Hacking of Website: Consequences, Prevention, and Response

This report discusses the scenarios of website hacking for a car washing company, its consequences, preventive measures, and a comprehensive response. It emphasizes the importance of securing data, transmission, and operating systems to protect the company and its customers. The report also highlights the legal and reputational consequences of hacking and provides recommendations for a proactive approach to cybersecurity.

ASESSMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Hacking of website......................................................................................................................3
Consequences of hacking............................................................................................................4
Preventive measures....................................................................................................................5
Comprehensive hacking response................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Security breach is the biggest concern of any web based company today because the breach
causes not only monetary losses to the company but also raises a big ethical and legal issue
(Erdodi & Zennaro, 2020). In this report, initially, multiple logical scenarios that can cause
hacking of the website of car washing company will be evaluated followed by their
consequences on the business altogether. Further, the report will be followed with the potential
preventive measures that can be adopted by the car washing company in order to minimise the
chances of hacking and lastly, a comprehensive solution is to be recommended for the company
if the website does gets hacked.
MAIN BODY
Hacking of website
There a multiple number of scenarios in which the chances of hacking of the website of the
mobile car wash company. These can be discussed in following context:
 Insecure transmission or storage: This scenario can arise for the company when they
exchange personal data of the consumers in an unprotected manner. If the data is shared
in plain text where the customers orders, bookings etc. are recorded then that data can be
easily accessed by anyone in the online platforms (Gaia & et.al., 2020). Additionally,
even when the data is stored in that web form where the directory i.e. those records of the
data are easily accessible and available for other users as well who are able to operate on
that public platform. Therefore, in this manner the website and its information can be
easily hacked for mobile car wash making their data vulnerable.
 Vulnerable Operating System: The operating system and the applications or features that
are being used in the website and its overall presented can be easily hacked if it is not
properly patched. When the operating system is not properly updated and the patches i.e.
conclusive parts of the website are not integrated, then it automatically increases the
chances of website being infected by the virus (Almarri & et.al., 2018). This can also be
linked up with the kind of hardware and systems which are being used in the operating
software. Hence this is another potential cause or scenario where website of the mobile
car wash can be easily hacked.
 Inappropriately configured software: This problem again arises when the software or
website that is being used by the car wash company is not very conclusively developed
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and there are multiple loopholes which makes it very easy to crack (Chung & et.al.,
2018). Additionally, when the passwords that are being used or the database where
information is stored, number of times an error occurs on the website, its capability to get
crashed etc. are not very strongly addressed, then also the chances of the website getting
hacked can increase multiple times. This can cost the car washing company not only their
customers and reputation but can also prove to be a hefty expense for the company
(Troisi & et.al., 2019).
 Contractor Computer Compromised: Here the contractor computer signifies the database
and software that is being used by the partners or suppliers of the company. They also
have the necessary details regarding the company and its operation stored in their
computers and if they are not protected from the malware or if there is any virus
outbreak, then also it can become convenient for the hackers to obtain the personal
information (Powell, 2016).
Therefore, these are the different scenarios in which the company can face the threat of the
website being hacked and all their personal data can be accessed by external persons.
Consequences of hacking
Hacking is very serious offence in UK where the hackers can face not just ethical or legal
issues but for businesses as well, there are a variety of negative aspects (Policy, 2017). The
resources and time that could have utilised in the betterment and growth of the company are
utilised or rather wasted over irrelevant and unproductive aspects.
 Legal Battles: The CMA Act of UK directly penalises the one who gains unauthorised
access on the computers and the software i.e. the websites of any company. However, the
case would be very strong for mobile car wash company where they will be able to easily
win the legal battle against hacker but still the company can invest their resources and
time can be utilised more prudently. Cost is although recovered from the criminal party
but the years focus and time cannot be easily invested back (Botella & Suero, 2020). In
fact, not just CMA Act but there is multiple legal statues such as UK Cyber Crime Law
etc. that treat hacking as an offence and have severe criminal punishments for these.
However, in context of company, it will be more negative costing on the customer base,
business and representation as opposed to the benefits or solution in these scenarios.
