Improving Computer Security at JL: AI Based Mitigation Techniques

This report examines the computer security challenges faced by JL, an accounting company in Perth, Australia, including ransomware attacks, cyber espionage, and employee vulnerabilities. The report highlights the lack of security software and encryption, leading to data breaches and malware infections. It proposes using artificial intelligence for threat mitigation due to its cost-effectiveness, 24/7 operation, and real-time data access tracking. AI implementation automates security processes, monitors system usage, and encrypts data, enhancing overall information security. The report also recommends installing security programs, creating separate login IDs, and implementing virtual firewalls. Successful integration of AI and other precautions will significantly improve JL's security posture and protect its confidential data.

Running head: COMPUTER SECURITY WITHIN JL
COMPUTER SECURITY WITHIN JL
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Executive summary:
Computer security is one of the major concerns faced by the organizations in today’s
world. There are different issues related to computer security that prevail in the work places such
as data loss as well as security breach by the hackers as well as malicious attacks. It is one of the
major threats that the companies are facing and they are therefore coming up with mitigation
techniques in order to remove these kinds of threats from the organizational work place. The
security professionals are coming up with more advanced technologies in order to secure the
organizational confidential data and remove threats of privacy breach and data loss and theft.
This report is going to study the case of a company called JL, which presently has many
kinds of security related issues within the organization. It has recently faced malware infections
in the computers as well as ransom ware attacks for which the organization had also paid the
required ransom to the hackers (Kharraz et al., 2015). In spite of all these threats, the employees
of the company still seem to be comfortable with the existing systems. The following paragraphs
willed scribe in detail the different mitigation techniques of these threats. By the end of the
report, the reader will have a clear understanding of the recommendations to the company in
order to improve the security features in the work place.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Background of the study:.................................................................................................................3
Critical cyber security issues faced by JL:......................................................................................4
- Ransom ware attacks:...........................................................................................................4
- Cyber espionage:..................................................................................................................4
- Vulnerability of server less applications:.............................................................................5
- Employee vandalism:............................................................................................................5
- Encryption of confidential data:...........................................................................................5
- Virus infections:....................................................................................................................5
Chosen mitigation technique and its advantages:............................................................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
Information security is one such aspect of any organization that should be kept under
monitoring and should always be considered by all managers and leader within the organization.
There have been incidences in the past where different companies across the world have been
seen to be victimized under attacks from hackers as well as malicious threats, which in turn
resulted in tax frauds and other kinds of cybercrime. This is a threat that is getting increasingly
serious for the organizations and has to be urgently addressed by the security professionals that
are hired by the companies.
This report will highlight the different aspects of a company called JL, which has recently
faced security related issues within the organization. The company has also paid a ransom money
claimed by the hackers, based on a recent ransom ware attack within the organization. The
managers are looking forward to secure the laptops and computers of the employees with some
security program since the computers do not have any kind of security programs at the present.
Background of the study:
Firstly, it is important to understand the different aspects and the issues faced by the
company called JL. JL is an accounting company based in Perth, Australia, which presently
consists of five people. Presently, the boss’s 17-year-old niece is handling all the computer
operations since there is no other computer literate person within the organization. The company
is planning to recruit more people. In the recent past, the company has experiences its computers
getting slow as well as malware and ransom ware attacks for which the company had also paid
huge amount of money to the hackers. None of the computers presently have any security
software’s installed in them This report will take into consideration the different security updates

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and suggest ways to strengthen the security concerns within the organization. The employees
receive around 40 spam messages every day and they can access each other’s computers as well
as email accounts, which is not ethically correct for the organization. No encryption method is
used to store all the confidential data within the computers. The organization is looking forward
to eliminate these issues and increase the security of the information. Presently there are no fixed
organizational policies that guide the employees to abide by the security policies within the
organization. The employees in JL are not much computer friendly and do not seem to have
much idea about cybercrimes and malicious attacks that the employee computers can be subject
to.
Critical cyber security issues faced by JL:
The five most critical issues faced by the company can be summarized below as:
- Ransom ware attacks:
Ransom ware is a malicious application or software that attacks the computer of the
victim and blackmails of exposing all his personal and confidential data if an amount of
money is not paid (Lee & Lee, 2015). Two workstations within JL were recently attacked
by ransom ware, for which the company also had to pay a huge amount of money. This is
one of the major concerns for the company as of now and the threat has to be eliminated
on an urgent basis.
- Cyber espionage:
The company has recently shifted to online services, which makes use of cloud
computing, in order to transmit data to its clients electronically. This again has associate
risks of intrusion from the hijackers as well as virus infections over the network. Recently
the organizations has noticed ever since it shifted to online services, that its computers

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have become excessively slow and random malware pop ups appear on the screen
(Carroll, 2014).
- Vulnerability of server less applications:
This is again a major concern of the organization, since ever since it shifted to online
cloud services, the applications that it had in its database were more susceptible to attacks
form the hackers. None of the laptops of the employees have any kind of security
software installed, thereby exposing the confidential data in the systems to more virus
infections. There is also a risk of virus infections in the computers since there are no anti-
virus programs installed in the computers (Lewis & Baker, 2013).
- Employee vandalism:
This is again a major concern for the company since recently an employee found an
external USB drive plugged into his laptop in the car in the parking area that could also
have been done by any of his fellow colleague to purpose cause harm to the data stored in
his computer. It could be done for revengeful mentality of the employees towards each
other or towards the organization as a whole. This can cause loss or theft of important
data by the employees themselves for their personal interest etc. This issue should also be
addressed urgently within the organization (Kirwan & Power, 2014).
- Encryption of confidential data:
Important data should be stored in an encrypted format in the systems so that there is no
risk of data risk and privacy breach within the organization, even if the data is stolen,
which is presently not being done by the organization.

