Report on Business Challenges in Cyber Security: Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive literature review on the challenges of cyber security in the business environment. It explores the increasing threats posed by cybercrime, including ransomware, the Internet of Things (IoT), social engineering, and mobile malware. The report highlights the growing dependency on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the increase in internet users, and the availability of devices and information as key factors contributing to cyber security risks. It also discusses the lack of mechanisms of control, international dimensions, automation, and anonymous communication as significant challenges. Furthermore, it addresses the importance of leadership, collaboration, and education in addressing these issues, as well as the government's role in implementing cyber security laws and monitoring systems. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for businesses, governments, and individuals to enhance their cyber security measures and protection against cybercrime.

Business Research
Challenges in Cyber Security for Business

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Project Objective...................................................................................................................................3
Project Scope.........................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
The literature review is the section which provides the secondary data details on the topic of
research. The topic of research is ‘Challenges in Cyber Security for Business’ for which
different sources have been used to gain information and data. By Cyber Security we mean
the protection of the valuable information and intellectual property of business which is in
digital form from theft and misuse. Cyber security is an issue which is increasing in the
today’s global businesses. As per the US Government, Cyber security is one of the most
critical ad serious issues which the businesses are facing these days. This challenge is faced
by almost every country these days as the technology is growing and evolving. The coming
age of Big Data, Internet of things and automation, the risk of Cyber security is increasing
(Pandey, et al., 2016).
Project Objective
The main objective of the project is to identify the causes and factors which lead to the risk of
Cyber security in the businesses. One more objective is to find out what cyber security
challenges are present in the businesses.
Project Scope
The scope of the project is wide. It is because the topic of the research is one of the most
critical issues the businesses are facing these days and there is lot to discuss on the topic. The
literature review will include various real life examples to set up a clear understanding on the
topic. The various forms of challenges and the causes of the same will be discussed by going
through various journals, articles and web sources.

Literature Review
AS the globalisation is evolving, majority of risks to business are seen due to technology.
Cyber security has become a major challenge for the businesses and is growing at an
alarming rate. There are different types of cyber threats like malicious attacks, attacks on
networks and network abuse (Choo, 2011).
Cyber security can be termed as the techniques used for the protection of businesses and
computer systems from the unauthorised access and other cyber threats. As the cyber threats
are increasing, the companies should adopt the approaches which help them in fighting with
the complexity of the threats. Cyber security is a big issue because it has dramatically
strengthened itself in past few years (Hutchings, 2012). According to Kaplan, Sharma &
Weinberg (2011) 46 per cent of the population of world is connected to internet which
increases the chances of threats and cybercrime. Cyber security is a bigger issue now and it
has been proved by conducting research on 25 global companies and the results shows so.
The research found four common trends which includes that the digital data has become more
widespread. It is also found that the corporations are now more open as compared to before.
It also shows that the supply chains now are interconnected and that is how the attacks on
technology are increasing.
While technology is helping businesses to bring innovations in business, it is also creating so
many threats for the businesses. The cyber security in business faces many risks in present
business environment which are explained below:
Ransomware
It is the latest risk which prevents the users from accessing the significant information on
their systems until they make a payment to the cyber criminals. The criminals tried to make
more money once they were able to attack a user.
The Internet of Things (IOT)
The cyber criminals could make an access to the sensitive information contained by the user
in their systems and this is a major privacy threat to the users. As per McAfee Labs 2017

