Cybersecurity Threats and the Future of the Internet - Coursework Example

?Cyber Security threats and Future of Internet: Technology has integrated into different fields our social life. All the major operations and various businesses are performed as a result of continuous journey that has been covered in various phases of technological development. Despite being the most effective means of communication and business operations technology poses numerous threats. These challenges come in form of internal and external threats. These threats range from financial to structural and network threats. Countering these threats require proper strategy formulation and scheme of action. This would make the medium of Internet and technology more effective and less vulnerable. Key words: Cyber threats, virtualization, network infiltration, cloud computing, SaaS. Internet has come of age through its overall journey. The progress has been a fast paced one and has completely brought about revolution in the digital world. The future promises much more. Virtualizations, Web 2.0, customization, Nano technology are few of the concepts that the medium of Internet offer (Livingston, 2010, 13). Objectives: The paper looks into the various forms of threats faced by modern day digital world, this is followed by the overall assessment of the Internet journey, the present day outlook of technology and the future prospect and potential developments associated. This accompanied by the various kinds of threats faced and the potential damages that can be caused. The last part of the paper contains the possible counter means and measures available which can make the world of Internet a more secure and reliable one to operate in. Concept of Cyber Security: The term cyber security pertains to enacting actions that are necessary to be taken into account for safe and better services and operations in this medium. The field of cyber technology is a double edged sword. It enables achieving what would not be possible in the manual methods over work of months and weeks, at the same time despite being lighting fast in its outlook, if it goes wrong, it can cause havoc. These threats come in various forms ranging from internal threats and variants to the external forces that are operating outside. They form an industry all together with billions of dollars being spent in the field and most of their activities being destructive and harmful to the common users in different ways. Since the cyber technology scope is part of almost every discipline, therefore every field is at stake and risk from it. Ranging from the communication means to scientific research, governmental organizations all are operated on digital interface and as a result proper care and consideration must be given to the security factor. Broadly a complete set of entities exist that work as threat to the normal operational existence of computers and digital technologies. They come in form of viruses, Trojan horses, malwares, Spam and various other sources that are destructive in their nature and cause damages at different levels. Countering them requires comprehensive strategy formation at different levels. Government agencies are a direct target in many instances and recent findings have shown that 2012 saw increased percentage of damages being inflicted upon government organizations as a result of comprehensive attacks launched against the networks of government structures. Department of homeland Security is equally warned and has aimed at assessing the rates and percentages and the particular areas where these vulnerabilities are present and have attacked the networks (Powner, 2005). Through their findings they have established that over the past year or so, the rate of increase has been alarmingly high and stands in the figure of over 600 percent increase. FBI director dealing with the vulnerabilities and overall nature and structure of technology presented a very alarming outlook of technology and stated that considering that amount of increase and overall tendencies of attacks on the governmental organizations, the government and defense agencies may well have to change their policies and focus on mitigating the challenges faced on the floor of Internet and cyber operations. These threats come as pre planned and sponsored ones, such as foreign support and funded attacks aimed at breaching into the private information of the governmental organizations and other sensitive information breach. To counteract the level of breaches and the increased number of attacks and growing trend of attacks, the government has enacted agency at the federal level in the name of Government Accountability office. With almost every other department operated on computers and through online processes, each is at direct threat of being hacked and breached into. A research conducted in this regard for the purpose of evaluating the overall impact and the number and percentage of people effected and it was established that roughly around 25 percent Americans have tasted some kind of breach and damages inflicted upon them through the use of Internet and being attacked from unknown sources. And these sources and evidences are not based on the past five years or longer observations, rather on annual basis which leads to show increase in the overall trend and threats being faced over the medium of Internet(Finn, 2013). Actions as simple and negligent as those of receiving an anonymous mail or allowing access to a client that is unauthorized would lead to complete jamming and halting of the network. Similarly using a password that is