Hackers Target the U.S. Presidential Election: What Happened?

September 2015, Special Agent Adrian Hawkins of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) phoned the Democratic National Committee (DNC) with troubling news about its computer network: At least one DNC com­puter system had been penetrated by hackers linked to the Russian govern­ment. Yared Tamene, the DNC tech-support contractor who fielded the calls, conducted

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Why Systems are Vulnerable

When large amounts of data are stored in electronic form, they are vulnerable to many kinds of threats. Through communications networks, information sys­tems in different locations are interconnected. The potential for unauthorized access or damage is not limited to a single location but can occur at many access points in the network. Figure 8.1

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Malicious Software: Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, and Spyware

Malicious software programs are referred to as malware and include a variety of threats such as computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. (See Table 8.1.) A computer virus is a rogue software program that attaches itself to other software programs or data files to be executed, usually without user knowledge or permission. Most computer

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Hackers and Computer Crime

A hacker is an individual who intends to gain unauthorized access to a com­puter system. Within the hacking community, the term cracker is typically used to denote a hacker with criminal intent, although in the public press, the terms hacker and cracker are used interchangeably. Hackers gain unauthorized access by finding weaknesses in the

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Internal Threats: Employees

We tend to think the security threats to a business originate outside the or­ganization. In fact, company insiders pose serious security problems. Studies have found that user lack of knowledge is the single greatest cause of network security breaches. Many employees forget their passwords to access computer systems or allow coworkers to use them,

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Software Vulnerability

Software errors pose a constant threat to information systems, causing untold losses in productivity and sometimes endangering people who use or depend on systems. Growing complexity and size of software programs, coupled with demands for rapid delivery to markets, have contributed to an increase in soft­ware flaws or vulnerabilities. For example, in February 2017

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Legal and Regulatory Requirements for Electronic Records Management

U.S. government regulations are forcing companies to take security and con­trol more seriously by mandating the protection of data from abuse, exposure, and unauthorized access. Firms face new legal obligations for the retention and storage of electronic records as well as for privacy protection. If you work in the healthcare industry, your firm will

Electronic Evidence and Computer Forensics

Security, control, and electronic records management have become essential for responding to legal actions. Much of the evidence today for stock fraud, embezzlement, theft of company trade secrets, computer crime, and many civil cases is in digital form. In addition to information from printed or typewritten pages, legal cases today increasingly rely on evidence

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What are the components of an organizational framework for security and control?

Even with the best security tools, your information systems won’t be reliable and secure unless you know how and where to deploy them. You’ll need to know where your company is at risk and what controls you must have in place to protect your information systems. You’ll also need to develop a security pol­icy

What are the most important tools and technologies for safeguarding information resources?

Businesses have an array of technologies for protecting their information resources. They include tools for managing user identities, preventing unau­thorized access to systems and data, ensuring system availability, and ensuring software quality. 1. Identity Management and Authentication Midsize and large companies have complex IT infrastructures and many sys­tems, each with its own set of

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How Secure Is the Cloud?

Over the last several years, many companies have altered their IT strategies to shift an increasing share of their applications and data to public-cloud infra­structure and platforms. However, using the public cloud disrupts traditional cybersecurity models that many companies have built up over years. As a re­sult, as companies make use of the public

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How do enterprise systems help businesses achieve operational excellence?

Around the globe, companies are increasingly becoming more connected, both internally and with other companies. If you run a business, you’ll want to be able to react instantaneously when a customer places a large order or when a shipment from a supplier is delayed. You may also want to know the impact of these

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How do supply chain management systems coordinate planning, production, and logistics with suppliers?

If you manage a small firm that makes a few products or sells a few services, chances are you will have a small number of suppliers. You could coordinate your supplier orders and deliveries by using just a telephone and fax machine. But if you manage a firm that produces more complex products and

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How do customer relationship management systems help firms achieve customer intimacy?

You’ve probably heard phrases such as “the customer is always right” or “the cus­tomer comes first.” Today these words ring truer than ever. Because competitive advantage based on an innovative new product or service is often very short lived, companies are realizing that their most enduring competitive strength may be their relationships with their

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What are the challenges that enterprise applications pose, and how are enterprise applications taking advantage of new technologies?

Many firms have implemented enterprise systems and systems for supply chain and customer relationship management because they are such powerful instruments for achieving operational excellence and enhancing decision making. But precisely because they are so powerful in changing the way the or­ganization works, they are challenging to implement. Let’s briefly examine some of these

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Kenya Airways Flies High with Customer Relationship Management

Kenya Airways is the flag carrier of Kenya and ranks among the top ten African airlines in terms of seat capacity, with a fleet of 33 aircraft covering 53 destinations domestically and abroad. It is the only African airline in the SkyTfeam alliance, whose 20 members include Delta Airlines, Air France, Alitalia, Aeromexico, China

Youtube Transforms the Media Landscape

The first video posted on YouTube was a 19-second clip from 2005 of one of the company’s founders standing in front of the San Diego Zoo ele­phant cage. Who would have thought that the online video-sharing ser­vice would mushroom into the world’s second most popular website, with more than 1.8 billion monthly users? YouTube

E-commerce Today

E-commerce refers to the use of the Internet and the web to transact business. More formally, e-commerce is about digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals. For the most part, this re­fers to transactions that occur over the Internet and the web. Commercial trans­actions involve the exchange of value (e.g., money)

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The New E-commerce: Social, Mobile, Local

One of the biggest changes is the extent to which e-commerce has become more social, mobile, and local. Online marketing once consisted largely of creating a corporate website, buying display ads on Yahoo, purchasing search-related ads on Google, and sending email messages. The workhorse of online market­ing was the display ad. It still is,

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Why E-commerce Is Different

Why has e-commerce grown so rapidly? The answer lies in the unique nature of the Internet and the web. Simply put, the Internet and e-commerce technol­ogies are much richer and more powerful than previous technology revolutions such as radio, television, and the telephone. Table 10.2 describes the unique features of the Internet and web

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