IT Infrastructure: Threats and Quality Management

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Table of Contents

Internal/Insider Threats
Data Centers
External Threats
Motivation
Nature
Regional Events
Quality Management
Strategic Perspective
Works Cited

Internal/Insider Threats

There are multiple types of insider or internal threats in the IT infrastructure. First of all, many companies’ data is threatened by the actions of former workers willing to take revenge. CSO reports that most companies that face this threat are unaware of what information they need to protect and do not dissect the data (Hatchimonji par. 10-13). Prevention strategies for this threat are data encryption and leak prevention. Secondly, malicious insiders present a threat to the corporate data and are a source of a large percent of all the information treats (Hatchimonji par. 5).

An example of such activities is the illegal manipulations of the employees. The third example is the actions of clients who have access to data at the employee level. The fourth example of a potential insider threat is the theft of a laptop with corporate data and access and allows an outsider to use protected data (Franqueira, Cleef, Eck, and Wieringa 1). Finally, viruses penetrating the company systems from the inside are also recognized as an insider threat.

Data Centers

Fire and floods are common threats to data centers, the sites that are crucial for any organization. There are multiple ways to address these threats. For instance, to keep data centers from fire and flood, they are located in the specifically constructed areas with raised floors and reception rooms so that they can withstand a threat (Engemann and Henderson 77; CPNI 9). Besides, the areas where the centers are situated are equipped with detectors and alarms that warn the staff about the approaching threat in a form of water or fire. The combination of the two protection measures helps the employees to localize and prevent the threats before they reach the centers and cause damage.

External Threats

External threats are represented by the deliberate attacks on the networks initiated by the intruders willing to gain access to data. The first example of an outsider threat is a hacker motivated to take over the protected data. Another example, if the user of the LAN that has restricted access to certain equipment – such an individual may pose an outside threat (Bishop 498). Also, some passive attackers endanger information tracking its users or viewing secure data. Fourth, the organized crime groups pose another external threat to protected data. Finally, governmental entities, penetrating the encrypted networks are regarded as external threats.

Motivation

External threats can emanate from accidental or deliberate human action. As mentioned in the example in the section above, a user of LAN with restricted access may pose an external threat to the secured data by accident. In this case, the issue of motivation may arise. In other words, the breach of security may occur due to the deliberate or undeliberate actions of an individual. The breach is evaluated based on the amount of damage in which it resulted. That way, the motivation of the intruder (or its absence) is not taken into consideration because regardless of the intention of the perpetrator, the data is exposed to a threat, and the protection is broken demonstrating that the guarding system currently in place was not effective enough.

Nature

Natural disasters are considered to be a separate category of threats to data security. Some of the most common natural threats are earthquakes, floods, fire, hurricanes, and tornados. All the organizations, not only those located in the areas exposed to potential natural disasters, are to have a recovery or contingency plan. First of all, such a plan should be in coordination with business impact evaluation. The most important procedures include – the construction of a secure room for the equipment that stores data, the placement of data on the carriers that can be protected (for instance, a cloud), the provision of secure connection with the server after and during the disaster, the installation of software that will react to natural disasters and move the data to secure storages (“IT Disaster Recovery Plan” par. 6).

Regional Events

In the situations when a challenge carries a regional but not a local character, the crisis is much larger and requires some new measures. Namely, the services and options that are available during smaller local crises may be unavailable when the event is regional. The organization is to secure contracts with the providers of protection to data in various situations (Engemann and Henderson 79). That way damaged and destroyed hardware would be fixed or replaced in time to preserve the data. Power backup is another crucial measure for data protection.

Quality Management

The first quality management principle for DRP is data control. It involves the control of both hardcopy and electronic data and the preservation of both using all the available security strategies. The second principle is continual improvement. It involves the ongoing modernization of the guarding systems in place to ensure the security of data in the environment where the information technologies constantly progress and generate new threats.

Strategic Perspective

Asset-based, vulnerability-based, process-based, or objective-based strategies alter the nature of the DRP for IT according to their priorities. Asset-based strategies focus on the protection of the site, vulnerability-based ones practice upstream approach and target the potential weaknesses, process-based strategies evaluate the efficiency of the process in place, and objective-based ones prioritize the actions based on their value (saving human lives comes before the preservation of information).

Works Cited

Bishop, Matt. Computer Security: Art and Science. Boston, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Professional, 2003. Print.

CPNI. Protection of data centres. 2010. Web.

Engemann, Kurt, & Henderson, Douglas. Business Continuity and Risk Management: Essential Elements of Organizational Resilience. Brookfield, Connecticut: Rothstein Associates, Inc., 2012. Print.

Franqueira, Virginia N. L., Andre van Cleeff, Pascal van Eck, and Roel Wieringa. External Insider Threat: a Real Security Challenge in Enterprise Value Webs. n. d. Web.

Hatchimonji, Grant. Report indicates insider threats leading cause of data breaches in last 12 months. 2013. Web.

IT Disaster Recovery Plan n. d. Web.

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