Chapter 2

• Information security ensures systems and contents stay the same
• Attacks on information systems are a daily occurrence
• Information security performs four important functions for an organization:

  • Protects the organization’s ability to function
  • Enables safe operation of applications implemented on its IT systems
  • Protects data the organization collects and uses
  • Safeguards technology assets in use
• Management is responsible for the implementation of information security
• Information security is both a management issue and a people issue
• Organization should address information security in terms of business impact and cost
• Protecting data in motion and data at rest are critical aspects of information security
• Organizations must have secure infrastructure services based on size and scope of enterprise
• Threats to information security include:

  • Compromises to Intellectual Property
  • Deliberate Software Attacks
  • Deviations in Quality of Service
  • Espionage or Trespass
  • Forces of Nature
  • Human Error or Failure
  • Information Extortion
  • Missing, Inadequate, or Incomplete Organizational Policy or Planning and Controls
  • Sabotage or Vandalism
  • Theft
  • Technical Hardware Failures or Errors
  • Technical Software Failures or Errors
  • Technological Obsolescence
• Types of attacks include:

  • Malicious code
  • Hoaxes
  • Back door
  • Password crack
  • Brute force
  • Dictionary
  • Denial-of-service (DoS)
  • Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
  • Spoofing
  • Man-in-the-middle
  • Mail bombing
  • Sniffers
  • Phishing
  • Pharming
  • Social engineering
  • Timing attack
• Primary mission of information security is to ensure systems and contents stay the same
• If no threats existed, resources could be focused on improving systems, resulting in vast improvements in ease of use and usefulness
• Attacks on information systems are a daily occurrence
• Information security is unlike any other aspect of information technology
• The primary mission of information security is to ensure things stay the way they are
• The first phase, investigation, provides an overview of the environment in which security must operate and the problems that security must address
• Information security performs four important functions for an organization
• Protects the organization’s ability to function
• Enables safe operation of applications implemented on its IT systems
• Protects data the organization collects and uses
• Safeguards technology assets in use
• Management (general and IT) is responsible for the implementation of protecting the functionality of an organization
• Information security is both a management issue and a people issue
• Organization should address information security in terms of business impact and cost
• Organization needs environments that safeguard applications using IT systems
• Management must continue to oversee infrastructure once in place—not relegate to IT department
• Organization, without data, loses its record of transactions and/or ability to deliver value to customers
• Protecting data in motion and data at rest are both critical aspects of information security
• Organizations must have secure infrastructure services based on size and scope of enterprise
• Additional security services may be needed as organization grows
• More robust solutions may be needed to replace security programs the organization has outgrown
• Threat: an object, person, or other entity that represents a constant danger to an asset
• Management must be informed of the different threats facing the organization
• Intellectual property (IP): “ownership of ideas and control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas”
• The most common IP breaches involve software piracy
• Two watchdog organizations investigate software abuse: Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and Business Software Alliance (BSA)
• Malicious software (malware) is designed to damage, destroy, or deny service to target systems
• Includes: Viruses, Worms, Trojan horses, Logic bombs, Polymorphic threats, Rootkit, Man-in-The-Middle, Ransomware, Adware, Bot
• Includes situations where products or services are not delivered as expected
• Information system depends on many interdependent support systems