by

Marym

As technology advances, the dependency of the companies and organizations on technology increases considerably. As part of their business activities, companies have to deal with large volumes of data of which heaps of data are stored in computers and other devices. A large percentage of this information is critical and sensitive data and therefore not for public viewing. This includes employee details, salary details, client lists, customer information, bank account details, and marketing and sales information. There is nothing wrong on the part of the companies in depending on technology to carry out their business activities. However, at the same time they should be aware of the information security vulnerabilities within the system and take effective

threat management

measures to overcome it.

For companies and organizations, their greatest challenge is information security. With cyber-crimes becoming increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, it is definitely a herculean task for the companies to secure their key data assets. Companies thus need to defend themselves on both external and internal fronts.

According to the 2012 Data Breach Investigation Report from Verizon, 92 % of the cyber-attacks that occurred in 2011 were external in origin. As per the report, two methods that are widely popular among the hackers are hacking and malware as it facilitated remote access, automation and easy escape.The motive behind almost all external attacks was financial gain.

As far as internal attacks are concerned, it comes within the organization. Employees betray the very company that they work for due to many reasons such as workplace dissatisfaction, personal problems, financial difficulties and so on. Their greatest advantage is that since they work within the organization they know everything about the company from passwords to its security systems. This helps them to access critical business information deviously.

The third kind of internal attack is the result of employee s ignorance. If we look at cyber attacks closely, the starting point of most would be unintentional employee errors. Hackers build their plan of attack using the unintentional vulnerabilities created by the employees.

Recently a new form of attack has come to the notice of companies and organizations. Known as the external attacks from the inside, here the perpetrators themselves infiltrate the company as employees or contractors and get away with critical information.

In such an environment, what companies require are

threat management solutions

that effectively counter threat to information irrespective of the source of the attack.

Also read on –

vendor management

,

GLBA Compliance

,

vulnerability management

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com