Threats Predictions, around 1.78 million of devices will be in the hands of consumers and it
will give more chances to hacking (Barclay Simpson, 2017).
Social Engineering
Social engineering involves manipulating the individuals to reveal their significant data and
the information through the techniques of phishing. As per the data in recent year, these
incidents have increased by 65% in 2016 as compared to 2015.
Mobile Malware
As the mobile usage is increasing day by day for the business tasks, there is more opportunity
given to the cyber criminals to identify the weaknesses in the technology. As per the
Kaspersky Lab, the attacks of mobile malware have tripled between the years 2015 and 2016.
Fake Advertisements and Feedbacks
The consumers nowadays are getting lots of advertisements at online platforms in which most
of them are fake. These are phishing activities which affect the businesses and the consumer
security measures (Barclay Simpson, 2017).
In the opinion of Elmaghraby and Losavio (2014), many challenges are emerging due to the
excessive use of technology. There are many instruments which are used in the businesses
nowadays for making their operations easier but in return they face concerns such as privacy
and this may affect their routine operations. Similar to this Tiwari, Bhalla & Rawat (2016)
suggests that Cybercrime has become inescapable because the sharing of networks and
information has become so common in businesses. Cyber security is a mechanism which
protect the computer systems and equipment’s from the unauthorised access. This will have
positive impact on society and businesses. The typical cyber threats by which the business
should be aware of includes Botnets, Malwares, Hacking, Phishing, Spam, Virus, Worms,
etc. The author adds that Cybercrime have severe disruption in the businesses. It is a crime
against business (Nojeim, 2010).
Cyber security is when the properties or information of businesses are protected from the
thefts and risks. Cyber security also provides some of the prevention tips to save itself from
cybercrime. The users are advised to keep the defence systems up to date and to make sure
that the systems are safe and secure. The users are advised to choose strong passwords and

have security checks at regular intervals. The unfamiliar mails should not be touched and safe
browsing should be encouraged. It can be said that in the modern era where technology plays
a main role, cybersecurity is encouraged to have security from the cybercrime. Security has
become a major concern and it should be taken as an integral part of the industry (Basamh,
Qudaih and Ibrahim, 2014).
In the opinion of Deore & Waghmare (2016), Security of cyber information has become one
of the greatest challenges across the world. Internet nowadays is used in almost each and
every industry like ecommerce, communications, finance, banking and many more and this
increases the chances of cyber-attacks for stealing the important data and information. Cyber
security plays an important role in the ongoing development of IT.
The cyber security faces number of challenges in fighting with the cybercrime. One of the
main challenges is heavy dependency on Internet and Communications technology (ICT).
ICT is nowadays used in businesses on a large scale and is a part of everyday life. This gives
more chances to the attacks on the networks and infrastructures. The second challenge can be
the increase in the number of users (Abomhara, 2015). As the popularity of internet is
growing, the users are increasing cross the world and the number of targets for the attackers
is also increasing. The third challenge is availability of devices and access to those devices.
If an offense is to be committed it needs devices for the purpose. Software tools are available
easily which contributes in promoting the cybercrime. This encourages the criminals to
commit such crimes. The next challenge can be the availability of information. There is
millions of webpages on the internet and it contains updated information. So the offender
targets the ones which have weak password protection systems and access the information.
That information might be used for the wrong purposes which could cause serious security
issues to the business. Another challenge is lack of mechanisms of control. In every
communication network, there is a need of central administration to ensure the operability.
There is a need of laws, governance and standards which can have certain degree of control
on the networks. The international dimensions of the business also create a challenge for the
security of information and networks. This affects the cyber security in different nations
(Wright, Dawson and Omar, 2012).
Automation is a challenge for the cyber security of business. ICT has the ability to automate
the processes and it also has many consequences. Automation can provide opportunity to the
offenders to send spams in bulk and attack thousands of the systems in hours. Spams may be

