Cyber Security Issues and Solutions for Small Accounting Company JL

Computer security

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Cyber security issue that should be addressed immediately in JL.............................................1
Ways to address the issue...........................................................................................................2
Comparison of chosen solution better than alternative solution................................................4
Breakdown of the cost in addressing security issue...................................................................4
Recommendation........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
In this report cyber security of a small accounting company JL has been analysed. The
company started the journey with very few employees and slowly it had entered digital
market by offering online services to the customers. Online marketing has increased eth
chances of security breaches thus it is important to address the security issues by finding out
the solutions (Buczak & Guven, 2016). In this report the possible security threats that can hit
the system are found and the ways in which issue could be addressed is analysed. The
solutions to improve cyber security are compared with the other approaches so that best
outcome could be obtained. The current situation of the company in term of cyber security is
quiet weak as none of the laptops have any security software’s, poor security controls as the
passwords are not strong. The number of spam message received is very high, unaware about
the latest security threats as they even paid a huge amount at time of ransom ware attack
(Buczak & Guven, 2016). There are currently no policies or rules guiding employees on how
to best utilise resources and conform to ideal cyber security conscious behaviours. Thus, this
report will help in resolving all the concerns.
Cyber security issue that should be addressed immediately in JL
 Ransom ware- It is the bane for cyber security as it spreads the virus from one
customer by spreading the sensitive information over the network. It is one of the
fastest growing cyber threats as it prevents the users to access their personal files and
then demand the payment from the users to release their file (Gupta, Agrawal &
Yamaguchi, 2016). This issue was also faced by JL as their files were corrupted and
the access was denied to the valid users. Thus, hackers then asked JL to send some
crypto currency or payment through credit card to release their confidential data
(Gupta, Agrawal & Yamaguchi, 2016).
 Poor Passwords- In case of JL, every employee has the right to access the
information of other. As there is no strong authentication or security concerns. Thus,
due to poor passwords the information gets leaked over the network (Todev, 2015).
The business contains sensitive and confidential data thus passwords should be strong
so that only authenticated users are able to access the information (Rawat &
Bajracharya, 2015). The passwords should be strong so that hackers are not able not
break it.

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 Patch management- In case of JL, there is no security software installed in the
system. Due to thus reasons networks are not secured and viruses enter the system
through the spam messages (Todev, 2015). The attacker’s attack the system due to
poor patches management as they allow vulnerabilities to enter the system and spread
through the network. This can be controlled by updating the system and protecting it
from all the vulnerabilities by installing anti-virus software.
 Phishing- It is one of the criminal processes that try to read the sensitive data like
username, password and some credit card details. It is a spam attack that is carried out
by emails (Ibrahim, Hamlyn-Harris & Grundy, 2016). If the link or message is
accessed by the victim then the sensitive information has the chance to get leaked. In
case of JL all the data is stored online thus it is important to secure the data (Ibrahim,
Hamlyn-Harris & Grundy, 2016).
 Authentication- Cyber security issue that should be addressed immediately is making
use that authentication is done correctly (Wells, Camelio, Williams & White, 2014).
Only valid users are given right to access the data. This could be done by designing an
access control list. It is an accounting firm thus every user should not have right to
make modifications so that data remains confidential (Wells, Camelio, Williams &
White, 2014).
Ways to address the issue
It is important to safeguard the system and this could be done by undertaking various steps.
 One of the most important security tools is cryptography that is used to hide the
meaning of information by keeping eth data confidential. It is needed in JL as it deals
with accounting data (Perakslis & Stanley, 2016). Cryptography encodes the data in
such a way that it is not in readable form. Even if the data is leaked it is not read by
the correct user (Perakslis & Stanley, 2016).
 Backing up the data is another way through which business is protected and the trust
of customers is maintained (Abomhara, 2015). The data should be backed regularly so
that in case of failure it could be recovered easily. Backing up the data is a cost
effective and easy approach (Tsai, Jiang, Alhabash,LaRose, Rifon & Cotten, 2016).
 The devices and software’s used in an organisation should be secured by installing
software’s so that they protect the system from malware and viruses. Such software’s
make sure that infection is not penetrated in the system (Tsai, Jiang,