Network Intrusion : The United States Government 's Human Resources Department

Towards the end of 2013, OPM began to upgrade their cybersecurity polices. They added new tools and capabilities to various networks throughout their agency. The results of the new security upgrades, OPM was able to identify two different cybersecurity incidents on its systems. May of 2015 OPM discovered that their system has been under attack. Information such as background investigation records of current, former, and prospective Federal employees and contractors were stolen. After an extensive forensics investigation, it was determined that the types of information in these records include identification information such as Social Security Numbers, educational history, employment history, information about immediate family and other personal

While employed as a Human Resource Assistant, he is responsible for safeguarding Personal Identifiable Information (PII), and entering data or information in the electronic Personnel Files (e-OPF) and Defense Civilian Personnel System (DCPDS). Subsequently, he has not had any documented instances of failure to secure PII or putting such information at risk. Most importantly, he understands that it’s his duty to protect confidential information and ensure that it’s not compromised.

It is the responsibility of the management to hold secure the data and information that they hold on behalf of the clients that they host. This attack was particularly worrying since the corporation is entrusted with highly sensitive government data and the wealth of the American government military information which it should protect from intrusion from external sources. There are also valuable projects for the organization that it protects like

Notably, the site that uses the catchphrase advertisement "Life is Short. Have an Affair," had 37 million account holders, to which their personal information including credit card details and geographical

On July 2015 the Obama administration revealed that a significant cyber attack affected government computer systems. The Obama administration admitted that more than 20 million government workers were affected by the cyber attack. During the cyber attack hackers were able to gain access to personal information that included Social Security numbers and fingerprints. Besides gaining access to Social Security numbers and fingerprints the hackers were also able to steal home addresses, financial history, and other sensitive information. This cyber attack alone affected 19 million government workers and over 1 million spouses. The administration indicated that the cyber attack was separate but related to another cyber attack that

Over the last few years the amount of security breaches that have been reported have had one factor that has been prevalent in majority of the attacks. That factor is the employee’s and how they are manipulated into giving the intruder/hacker exactly what they needed without realizing it. The use of social engineering in data breaches and fraud has been steadily increasing over the years. Confidentiality, integrity, and availability the three components of the CIA triad in network security can all be compromised by the risk of social engineering.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in June 2015 discovered two cybersecurity breach incidents that impacted information of Federal government employees and contractors. OPM discovered that the background investigation data of current, former, and future Federal employees and contractors had been stolen y hackers. OPM found that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers of 21 million individuals were stolen from the background investigation databases. This includes 20 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 2 million non-applicants, mostly spouses or co-habitants of applicants. Some records also include Reports of Investigations/Statements from interviews conducted by

Information can be attained through friends /relatives, accessed as part of a transaction, taken by a corrupt employee at any institution used, through mail, computer spyware, virus, hackers, and email, also out of the trash (Katel, Peter). The average American ignores the risks that everyday activities put it in. Ignorance is never an excuse when something of such substantial value becomes compromised, nor does it rectify the damages.

On August 18, hackers exposed the identities of Ashley Madison customers because they did not like the business practices of the parent website. Another data dump exposed customer emails and company files, but the authenticity of the documents has not yet been confirmed.

The first one being, the entire business of having a website for people to have affairs on. Although it is legal to cheat in a relationship, it is morally wrong, marry or not to have an affair because it says immoral things about your emotional traits and affects your family and social circle. The last portion of this story that is not surprising is the website is mostly made up of men, so there are many fake women profiles. Thus many men are not finding a real person to have an affair with. However, it is legal for Ashley Madison to this because they are bending the truth and have a disclaimer in the terms of service to protect them from legal action. They don’t guarantee you will find a date and you acknowledge and agree that some of the profiles posted on the site may fictitious. The reason why I put this topic in this category, is if you’re going to promote having affair, why isn’t the company all in on it. It seems like they are just exploiting people in bad relationships and feeding off their emotions.

The Ashley Madison’s case is just one of many hacks that occur on the Internet. Companies such as Cisco, Yahoo, LinkedIn, University of California (Berkeley), Verizon Enterprise Solutions, and Snapchat are part of the long list of hacked industries. However, this hack was very noteworthy because it involved sex,

Ashley Madison is an online dating site for married men and women. Recently, a hacer team called the Impact Team, accessed the servers on Ashley Madison.The hackers asked for the site to be shut down or they would reveal users data. This data included names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, usernames, and passwords. Researchers and journalist have been analyzing the date leaked and found out that the common passwords were very simple, such as 123456 or simply password. You must be at least 18 years of age to access this site but the release shows that this doesn't always happen. According to Global News there are 4,488 accounts that have been created even tho there age was under 18. Now the website doesn't allow anyone under the age of 18 to create an account.

Ashley Madison is one of the top dating and extramarital affair sites in the world. Ashley Madison is based in Canada but has members worldwide. The site prides itself on secrecy and confidentiality. There are approximately 39 million members in 53 different countries, including multiple US government officials (Mulshine 2015). Unlike other dating sites, Ashley Madison bases subscriptions on credits not money and a user can earn credits every month just for having an account. The business model says users are allowed to hide their profiles for free for privacy purposes. On July 15, 2015, the risque site found itself in the limelight when a group of hackers known as the Impact Team, stole all of the customer data and threatened to release personal

Both the government and the private sector have been aware of the threat social engineering poses to information security since the 1980s, but it has only gained public notoriety within the last decade. Still, while today 's corporations may be prepared for a raid by anonymous cyber-terrorists striking from overseas, they continue to turn a blind eye to the dangers of socially engineered attacks. Thanks to a combination of corporate oversight and poor employee training, hackers with zero coding knowledge are able to penetrate their secured buildings and wreak havoc. In order to combat this vulnerability, the Department of Homeland Security should take an active role in the operational security of major American businesses through extensive auditing and employee training.

Ashley Madison has made headlines – but maybe not how people may have imagined. “Hackers last week released detailed records on millions of people registered with the website, a month after a break-in at Ashley Madison's parent company, Toronto-based Avid Life Media Inc.” After the release of names, two suicides have been committed. While they have yet to be confirmed in reference to the Ashley Madison ‘affair’, it’s safe to say that this act has caused people a lot of trouble. The CEO of the company has been harassed and family’s lives have been upturned. Some of these clients of Ashley Madison are being ransomed by the hackers, who called themselves the Impact Team – payment or your name will be leaked.