How Can Organisations Ensure that Information Held within their Essay

How Can Organisations Ensure that Information Held within their Information Systems is Secure - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the business environment is highly competitive in the 21st century as free market economies, which run by the principles of supply and demand, are becoming more prevalent. While no economy is completely a free market economy without any government intervention, most economies are at least partially free market. This intensifies competition as businesses seek to attract customers based on prices, quality, and other unique selling propositions. An essential part of the business process is the processing and dissemination of information. Businesses rely upon accurate and quickly gathered information regarding markets, products, customers, ideas, and other aspects concerning the business, in order to properly plan and implement their future strategies. Businesses must also keep accurate records of their past, current, and future plans in order to function in an organized manner. As businesses must take due care of their possessions and ass ets to prevent damage or theft, businesses must also protect their information from being stolen or misused. While assets may be quite expensive and valuable for the firm, information is worth much more and has a higher risk involved. Cybercrime is at large in today’s technologically advanced world, in which thieves do not attempt to take physical assets from people, but directly aim to access intangible information, which is regarded as more valuable. Corporations keep their information safe on computers that are locked with passwords and only staff is permitted to access the information. However, often there are instances of information leaks or access to restricted records by competitors, which causes the business immense damage. Hackers and other cyber thieves access important information to commit frauds or to manipulate the business’s financial records. Many times, large amounts of cash are transferred from the business account to other accounts and they become i rretrievable. There are thousands of ways that businesses can suffer harm through the access of their personal information. Account numbers, financial information, customer records, meeting plans, and new business strategies are all recorded on computers and it is regarded as a safer place to put such information rather than in paper form where it is easily accessible to all. Unfortunately, while computers may be the safer place to put such information, saving it from ordinary people and ordinary thieves, yet it is still considerably unsafe from technologically perceptive cyber thieves and hackers. Hence, businesses must take several measures to protect themselves from cyber crimes and keep their information safe. Before the electronic means of controlling the access to data is discussed, it must also be noted that information may also be disseminated through employees and through simple discussion conducted by employees with outsiders. Businesses also take measures to protect thems elves from such situations as they are perhaps more likely to occur than even cybercrime. As mentioned above, employees are a primary source of information about a company and are the people who are given access to a company’s databases. The first and foremost method a company uses to protect its information from being openly disclosed or discussed is through a confidentiality agreement between a company and its employees. This legal document binds the employee within a secrecy agreement and ensures that the employee agrees to keep all the information regarding the company and its strategies confidential. In the case that such information is dispersed by the employee, the employee will be liable for losses and legal action can be taken against the employee.