Analyzing Cyber Security Challenges in the Modern Business Environment

This report provides a detailed analysis of the cyber security challenges that businesses face in today's digital environment. It begins by defining cyber security and highlighting its importance in protecting networks, programs, and data from unauthorized access. The report then outlines the project's objectives and scope, emphasizing the growing concern of data security in a globalized business world. A comprehensive literature review examines various cyber security threats, including phishing, botnets, malware, and viruses, drawing on the views of multiple authors. The review explores the impact of technology, social media, and the role of government and businesses in addressing these challenges. The report further discusses the importance of employee training, the challenges faced by businesses in implementing security measures, and the need for proactive strategies to mitigate risks. The conclusion emphasizes the need for businesses to prioritize cyber security, invest in protective measures, and stay informed about emerging threats to safeguard their data and operations.

Business Research
Challenges in Cyber Security for Business

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 1
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective...................................................................................................................................2
Project Scope.........................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 2
Introduction
Cyber security can be understood as the set of techniques which are used to protect the
networks and their privacy. It protects different programs and data from attack and secures
them by restricting unauthorised access. It has become a big challenge for the businesses
these days as most of the businesses are now digital and the cut throat competition in the
industry. Technology helps in managing the operations of the business but on the other hand,
it also hampers the security of the business. The increased use of the devices like tablets,
smartphones, laptops, etc. have resulted in the growing concern of breach of cyber security in
the business (Amit and Zott, 2012). This Literature review will discuss about various views
and opinions of the authors and will also discuss that how the data of the organisations can be
protected.
Project Objective
The main objective of the project is to discuss about the cyber security challenges of the
business which prevails in this highly competitive business environment and to suggest that
how these challenges can be addressed. The main objective is to gain knowledge about
different challenges and the way out to meet those challenges so that the privacy and security
of the data of the organisations can be maintained.
Project Scope
The project has wide scope as it is the growing concern in today’s digital business world. The
challenges are faced at a local as well as global level. With the advent of globalisation, the
businesses are required to maintain high amount of data which is required to cater the need of
customers and clients. Technology is the main and integral part of the businesses nowadays
which creates a scope of discussion about the challenges of the data security and the solutions
to meet those challenges.
Literature Review
Cyber security is a challenge for the business organisations at a global level. This has become
a serious concern for the business organisations as it poses a serious threat to their privacy
and security. The increased role of technology in the functions and operations of the business

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 3
has also grown the number of challenges for the business. Cyber-attacks have become so
common in the normal course of business operations. The businesses nowadays invests in
hiring the professionals who can protect the data of the company from cyber-attacks (Harris
and Patten, 2014).
As per the report of ACS (2016), different types of threats are faced by the business
organisations. These threats include Phishing and scamming, Botnets, key loggers, Malwares
or spywares, Viruses, ransomware and data manipulation which pose a serious threat to the
data security of the companies. Technology brings opportunities and challenges both at the
same time for the businesses and for the society. The coming age of Internet and cloud
computing has bought a lot of challenges for the business. It also gives a rise to the
cybercriminals. The businesses have to become responsible for their own data security with
the help of better infrastructure and government support. The cyber world is huge and to
ensure the safety of the business data and information, it has to be used by being more
attentive. Once, cyber security is breached, it can be turned against the business and even the
society. Here, some of the most common form of cyber threats are:
Botnets: Here, the cybercriminals can control a network of computers and spread spams and
viruses which impact the whole network of computers. It can be used for the purpose of
crime and to break the law.
Key loggers: Here, the keys which are typed and used are recorded which is used by the
cyber criminals to access the information and then the data and information can be misused.
Malwares: these are the systems which are based on programs and this helps cyber criminals
to collect important information of the client from their systems which can pose a major
threat to the business.
Viruses and Trojans: These are most commonly faced threats to the business as it can be
spread from one system to another. This can also harm the systems of the business which
destroys and crashes the significant data of the business (Li, et. al., 2012).
The report further added that almost 46% of the population of the world is connected to the
internet and they are also posed to the threats like misuse of information, cyber espionage,
crimeware and leakage of financial information. In addition to this Fischer (2016) said that
cyber security aims at protecting the systems and information from the cyber-attacks. It is

