Risk in Products DB Information Asset for Bookstore - Case Study Example

Assignment Cover Sheet Technical Report Accounting Systems 204 Name of Tutor: Tutorial day / Tutorial Time: Family Name / Surname: Other Names: Student ID: Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0The organisation 1 2.1Background information 1 2.2Key goals needed 1 2.3Identification and assessment of risks relating to above goals 2 3.0Business cycles 8 3.1Revenue cycle 8 4.0Database and file structure 8 5.0Controls to mitigate risks& Residual risks identification 11 Derive and Articulate Risk 14 Risk in Products DB Information Asset for bookstore 14 6.0Reference List 17 1.0 Introduction Pearson seems to be having a problem with keeping track of the available stock and maintaining the re-order levels. Also, since there are too many suppliers with any one supplier being able to supply many items, Pearson may need a separate supplier database to resolve this issue. Another problem that Pearson faces is – keeping track of all the orders made – like for example, the date on which the order was made, the quantity ordered and the supplier to whom that order was placed. The proposed database design should address all these issues for successful implementation of the database system. 2.0 The organisation 2.1 Background information Pearson education, a books store for all types of books operating online and physically, it has many suppliers who supply different kinds of books under various categories. There are too many suppliers to supply the various products, 2.2 Key goals needed Pearson wants to automate its process of inventory control like checking the availability of stocks, maintaining re-order levels, keeping a record of suppliers for each items, maintaining a record of all transactions between the store and the supplier and the issue of order forms for each order placed with suppliers. 2.3 Identification and assessment of risks relating to above goals The following assets have been classified as being at risk in the organization. List of Assets at Risk Asset Location Owner(s) Classification Research & Development Database head office R&D Department Confidential books Database Stores Sales, customer service and manufacturing departments Sensitive Customer Records Database stores Sales and Customer Service Departments Sensitive Asset Classification Scheme -Assigning values to data so as to organize it according to its sensitivity is known as asset classification. According to Iris's suggestion an asset may be classified as “Confidential”, “Sensitive” or “Public” depending on who should have access to the asset. The reason why this scheme was selected is that this is the standard practice for classification of documents or databases in most companies and besides this, the classification is simple and will make the people in the organization understand level of importance attached to each database. Asset Classification Scheme Asset Classification Description Confidential Information classified as confidential should be accessible only to the senior management and the heads of departments that own the information. Sensitive Information classified as sensitive should be accessible only to the senior management and the members of departments that own the information. Public Accessible to all in the organization and to the public if needed Weighted Ranking of Assets bookstore Information Assets Ranking -Weights Asset Importance Safety Accessibility Total Research & Development Database 5 5 1 11 books Database 5 4 4 13 Customer Records Database 5 4 4 13 The reason why this ranking system was used is that this is the standard practice for classification of documents in most companies and besides this classification indicates the level of seriousness or the importance with which the database assets should be treated. In the above case, with a ranking of 11, the Research & Development database should be treated with utmost importance, with high levels of safety and security and restricted access. A ranking of 13 indicates that the product database and the customer database should be treated with utmost importance with normal safety levels and greater accessibility to members of the respective departments. Communities that threaten the databases A list of the threats that bookstore's Information is likely to face Threat Description Threat by hackers Hackers may hack into the databases to steal information from the databases Threat from viruses Viruses may destroy the databases Threat of stealing of data Data may be stolen and sold to the company's competitors by its own employees Evaluation of Loss Event Frequency- In this stage we evaluate the frequency of a loss. For a loss event to occur, the threat event should be triggered against an asset that results in a loss of asset (“Loss Event Frequency”). The frequency of such losses is known as Loss Event Frequency (LEF) Frequency of the threat event Threats Event Frequency Definitions for bookstore Rating Description Very High (VH) > 100 times per year High (H) Between 10 and 100 times per year Very Low Read More