Business Research: Cyber Security Challenges and Mitigation Strategies

This report explores the multifaceted challenges of cyber security within the business environment. It begins by defining the scope and objectives, focusing on the increasing threats posed by cybercrime and the importance of data protection. The literature review highlights the growing reliance on technology, the rise of cyber-attacks, and the significance of compliance programs and ethical considerations. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, gathering both qualitative and quantitative data from primary and secondary sources. The report addresses key research questions, including identifying major cyber security challenges and exploring mitigation strategies. It discusses the need for strong data privacy measures, skilled security personnel, and collaboration to combat cyber threats. The conclusion emphasizes the global nature of cybercrime and the importance of proactive measures by businesses and governments to ensure a secure digital environment. The report underscores the necessity of ongoing adaptation and investment in cyber security to protect businesses and their customers.

RUNNING HEAD: Business Research
Business Research
Challenges in cyber security for business

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective...................................................................................................................................2
Project Scope.........................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................3
Research Questions...............................................................................................................................6
Research Design and Methodology.......................................................................................................6
Research Limitations.............................................................................................................................7
Time Schedule.......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The project report is on the topic ‘Challenges in Cyber Security for Business’. Cyber security
is the common problem worldwide with the growing use of technology. The problem is not
just limited to an organisation but it is the global issue. There are many challenges which are
to be faced by the organisations in coping up with the problems of Cyber security. Privacy
and data protection are severe concerns for the organisations because the leakage of data and
misuse can lead to severe consequences for the business. That is why, organisations
nowadays are spending heavy amount on the security of their data and operations from the
intruders. Nowadays most of the organisations operate online and maintain their data on
online platforms. They need to take steps so that they can save their own data and
information and of the customers. There are many examples in which the innocent customers
became the part of the fraudulent charges without having any knowledge about it (Chertoff,
2008).
The research focuses on such incidents and challenges which the companies and customers
have to face for maintaining cyber security in business. The research follows a procedure and
the report prepared will clear that what all techniques will be used to conduct the research.
Project Objective
The key objective of the research is to identify the cyber security challenges for business and
how to address them. These challenges are faced by the organisations at a global level. The
project is not limited to the discussion of challenges of cyber security but it will also discuss
that what all alternatives are available to meet these challenges. The project aims at finding
out the solutions to the problems which the organisations are facing in the present business
environment.
Project Scope
The scope of the project is wide. It is because to address the cyber securities for business, it
will be required to focus on the organisational level and on the industry level, globally. Also,
the concepts will be discussed which will be used to address these challenges. The project has
wider scope as it widens the horizon of knowledge as to how the businesses can be made

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safer and more secure. Technology is nowadays an integral part of the operations of the
business which can also pose threats for the business information and operations. The
companies have to tackle such threats in order to compete in the business environment.
Literature Review
This section of the research will provide the data information on the topic ‘Challenges in
Cyber Security for Business’. Cyber security is one of the key challenges of the business
organisations in the current competitive business environment. This is because, today,
technology is rapidly developing and is used by almost every organisation for managing their
operations and functions well. The increase in the use of technological devices like internet,
mobiles, computers, laptops and others has led to more attacks and challenges to the business.
Various cyber-attacks have been experienced in past few years which are been cured by using
a security mechanism by the organisations (Donaldson, et al., 2015).
Cyber security is when the digital information and property of the companies are protected
against the misuse and theft by the intruders. This can be done by following the protection
and information systems. This has become a serious management issue nowadays. Cyber
security is facing certain challenges in the industry which is the increased growth in data
from the business systems (Gharibi & Shaabi, 2012).
In accordance with Kaplan, Sharma & Weinberg (2011), technology has now become an
essence of the business. It brings growth and development to the business but like everything
has two aspects, technology also has some side effects. It affects the security of the business
data. Cybercrime has grown to a great extent and it is affecting the privacy and security of
data. To face cybercrime, cyber security is important but has to face certain challenges like
lack of funding from the government, shortage of personnel, less access to knowledge about
the same and the ignorance by the business about cybercrime (Lord, 2017). One has to be
updated about the cybercrime as it can damage the whole data of the business. The employees
need to be trained so that they can manage the cyber security issues in the organisation well.
Some ethical issues arise with the employees. Once the employees resign from the
organisation, they are bound to follow the code of conduct of the organisation. In that case,
the employees are not bound to follow any code of conduct and requirements of the
organisation because of which they might cheat on the organisation and may hack data. The