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 4
very important for the organisations to manage these cyber security threats. The government
of different countries is also taking some steps to protect the IT world from such threats. For
this laws have been made and training arrangements have been done for the workforce of
different companies so that they could take necessary steps on their personal level.
In the view of Reddy and Reddy (2014), social media plays a major role in contributing to the
cyber threats. It has becoming a most common platform for the cybercriminals to become
active. Since people are easily attracted towards this platform, the companies have to pay
more attention towards the security of their data and privacy. While making the use of social
platforms, users share their data which is personal and also uses it for making payments. This
gives an access to the unauthorised cyber criminals to take advantage of it. The companies
have to adopt certain technologies which could protect them from the cyber threats. The
companies could pay more attention to the accessibility of the data and security of the
passwords. The companies should also invest more on the malware scanners and updated
antivirus software’s so that the data can be protected.
According to the government of United States, cyber security is one of the biggest challenges
of today in the business world (Pandey, et al., 2016). Cyber security protects the business and
its information from the theft of data which ultimately protects the privacy of the business.
The industries like banking, IT, finance and ecommerce are facing this threat and trying to
adopt the measures which helps them in meeting this challenge. The companies like
Facebook, Google and Amazon are running because of the growing use of internet. But the
issues like cybercrime affects their efficiency and effectiveness in the competitive business
environment.
According to Babate, et al. (2015), the history of Cyber-attacks is not new. Right from 2010,
it can be traced that the cyber threats are alarming and are targeting the businesses especially
the financial institutions and industries. This was the time when social media came into
picture and it created a road for the cyber criminals to enter. The penetration of the social
media sites like Facebook and Twitter supported cyber criminals to achieve their target. The
year 2010 was also known as the year of spam distribution. It is because a spam like ZEUS
was designed to steal the information from banks. In the year 2011, the cybercriminals began
to breach data and phishing attacks also began to happen. PC based malware attacks were the
most widespread. In the year 2013 and back then, cyber threat landscape continued and
developments were taken place in order to meet these challenges of cyber-attacks.

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 5
Cyber-attacks have also increased because of the lack of leadership in the organisations.
Collaboration between the people and technology is necessary in order to bring a change in
the normal course of management of cyber-attacks. The companies should take an initiative
to educate its employees about how to defeat cybercrime. Government should also take an
initiative to run courses for the young generation so that they could handle the challenge and
make their data safe and secure (More and Kumar, 2014).
According to Bradley (2017), Cyber security is important for the business so that it can be
protected from the cyber-attacks. The small businesses have more threat from the cyber-
attacks and this will rise with the time if proper actions will not be taken. The author states
that only 14% of the small businesses believe that they have an effective guard against cyber-
attacks. IT is not just an IT problem but a major threat to the businesses. A cyber security
report was published by Telstra in which 59% of the Asian organisations experience data
breach once in a month. As digitization has increased, the risk towards cyber data also
increased and it needs more security measures in order to safeguard the business and data.
Cyber security doesn’t only impact the IT department of the business but the whole business.
There are various companies who have designed frameworks and tools which can save
business from this risk. This can be bought and installed in order to safeguard business
against this major risk. In the view of Goutam (2015), Cyber security is now considered as
one of the most important part of the organisations. It is because it ensures safety and
reliability of the business organisations. It protects the unpredictable loss of the business and
maintains the integrity of the business operations.
According to More and Kumar (2014), a study was conducted on 56 organisations in United
States and it showed that 100% of the organisations faced threats from viruses, Trojans and
worms and 95% of them suffered from malware. 46% of the organisations lost their devices
and 38% faced phishing attacks. This shows that the organisations are on the suffering side
because of one or the other types of cyber-attacks. The authors adds up that to protect the
privacy and integrity of the data, the organisations use methods like firewalls, encryption of
data, monitor use of backup data, physical separation and more. There are advanced
technologies like security intelligence systems, government tools, GRC tools, automated
policy management tools and more which are considered as the best technologies to prevent
data. Cyber security measures like Audit , risk assessment, vulnerability assessment, firewall
logs, web activity monitoring software, Email activity monitoring software’s and more helps