least secure would allow infiltrating entities directly into the network and would lead to overall halt of network. The threats do not come in only one form where the financial departments may be made subject to the hacking processes rather halting of the networks, penetrating into the data streams, extracting any private data, other confidential records, disrupting the processes, disguising as authentic entities, all these are few of the forms and practices that are common in usage and pose direct threats to the networks. The matter of security of cyber network is more demanded in the field of banking and other financial dealings. Where all the transactions are performed through the online operations and simple lapses in action could lead to not only damages inflicting to the company but the clients and losing the clients due to the breach and privacy factor leads to negative impact of the organization in the industry. Thereby little tolerance can be afforded in this category and special consideration must be given to it. On private level, the usage of credit card is put to threat in form of the different means that are in practice towards extracting the pin code and other details from credit card. This happens on two fronts, one from the user end who may give out any unauthorized access to any random user or may log in into websites that are not protected and may contain any kind of spam, the other form of breach may take place in form of the banking departments. Breach from within either intentional or unintentional in form of accepting any request from unauthorized source may make up for the damages and losses in financial aspects. Considering the high rates of breaches and overall damages incurred from different forms of online activities, all major organizations both private and governmental enact dedicated policies and actions to mitigate the chances of any breach. Surveys conducted in this regard to evaluate the percentage and level of actions taken for this purpose show that large percentage of organizations have adopted policies and mechanisms for countering any kind of threat that may be posed either from internal source or external (Groenfeldt, 2013). With the future becoming more and more dependent upon usage of Internet, these threats if not handled properly would lead to more vulnerable existence of the users on the medium of Internet. The impacts of these attacks are not just limited to the economic domain rather they pose severe threat to administrative structures of government and military installations as well as other defense based networks that require complete set of security factors integration. On governmental level a holistic study and assessment is required to be done that would enable the better comprehension and handling of the technology. Assessing and evaluating the costs that would be incurred with regard to the breaches must be evaluated, based on that policy must be formed and expertise services can be hired to make the process of cyber operations more secure and more friendly towards clients with minimum or no chances of breaches and loss of company’s and government’s trust and credibility. From practical world examples, the cyber space threats and vulnerabilities can be used in terms of defense weaknesses and infiltration against different countries at different levels. One similar example and event came to forth during the Cold war days when the bitter experiences and activities were in practices and the satellites were being used for espionage purposes. This happened in 1982 in Siberia when a small explosion was observed and based on the study and evaluation, it was determined that the usage of technology and bomb was used to enact severe damages into the network and cause damage of large amount. Hence the cyber threats are more persistent and lethal when it comes to the defense purposes and attacks by the rival nations and agencies against one another (REVERON, 2012, 89). The cyber threats have taken up the face of previously conventional forms of confrontations. In present day, it is the usage of technology, Internet and other modes of transport and digital interface that are used for this purpose to bring down the rival states networks, halting organizational operational working, or simply getting into the defense lines to diffuse any threat being faced. Broadly under the spectrum of Cyber security network several major actions and steps are enacted which include highlighting the importance of cyber security mechanism, identifying any potential threat posed towards the network, realizing the impact of each of the threat posed, and assessing the availability of resources and based on that countering and devising a strategy that would enable effective performance and as a result safer operations, safer organizations and happier clients. Training and providing the tools and techniques with brainstorming should be part of the same process. Need for Frame work establishment: Realizing the overall nature of threats being faced in multiple forms, there is an imminent need for developing a frame work which would allow countering the threats faced. The framework is not just limited to the policy implementation but also determination of the areas of weaknesses; this along with the expertise appointment and providing sufficient amount of training and guidance that would enable better handling of the challenges at hand. N.I.S.T (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is one organization and entity enacted in this regard to monitor the overall progress and performance and assess the areas of