Conducting Cyber Intelligence and Restricting Cyber Attacks on Organizations - Essay Example

What approaches can be made to conducting cyber intelligence and restricting cyber attacks on organizations? It is a worldwide fact that cyber attacks are being seen as very dangerous as they have affected the societies in a very bad way. They have played their negative role at bringing down government hierarchies and thus the business corporations have also been severely hurt. The cyber attacks are being seen as very risky considering there is a lot at stake within the business concerns. The top managements within these organizations are considering how to solve the problem of cyber attacks because these take over the control of the systems and computers, and therefore bring down the financial success of the company where they attack. Cyber intelligence is a method through which security threats are tracked, countered and analyzed in a number of different ways. What this means is that cyber intelligence takes into perspective how an organization would react to cyber attacks and how it would set its own code within the thick of things. The manner in which cyber intelligence and cyber attacks have come out in the open is important for organizations to understand because this makes one understand how success will be achieved and how these invasions should be kept away to move ahead further with the changing times and the advancements of technology. This paper discusses how cyber intelligence has played its important role and how the cyber attacks can bring problems for organizations whenever they hit them. The world has seen a number of attacks on its dignity and self-respect. The organizations have received quite a lot of criticism because of these cyber attacks. The business organizations have now understood that these cyber attacks would bring down their business so they have devised ways and means through which these attacks could be kept away and work could be done at full speed. The network administrators within these organizations have understood their roles well and thus have found out the best possible mechanisms which will take care of these cyber attacks. What is more important is the fact that cyber intelligence has been highlighted more and more with the passage of time within these business organizations. The world of business has realized that if it does not do something today, it will fall down and there would be absolutely no one to listen to its problems. Therefore the best possible manner to counter such a problem is to find out how these cyber attacks could be kept away as much as one business organization can. The top management domains within these organizations have also understood their roles well and thus have allowed the network administrators to impose new and fresh policies and rules for the use of Internet and file sharing mechanisms within the organizations (Knake 2010). These are very significant points which the organizations must understand in order to move ahead with the changing times because the world of Information Technology is advancing ahead at a rapid pace and there is no stopping the cyber attacks which can come anytime and without any warning whatsoever. The role of intelligence within cyber warfare is an important one. The intelligence angle is playing its role on a very consistent basis (Carr 2009). This is because intelligence has to be active at all times and thus find out where and when the attacks can come up from. These are necessary to know because these discuss the strengths of the organizational systems which are present, as well as the weaknesses and threats that might arise at a later stage. The loopholes and gaps are also found out, and thus plugged whenever there is a need to find out such problems. In fact, the problems are there for one and all to see. What remains important is the way these problems have come out in the open and made their mark, for good or for bad. The cyber intelligence angles gain a great deal of importance when the companies are growing up and advancing beyond what they have already thought. It would be reasonable to suggest that cyber attacks can break the basis of their growth and development, and thus offer a number of losses which might be at times very difficult to sustain. The company might go bankrupt and thus be a source of many liabilities within its folds. The cyber intelligence is therefore an area that comes under an organization which is given a lot of significance because it intercepts any cyber attacks and finds out where these cyber attacks are coming up from, and how they would break off the chain of growth and development within the company. The top management should therefore find out what kind of policies would be easy to implement and thus take measures to keep away the negativities that arise within the related domains (Stolfo 2010). When cyber intelligence is estimated from the organizational side, there is a genuine effort to make sure that these cyber attacks are refrained by the people who want to enter into the organization’s computer systems and related networks. This is the reason why many cyber attackers are usually faced with serious problems when they are trying to enter the systems and the networks of the organizations which are most privy to such cyber attacks. There are restrictions within any organization to make sure that these cyber attacks are resolved as and when they come up. This is because these cyber attacks evolve very quickly and spread at a speed which is difficult to manage within the domains of an organization. If these cyber attacks are estimated from the beginning, then it will be very difficult for the hackers to get into the organizational networks and related computer systems, which would mean success for the sake of the organizations in the long run (Colarik 2007). These cyber hackers and crackers mean business alone and they are not concerned