Cyber Crime: A Clear and Present Danger
This is the excel file used for this post –> Risk-Registry.xlsx
Information systems give great ways to communicate and learn, but also allow nefarious others access to exploit the power of the Internet for terrorist and/or criminal purposes. Criminal warfare has moved to the virtual world were more damage can be done in less time with a better potential of getting away with it. The term used for criminals that use the Internet as there method for committing crimes is know as cyber criminals. Moor’s Law describes how the number of transistors that can be placed on inexpensive integrated circuitry double every two years. Since a new generation of faster computers can be processed every two years, it also allows for criminals to afford faster, more complex computers to leverage against your organization
Analyzing and avoiding risk should be a part of any organization who, especially if transactions are made on the Net. Include\ing: email, web browsing, online stores, etc.
The rest of this article is an example of what may be used to start your own risk register.
Qualitative Risk Assessment
Threats that have been identified through the risk it holds to the organizations have been qualified in the attached risk register spreadsheet. Download the actual Excel File –> Risk-Registry.xlsx
While all risk poses a level of threat there are certain ones that can be identified as low medium or high risk based on the severity of risk against cost and time loss to our origination. Damage to reputation from faulty security is actually a side effect of not being able to protect our customer’s assets and personal information. Side by side comparison of the risk register with the risk matrix will give a better forecast of risk as it impacts our organization.
Quantitative Risk Matrix
On average credit scam counts for $260 dollars per customer per year and we can mitigate that price through the use of heuristic programs that can detect unusual purchases as they happen instead of reading reports after the fact.
While the risk of finances from cyber attacks can be measured after the fact the most damaging effects of cyber attacks is the lack of trust from our customers. Irreversible damage could be imposed upon are organization as customer retreat to companies that they believe can manage their finances better. The contingency budget set forth below would save us from going completely under in the future. The quantity of the budget needed is minimally estimated to be around 1% of what we risk loosing. We must be ready to budget at least 30% of our organizations earned income after taxes and deductions.
Contingency Budget
Colors reflect the same qualitative selection as the risk Matrix and should be considered top priority when considering budgeting amounts. The contingency cost has been lowered based on the probability of the risks occurrence and is 65% of the total budget needed to address all risks.
Recommendations
When money is used it is gone, data is more valuable than money. Our data and systems are worth more than can be quantified in any report. Data can be reused over and over again. In order to protect our data we need to spend our budget targeting mitigation of the highest ranked risks. Targeting unknown risks through monitoring assets as they are accessed and having a fast corrective action time to save the organization from unknown intrusions. All internal and external metrical information that can help target cyber activities should be used to the up-most efficiently to be as effective as possible. Continually vigilance in our security reaction time, as we move towards future technologies to communicate and process information on the Internet, is imperative to our survival.
Additional Resources
Martin H. Bosworth. (2008). Losses From Cybercrime Nearly $240 Million in 2007. Consumer Affairs. Retrieved from: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/04/cybercrime.html
Tom Mochal. (2006, May). Creating a risk contingency budget using expected monetary value (EMV). TechRebulic. Retrieved July 24, 2011, from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/create-a-risk-contingency-budget-using-expected-monetary-value-emv/6069576
United States Department of Justice. Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section. Cyberethics. Retrieved from: http://www.cybercrime.gov/cyberethics.htm