accessibility of network
• Hardware problem (Breakdown, configuration error)
• Software problem (programming error, installation error)
• Disaster
• Loss and theft of portable devices

Internet vulnerability

• Large public network such as internet are more vulnerable than internal network because they are virtually open to anyone
• The internet is so huge that when abuses occur, they can have large huge impact when the internet becomes part of the corporate network, the organization’s IS are more vulnerable to action from outsider.
• Vulnerabilities have also increased from wide-spread use of e-mail, instant messaging, and peer-to-peer file sharing programs.
• E-mail may contain attachments that serve as a medium for malicious software or unauthorized access to internal corporate system, transmitting trade secret.
• Computers that are connected to the internet by cable modem or digital subscriber line, have a fixed internet address which creates a fixed budget for hackers whereas with a dial-up service, a temporary internet address is organized.

Malicious software: Malicious software is unwanted software that is designed or developed to harm other computer. It can also be referred as malware and include a variety of threat such as:

1. Virus: It is a program that attaches itself to other software program or data files in order to be executed usually without user’s knowledge and permission. Viruses are parasitic in nature. When virus affected file is executed, it harms the computer or virus is activated.
2. Worm: They are independent computer programs that copy themselves from one computer to other over a network. Unlike virus, they can operate on their own without attaching to other computer. Program files and rely less on human behavior. It destroys data and programs as well as disturbs or even halts the operation of a computer network.
3. Trojan horse: It is a software programs that appear to be different but does something other than expected.
4. Spyware: It is also malicious software which always target internet users. It collects and monitors the behavior, personal information of a internet users and sell this privacy of a computer users to other.

Hacker: Hackers is an individual who intends to gain unauthorized access to a computer system. It may not be a criminal act. Hacker can be defined as the intelligent programmer. A "good hack" is a clever as well as intelligent solution to problem of programming as well as coding. And hacking" is the act of doing such programming and coding. Five possible features which qualify one as a hacker can be listed below:

• A person who get pleasure from learning facts of a system as well as programming language
• A person who get pleasure from actually doing the programming. He/she feels bored just theorizing about it
• A person competent of appreciate someone else's hacking
• A person who accept programming quickly
• A person who is an expertise at a particular system or programming language.

The word 'Hacker' is used in accepted media to describe a person who attempts to break and enter into the unauthorized access of the computer systems. Generally, this kind of hacker may be a computer engineer or a proficient programmer with sufficient and adequate technical as well as logical knowledge to determine the weak points in a security system.

Cracker: The term ‘cracker’ is typically used to denote a hacker with criminal intention. It can break system security, destroy data, etc.

Hackers and crackers get unauthorized access by finding weakness in the security protection employed by websites and computer system.

Hackers activity have broadened beyond mere system intrusion to include theft of goods and information as well as system damage and cyber vandalism (i.e. the intentional distribution of the website or corporate information system)

Spoofing: Hackers attempting to hide their true identity often spoof or misrepresent themselves by using fake email address or representing someone else. Spoofing also may involve redirecting to web link or to an address different from intended one with a site representing as the intended destination.

Sniffer: It is a type of malicious program that monitors information travelling over network. A sniffer when used for criminal purpose, they can damage a computer system and are very difficult to detect. Sniffer enables hackers to steal information from anywhere on a network including e-mail, instant-message, company files, confidential report, etc. Sniffer can also be used to identify potential network troubles or criminal activity on a network.

Denial-of-service attack (DOS): In DOS, hackers flood on network server or web server, many thousands of false communication or request for a service to crash the network. The network receives so many queries that it cannot keep up with then and is thus unavailable to service a real request. Organization of computers who develop program for DOS attack is botnet. Proprietors of DOS attack, use 1000’s of PCs infected with malicious software without their owner’s knowledge and organize into a botnet.

Hackers create there botnets by infecting other people’s computer with bot malware that opens a back-door through which an attacker can give instruction.

Distributed DOS: Use of numerous computers to launch a DOS

Reference

Laudon, Laudon, "Management Information Systems Managing the Digital Firm", twelfth edition