Technology Security Assignment 2022

RUNNING HEAD: TECHNOLOGY SECURITY 0
Title: Technology Security
Student’s Details-
Introduction
Technology security is wide term to be used for the various issue concerning the
information technology (Ahson & Ilyas, 2017). Here, the paper is based on the cyber security
topic ‘data breaches and privacy’ which is regarded as the major challenge for the business and
requires appropriate management. Moreover, data breaches can arise due to the technological
errors and the irresponsibility of the companies with respect to the safety and security systems.
As a result, this can affect the entire business reputation and also can impact the relationships
with the customers (Buczak & Guven, 2015). This needs the appropriate management through
the installation of the secured system that can reduce the vulnerabilities of data threats. Here, the
report is prepared on the topic of data breaches and the privacy that can hamper the business and
gives rise to several issue such as cyberattacks. Also, the report had discussed the causes and
threats of data breaches that entices the various loss of information and being causing the various
kinds of cybercrimes. Further, it has discussed the consequences data breaches on the business
through the use of relevant examples of real-life companies’ examples along with the
management of the security systems to be implemented into the business.
Data Breaches and Privacy
Data breaches is related with the security incident which is caused as a result of the
access of information without authorization. This gives rise to the cyberattacks that can cause
2020

TECHNOLOGY SECURITY 1
damage to the reputation of the business due to the lack of information security (Wheatley,
Maillart, & Sornette, 2016). It affects the consumers and subsequently it takes certain time to
get repaired. Therefore, the privacy of information is crucial for the business in which the
companies tend to make policies regarding the protection of the personal identifiable information
which includes the name, date of birth and card details for maintaining the privacy of
information and avoiding the data beaches. Further, phishing is one of the type of data breach
that can be caused due to the email malware which can create the tendency of entering of the
unintentional virus into the system (Manworren, Letwat, & Daily, 2016). Also, data breach
can be through the Denial of Service in which attackers basically use flood attack in which
attackers target the traffic that makes the system slower which makes the system slower.
Further, there are companies that are involved in the data breaches due to the unsecured
systems that damages the privacy of the people. For example, Yahoo has announced the data
breach in September 2016 which is proved to be the greatest data breach in history that
compromised the private information of customers that specifically included the names, date of
birth and contact number of 500 million users. Also, Yahoo ranks higher in the data breach
scandal as is shown from the following graph:
Yahoo My Space LinkedIn VK Dropbox Tumblr
3000
427
117 101 69 65
Data breaches in millions
Series 3

TECHNOLOGY SECURITY 2
Source: (Cakebread, 2017)
Further, eBay has reported the cyber-attack in May 2014 that exposed the names,
addresses and encrypted passwords of 145 million users by using the company network through
the credentials of three employees. The hackers made the inside access for 229 days in order to
get the data (Armerding , 2018). Furthermore, Marriot International has announced their data
breaches of 500 million customers and it occurred at the time of the supporting Starwood hotels
brand in 2016 and attackers were into the system till 2018 (Telford & Timberg, 2018).
Causes and Threats of Data Breaches
Data breaches can be caused by the number of reasons in the company. The attackers
seek the personally identifiable information in order to steal money or any other property.
Moreover, data breaches can occur due to the variety of reasons. It can be significantly caused
due to the exploitation of system vulnerabilities by the attackers in which due to the out of date
software can lead to the malware infection that later creates a hole into the system and create the
tendency of loss of pertinent data (Cheng, Liu, & Yao, 2017). Further, there are weak
passwords used into the system in which the weak passwords have the possibility to be guessed
easily. Thus, the weak passwords created through the whole words or phrases. It can also be
caused through the drive-by-downloads when one unintentionally downloads the virus which is
brought up by the compromised web page that takes the advantage of the out of update software
or has a security flaw. Further, it can be caused through the malware attacks by using phishing
email tactics that reveals the user credentials or through the malware infected websites. The
following chart shows the percentage of attack distribution in percentages which has caused the
data breaches in 2018:

TECHNOLOGY SECURITY 3
In %
Account Hijacking Unknown
Malware/PoS Malware Targetted Attack
Vulnerability Malicious Script Injection
DDoS Defacement
Brute-Force/ Credential Stuffing SQLi
Source: (Passeri, 2019)
One of the main cause of data breach is the malicious insider in which the employees
may steal the sensitive information due to the access of the information which can be misused by
them (Irwin, 2019). The sensitive information can be used by the employees who have left the
organization that have the access to the systems and using it maliciously. In certain cases,
employees within the company unknowingly make mistakes in the emailing or the using of
certain system. This is also considered as the human error caused by the sharing of the account
information.
Data breaches can arise from within and outside the business. Business has threats of data
breach from employees, suppliers or from the outside consultants that have access to the network
or to the internal systems of the company. Moreover, threats can arise due to the security
vulnerabilities being caused by the exploitation of the information and lack of implementation of
the repair and maintenance system. Further, due to the mistakes or the human errors into the
system can be threat for the business to be indulged into the data breaches (Cheng, Liu, & Yao,
2017). Device used for the business purpose of the business can be the risk factor as it can store
the sensitive information for the access of the corporate credentials which may have the threat of
getting stolen. Also, improper configuration of the devices or the systems in which information
can be stored and gathered can be the threat for the business and can lead to the data breaches.