Security Issues in Businesses: Analysis, Survey, and Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of security issues in modern businesses. It delves into various domains, including information technology, physical security, and monetary aspects. The research explores the impact of cloud environments and technological advancements on security vulnerabilities. A survey was conducted to understand the current security landscape and the workforce's perceptions, with the results analyzed to draw conclusions. The report also examines different security threats like data breaches and employee violence. The methodology includes quantitative research, using surveys to gather data. The report concludes with recommendations for mitigating security issues and protecting organizations from financial losses, referencing existing literature and case studies to highlight the critical need for robust security measures. The report aims to provide a detailed overview of the security landscape and provide insight into the best practices to be followed by the businesses.

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Abstract
Business security issues need to be analyzed so that proper measures can be taken to mitigate
the same. There are many domains of security in a business organization and in this paper all
of the domains have been discussed on. The main issue is related to information technology,
physical domain and monetary domain. The use of cloud environments in the business
operations is the reason for many security vulnerabilities. The business organizations should
be aware of the fact that with the adoption of new technologies there is a requirement to bring
in proper measures to mitigate the security threats related to the same. In this paper, the
different security issues that an organization can face have been researched on. A survey has
been conducted to understand the prevalent scenario in security domain and the perceptions
of the workforce related to the same. The results obtained from the survey has been analyzed
and conclusions drawn for the same. Lastly, in the conclusion part some suggestions have
been made to understand how these issues can be mitigated and the organization saved from
revenues losses.

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Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Rationale................................................................................................................................5
Research aims and objectives.................................................................................................5
Research Questions................................................................................................................6
Problem Statement.................................................................................................................6
Methodology..............................................................................................................................7
Literature Review.....................................................................................................................11
Categories of security...........................................................................................................12
Physical domain...............................................................................................................12
Monetary domain.............................................................................................................12
Information technology....................................................................................................12
Security problems in software development........................................................................14
Security issues in cloud environments.................................................................................20
Data Analysis...........................................................................................................................24
Quantitative Analysis...........................................................................................................24
Conclusions..............................................................................................................................33
Recommendations................................................................................................................34
References................................................................................................................................36

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Introduction
Security in the business organizations has been a critical issue. With the advancement
of technology there business operations have expanded and with every passing day a new
realm is being introduced in the business sector. It is said that a successful business
organization should have certain layers of security so that it can protect various operations
within its premises. The layers include physical security, personnel security, operations
security, communications security, network security and information security. Irrespective of
the size and capital investment of the business, the security issues need to be taken care of.
With technologies such as Internet of Things and cloud services, organizations are required to
be well prepared with measures to prevent security threats and save themselves from data
breaches (Zhou,Yang and Shao 2016). At present time information and data can be used to
attack organizations. There have been many instances of data breaches in big organizations
that have affected their business operations. As per the reports of 2012 Securitas report, one
of the major challenge for maximum of the companies is how they can protect their firm’s
proprietary information. Dating back this involved locking important papers in desk drawers
or safe but in the era of computer systems it has been a challenge to safeguard the
information from cyber criminals. Businesses can be threatened by competitors, some
hackers or face foreign espionage as well. Thus cyber security can be said to be as a big issue
for the businesses. Next comes the personnel security which involves security of the people
working in the organization. It is said that employee violence within the organizational
premises is a serious as well as frightening prospect for firms as it can neither be detected in
advance nor be prevented. Physicals security on the other hand includes checking on thefts
and unauthorized access (Gollmann and Krotofil 2016). This is also an essential aspect in
case of business security as in order to prevent these measures should be taken at the ground

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level. Physical security deals with appointing security guards, having employee badges,
having intruder alarms and implementing modern systems such as biometrics and many
more.
Data breaches can have significant impact on businesses in different sectors such as
finance and revenue, stock price of the company, reputation of the company, trust of
customers, customer turnover and many more. Thus it can be said there are many
consequences of data breaches on business organizations. These can even lead to permanent
decline in the business operations. In this paper, the security issues related to business will be
discussed upon (Soomro, Shah and Ahmed 2016). The existing literature will be referred to
for this purpose and some examples of companies will also be seen to understand the need of
strict security measures. The effect of the security breaches on the organizational framework
is also a matter of concern. The research will focus on not only the information security but
will consider different domains related to the same.
Rationale
The main aim of the research is to consider all the domains related to security of an
organization that needs to be checked properly. The security threats to the business operations
from various sources will be analyzed as well.
Research aims and objectives
The aim of this research is to discuss on the security issues that an organization can
face. The objectives are as follows:
1) To understand the various security domains in a business organization.
2) To understand the present scenario in businesses.
3) To find out the common security issue in business organizations.