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 Compromise on the customer base and its security: When hacking occurs of the website,
it harms not just the company but their goodwill and reputation as well. It is a very
compromising situation for the company where they are unable to protect the personal
data of their customers (Lillie, 2020). This can create very complex scenarios because all
the data related to cars that they possess, car numbers, automated access etc. might be
stored on the websites or software and if hacked, then this can create personal threat for
the customers. Hence, this is another grave consequence for the company which should
be avoided at any cost.
 Customer Loyalty: If the website of mobile car wash company gets hacked then it creates
a negative impact on the potential customers as well. When the existing customers are
harmed in any manner with the threat of their personal data getting leaked, then this
ultimately leads to creation of a negative image in the mind of future customers as well
(Elhai, Levine & Hall, 2017). Since it is already evident that the business of the car wash
company is already growing at a very fast rate because of the unique services that they
are providing and the increased flexibility and facility for the customers, it can create an
extremely disadvantageous situation for the future customers and on the profitability of
the company (Martinez, 2020).
Therefore, it can be clearly observed that there are not just ethical and legal issues for the
company but also a potential disadvantageous situation for the profitability and growth aspects as
well.
Preventive measures
In order to minimize and control the potential threat situations for the company, there are a
variety of preventive measures which can be taken by the company (Alsayed & Bilgrami, 2017).
These preventive measures against hacking will help the company in ensuring that they are able
to protect the sensitive information related to their customers and are also able to safeguard their
own data regarding business. Some of the key measures that can be adopted by the car washing
company includes:
 Securing devices, data and records: This is the most effective preventive measure that
can be adopted as it will directly lead to saving of the personal data of the customers and
company. Here the focus should be on ensuring that all the files and data that is being
stored and recorded is done using extremely secure tools where end to end encryption is
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the key feature (Wang & Yang, 2017). Additionally it is also necessary to ensure that if
public platforms are used to save or access the data as this directly jeopardizes the safety
of the data. Lastly, when records will be in much safer situation then it will directly lead
to the positive outcomes for the customer base.
 Secured transmission and exchange: This is another key measure that can be adopted in
order to secure the data completely. The simple tasks that car wash company has to adopt
is to ensure that every time they engage in exchanging of the data or in it's transmission,
then it is necessary to ensure that they do not do so via an unsecured mode which can
easily be interfered with or can be compromised (Giger & Gaspar, 2019). While using
internet as well, it is necessary to ensure that the network being used is protected and
secured because any leak or flaw in the system will directly lead to the compromise on
the safety of the company.
 Up to date operating systems: The operating system of any company that engages in e-
commerce, websites and software etc. needs to be extremely well integrated and
developed where all the parts and components are properly patched up together and no
breach or loopholes are left in the entire system (Boireau, 2018). This directly integrates
the overall security and strong aspect of the operating system which in turn will reduce
the chances of any external party ethical issues that might arise due to causing a breach.
This definitely increases the cost aspect for company but it can be seen more of as an one
time investment rather than expense.
 Protecting from malware: It is very important to ensure that no virus or malware is able
to enter into the system by installing anti- malware systems and software in the system.
This will help in increasing the monitoring and control over the entire system and will
ultimately also increase their chances of minimizing any potential chances of hacking of
the website thus avoiding legal issues as well (Burnham, 2019). For the car wash
company, it is important to take some basic steps as well towards the protection of the
hardware from any infectious malware such as careful usage of the software for
transmission of sensitive information, it's usage etc.
Hence, these are a series of preventive measures that can be adopted by the mobile car
wash company so that they do not waste resources unnecessarily and also increase the targeted
customer satisfaction.
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Comprehensive hacking response
The best strategy or manner to respond if the website of the mobile car washing company
gets hacked to evaluate the entire incident and create a report based on which the security and
cyber defence of the website is to be built up comprehensively.
 Preparation: Here a risk assessment should be conducted where all the security issues
being faced by the company needs to be clearly identified and different roles and
responsibilities should be outlined in the entire process.
 Identification: On the occurrence of the event, all the additional evidence must be
collected so that type and severity of the entire breach can be analysed.
