Common malware and threats facing the National bank of Australia and its operations
Introduction
The aims and objectives of this report are to describe the various threats that are linked to the incorporations of technology into business and organizations, furthermore, the report will also illustrate the various impacts these threats may have on an organization. The report will also give the various recommendations that an organization will use in countering this risk and threat while showing their benefits. However, the aim and objectives of this firm will be put into perspective through the use of National Bank of Australia as the selected organization. It’s among the largest banking originations in Australia offering information services to both its consumers and staff members in order to access its products and services. Headquartered in Docklands, NAB operates through 820 banking centers and is present in New Zealand, the US, Asia, and Europe. NAB currently employs around 35,063 staff and serves around 8 million customers around the world. As of 2016, the total income of the bank reached US$5,144 million and total assets amounted to US$617 billion. Therefore, the aims and objectives of this report will be discussed and analyzed broadly in the context of the National bank of Australia (Daly, & Gebremedhin, 2015).
Common malware and threats facing the National bank of Australia and its operations
Spyware- this type of malware affects breaches the information system of the organization, its clients, and users through spying on them without their knowledge. Through spyware, attackers are able to monitor and collect data on their victims’ devices and even makes changes to their information systems (Laybats, & Tredinnick, 2016). This would be fatal for NAB since an attacker would acquire logon details of their customers and even steal money from their accounts
Botnets- a collection of computers or servers used by attackers for DDOS attacks on organizations system and also deliver malware disguised inform of popular search items done by staff members.
Adware-also known as advertising-supported software is a type of malware that affects internet devices such as computer and smartphones. They affect these devices through advertainment pop up on websites and advertisements displayed on software and applications. this adware could be used to create backdoors into the bank’s information systems and acquire sensitive data. In some instances, adware is bundled with spyware which could be more futile for the bank consumers and its staff members
Rootkit-ist a malicious software that is designed to gain remote access to computers and manipulate them without the knowledge of the security systems nor the users. Once this software has been executed it is possible for the attacker to harvest user data and modify the information systems which is futile for organizations such as NAB, where attackers can monitor the activities of the staff members
Networking devices used by NAB
Worms-this is the most common malware, it affects organizational operational activities by exploiting the vulnerabilities of the operating system being used by consuming bandwidth and overloading servers which causes them to overheat and reduce efficiency and later crush if nothing is done to eradicate it (Tuvell, & Venugopal, 2017). However, worms have the ability to replicate and spread to as many computers in an organization, moreover, they could be accompanied with payloads which are used to harvest data and manipulate the systems and create bots as well
Viruses-another type of malware that has the ability to reciprocate itself and spread to other computers by attaching and infecting essential applications and programs when the user launches them. viruses can be used to steal crucial information, harm networks, and their host computers and also create botnets (Jouini, Rabai, & Aissa, 2014)
Networking devices used by NAB
Routers-its purpose it creates a connection between two or more computers in a network which consequentially data packets are exchanged between them. The authenticity of the information in the data packets is verified by their automatically assigned addresses, therefore, determining the presence in the same network, identifying the source and destination in the long run, however, routers are vulnerable to destruction, error, and abuse. There are two aspects of a router the hardware which contains the computer parts such as ROM, CPU, and ROM. The software part is known as the firmware which runs the router. It is very difficult to write software and even the gurus may make mistakes creating room for bugs which hacker will definitely exploit. Router vendors will likely sell routers that have outdated firmware so that they can make profits (Singh, & Tyagi,2015). This is due to the fact that they look for ways to produce hardware at a lower cost and often neglect the software part, in some cases you may find that the casing of the routers may be inefficient, weak and breaks easily, despite this it has achieved the vendors goal for lower cost production and generate maximum profits as possible. Moreover, exploits identified by hackers are hardly updated since vendors are focused on the next router. Sometimes routers may be configured wrongly due to the lack of knowledge in handling understanding the firmware terms used by engineers for engineers, this creates errors and vulnerabilities in the long run.
