Evaluate the options at the security manager disposal to respond to organizational lost - Essay Example

The capability to access and circulate data quickly and readily sounds marvellous from a productivity viewpoint; however, this is terrifying from a security perspective. Numerous studies have demonstrated that employees can equally do damage. This essay will mainly focus on the threats, dangers and risks that organizations are exposed to in the arena of Information Technology, approaches that managers can adopt to reduce them. The paper explores the implication of data theft for an organization within the financial sector with a bias towards insider threats.

The key danger facing organizations emanates mainly from information technology; other hazards may include negligent workers, unsatisfied employees, data theft, documents and improper disposal of data (Blackwell 2009, p.8). In response to security threats to organization’s data, organizations have implemented diverse tools to mitigate and contain those threats through approaches such as passwords, encryption, firewalls, access-control lists, network traffic monitoring, system audits, and patch management.

However, despite this arsenal, organizations cannot entirely impede the flow of proprietary data, confidential information, and trade secrets. An organization can frequently detect or control when an outsider (or a non-employee within the organization) attempts to access organizational data, either physically or electronically, and as such, the organization can be able to lessen the threat posed by an outsider stealing organization property. Nevertheless, the “thief” who can be considered harder to discover and who can render the most damage is the insider or employees who have legitimate access.

Insiders embody authorized users with genuine access to corporate networks, data, and applications. Insiders include, but are not limited to, board members, employees, executives, business managers, IT consultants, contractors, and outsourcers. Specialists who