Effectiveness of The Approached Strategies

Running head: COMPUTER SECURITY
REPORT ON COMPUTER SECURITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1Computer Security
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Threat(s) and Vulnerability(s)....................................................................................................2
Mitigation Approaches...............................................................................................................5
Cost Breakdown Structure.........................................................................................................7
Effectiveness of the approached strategies................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

2Computer Security
Introduction
The primary objective of this report is to propose an effective security infrastructure
to a company Ace Hardware which is established in Perth. As it has been observed from the
case scenario that the selected company is a computer hardware company whose manager has
expressed her interest towards expanding the business across Australia. Followed this
approach it has been also noticed that the company does not have any secure infrastructure to
protect the organizational information. Further, it has been also monitored that the company
also performs database analysis in order to provide best services to their customers. Hence, in
this report a brief elaboration related to the incorporation of the IT security infrastructure in
the organization will be provided.
Threat(s) and Vulnerability(s)
After analysing the mentioned scenario it has been noticed that there are several
significant cyber security threats and vulnerabilities present which holds harmful impact on
the organizational services, Followed by this aspect list of possible cyber security threats are
listed below:
 One of the most significant threats present in the mentioned scenario is the
possibilities of malware attacks. As it has been noticed that most of the
organizational operations of Ace hardware’s are performed via internet hence, these
types of attack can significantly harm the organizational services as well as it holds a
significant impact on the data security. Followed by this aspect one of the most
harmful malware attacks are the Trojans, Ransomware as well as the impact of
Worms (Shu et al., 2016). Due to the attacks of the above mentioned attacks the
attacker have the access to all of the organizational data as well as it may restrict the
owner to access those data. Hence, after investigating the impact of this threats it is

3Computer Security
highly important to reduce the possibilities of this attack in order to protect the
organizational data as well as it will help to avoid extra expenses.
 Along with the above mentioned threats another impactful threat is the phishing
attack as in the field of cyber-crime phishing attacks has taken a significant place
(Abomhara, 2015). In this case the attacker basically manipulates the system user and
attack the system followed by which it blocks all of the data from the user access.
Hence, due to these types of attacks there is a huge possibilities of data loss as well as
there are significant chance to pay money in order to release the data from the hacker.
Followed by this aspect it has been noticed that it is highly important to reduce the
chances of Phishing as it holds the abilities to harm the organizational data as well as
it may affect the system performance (Thakur et al., 2015). Thus, in order to prevent
the performance of the company from external threats effective mitigation approach
is essential.
 Apart from the threats related to the malware and phishing attacks one of the most
significant threat present in this scope is related to the employee awareness. As it has
been noticed from the case scenario that the employee of the organization does not
has any idea about the cyber security which may invokes the possibilities of the
cyber-attacks (Conteh & Schmick, 2016). Hence, from the investigation it has been
identified that due to the actions and operation of the unawareness of the employ
several attacks has taken place which has significantly harmed the organizational data
as well as the operations of the organization. Followed by this aspect it is highly
important to mitigate this identified threat in order to protect the company system as
well as the data which is help to enhance the services of the company.

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 Along with the above mentioned aspects impact of spams is also holds a significant
impact on the data loss as the unwanted junk files has the capability to block the
company network server as it may also effects the data protection of the company.
Considering the above mentioned cyber security threats, possible cyber security
vulnerabilities are also identified which are listed below:
 One of the significant data loss threats are caused due to the implementation of
less effective data encryption process. In the field of cyber operations there is
significant impact on the data encryption as it protects the data (Bendovschi,
2015). Hence, if the data encryption process is not effective enough there might be
a possibility of data loss.
 Along with the several cyber threats are caused by the command injection of the
operating systems. Hence, it has been identified that protection from the operating
system command injection can significantly reduce the chances of cyber security
threats.
 Followed by these aspects overflow of buffer holds a significant impact on the
cyber threats.
 Less effective authentication control also holds a significant impact on the cyber-
attacks as the less effective authentication process does not holds the capabilities
to identify the unwanted access which invokes the possibilities of cyber threats
(Loukaka & Rahman, 2017).
 Along with the redirecting to the untrusted or the unknown website will sure
invoke the possibilities of cyber threats as the unknown or the random links
consists of several infected files which may harm the network server of the
company.