Switch-a computer networking device that creates a connection of devices together on the same network through packet switching where data is received processed and sent to its intended destination device. Just like routers switch firmware is complex and hard to write, this results in coders leaving mistakes in the code which causes bugs that hackers tend to exploit. a good example id the famous CISCO switch vulnerability where there was incorrect processing of packets which was exploited by hackers. Moreover, a firm’s objective is to produce maximum revenue at the lowest possible cost of productions is also applied here which results in easy destruction and breakages with improper handling. Due to the complexity of the firmware, it tends to be hard for users with a typical technical knowledge to performs incorrect configurations causing errors, therefore, disrupting the network
How NAB can ensure reliability and availability of the web service
Hub-a network hub is used in connecting multiple hosts in a network moreover, just like the switch it also transfers packets data on a computer network. Bugs that may originate from mistakes made during coding will create chances for exploitations by hackers. Moreover, lack of updates on the firmware by vendors will constantly increase vulnerability to their consumers who do use the same network device for a while. Moreover, the use of low production cost, especially on the casing of the hub, may reduce its durability in the long run
How NAB can ensure reliability and availability of the web service
Regular updates-It is essential for the organizations to make regular updates on the windows server 2012 for the purpose of acquiring security updates to protect the web service from new threats and attacks
Hardware maintenance-regular hardware maintenance and replacement are essential since it will remove obstacles such as dust and prevent overheating which will reduce reliability durability.
Monitoring system alarms and systems health -the firmware in server 2012 contain efficient monitoring systems that will alert the IT supports in case of a problem with the system. This allows quick response in solving the issue, therefore, maintaining availability and reliability of the web service
Backup non-replaceable data-through backing of non-replaceable data that would be lost in case of a hacking or a crash of the server would ensure maintaining its operational activities to run smoothly
confidentiality and integrity of the staff email
Rules and policies- the organization should educate all its employees on the various policies available concerning privacy at workplaces, as well as the consequences that will be met with the breach of these policies
Identifying confidential information -employees should be able to discern confidential intimation such as employee information and contracts, if not clarification should be made through seminars and training
Traffic encryption -encrypting of the email traffic will go a long way in protecting data and information sent by staff members
Awareness of new IS threats-as an organization sit is essential to be aware of the new threats and vulnerabilities that can affect the confidentiality and integrity of the staff email
malware and security issues related to webmail and web server
Brute Force Attack- the attacker attempts to gain access to the web server by attempting to gain the correct root administrator password through the use of software or Linux executions that check every possible combination
Botnet- a collection of computers or servers used by attackers for DDOS attacks on organizations system and also deliver malware disguised inform of popular search items done by staff members
Confidentiality and integrity of the staff email
DDoS attacks- also known as the denial of service, its lethal technique attackers use to shutdown effectively the webservers through increasing traffics that the servers become unresponsive overheats and crash
Cross-site Scripting- it maximizes vulnerabilities found in web applications which allows the attacker to inject code in the server-side script which is used in the execution of malicious client-side scripts as well as harvest data from users (Cassidy,2016)
SQL Injection- utilizes vulnerabilities found in the database associated with web applications. the strings are inserted malicious codes that are later passed to the SQL server, parsed and executed.
Approaches National Bank of Australia can use to increase availability of web and email servers
Load Balancing- The organization can use this approach to improve availability and performance in the long run through the distributions of the workload through multiple web and email servers. If one server fails and it is already loaded balanced the other web and email server will handle oncoming traffic until it becomes healthy (Pearlson,, Saunders, & Galletta,2016).
Figure 1: load balancing approach to increase availability of web and email servers at NAB
Recovery Plans- this approach will assist NAB to recover efficiently from potential failures or administration errors within the web and email servers moreover they give the firm a recovery plan from any point of failures such as hardware failure or accidental deletion of data that would affect the presence and availability of the web and email server for a specific time.
