Security Firm Symantec : An Evolving National Strategy

The entire cyber security industry is in a period of growth. As both corporations and private consumers are becoming aware of vulnerabilities with their online presence cyber security firms, have learned how to offer in-demand solutions for a wide variety of customers. Within the field of cyber security, there are several different types. These different types of services range from protection on the Internet of Things to producing devices to protected connected cars or phones. Each of these areas are expected to grow by the year 2020 with some being more in demand than others. In the article, “Cybersecurity Market Reacher $75 Billion in 2015, Expected to Reach $170 Billion by 2020,” Steve Morgan notes that, “the hot areas for growth are security

This report is prepared to assist the aircraft solutions (AS), a well-known company for equipment and component fabrication in Southern California, in identifying the most important security vulnerabilities. This report also discusses possible threats, the likelihood of the threats occurring

Since the onset of the first packet switching event that many believe to be beginning of the internet, no other technology besides the printing press has ever transformed the ability to deliver information. Although the internet is used by a large percentage of the civilized world, few Americans realize how vital cyberspace is to our national infrastructure. Today, we are faced with even more threats although it has been a recognized problem since 2009, when President Barrack Obama said “The cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation. It’s also clear that we’re not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country (Obama, 2009).” Every industry that operates in the United States is dependent on the internet for some aspect of their business. Commerce, transportation, financial institutions, military, as well as industrial control systems are all interconnected. This interconnectedness has created vulnerabilities within their infrastructure that have increasingly become targets of terrorists, script kiddies, foreign governments and hackers of all types.

The author of this response is asked to answer to a few questions relating to cyber-attacks at several different mission-critical or otherwise very sensitive agencies or companies in the area. The ramifications of each incident and who will be affected by the same will be discussed. The outcomes of each will also be mentioned. The author is also asked to identify the steps and recovery path for one of the incidents in particular

As a country with a growing dependency on technology the threat from terrorist organization and other adversaries have an increasing chance of infiltrating our nation’s cyber space causing disruption to our everyday life. Due to the importance of our critical infrastructures, we as a nation will continue to attract threats trying to shut down our society with extremist groups and terrorist groups.

The availability of cheap cyber weapons has made cyber-terrorism a growing threat to the stability of America's critical infrastructures and society in general. Needless to say that cyber terrorism is a major issue for American policymakers and IT professionals. The growing threat to commercial and government entities has prompted organizations to develop effective strategies and methods to protect their resources and assets from the threat of attackers. Such strategies and methods include but are not limited to continual risk and vulnerability assessment, upgrade of software and use of tools such as encryption, firewalls and intrusion detection systems and the implementation of disaster recovery and business continuity plans in the case of a cyber incident. The following paper will offer a few basic definitions to illustrate the concept of cyber terrorism, discuss the physical and human aspects of cyber terrorism, offer assessment of the most pressing threats and the most vulnerable targets, recommend methods to combat national and international cyber terrorism. Finally, several preventative actions will be recommended for implementation. Finally, a basic checklist/template is also provided in order to better illustrate and summarize recommendations and suggestions.

Our program incorporates these security capabilities into a comprehensive, multi-layered defensive approach for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the public’s sensitive personally identifiable information. As we continue to provide new opportunities for better customer service through new online services, we must remain vigilant in continuing to strengthen our cyber terrorism program capabilities. To that end, we proactively try to penetrate our own information systems daily to rigorous test and analyze any points of vulnerability. We continuously learn more about the ways hackers may try to gain access to our systems, and we continuously devise ways to stop them. Therefore, our cyber terrorism defense program will overpass the performance standards to remain strong, we will continue to evolve our cyber terrorist defense program to reflect changes in technology, changes to business processes, and changes in the complexity of internal or external threats. Continued investments in cyber terrorism projects and initiatives will ensure we have the resources needed to accomplish our agency’s mission and thus maintain public confidence in the agency’s ability to protect their

In the previous five years, cybersecurity has turned into the most looked for after calling around the world. More than 90 percent of respondents to an overview directed by the Ponemon Institute (2011) detailed being a casualty to cyberattacks amid the most recent year, costing all things considered more than $2 million for each association. This number keeps on ascending as the two programmers and security devices progress. As indicated by PwC, roughly 33% of all U.S. organizations are as of now utilizing digital protection (Lindros and Tittel, 2016).

Cyber Attacks have forced industries to assess many areas of security as well as policies and procedures currently in place that protect sensitive information. Companies have lost billions of dollars as part these breaches, as they are forced to reimburse consumers for transactions and exposure of their identities. “A report by the

Cyberterrorism, cyber campaigns, and cyber-warfare are all considered forms of cyber-attacks. Therefore, the spectrum of cyber-attacks will employ the gamut from computer viruses to data hacking targeting individual computers to organizations infrastructures and networks. These attacks have become more sophisticated and dangerous. McLaughlin (2011) Portends that international concern has intensified due to recent cyber-attacks. McLaughlin (2011), Stated that governments that known for being hostile could launch computer-based attacks on critical systems which are national and regional (McLaughlin, 2011). These systems include energy distribution, telecommunications, and financial services (McLaughlin, 2011).

The attacks on critical infrastructure have become a growing cause of concern for governments and private providers’ internationally whether caused through cybercriminals pursuing financial gain or by hackers as political acts intended to emasculate governments’ and companies’ credibility. The anxiety around these threats is vindicated, as research exhibits that attacks on the critical infrastructure are greater than before in both complexity and prevalence and will endure to develop in the near future. The site management and monitoring have progressed for critical infrastructure facilities as they have become more increasingly connected to the internet. However, added convenience of connectivity has turned once limited attack surface of these industries into a fertile landscape for cyber-attacks. Due to the potentially high profile impacts of attacks on critical infrastructure systems, these industries have become even more attractive targets for cybercriminals (Cavelty, 2014).

The “International Security Threat Report” provides data on cybersecurity attacks and threats throughout 2012. The report shows that there was a 42% increase in targeted attacks (page 10). Although the types of attacks have been evolving, the number of people affected and the amount of damage has increased. Cyber attacks have evolved in such a way that allows them to be a large threat for citizens, businesses, and governments.

In recent years information security and privacy have come to be topics of high importance with rapid technological advancements. Technology has provided vast areas of opportunities, but these have also brought along unprecedented threats. Since the “Morris” worm in the 1980’s cyber threat has grown from isolated incidents to high profile attacks on major government and private organizations.

The human and technological aspects of cyber threats changed dramatically in the past year. Witnessing new techniques blended with the old, resulting in highly evasive attacks. Recently we have seen big business, corporations,

Cyber threats have become more and more sophisticated, and have demonstrated that static security concepts are no longer adequate with today’s advanced and well-funded attackers. The increasing risk of espionage within the cyber domain has revealed that data is not protected. It has even become important for organizations to re-evaluate their methods in protecting their systems, and should urge the need for an additional ‘pre-emption’ phase for better prevention techniques, detection, and response (Fischer, 2014). There is not as much concern about the type of the security concept, but more about the policy in place that organizations choose to adopt in an effort to battle the threats. There is a gradual