whether or not their cyber attacks would hurt the cause of the business from the long term scheme of things. Therefore it is always a good practice to have as many restrictions within the system as possible so that all such attacks could be taken care of from the beginning, and that there are no cyber attacks to take a look at from the network administrator’s point of view. It is a fact that any organization would dearly cherish the idea of having a network which is free from cyber attacks and thus the cyber intelligence which exists within it should be kept at a very high level. Even though these are very important points, it has been seen that many organizations in the world today lose out on this factor, and thus there are a number of weaknesses which exist within these areas. Some organizations believe that these cyber attacks will never happen within them and thus the top management devises policies which do not cover these cyber attacks (Starr 2009). There is no room for the cyber intelligence mechanisms and the network administrators do not give their input, which seems like a very bad approach towards safety and security of their internal networks. What this does is to allow the hackers, crackers and breaching parties to know how they will easily enter the organization’s databases and invade the networks which will eventually bring an end to the organization’s dignity and self-respect. As far as these cyber attacks are concerned and how they come about, it is easily deduced here that these happen through the propagation of different viruses which come attached with software programs and even though different corrupt files which are transferred over the Internet. The world of Internet creates many problems for the organizations and therefore it is always a good idea to keep away these viruses by properly updating the databases and anti-virus programs which are widespread these days. What this suggests is the fact that these anti-virus programs will create their own memory and disallow any corrupt file or worm to enter within the network’s boundaries. These anti-virus software act as the watch guards who keep on looking at any potential threats which can come up at any time within the domains of the computer networks that exist within an organization. There is a need to understand that such computer networks will never arise if there are no proper security checks in place, and this would mean complete failure for the company which has planted the network within it, in the first place. One more way under which these cyber attacks are spread includes the open use of USBs and CDs within the organization (Hoofnagle 2010). The computer users which could be the employees themselves easily bring in these peripherals with them on a daily basis, and carry and store their personal data on them. If a single CD or a USB has some malicious data within it, it will easily spread all over the network domains of the organization, and therefore hurt the security which has already existed within it. Then it remains a good idea that the employees are told to clean their CDs and USBs whenever they enter these within their respective computer systems by making use of the anti-virus programs. Another feature of these anti-virus programs is through the automatic scanning of the USBs and CDs as soon as these enter the computers of the users within the network. There have been a number of case studies to support the arguments that have been made above. One such case study is that of the present day scenario of Wikileaks which has created problems for the governments all over the world. It has revealed sensitive information of stolen data from government computers and high-profile private companies and thus become a source of embarrassment and criticism all over the world. The US Government has been at the front of receiving much criticism as more than 250,000 important documents have been stolen and leaked over this website which has been a hit all over the world now. The founder of the Wikileaks, Julian Assange has thus been caught and taken into police custody, but his invention has opened up the eyes of millions of people all over the world. It has made the common man realize how important it is to protect the data over the Internet and how easily data can be stolen without any barriers or any other thing. He has made his point by telling the world what kind of insensitivities exist within the world and what ease exists when it comes to stealing data from any computer around the world. Julian Assange has thus been charged with a number of sins because he has shaken the world in all the wrong ways. For the computer users and network administrators, he has been a source of knowing more that what further they can do to protect and safeguard their systems all over the world. He has basically opened up their eyes as to how they can take care of the data which exists within their respective networks and how their own computer users can take the networks for granted time and time again. Therefore the manner in which Wikileaks has come on to the global horizon has made everyone aware of the potential threats that exist when it comes to the Internet and how the world of Internet and the networks could be dangerous as concerns to file sharing and the viruses which get spread quickly. Wikileaks is just one example. There are other examples as well, which have included normal, day to day revealing of information that is taking place all the time. The networks are being attacked by cyber attacks which happen because the cyber intelligence fails to find out the exact traces from where these cyber attacks originated from (Yu 2009). The cyber intelligence should always be strong as this will lead to success that will ultimately take care of the networks itself. Revealing information over Twitter, Facebook, MSN and other websites and social networks has become a normal activity now, which has hurt the cause