Figure 2: recovery plan approach to increase availability of web and email servers at NAB
impact of human factors and organizational issue IS related security and management
The human factor has a great impact on IS security and management in a world of technology advancements accompanied with increasing threats to undermine them, however, there is always the tendencies to equate origin of security breaches to the end users which is not the case (Parsons et,al 2015). This needs to be looked at from a holistic view of three paradigms, the end user the, IS professional and in the top executives daily operations if the end user will affect the IS either negatively or positively and it’s up to the IS professionals to respond according to ensure (Soomro, Shah, & Ahmed 2016). Moreover the top executives in an organizations play a big role in offering support such as infrastructures and financially to the IS professionals in maintaining effective and secure information systems as well as structuring policies and regulations for their implementation (Gilpin & Lawler,2015)
Malware and security issues related to webmail and web server
log records in monitoring and analyzing web and email server problems
Consistently, computers nowadays are producing records of the events that happen. Some are normal. Others are markers of a decrease in network health or endeavored security ruptures. Log documents contain an abundance of data to decrease an association’s exposure to attackers, malware, harm, misfortune and lawful liabilities. A vulnerability that has attacked NAB can be traced back to the user or staff member who was compromised initially and appropriate actions can be taken. Log information should be gathered, stored, analyzed and observed to meet and give an account of regulatory compliance standards like Sarbanes Oxley (Layton, 2016). .
Benefits of audit log reports
Auditing analysis-audit reports tend to be very useful to the information system security in an organization. Through these reports organizations such as NAB is able to assess the various damages or threats that could compromise the entire system.IS professionals are also able to identify end users networks movements and identify those who are prone to threats and take appropriate actions (Safa et. al, 2014)
Internal investigations-audit reports are also essential in conducting investigations in cases of complaints from end users and tracking the cause of information’s system security compromise. This is possible since networks devices will generate log records of every event, therefore, identifying the compromised party is easier and faster.
Operational trends and long-term problems. As an IT professional working in NAB, it will be easier for me to identify operational trends that occur through the use of the audit reports. Compromise arising from the operational trend will be easier to address through appropriate actions.IS issue that seems too long-term, strategies can be created and implemented in order to tackle them and eradicate them in the future and also introducing a learning curve for future scenarios that may arise (Taneja et,al 2016)
Proposed Types of Network devices to mitigate threats
Active Devices-these are devices that are efficient in blocking surplus traffic that may cause a DDOS attack or purely innocent overloading which would cause failure of the web and email servers. They include content filtering devices, firewalls, and antivirus scanning devices (Sharma, Dhote, & Potey,2017)
The passive Devices-these appliance will be used in identifying unwanted intrusion in the web and email servers and alert the IT specialist to take appropriate actions. This will be effective in preventing malware such as rootkit and spyware
Preventative Devices-these devices will be used in scanning the network and identifying potential threats to the information systems and appropriate actions are taken, these devices include penetration testing tools
Unified Threat Management- performs its tasks in general through the incorporations of the devices above as one. This offers efficiency in detecting and preventing intrusions and security threat to the firm effectively
Access control devices-its efficient to recognize each user and its device to prevent outsiders from accessing the organization’s services.it also assists in implementing policies and regulations and those users who don’t comply are given limited access (Garba, Armarego, & Murray,2015)
Conclusion
Technological advancements and innovations have been on the rise in the recent years, this has led to increases in incorporations of these technologies into business and organizations in general in order to increase generation of revenue and their growth and development This has resulted in organizations and business to become highly dependent on technology, its attracts immense risks as well (Webb et,al 2014). These threats such as hackers and malware disrupt that effectiveness of an organization in performing its tasks the report has discussed the various threats. The report has also looked at the network devices used by NAB and explained the reasons why they are prone to vulnerability and destructions moreover the human factor has also been addressed and it has come into a conclusion that it should be looked at through a holistic view. organizations should consider strong information’s systems through the incorporation of network and system devices. They should also train their employees regularly and issue them with appropriate tools so as to reduce their compromise by hackers or intruders and sustain a strong efficient information system
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