improvement and propose advice and actions that would make the overall working more secure and effective. N.I.S.T enjoys repute in terms of its performance, affectivity and relationship with the government agencies with regard to safer and better operations performance in a broader way. Its scope of operations does not limit it to collaborations with the government organizations, rather with other private firms and educational institutes that aim to bring about development, progress and security in to their networks. On state level there is need for more concrete steps and actions that would allow for better protection from any major outside source or threat. Awareness is developing in this regard and California alone has enacted several acts towards the building of a more secure cyber security structure. Under this rule the state must incorporate an effective member of the organization of cyber security who would monitor the activities and ensure smooth operations without any major breach or offense taking place in larger capacity. The recruitment would be done in the post and form of Information Security Officer who will bear the responsibility of keeping the network intact and making sure the members and staff below him are fully aware of their responsibilities and the system components are in place effectively as well. Challenges faced in this regard are the lack of awareness, the lack of funds and resources, lack of will, the lack of advanced infrastructure, lack of adaptability to the state of the art technologies and many other factors that make up for numerous threats and challenges faced and as a result make the overall network more vulnerable to the external threats and outside forces that come up and damage the network in one way or the other. Initiatives can be enacted in form of determination of the priorities. This can be further specialized and developed through the risk management and assessment function. Enacting sufficient grants and establishing collaboration with the government agencies as well as establishing good communications overall in the organization and the cyber security team is the core purpose and it must be performed through collective strategy. Bits wise action would lead to no constructive functioning and would lead the organization the same vulnerable with all kinds of threats and challenges hawking in the face from all corners. Future of Internet: Abstract: Internet is a phenomenon that is only a few decades old yet it has penetrated into more than any other technology. All around us what we see is the gift of Internet. The online connectivity, getting in touch with people from different parts of the world, communicating through various means, using the video options for conversation, all these are few of the forms of Internet. What was only known as the dial up form of Internet in the 90s decade has turned into a broadband technology in the 21st century. It has enabled fast transfers, more storage, improved quality of services Mega bits and Giga bits of transfer all this is made possible through the Internet. However, despite this, the journey is not complete and being a dynamic entity, the technology keeps growing and becomes more effective time to time; as a result of it it has more promise and future to it than any other technology or source of digital interface. The future of Internet has its progress and prospect both in the private life as well as public life with regard to the dealings in the business sectors. What it will enable is more effective private partnership between the stake holders. It will enable direct interactions and would further minimize the need for direct and physical on the spot interaction. Virtual interactions that are still in practice, yet would take up more advanced form and would facilitate making decisions in a more effective and rapid way and would allow improvement of the performance and handling time of a given project or activity undertaken in business venture. Future of Internet with regard to P.P.P: P.P.P is acronym for public private partnership and this would allow better integration of the businesses and overall development within the organizations in terms of the financial benefits as well as the clients’ satisfaction. P.P.P also aims at making faster means of transfer and at the same time enacting the security concern and making sure there is no compromise on that front and clients enjoy maximum benefits and security. PPP will also benefit the businesses and the packages and offers they provide would facilitate overall improved business practices. The future of Internet will have number of variables improved, namely the infrastructure, the speed, the security level advancements and most customer oriented with regards to businesses and private usage. IPV6: IPV6 termed as the next generation protocol and technology is already in place, although not fully integrated. It promises large number of benefits against the conventional and presently in use IP v4 technology. It aims at providing more efficient identification mechanism that would as a whole make life easy not only for the administrators and operators but also the users who will find many benefits from it through easier operations performance. Compatibility of IPv4 with Ipv6 is another area that needs to be looked into as the complete transfer and deployment would require resources, expertise and skill development along with hands of tools familiarity. Advanced Internet governance is another area that would make up for the future of internet with so many vulnerabilities and threats present in the