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Research Questions
1) What are the main security threats to an organization these days?
2) What measures should be taken to mitigate security issues?
3) How can the organizations adopt themselves to new technologies and security threats
related to the same?
Problem Statement
The main aim of the research is to understand the present scenario related to security
in business organizations. The security issues that business organizations are facing these
days will be analyzed. In every business there are some security issues and these might be
related to physical security or information technologies security or may be to some other
domain. In this research all the domains of security will be considered. Every organization
needs to have certain policies and measures in place to prevent security breaches. It can be
said that inspite of having many security measures and policies in place some organizations
are vulnerable to attacks (Gai, Qiu, Sun and Zhao 2016). In this paper the possible reasons for
this will be discussed as well. The problem related to security is a matter of concern for every
organization and thus this topic has been chosen at this time. The research aims at finding out
what are the common security issues that maximum of the organizations are facing. The
reason behind the increasing number of data breaches will also be a matter of discussion in
this research. The security issues that are being by different organizations are not dependent
on the size or type of businesses. The security issues related to cloud environments will also
be a major part of the discussion and research. The research conducted will be aligned to the
problem statement.

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Methodology
Research on a particular topic requires searching for appropriate knowledge about the
same. Research is said to be scientific as well as scientific search for gathering relevant
information on a certain topic. It can be said to as an act of scientific investigation. More
specifically research can be said to as desire to know in depth about a topic through the help
of observations, comparisons, experiments and studies. A research is conducted keeping in
mind some objectives that need to be the end results of the research work. In this context the
topic of research is the various security issues that a business faces (Choy 2014). A business
organization can face security issues in different domains that include political domain,
physical domain, monetary domain, information technology domain and many more as such.
In order to understand the security related issues in business all these domains need to be
researched on. There are many instances where researchers leave out some domains and
thereby the research becomes a failure. In this research all the domains related to security will
be considered. There are different types of research methodologies and they are as follows:
1. Descriptive versus Analytical- Descriptive research comprises of surveys and other such
fact-finding enquiries that are of various types. The major aim of this type of research is
providing a description of the present state of affairs. The primary characteristic of this
specific research methodology is that the person doing the research has no such control over
variables. He has the provision to report on certain things such as what incidents have already
taken place or what incidents are taking place at present. The research methods that are made
use of in descriptive research include survey methods of various kinds that comprise of
comparative as well as co-relational methods (Dang and Pheng 2015). On the other hand a
researcher following the method of analytical research makes use of various facts and
informations that is already available and these are then analyzed to reach a conclusion. In

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this case a survey will be conducted to collect data on the topic and the available informations
on security issues that some of the big companies are facing will also be referred to.
2. Applied versus Fundamental- Applied research aims at finding a solution to any of the
prevalent problems that is being faced by the society whereas fundamental research deals
with generalization and formulation of certain theories (Ledford and Gast 2018).
3. Quantitative versus Qualitative- Quantitative research deals with measuring amount or
quantity while qualitative research deals with qualitative phenomenon that relates to quality
or kind. For example when researching on reasons behind human behaviour Motivation
Research is talked off and this is considered as one of the important types of qualitative
research. Some of the methods in qualitative research include group discussions, conducting
interviews and many more. On the other hand quantitative data collection methods include
conducting surveys such as online surveys, mobile surveys, telephonic interviews and many
more (McCusker and Gunaydin 2015). In this research quantitative research is made use of
for conducting the research. To research on the topic of security issues in businesses a survey
will be conducted and the results analyzed to come to a conclusion.
The research makes use of all the advantages of quantitative research methodology.
Quantitative research on the topic will provide a clear idea about the scenario at various
organizations and give a better understanding of the risk being faced by the same. This will
help in quantifying behaviours, attitudes and other different variables making generalizations
from a large percentage of population. This will help in understanding the ongoing patterns in
this particular sphere and make use of research methods that involve use of statistical as well
as mathematical tools. In this case the survey has been chosen as the medium to collect data
that makes use of questionnaire to know the perceptions of various individuals regarding
security issues in their organization (Rani, Yadav and Jain 2016). The data that will be

