Ppaper on Illegal Physical or Internet Intrusion Essay

Ppaper on Illegal Physical or Internet Intrusion - Essay Example This paper discusses why data security is of importance to an organization. Furthermore it throws light upon what might be the physical or internet based threats to an organization’s database and lastly converges with a few suggestions that can be embedded in order to strengthen database security. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO SECURE AN ORGANIZATION’S DATA? An organization’s data is of imperative importance to it. The success of any setup is directly proportional to the security and integrity of that environment. This study is aimed at discussing the scope of threats that an organization faces with respect to its data. It highlights what measures could be taken in order to keep the data within the database of an organization secure from any kinds of physical and internet intrusions. The Deputy Commissioner and internal control officer of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue John Mynihan is said to have quoted as follows about the threats to the data of an organizatio n: â€Å"Any organization that collects data has to acknowledge that people are abusing it because they have access to it ... It's human nature.† (Mynihan, 2007) Database security is of inevitable importance because any malfunctioning done with the data in it, whether physical or virtual, if not corrected in a timely manner can result in the loss of system or data integrity. This, in turn can have severe consequences on the business processes themselves. The continued usage of corrupted data and thus the corrupted database system can result in the outcome of fraudulent and inappropriate decisions. In addition to this, unintentional and unauthorized disclosure of any sensitive data pertaining to the organization and its stakeholders can result in the loss of confidence of the organization’s stakeholders with it. Moreover, it can even lead to severe legal issues and stern embarrassment against the organization. TRUSTING INDIVIDUALS? A renowned fact that spreads widely wi thin business circles is that individuals should never be trusted such that an organization’s critical should be left at their disposal. This task of storing critical data and enabling it’s readily and convenient access is assigned to databases. Database stores all the critical data of an organizational setup. Since they hold so very much importance, their security is also a key concern for the organization. Senior director of security for Oracle, Wynn White mentions his observations about database security in the following words: â€Å"According to one recent Forrester study, 80 percent of data security breaches involve insiders, employees or those with internal access to an organization, putting information at risk. The big challenge for companies today – particularly as email and the Internet make sharing and distributing corporate information easier than ever - is to strike the right balance between providing workers with appropriate access and protecting s ensitive information as much as possible.† (White) The following text evaluates what a database’s security is and what are the potential threats faced by it. THE POTENTIAL THREATS The potential threats that are faced by a database with respect to its security can be summarized as follows: PHYSICAL INTRUSION/THREAT: This involves dangers such as theft fire/flood, power outage, earthquake or malicious damage. HUMAN ERROR: Mistake on the part of the authorized personnel manipulating the database. This may