presently existent models and internet frameworks. World Conference on International Telecommunications: To determine the possible guidelines and map for future of internet, World Conference on I. Telecommunications took place in December 2012. The sole purpose of the conference was to address the challenges faced, determine the future pathways and explore the new horizons that would make the field of internet communication more effective and less potent as a destructive force. Dedicated Internet Society is essential part of the forum that takes up different matters of interest for research and exploration purposes. World Conference aims at highlighting the role of governments towards the effective usage of the internet and preventing any severe losses and damages that may be incurred as a result of negligence. Creating awareness amongst the governments towards the safe usage of internet and productive outputs still needs guidance and direction determination and W. Conference on International telecommunication aims to do that( Eko, 2013, 63). The conference comes into act after a gap of over two decades where there was no formal forum and committee that would look into the matters of future prospect and enable better execution and capitalization of technologies. V.P.N: Acronym for Virtual Private Network is another concept of modern day technology that is based on the usage of internet and broadband connections. VPN finds large number of applications in business enterprises. Other benefits extracted from VPN are the ad hoc network infrastructure. There are number of threats faced with regard to the VPN implementation. Making them more secure would make the overall technology more effective and attractive for usage. Many international banks and other financial organizations are using VPN to the maximum benefit and finding it most effective with regard to the speed of access and other factors. Cloud Computing: One of the most prominent trends and the talked about thing in terms of the future technologies and future of internet is that of cloud computing. Virtualization, reducing reliance on physical interfaces, facilitating more number of users, taking up the speeds from mega bits per seconds to giga bits, providing ad hoc networks support, all these define the future trend in form of cloud computing. The advantages and promise shown by cloud computing is the fact that it is not only useful for private usage, rather it best suits the large scaled organizations and corporations that aim at maximizing their benefits and improving their productivity altogether. There would be no need for the physical data presence and virtual sharing between the users and the server would allow faster access to resources, this forms the basic concept of internet in future. Data centers that require high speed and more number of clients engagement find the best tool and solution in form of cloud computing and they will facilitate maximum benefits extraction through the usage of this technology. Web 2.0: The Web 2.0 has revamped the overall outlook of the usage of internet and digital media. It has given it a totally new dimension, meaning, purpose and usage. Formerly restricted to private usage and academic purposes that would provide limited bandwidth and limited speed, the Web 2.0 as a future technology gives all what was missing in the earlier form of technology. Broadband access, social networks, applications availability, portable devices, software supports, open source operating systems, all these define the Web 2.0. The millions of applications that are present have made the usage of technology more vibrant and interactive. Blogs are another category that show much promise and productivity in its outlook and attributes for the web 2.0 technology features all based on the support of Fast internet speeds. Extended ranges of Wi FI and stronger support and other advanced algorithms make the technology more potent in times to come. There is margin for improvement in the field of Web 2.0 in form of the security concerns posed and compatibility over different platforms of softwares as well as hardware sources. Striving for interoperability: Many technologies that come to forth often create hindrance in the form of compatibility with one another. Resolving this issue serves as the future prospect and consideration of the internet(http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/default.aspx). International Telecommunication Regulations are a move in this direction that aim to bridge any gulf that is present between the modern day technologies and future prospects. SaaS: Software as a service is another prospect and promise of future technologies over the internet that would provide only on request software application availability and usage. The overall aim is that of increased performance environment and little back end dependence over the physical interface and hardware resources. Vendors have a role to play in this regard and they provide the services and utilities only after being demanded. The promise assured by SaaS is its completely compatible mode and interface with other softwares and hardware applications. Future of Internet in the marketing field: Since internet is a fully integrated and absorbed concept into every sphere, its affectivity and development would directly affect the marketing field. With further improved concepts such as cloud computing, applications availability, SaaS, interoperable concepts marketing field would benefit multiple folds. It would reduce the need for physical world interaction and this in turn would allow