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 6
in exchanging the information with the world effectively and it helps in meeting the challenge
of maintaining cyber security by the organisations.
In order to face the cut throat competition at a global level, the companies are adopting latest
and advanced technologies so that they can expand their customer base and expand their
business globally. But this gives a serious threat to their security. Companies generally avoid
this serious threat and thus, face a major consequences because of it. The number of cyber-
attacks on the companies and their data have increased rapidly and it arises a need of
adopting cyber security methods by the companies. As already discussed, the growing
popularity of the social media sites and online business is attracting more cyber criminals.
The growing popularity of online shopping and transactions have increased the rate of cyber-
attacks in the present business environment. The organisations avoid the significance of the
cyber security measures because of which the chances of cyber-attacks increases. The
companies face a lot challenges while implementing or adopting cyber security measures.
Such challenges are like lack of trained employees. The employees do not have sufficient
knowledge about cybercrimes and how to manage it for organisations. The employees are
already burdened with the given workload which does not let them focus on the security
concern from the point of view of the organisation. For meeting this challenge, the companies
should arrange training for their employees and should employ the cyber security experts
who have ultimate motive to secure business data from being affected from the data theft and
breach. The government should also pay attention to promote the courses which prepare
young talents for data management and security courses which will help them in their
professional life and will also help the population in securing their personal data from the
cyber-attacks (Bradley, 2017).
The other challenge which most of the companies face is the shortage of capital with the
companies. This is one of the biggest challenge which is faced by thousands of small
business. The large sized companies like Samsung, Apple, Microsoft and more invests a lot
in order to secure their data but the small sized companies cannot afford to spend much for
this purpose. The companies need cyber experts, huge amount of capital, testing software’s
and more in order to protect their data and systems from cyber-attacks. As already discussed,
the companies do not have enough resources to manage the cyber security and this increases
their chances of being the victim of cyber criminals (Pandey, et al., 2016). The increased
users on the internet is also one of the challenge of maintaining cyber security. It has created

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 7
opportunities for the cyber attackers to have more number of target population. The access to
the tools has become easier than ever before and that is why it has become very easy to
access the information of the users. The report given by ACS states that 63% of the attacks
take place because of the weaker passwords and security by the users (ACS, 2016).
According to Goutam (2015), it is very important to give secure future to the cyber activities
and digital world so that the opportunities can be created for more businesses and the
challenges can be minimised. Cyber security should not be an option for the business but a
necessity through which the data security and integrity can be maintained. The industries
should come up together in order to combat the serious threats created by cyber criminals. It
is evident that every minute, cyber attackers are making an attempt to hack data and to make
attacks on the companies’ data and information. So, it is significant to pay attention to this
major issue in the cyber space. Cyber security will safeguard business form the ultimate risks
and threats and will open the gates of opportunities for the large as well as small business
which will ultimately help in making profits of the business and wellbeing for the society.

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 8
Conclusion
It can be concluded that digitization have given rise to the spread of cyber threats and it is
very important for the organisations in alliance with the government to become proactive to
fight for the safety of their data and information. The businesses will have to cooperate and
manage the cyber security of the industry as a whole. The challenges of maintaining cyber
security faced by the businesses includes lack of capital and resources. They also face a
challenge due to lack of awareness among the employees and business organisations. They
fail to understand the importance of maintaining cyber security in their business.
The use of internet and social media have increased the risk for the businesses. The
companies are going forward blindly in the world of cyber space but they are avoiding the
serious threats which could hamper their data and ultimate profits a lot. The challenges of the
cyber security has been discussed in the literature review but the applications of the methods
which can secure data is not discussed in any of the articles used. The further parts of the
assignment will discuss about the methods which will be used in conducting the research and
the information about the data collection.

Challenges in Cyber Security for Business 9
References
ACS (2016). Cybersecurity – Threats Challenges Opportunities [Online]. Available at:
https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-publications/ACS_Cybersecurity_Guide.pdf
[Accessed on 25 April 2018].
Amit, R and Zott, C (2012). Creating value through business model innovation. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 53(3), p.41.
Babate, A I, Musa, M A, Kida, A M & Saidu, M K (2015). State of Cyber Security:
Emerging Threats Landscape. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer
Science & Technology, Vol. 3, Issue 1.
Bradley, R (2017). Why Cybersecurity matters to your business? Forbes.
EMERGNING TRENDS ON LATEST TECHNOLOGIES [Online]. Available from
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1402/1402.1842.pdf [Accessed on April 23 2018].
Fischer, E A (2016).Cybersecurity Issues and Challenges: In Brief. Congressional Research
Service.
Goutam, R K (2015). Importance of Cyber Security. International Journal of Computer
Applications. Volume 111 – No 7.
Harris, M and Patten, K (2014). Mobile device security considerations for small-and
medium-sized enterprise business mobility. Information Management & Computer
Security, 22(1), pp.97-114.
Li, X, Liang, X, Lu, R, Shen, X, Lin, X and Zhu, H (2012). Securing smart grid: cyber
attacks, countermeasures, and challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 50(8).
More, R M and Kumar, A (2014). A Study of Current Scenario of Cyber Security Practices
and Measures: Literature Review. International Journal of Engineering Research and
General Science, Volume 2, Issue 5.
Pandey, S, Shah, N, Sharma, A and Farik, M 2016, ‘Cybersecurity Situation In
Fiji’, International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 5(7), pp.215-219.

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Reddy, G N and Reddy, G J U (2014). A STUDY OF CYBER SECURITY CHALLENGES
AND ITS