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employees who used to be ethical hackers become unethical hackers after they leave the
organisation which pose threat to the organisations (Hall, 2016).
21st century needs cyber security in every sphere as the technology is developing at a rapid
pace. There are too many challenges to cyber security because of which the productivity of
the businesses are degrading. The huge amount of money has to be invested in maintaining
the security of the business data and information which could have been used for developing
products and services and for any other purpose. There are some factors which led to the
increasing threats and challenges to cyber security. These factors include the lack of
leadership and collaboration, lack of information and knowledge about cybercrime, lack of
regulations and laws against cybercrime, increased use of technology and internet, lack of
funding and support from the government and many more. These factors need to be focussed
in order to set up effective control on the cyber security challenges in business (Wright,
Dawson and Omar, 2012).
As per Smith & Cockburn (2014), the compliance can be used to sort out the challenges of
cyber security. The organisations create code of conduct in form of compliance programs to
set up and understanding of do’s and don’ts. The compliance programs are designed
differently for different programs (Minick, 2016). The management of organisation design
the compliance programs in order to face the challenges of cyber security. The compliance
procedures are designed as per the roles and responsibilities of the organisation. The
compliance procedures should be made with an aim to provide success to the organisation.
These are the values which should be transferred to the employees. These define the success
of the organisation (Subramanian, 2008).
As per ICGS3, et al. (2015), there is some compliances use in the cases of cyber security.
These include IT Audit and compliance, Policies of IT, assessment and management of
Information Technology. There are some companies which are working to protect global
systems from cybercrime. The companies like Cisco have adopted a holistic approach to
secure the organisational data. The organisations and employees are made aware about the
policies and procedures so that they can follow them to get the benefit of the same. The
organisations are also advised to use secured infrastructure so that they can perform their
functions better. Compliances are significant in meeting the challenges of cyber security
(Nojeim, 2010)

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Privacy and data protection are of utmost importance for any organisation. For any
organisation, data is an asset which is to be kept confidential so that no competitor can
misuse it against the organisation. Data is important because it is used by the companies to
take further business decisions. The companies need to protect data and maintain privacy so
that no one can plot against the company by using the data of the organisation. According to
Cyberics (2015), theft of data of the company may prove disastrous for the company because
the data can be used to defame the image of the company.
The organisations can limit the challenges and issues of cyber security by providing the
access of data to limited number of people. Strong passwords and authentication measures
can be used for limiting the unauthorised access. The employees who are employed for
maintain the cyber security in the organisations should be skilled and competent enough in
comparison with the hackers.
It is also important to maintain third party data in an organisation. The market today is very
competent in terms of technology. The companies are opting for third party services like
cloud competing so that the expertise can be gained in the services and the data cost can be
reduced. Outsourcing the services to the third party can lead to serious harms and impacts on
the security of data. In this case, security teams should be employed which may take security
measures and checks from time to time so that it can meet the vision and mission of the
organisation (Khajuria, 2017).
There is a lack of operational processes and procedures in the organisations because of which
the cyber-attacks are affecting the organisations frequently. The organisations lack in setting
up right rules in governing the cyber-attacks (Mehan, 2014). The IT professionals in the
company have to come up with the procedures which save the organisation from getting
attacked by the cyber criminals. The companies and the country as a whole should focus on
designing the security systems and more IT professionals who can limit the challenges and
threats posed to the cyber security of business (Tiwari, Bhalla & Rawat, 2016).
It can be concluded that it is the global technological war which harms business and industry
as a whole. The companies should come up with the compliance programs and should adopt
all the technical measures which allow business to meet the challenges of cyber security. The
privacy of data should be maintained in order to be safe and secure for business future and for
customers as well (Fischer, 2016). The work done by the third party should also be

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safeguarded through code of conduct and regular checks. The employees should be hired and
trained for meeting the challenges of cyber security. There should be strong compliances for
ethical and non-ethical hacking so that the wrong activities and intentions of the workers can
be stopped before it disturbs the whole image of the company (Deore & Waghmare, 2016).
Countries like Australia, USA, UK, China, and many other big countries need to collaborate
and fight against cybercrime as it is affecting the business at a global level as a whole. The
government needs to set up good policies and compliances which limits the activities of
cybercrime.
Research Questions
The following questions are required to be answered with the completion of this research:
Primary Question
 What are the major cyber security challenges in business?
Secondary Questions
 How the cyber security challenges can be mitigated?
Research Design and Methodology
The section of research methodology contains the details about the methods and approaches
adopted to complete the research on the given topic.
Research methods
Research methods which is used for this research is mixed method in which both the
quantitative and qualitative data is collected and used. This data is further analysed and is
used to answer the questions of the research (Greener, 2008).
Approach for research
For this research the data collected is in qualitative and in quantitative form which helps in
deriving the better results for the research project. Qualitative data is collected in form of
opinion of people and details from the secondary sources while the quantitative data is used