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 As it has been noticed from the case scenario that the company needs an
expansion there is a significant essentiality present related to the network server
protection hence, due to less effective security protection of the company network
holds a significant impact on the cyber threats.
 Apart from all of the above vulnerabilities one of the most significant
vulnerabilities for cyber threats is the unawareness of the employees. As it has
been noticed that due to clicking the untrusted links as well as random website
links the company network server may get harmed by the external attack as these
types of links consists of several infected files (Soomro, Shah & Ahmed, 2016). In
the files, there may be information that is intended to harm the company files and
systems.
Mitigation Approaches
Followed by the above mentioned threats it has been identified that there is a
significant necessity of mitigating these identified threats in order to prevent the company
network as well as their services from the external attacks. Hence, a detail elaboration of the
possible mitigation approaches are listed below:
 One of the most impactful vulnerability control strategy is to adopt effective
access control devices which will provide effective protection to the company
system as well as its database in order to restrict the unwanted access. Which will
surely protect the company network as well as the database (Conteh & Schmick,
2016). In order to incorporate this method it is highly essential to maintain the
strategy of strong password as well as effective barriers to keep the data safe.
 Along with the above approached strategy it has been also noticed that the
incorporation of the standard software will help the company to protect their data

6Computer Security
from the external threats. Apart from these there is a significant impact of
standardize software while discussing about the effective mitigation approaches of
cyber threat as due to the incorporation of similar application for all of the system
will help to reduce a significant security vulnerability as it will make sure that all
of the documents as well as the data are equally accessible to all the system
present in the organization (Venkatesan et al., 2016). In order to adopt this feature
all the systems of the company must consist same Operating system, media player,
and browser as it will provide a hassle free performance.
 Implementation of the effective network protection controls are also significantly
effective to dealing with the identified security issues. Hence, it has been observed
that the implementation of the firewall will surely help to maintain a secure IT
infrastructure. Followed by this it has been also noticed that in corporation IDS,
IPS also holds the ability to protect the organizational data server. Along with all
implementation of the virtual private network will also help the company to keep
their transaction protected which will surely impact the data security of Ace
hardware.
 Apart from the above approaches one of the most essential strategy is to conduct
employ training in order to provide awareness about the cyber security threats. As
it has been noticed from the above discussion that there is a significant
possibilities of security threats due to the less awareness of the employee while
using internet (Cabaj & Mazurczyk, 2016). Hence, followed by this aspect a
employ training is highly important which will sure to help the organization to
address its identified problems as it will help the employ to get idea about the
possible security threats and how to prevent the organizational infrastructure from
the identified security threats.

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 Followed by the above strategies the company must update their systems with
most updated version as it will provide the system the ability to protect themselves
from unwanted security threats.
Cost Breakdown Structure
Considering the above mention aspects as well as considering the decided budget a
detail cost breakdown structure for this case scope is provided below:
Identified Issues(s) Selected Approach(s) Cost ($)
Unauthorized Access VPN 300
Phishing Firewall 1000
Old system version Updated system 1500
Ransomware IDS and IPS 1000
Employ Awareness Employ training 1200
Effectiveness of the approached strategies
Considering all of the above discussion a detail elaboration is provided below which
will state that how the approached strategies are better than the traditional security
approaches as well as how the application of these strategies will help to reduce the security
treats and vulnerabilities of the company:
 While considering the strategy of incorporating the effective access control
methods it has been identified that there are several benefits to implement the
access control method as it will reduce the chances of unauthorized access
(Pirscoveanu et al., 2015). Hence, it can be stated that the incorporation of the

8Computer Security
effective access control like strong passwords will surely help to mitigate the
security threats.
 Along with that the incorporation of the IDS as well as IPS will help to mitigate
the identified risk factors. As IDS stands for intrusion detection system which
monitors the activities on the company network in order to detect the harmful
attacks. Along with that IPS stands for the intrusion prevention system which
provides effective protection to the network of the company in order to protect it
from external threats (Essa et al., 2018). In the field of IDS, host intrusion
detection and the network intrusion detection is the most effective IDS which will
surely help the company to protect the network system.
 Along with the above application the adoption of firewall will surely help the
company to protect their systems from external threats. As while elaborating the
application of firewall it has been noticed that firewall monitors and supervises the
company network traffic in order to protect the server from the unauthorized
access.
 Along with all of the above mitigation approaches it has been also mentioned that
there is a significant impact of organizing a training in order to provide awareness
related to the cyber security in the company infrastructure.
 Apart from all of the above aspects incorporation of the Virtual private network is
very essential as the manager of the company is has expressed her interest to
expand their business hence, it is highly essential to be protected about their
information transaction.
Conclusion
After the above discussion it has been noticed that in this report a detail elaboration of
the identified security threats is present as well as the possible vulnerabilities are also listed

9Computer Security
further in order to get a brief idea about the problems. Followed by this a detail explanation is
present in related to the possible mitigation approaches which will help the company to
mitigate the identified problems. Furthermore, in above discussion most effective security
mitigation approaches a mentioned which holds the capability to reduce the identified
security threats. In order to support the proposal a cost breakdown structure is also provided
which will help the developer to structure the development process. Hence, lastly it can be
concluded that this paper has effectively addressed all the requirement posted by the
company manager.

10Computer Security
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