of privacy and digital control over the Internet. This has meant that the users of computers have lost out for all the wrong reasons. When it comes to the protections against cyber attacks, there is an important thing which must be understood here. This is the manner in which these cyber attacks are understood by the network administrators and how these are tackled by them so that the computer users are not affected by them and their data and private files are kept in store easily. Before understanding how cyber attacks could be safeguarded from, an organization must have a proper network policy in place. What this will do is to tell the users what the network administrator and indeed the top management within the organization asks of them and how they shall conduct their own selves within the performance of their work over the computers and in sharing the data and files from one computer system to another. Also the top management must exactly decide what course of action to follow once a hacker or cracker is detected within its networks. This could either be someone from the organization or a hacker or cracker who just explored the weaknesses within the network of this organization and decided to invade it. There are a number of reasons which can be provided here as far as understanding who and how one will enter into the network of the organization. However the most important thing that remains to be taken a look at is how well the computer users are conducting themselves and what policies and rules are being followed to safeguard the interests of the organization through these computer networks as well as the computer users also who are essentially the employees at the workplace (Amoroso 2010). The protection against these cyber attacks can also be ensured if the employees are properly trained as to how they should conduct their network usage when they are at the workplace, and what kind of peripherals they can bring in so that the normal routines over the networks do not get affected, and there is complete ease of use as far as the Internet domains and the network areas are concerned. They could be given training through different workshops which can take place within the organization, and thus success could be achieved in a very easy way. This would also mean that the employees know what kind of activities they can do and what kind of forbidden tactics are in place when they are using the network of the organization. This is a very important point, and one which should be understood in an easy flowing way. Achieving success within such areas depends a great deal on the way the top management drafts its policies and code of conduct, and how it solves the problems that the computer users face every now and then. The role of the network administrator remains an important one because he has to exactly decide how to tackle problems which can come up anytime and how success will eventually kiss the feet of the network which is in place. Another aspect which is significant here is to understand how to catch the attacker which is creating nuisance within the network and indeed the whole of the organization. If this attacker is told exactly that he cannot intercept within the organization’s network domains, it becomes a stubborn act for him and he commits to breaking into it. There are some hackers and crackers however who pull out because they believe it is unethical to steal and reveal private data. However this hardly happens because hackers and crackers are perceived to be immoral right from the very beginning of such debates. Catching the attacker therefore becomes a very difficult and cumbersome process. What can however be done is to find out pathways through which attackers can enter into the networks and systems, and how the network administrator can play his important role at keeping all of them at a safe distance (Magnuson 2009). This hardly happens because the network administrator is busy dealing with other things and he has a lot of tasks on his hand already. Therefore in order to catch an attacker, it is important how well the cyber intelligence mechanisms are playing their role and what is being done to keep away the negativities which take place within the networks all the time. Cyber intelligence is important to understand here because it essentially does away with the problems from the potential threats. There is a need to upgrade the level of cyber intelligence here so that the attackers can never enter into the system and thus they think more than twice before committing one such act. In the end, it would be safe to state here that the cyber attacks are very dangerous for the sake of the organizations worldwide. What is important is to find out how and where these cyber attacks will come up from, and what kind of security can exist within the folds of the networks to keep away the negativities which come along with these cyber attacks. There is a need to properly address the relevant roles of the network administrator, the top management and the computer users within the organization so that they can take care of the entire network, inch by inch, and ultimately safeguard the interests of the organization in the long run (Bell 2010). All said and done, much needs to be learned from such discussions of growth and development within any organization of the world, and the role that is played by the security concerns remains an important topic. This will bring in the much needed success for the sake of the organization that one is talking about and highlight the strengths and weaknesses that exist within its folds. This paper took a close look at the problems that can be encountered and how these are taken care of by the network in charge personnel which are present within the organizations to safeguard the interests of the users and indeed the organization in the long run. Bibliography Amoroso, E. (2010). 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