 Containment: The immediate follow up step should be to contain the situation where
further losses should be prevented and the entire situation should be tried to control
(Webber, Schneider & Vander Wal, 2020).
 Eradication: Next is to entirely remove the cause or fault due to which breach arose from
the root and develop or implement measures that can lead to the prevention of any such
future attacks on company.
 Recovery: After this, it is necessary to test and evaluate the security of the remaining
system and the affected or damaged part should be redeveloped again so that further
cases can be avoided or eliminated entirely.
Apart from this, it is necessary that the car washing company should regularly engage in
different activities which can measure the security of the network such as penetration testing
where the capability of any external user to break in the security is tested so that sensitive data
can be heavily protected (Park & et.al., 2019). This includes addressing multiple aspects such as
passwords being used, devices and their vulnerability, cyber resilience etc. so that overall, the
security and integrity of the website can be thoroughly tested by developing and implementing a
pro- active approach.
CONCLUSION
The research done in the report above helps in concluding that for the car washing company
there are multiple scenarios in which the website of the company have the chances of getting
hacked. It was identified that the biggest impact will be on the customer base that will decline
rapidly due to this leading to the downfall of an excellent business idea. A variety of preventive
measures that would address not just the legal and ethical issues of the company were discussed
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specifically and lastly, it was also concluded that what comprehensive hacking response should
car washing company adopt to address the problem.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Erdodi, L., & Zennaro, F. M. (2020). The Agent Web Model--Modelling web hacking for
reinforcement learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.11274.
Troisi, O., & et.al., (2019). Growth hacking: Insights on data-driven decision-making from three
firms. Industrial Marketing Management.
Powell, A. (2016). Hacking in the public interest: Authority, legitimacy, means, and ends. New
media & society, 18(4), 600-616.
Policy, E. C. D. (2017). Raising the Consequences of Hacking American Companies.
Botella, J., & Suero, M. (2020). Commentary: The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in
Science. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.
Lillie, J. (2020). Cybersecurity-Hacking. World Libraries, 24(1).
Elhai, J. D., Levine, J. C., & Hall, B. J. (2017). Anxiety about electronic data hacking. Internet
Research.
Martinez, G. (2020). Hacking Back: Self-Defense, Self-Preservation or Vigilantinism (Doctoral
dissertation, Utica College).
Alsayed, A., & Bilgrami, A. (2017). E-banking security: Internet hacking, phishing attacks,
analysis and prevention of fraudulent activities. Int. J. Of Emerg. Techn. and Adv.
Activ, 7(1), 109-115.
Giger, J. C., & Gaspar, R. (2019). A look into future risks: A psychosocial theoretical framework
for investigating the intention to practice body hacking. Human Behavior and Emerging
Technologies, 1(4), 306-316.
Boireau, O. (2018). Securing the blockchain against hackers. Network Security, 2018(1), 8-11.
Webber, Q. M., Schneider, D. C., & Vander Wal, E. (2020). Is less more? A commentary on the
practice of ‘metric hacking’in animal social network analysis. Animal Behaviour, 168,
109-120.
Burnham, S. (2019). Design Hacking: Finding the Truth in Systems. VRMNTR via
PublishDrive.
Wang, Y., & Yang, J. (2017, March). Ethical hacking and network defense: choose your best
network vulnerability scanning tool. In 2017 31st International Conference on Advanced
Information Networking and Applications Workshops (WAINA) (pp. 110-113). IEEE.
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Almarri, D., & et.al., (2018, April). Analysis of the Attacks on Saudi Web Companies. In 2018
21st Saudi Computer Society National Computer Conference (NCC) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Chung, W., & et.al., (2018, November). Extracting textual features of financial social media to
detect cognitive hacking. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and
Security Informatics (ISI) (pp. 244-246). IEEE.
Park, Y. S., & et.al., (2019, October). Development of Incident Response Tool for Cyber
Security Training Based on Virtualization and Cloud. In 2019 International Workshop on
Big Data and Information Security (IWBIS) (pp. 115-118). IEEE.
Gaia, J., & et.al., (2020, January). Psychological Profiling of Hacking Potential. In Proceedings
of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
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