a serious issue in the developing countries and many victims can be created. Availability of
resources and speed of data and exchange. The speed of data exchange has led to the fastest
exchange of cybercrime. It takes few seconds for the criminals to exchange emails and
viruses. Another challenge is anonymous communication where the origin of communication
is not known. Because of this, the identity of the offenders is difficult to make. Like they can
use fake email id’s and offend the privacy of the secure information (Clemente, 2013).
As per Babate, et al. (2015), the lack of leadership is also considered as one of the major
challenges of cyber security. Security is maintained when there is a trust maintained between
technology and people using it. So, leadership is needed to handle the challenges and issues
occurring because of technology and people. Collaboration needs to be maintained which
helps in meeting challenges of cyber security. People are needed to be educated so that the
security can be maintained by the cyber security cells. It is seen that the people are not getting
enrolled in the courses of cyber security which is creating more challenges. When people will
be educated in this course, they will be able to handle the issues of the industry of Australia.
The cyber-attacks have been increased in the last few years and for that a framework needs to
be created. This framework should include the roadmap which could bee adopted to fight the
challenge of fighting the cybercrime. There are some of the long term challenges which affect
the cyber security efforts taken by the industry (Fischer, 2016). These challenges include the
lack of proper designs of security systems, the lack of incentives which are given to the cyber
criminals. That is why; they look out for an easier option and go for cybercrime. Also the
lack of consensus from all the stakeholders creates problems for the cyber security cells
(Gharibi and Shaabi, 2012).
Government has taken various steps to meet the challenges of cybercrime. These include the
monitoring systems and security of network. The government have taken steps like drafting
the cyber security law for facing the risks of cybercrime. The plans are made to design the
approaches to meet these risks. Different countries take different steps to meet the challenges
like China has made cyber security laws while US, reforms are developed to improve cyber
security. In the corporate world, the condition of cybercrime is getting worse year by year but
the steps are planned to be taken to get over this. US have increased their budget of cyber
security by 35% which shows that the problem is increasing and will continue in the coming
years (James, 2016). As per James (2016), the businesses, government and individuals
should double their protection of cybercrime. The average cost of a cybercrime attack is

approx. $276000. In USA, it costs approx. $100 billion per year. People lack in knowledge
about cyber security which increases the risks gradually. There are 1404 cyber security
vendors in the world and Australia have only 15 out of them whereas the other countries like
UK, USA, India, Israel have 76, 827, 41 and 228 cyber security vendors respectively. As per
the data given by McAfee 2016 Threat Predictions, in the next five years the volume and type
of personal information which is tracked and stored will change. The autonomous systems are
the next technology which integrates with operating technology and blend together to solve
the issues of cyber security.
According to Foreshew (2017), the businesses of Australia are facing the cyber security crisis
as there is not enough staff with expertise to face the threats. So, the demand for the cyber
security specialists is at peak. This is a real challenge to meet this demand. There is also
problem of funding. Where on one other the other countries like USA is spending more than
US$200 million on R&D investment for cyber security, Australia is lacking in this area. It is
currently spending less than $100 million for the same. For cyber security research, the nation
could spend and invest more. There is also weak collaboration between the research and
industry. Only 3% of the businesses collaborate with the universities and with other research
institutes. The situation in the Australian Cyber security industry is Ambiguous. The industry
of cyber security is getting funds from the corporations like Common wealth Bank of
Australia, Telstra, Optus and more. The government also invests in developing the Australian
Cyber Security Research Institute (ACSRI) which provides R&D facilities across Australia.
There are some universities as well which in collaboration with companies and government
helps in developing the cyber security industry of the country (Foreshew, 2017).
In Australia, Cyber security is important to be taken seriously as the use of information
systems, networks and Internet is more and government should come up with better control
systems to meet these challenges. In this, every stakeholder has to play their roles. These
include the companies, government and individuals. The individuals should handle the data
well at the workplace while the companies should take effective measures for the security of
data. They should provide trainings to their workers to handle data well. The government
should make regulations and laws which can be proved effective in managing the security of
the business (Foreshew, 2017).

Conclusion
It can be concluded that many techniques and software’s have been developed for handling
the cybercrime. For the privacy of data and information of the businesses, cyber security
measures have been adopted and the challenges to these measures have been discussed in the
literature which is collected through various sources. The literature explains different types of
challenges and what all steps different countries are taking to meet these challenges. It is
concluded that Energy, Banking and Communications were the top three targets of cyber
criminals. But there are opportunities in the coming year as the awareness has been increased
for cybercrime. The industry is employing more people for meet the challenges and resolve
the issues. It can also be concluded that there are some pillars of cyber security which can
resolve the issues of the same. It includes Education and awareness about the matter,
planning and preparation about the same in advance, sharing and collaboration to meet the
current and future risks and Ethics & Collaboration to have professional field of expert.
Cyber security is important to the economic future of the country and for the society as well.
As thee economy and society will get developed, the cyber security will become more
significant to be developed. Good cyber policy is required for the cooperation and creativity
in the industry.

References
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