for reduced resources consumption, readily available solutions, enhanced client and organization interaction and much more that is desired by the markets oriented organizations. Architectural support: SaaS provides support for service directed architecture. It is best suited to the cloud computing and virtually integrated networks and interfaces. It provides number of benefits, apart from the storage factor with little eat up of resources, it enables easy to handle processes with less hassle of administration and little backup storages needed. Integration of cyber security and future technologies in computer: With modern technologies developing in the field of computer that are being used both for the domestic purposes and development of commercial appliances, the security concern becomes more grave and more important. The future of computer technology is enacted in the form of Cloud Computing and Cloud computing itself is faced with multiple threats and challenges. Role of I.S.Ps: Internet Service providers have a role to play in this regard. They need to induct the experts as well as incorporate technologies that would make their networks far more supportive of security and other concerns. Enabling effective firewalls installation and usage of filters would further enhance the overall performance of network and as a net yield make the users and network safer to operate. Regular upgrading of the antivirus softwares is another key area that can be taken into account for better performance delivery. Cloud computing cyber threats: Cloud computing is subject to the equal amount of external threats as any other modern day technologies and interfaces. The data breaching makes up for the most alarming threat that would be potentially used against the organizations or places where the cloud computing technology is incorporated. Enacting various forms of controls such as risk handling, data transfer, encryption mechanism, information sharing processes, architectural considerations, all these make up for the challenges faced in the field of future technologies and cyber field vulnerabilities (Meghanathan et.al 2010, 68). VPN is also prone to number of challenges and weaknesses. They can be handled through the private IP address allocation that results in protecting the overall data and information from any kind of breach and abuse. With the private cloud creation, the data is being kept away and hidden from outside sources and intruders. IPv6: One of the areas of concern with regard to the future trends of computing is IPv6 vulnerabilities. IP Sec, spam, firewall distortion, penetration of any unwanted IP address, Spoofing all these make up for the various forms of vulnerabilities and challenges faced with regard to the IPV6 usage (Livingston, 2010, 254). The APIs used in the cloud computing are equally vulnerable to any kind of cyber attack both on small scale and large scale. These APIs are mostly target of various cyber attacks. APIs and interface handling is one of the most severe issue faced and can pose serious threats to the overall network if is left open to any cyber security threat that are in thousands and can impact the network in one way or the other. Based on the virtual concept and sharing of information, the common sharing and resources sharing and repository presence makes it more easy for hackers and other malicious content can cause direct damage to the networks. Conclusion: Internet as a future prospect and its security are intertwined concepts and development of one would seek addressing the second part as well, without ensuring the coverage and consideration for the both sides, the technology can be of little productivity and can lead to negative impacts. Reliable transmissions, reduced hardware support, faster access, reduced threats and infiltration all these are the keywords and expectations from the future of internet as a whole. The actions and strategies would need to come not only from the technology builders but government enterprises and governments as a whole in terms of the financial support, structuring of the experts teams and thirdly facilitating the usage and other infrastructure support purposes towards a more reliable tool in future prospect. It is up to the users of internet to make it the best tool for services. The governments and operating system developers can play a role in terms of promoting more friendly operating systems and provide the experts with resources that would enable more productivity overall. References: Eko, L. S. (2013). American Exceptionalism, the French Exception, and Digital Media Law. Lexington Books. Finn, P. (2013, Nov 8). Cybersecurity: Where are the Biggest Threats? Retrieved from Cisco: http://blogs.cisco.com/government/cybersecurity-where-are-the-biggest-threats/ Groenfeldt, T. (2013, 11 11). Cyber Security Threats are Rising-- EY. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/11/11/cybersecurity-threats-are-rising-ey/ Livingston, B. (2010). Using Web 2.0 Technologies. American Society for Training and Development. Ma, J., Barolli, L., & Yang, L. T. (2005). Proceedings of the ... International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems. IEEE Computer Society Press. Meghanathan, N., Boumerdassi, S., Chaki, N., & Nagamalai, D. (2010). Recent Trends in Networks and Communications. Springer. Powner, D. A. (2005). Critical Infrastructure Protection: Department of Homeland Security Faces Challenges in Fulfilling Cybersecurity Responsibilities. DIANE Publishing. REVERON, D. S. (2012). Cyberspace and National Security. Georgetown University Press. Read More