Information Security Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Information Security - Research Paper Example With the increase in the use of distributed computing, mobile computing and the fast growth in the adoption of internet for business communication, there is an increased need for information security. The adoption of these technologies exposes businesses to information theft and fraud through various attacks such as phishing, DoS and virus attacks. Without security for information, a business organization stands a chance of catastrophic disruptions through downtime in business critical systems. In the event of restoring such systems a business organization incurs unnecessary and unwanted costs. (Gordon & Loeb, 2002) Violation of privacy; business needs to be able to protect both customer and employee information, failure to which can result into legal actions and penalties. Financial loss; theft of commercial information such as business plans, intellectual property or customer contracts can financially damage a business organization. Immediate financial impacts can be felt by a business in case of a computer fraud by a staff member. The penalties and fines associated with failure to protect privacy of information about its customers including its staff severely damage the reputation and credibility of the business. Information security generally stresses on the preservation of three factors associated with information; confidentially, availability and integrity among others like authorization, authentication and non repudiation. Confidentiality is information secrecy preservation; that is ensuring that such information as financial projections, technical designs and business reports are only vied by authorized personnel. Integrity ensures that information has not been manipulated or tampered with; it ensures that information can be relied upon to be accurate to its purpose. The availability aspect of information security ensures that information is accessible to the authorized persons at the required time