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obtained from survey will help in reaching conclusions thus making the research fruitful. In
this case the survey research will make use of questionnaires and the participants of the
research will be asked to answer certain questions that will be directly related to the security
issues in businesses. This research methodology has been preferred as it will help in getting
feedbacks from more number of participants.
By choosing quantitative research it has been ensured that the data is collected at a
faster rate. This method will include surveys thus there will be less delay in collecting the
appropriate materials that can be used for examining. This will help in quickly analyzing the
data as compared to that of other methods. The samples of the quantitative research are
generally randomized thus preventing biasness in answers. The randomness in the data
collected provides an additional advantage that is the information collected by this can
certainly be applied to rest of the population group that comes under this study. There is
always a possibility that some demographics be missed but still quantitative research is laced
up with many advantages. The quantitative research provides the users with consistent results
when same data points are evaluated under various randomized conditions. The outcomes of
the research can be generalized with the help of quantitative research. Each and every finding
that is obtained by this method is not just constricted to the participants. In the survey
questionnaire anonymity is given highest priority and the participants are not required to
reveal their identity during this research. In the survey conducted for collecting 50
participants are to be included (Vaioleti 2016). The questionnaire will include questions
related to the security issues that people are facing in their businesses or what they think are
the possible issues in businesses.
There are various advantages of conducting surveys in order to research on a
particular topic and they are as follows:

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1. Cost- Surveys especially those that are conducted using the online platform are less
expensive as compared to other ways. It has been seen that the cost of one response in these
surveys are very less as compared to the cost of running focus group and phone interviews.
2. Data collection- Data collection with the help of surveys is easier as compared to other
ways. The research techniques that are used in case of qualitative research cannot analyze
themes unlike the quantitative research (Kumar 2019).
3. Sample size- With the help of surveys many number of participants can be a part of the
research thus more accurate results can be expected from the research. The conclusion from
the research will be more relevant and appropriate.
4. Candid responses- In a survey the name of the participants are not revealed and thus people
will feel free to give the responses. In order to get accurate data, it is required that the
participants in the survey be honest with their answers. Studies have suggested that surveys
are effective in getting honest responses as compared to the other different types of research
methodology.
In this research both quantitative as well as qualitative approach play a vital role. The
survey conducted can be considered to be under the purview of quantitative approach while
the different sources being referred to, to understand the prevalent scenario can be considered
to be under the purview of qualitative approach. While preparing the online survey some
things were kept in mind that is as follows:
a) The design of the survey was given priority because online surveys are dependent on
question wording and designs. In the online surveys, the researcher is not getting to meet his
target audience thus the questions should be well phrased as according to this the respondents
will interpret the questions.

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b) Impact of fatigue related to survey- At times surveys include elaborate questions or huge
grids of radio buttons that are a burden on the respondents and it increases mental fatigue.
Thus it has been kept on mind while conducting the survey that to avoid these kind of
questions. The main reason for failure of some of the surveys is poorly written questions.
c) Effect of Question wording in the survey- The survey questions have been created with
accurate terminology, technical words so that the respondents are willing to answer the
questions (Quinlan, Babin, Carr and Griffin 2019). The correct usage of words will help in
getting appropriate responses from the respondents.
d) Order of the questions- The survey questions need to follow a logical structure as jumping
from one topic to the other may confuse respondents causing them to skip the questions or
may be abandon the survey.
c) The survey questions have different formats and while preparing the questions the formats
have been kept in mind. The questions that have been framed serve different survey goals and
these have their limitations as well.
d) The survey has been so developed that the respondents get a clear question structure. A
survey questionnaire without a proper structure will fail to get proper answers from the
respondents and thus it will affect the quality of the survey (Flick 2015). In this survey it has
been taken care of that the question are relevant to the topic and the language used is simple
so that the respondents can understand them well.
Literature Review
Digital Technologies have become an important part of our lives. Social networks,
emails, drop box can be accessed from all over the world without any difficulty. Telephones
and computers are being combined into smart devices and this is modifying the idea of

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software. This connection gives rise to various types of vulnerabilities, viruses and threats for
the electronic devices like mobile phones, PCSs and laptops (Alotaibi 2016). Thus the
developers are now responsible for creating such applications that can provide security
against such viruses (Fennelly 2016). The act of continuously applying and verifying high-
level security methods at software level is very difficult.
Categories of security
Security can be classified into four parts:
 Information Technology
 Physical
 Political
 Monetary
Physical domain
Physical Security is defined as protection from any physical circumstances, programs,
personnel or may be serious damage to an enterprise or stakeholder. It includes safeguarding
from theft, fire, terrorism.
Monetary domain
This comprises of the security of goods and money or we can say the assets of a business
enterprise.
Information technology
Telecommunications equipment is used for the retrieval, storage, manipulation and
transmission of data. The access control setup has an impact on the 3 principles of security
(CIA). The main aim is to protect the confidentiality of information by restricting access to
the supply (Ahmad 2017).