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- Virus infections:
This again is a major issue of the organization since the employees have recently reported
a slow operation of the laptops. A particular employee have also recently reported that
ever since had noticed a pen drive connected in his laptop in his car his computer had
started working on its own and seems to have a different brain altogether. Employees also
tend to have a mentality that they are okay with the virus infections on their system and
claim that their systems are working fine. They need to overcome this mentality and
allow the managers within JL to look forward to ore secure information systems within
the organization for the overall benefit of the company.
Chosen mitigation technique and its advantages:
Artificial intelligence is the chosen method to remove the threats associated to the cyber-
attacks and the other security issues faced by JL. Robots can help immensely in improving the
present state of security. Most of the processes gets automated and much safer and faster by the
implementation of artificial intelligence within the organization (Rehman & Saba, 2014). The
advantages of artificial intelligence over other techniques can be explained below as:
- Robots need not be paid or given a salary on hourly basis. They work for free once
deployed with an initial cost. In other techniques such as hiring more security personnel
or implementing antivirus programs, it involves more cost factors for the organization
(Pieprzyk, Hardjono & Seberry, 2013).
- Second important benefit is that robots can work for long hours uninterrupted without
taking breaks, unlike human beings, thereby ensuring round the clock security of all data
servers’ information across the systems (Vertut, 2013).

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- Thirdly, the most important aspect of artificial intelligence is that it keeps a real-time
track of who accessed what data at what point of tie and from which system, which is an
audit trail feature of the robots (Dilek, Çakır & Aydın, 2015). This in turn also limits the
access to the important data thereby eliminating the possibilities of outsider intrusions,
thereby reducing virus and malware infections as well. It also stores information in a
cryptographic encrypted format in the systems (Brown, 2015).
The robots that will be incorporated within JL will excel at monotonous and
hazardous tasks and will help in bridging the security gap between artificial intelligence
and the response of human. They will be monitoring the usage of the systems as well as
implementing network security measures such as virtual firewalls within the organization
(McGuire & Dowling, 2013). The username as well as the password for the QNap TS-
412 NAS data backup server will also be stored only by the artificial intelligence system
and not be known by the employees of the organization. This will ensure optimum
information security in the computers within the organization (Boden et al., 2017). The
different cost factors have also been discussed in the detailed cost analysis that is also
been presented along with this report. This will give the manager a clear idea regarding
the cost factors that they have to take into consideration at the time of implementing
artificial system security policies. If these security policies can be successfully
implemented within the company, JL will be able to reach new heights in its security
domain altogether.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be conclude by saying that JL is performing well and looking forward to
expand its business and hire more employees. However, it should also take the different

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computer security threats into consideration that it is presently facing within the organization.
The technology of artificial intelligence has been proposed to the company due to its different
advantages that it has over other technologies such as lower cost factors and automated security
monitoring processes unlike other techniques. Other precautions can be taken by the organization
such as installing security programs such as Kaspersky internet protection I all the systems of the
employees and creating their separate login ids, so that employees cannot access each other’s
laptops within/outside the workplace. The company can achieve great security features, provided
the above discussed mitigation techniques and artificial intelligence is properly incorporated
within the workforce.

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References:
Boden, M., Bryson, J., Caldwell, D., Dautenhahn, K., Edwards, L., Kember, S., ... & Sorrell, T.
(2017). Principles of robotics: regulating robots in the real world. Connection
Science, 29(2), 124-129.
Brown, C. S. (2015). Investigating and prosecuting cybercrime: Forensic dependencies and
barriers to justice. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 9(1), 55.
Carroll, J. M. (2014). Computer security. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Dilek, S., Çakır, H., & Aydın, M. (2015). Applications of artificial intelligence techniques to
combating cybercrimes: A review. arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.03552.
Kharraz, A., Robertson, W., Balzarotti, D., Bilge, L., & Kirda, E. (2015, July). Cutting the
gordian knot: A look under the hood of ransomware attacks. In International Conference
on Detection of Intrusions and Malware, and Vulnerability Assessment (pp. 3-24).
Springer, Cham.
Kirwan, G., & Power, A. (2014). What is cyberpsychology. Cyberpsychology and New Media: A
Thematic Reader, 3-14.
Lee, I., & Lee, K. (2015). The Internet of Things (IoT): Applications, investments, and
challenges for enterprises. Business Horizons, 58(4), 431-440.
Lewis, J., & Baker, S. (2013). The economic impact of cybercrime and cyber espionage.
McAfee.
McGuire, M., & Dowling, S. (2013). Cyber crime: A review of the evidence. Summary of key
findings and implications. Home Office Research report, 75.

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Pieprzyk, J., Hardjono, T., & Seberry, J. (2013). Fundamentals of computer security. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Rehman, A., & Saba, T. (2014). Evaluation of artificial intelligent techniques to secure
information in enterprises. Artificial Intelligence Review, 42(4), 1029-1044.
Vertut, J. (Ed.). (2013). Teleoperation and robotics: applications and technology (Vol. 3).
Springer Science & Business Media.