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collected in form of numbers. This helps the researcher in gaining proper understanding about
the topic and hence, the research fulfils its objectives.
Data gathering
The data for the research is gathered from various sources. These sources include Primary
sources and secondary sources. Primary data is the one which is fresh and unused information
while secondary data is the one which is used previously by others and is used as a reference
to the topic and to support the primary data collected by the researcher. The primary data is
collected through survey questionnaire where randomly 10 people are selected as a sample
who works in an IT organisation and they asked about the cybersecurity and how safe it is for
their organisations. The survey data is analysed to get the final results. Secondary data is
collected from the published journals, articles, web sources and books. This data will finally
represent that what are the challenges in cyber secutity of business and how it can be
mitigated (Collis and Hussey, 2013).
Sampling
Sampling is when a subset of individuals is selected from the whole population to represent
the whole population. Simple random sampling technique is adopted for selecting the sample
respondents for the survey and the sample size is 10.
Validity and reliability of research
The research is valid as the responses are collected after taking proper approvals from the
respondents. The data collected is saved from strong passwords so that no one can modify the
data collected and misuse it. The identity of the respondents is also kept confidential. The
data used is referenced clearly so that it can be shown that the data is genuine (Cavana,
Delahaye and Sekaran, 2001).
Research Limitations
The research limitations are those weak points which affected the research results and its
process as a whole. The limitations of this research include the shortage of time because of
which the sample respondents were selected in a small number i.e. 10. It might affect the
actual results of the results with such a small sample. The time was limited because of which

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limited data was collected and analysed. The respondents might not provide the actual results
and the results provided by them can be biased which affect the overall results of the
research.
Time Schedule
Time schedule is made for the research to complete it within the time. This is also called
action plan.
S.
No.
Actions
undertaken
Beginning
date
End date Duration
in weeks
Details about the actions
A Blueprint of
research
(Planning)
11
September
2017
17
September
2017
1 This is the first step of the
research where the plan is
made to start the research
and how to continue it step
by step to finish it off well.
B Implementation
of plans
18
September
2017
24
September
2017
1 The plans are made in the
initial step. After that, these
plans are implemented in
order to carry on the tasks in
actual and to complete the
research successfully within
time.
C Data gathering 18
September
2017
08
October
2017
3 Data collection is an
important part of the
research. It is because data is
needed to complete the
requirements of the research
and to fulfil the objectives of

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the research. Data for this
research is collected in
qualitative and quantitative
form from primary and
secondary sources of data.
D Analysis of data
collected
9 October
2017
29
October
2017
2 Once the data is collected, it
is now analysed to form the
final conclusions of the
research.
E Findings and
discussion
23 October
2017
5
November
2017
2 Discussion is done on the
findings of the research so
that the research objectives
can be met.
F Conclusion 6
November
2017
12
November
2017
1 Conclusion is made after the
analysis of data and by going
through the discussion of
findings. It is now proved
that the research objectives
are met and the questions are
answered.
Gantt chart
It is the graphical representation of the research action plan which is used to complete the
research on time.
Activities 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A
B
C
D
E
F
November 17'September 17' October 17'

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that cyber security is essential for the business of today to maintain the
privacy and secrecy of data. It is also important to maintain competitiveness in the industry.
The organisations and the government together should take certain steps which set up the
codes of conduct and compliances which safeguard the businesses from cyber security
challenges. These challenges can be mitigated by training more employees and for using
them to protect the systems and data of the business. The operations which are outsourced
from the third party should be kept on check in order to keep it safe from cybercrime. Young
talent should be encouraged to get trained and contribute in the nation’s fight against
cybercrime. There are different types of cyber security challenges which need to be addressed
so that the company’s revenue does not get hit and the systems can be used without any risk
of getting hacked and theft of data. It is the technological war which needs to be fought and
certain standards need to be established at a local and national level so that the cybercrime
can be dealt. The companies should focus on integrating the data and to adopt certain
measures to address cyber security challenges sop that the country’s future can be saved.

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References
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and quantitative methods. John Wiley & Sons Australia.
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pp. 480-484.
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Controlling Distributed Data’, International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and
Communication Engineering, Vol. 4, Issue 2.
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