1. Identify & describe the failure points in TJX's security that requires attention (including, but not limited to: People, Work Process, and Technology)? After analyzing the Ivey case on TJX data fiasco, I would say there were three major failure points that caused this $168MM financial hit to the corporation.
• Technology: it is obvious that TJX had several technology deficiencies mainly driven by systems limitations and vulnerability. For example, inadequate wireless network security allowed the hackers to attack specific stores just by using a laptop and an antenna which permitted the thieves access to the central database. As it was mentioned in the business case, TJX was using (WEP) as the security protocol and it is
…show more content…
• Customer’s sensitive data: TJX needs to identify and control where customer sensitive data is being store, for example TJX was storing this type of information on local machines without any type of regulation.
3. What should its short-term priorities and long-term plans be?
Short term priorities:
• Implement a security training program for IT employees and any employee manipulating customer sensitive data
• Identify the weak system areas that intruders may attack
• Establish periodically auditing check up points.
• Complete financial analysis on the $ cost / benefit investment needed to upgrade technology security. Technology is expensive; however, data breaches are even more expensive.
Long term priorities:
• The CIO role in the company needs to be clearly identified along with accountabilities and objectives for him and his organization, including preventing security breaches.
• Since E-Commerce and technology evolves every day, developing a team or process to stay on top of potential business risks associated to security.
4. Was TJX a victim of ingenious cyber crooks or did it create risk by cutting corners?
TJX created its own risk because it had so many deficiencies in its data security processes and it lack of good quality wireless security. The best proof that TJX created its own risk is the fact that
When comparing the failure points of technology to the people of TJX and the work processes, the failure point in technology had the biggest impact in the security breach. TJX did not have up to date end point protection tools in place to stop and/or diminish risks posed by individuals involving infected USB drives and USB ports. The company also had computer booths placed in public areas with exposed USB ports which can be tampered with at any time. These booths were linked to their production network which provided an avenue to attack and breach TJX’s network. TJX should have put in place detection software on to these booths along with firm USB antivirus scans to combat any individuals up to foul play and to protect the company’s data. The systems used in these booths should have been placed in a different network sector rather than the main production network and should have more rigorous security firewall for network communication. To add to the failure points in technology, TJX did not employ any file integrity monitoring or data leak prevention solutions to detect and stop theft of critical information. No system was in place to observe real time actions of individuals using the system which led to attacks occurring and TJX being oblivious to them. Had there been solutions in place along with a team of proficient
There are five components to the operations security process that companies use to analyze. These five modules provide a company a full analysis of the risks, vulnerabilities, and threats of their data and how to mitigate them. This process identifies all the critical information the company or organization have such a credit card information like TJX had on their main server. Identifying this information is crucial so the business knows what valuable assets, or data is being stored. If a company does not recognize this material, the material is unprotected.
. The goal for this training is to equip employees with knowledge and skills that need positive change and eliminate the cycle of network security ignorance. Employees must be vigilant that there are bad guys out there that want to steal sensitive information from an organization (networksecurity.com) Brian Moynihan; CEO of the bank of American frequently speaks about the challenges modern information services face. As mobile banking stay competitive and within budget, the bank is constantly innovating and improving, but innovation cannot come at the cost of establishing weakened security (Vivek, 2015)
Years later, the police arrived to inform him informed of a recent breach in the Heartland Cafe network. Detectives on the scene checked and analyzed for any possible vulnerabilities, where Tom confessed that his POS reseller, franchisor and POS reseller neglected to tell Tom to conform with the updated PTS requirements. The investigators learned that Tom’s scans originated from a different location and confirmed that the Heartland Cafe was a victim. While Tom was updating his security measures, he temporarily shut down Heartland Cafe in order to address this issue.
There are many ways to help prevent breaches such as the Home Depot and the similar Target breach. Most retailers these days have multiple locations possibly in two or more countries like The Home Depot. Because of this the retailers need to know exactly where the business of the organization is being conducted. These organizations need to take the extra steps and know where the customer data is at all times especially payment information. They need to keep track of how it is being accessed and how it is being secured. Tom Bain, who is a senior vice president at a company called Security CounterTack, says “Retailers need to get a better grasp on who is being granted access to their networks and why” (Vijayan). Home Depot failed to do this on a daily basis and this is why the breach was so extensive. People do not know the reason as to why the company did not check these daily logs for payment information but this is the reason that they had such a big breach on their payment systems.
Apart from that, the TJX system was so weak that anyone could easily eavesdrop on the employees and access information like user ID and passwords. The intruders had then easily created their own accounts and gained remote access from anywhere in the TJX system.
As technology grows and information has become a critical asset companies currently are devoted their resource and money to protect their data as important as their finance and human resource assets.
In today’s world it is highly impossible for any kind of business to function without the assistance of technology. Any company that relies on digital data and computer networks have exposure to a host of varying Cyber Attacks. As technology continues to evolve, cyber security breaches become even more difficult to solve. The cybersecurity world rightly believes in the maxim – It’s not if, it’s when!
Thanks for sharing your post, I believe the way the security system for TMS was structured require a lot of improvement. The fact that they were not able to identify who created events made the system useless. In addition, having only one personnel authorized to enter the system with a disclosed password created breaks in the security. Which can lead to sharing confidential information.
The massive security breach at TJX companies in 2005 has become a lesson in proper security in retail stores across the world. This breach that led to the loss of personal information on millions of customers is a direct result of inadequate security safeguards. Managing risk over critical information can always be tricky, but it is important to integrate security standards and privacy requirements across each company. TJX companies certainly put their customers information at risk by relying on weak encryption technology to protect this information. With the proper security measures, this record breaking data breach could have been avoided.
These policies and procedures must also cover that these activities are conducted as dated. Conducting IT security audits every six months would also help avoid any potential breaches. These audits will bring forth any flaws in the security system and strategy and this will allow TJX’s security team to address those flaws before it’s too late. Conducting employee training is also significant to increase awareness to reinforce security measures that must be followed as a safe practice. If TJX follows these practices religiously, the chances of such incidents are slim to
As stated above, all examples share in one of the types of information compromised, which was credit card information. All three had vulnerabilities in I.T. security, TJX and Equifax with not having the necessary controls in place and Target in not have the proper people in place making decisions and/or incident reporting guidelines.
Another major issue is that not many people from executive management and research department know much about information security. This situation asks for several security training sessions for both management and staff so as to create more awareness about the security.
business issue and not just a technology issue. As seen by the attack, an IT security
The control that failed to mitigate the risk event was using WEP encryption technology. It was sufficient when it was developed, but approximately 2 years later the code was cracked. TJX knew and failed to address the obsolete technology. As a retailer that accepts credit cards, it was later proved that TJX was not compliant with PCI Security standards. PCI stands for payment card industry and credit card companies have developed this list of security measures to help protect against theft.