Workplace security: preventing physical crimes and cybercrime threats

¶ … Crime

Workplace is not safe from numerous types of crimes. These crimes can range anywhere from burglary to homicides and from discrimination on the basis of sex to even rape for that matter. But these crimes are physical crimes and it is easy to avoid them or keep them at bay by making use of physical barriers, security cameras and a few sensible risk/security management tactics. For instance, if only 3 or 4 people work at night-time, it is easy to target anyone of them but if a considerable amount of people work together and have no hostility towards each other, these types of situations can be avoided. Use of security systems is a pre-requisite for the protection of material wealth and belongings. These types of systems can help avoid theft and burglary but if somehow these do occur, it will inform the managers of the incident at the earliest and also make it hard for the offenders to flee the scene of crime.

There are quite a few expressive crimes which occur at place but these are usually the result of bottled-up anger and frustration in the staff or clients. If customers do not get proper service and customer care, they will end up being violent and this may result in violence, arson or even vandalism for that matter. If there is any kind of discrimination in the staff, promotions get offered on personal preference rather than professional capability, this will provoke the staff to the highest degree possible and crime will definitely be a repercussion of that.

There should be no discrimination of any kind in the workplace. Promotions and perks should be awarded on merit and everyone should get equal opportunity in every sense of the word. This is the root cause of violence which is usually done by insiders and goes on to become an incident of crime. Customers should be given the highest priority and they should be given highest level of respect and consideration. Other crimes can be avoided if there is a proper check at entrance at all times. If anyone enters or leaves the workplace, it should be recorded and a proper record should be maintained. Security systems and surveillance cameras are very important in this time and age. Access to the staff of organization should be given carefully, if anyone can enter, the security will become compromised.

However, cyber crime is the most challenging crime for any security manager to deal with. There is no physical evidence of it occurring and neither the perpetrators are nearby. It is not easy to track these criminals and the kind of damage they can do to an organization, person or the government, it becomes imperative to be technologically equipped, legally prepared and internationally permitted to deal with these kinds of criminals and their crimes. Cyber crime is inclusive of a range of different crimes. I have discussed about ways to avoid them, legally check them and confront them.

Identity theft occurs when virtual criminals gain access to private information of people; for instance place of residence, DOB and/or details of bank accounts). They take advantage of it by attempting to create fake accounts. Online scams occur when virtual offenders gain access to monetary or other kinds of important information by deceitful methods, typically by fooling people through frauds such as purchase deceit (wherein individuals are made to pay for goods which will not even be delivered to them).

'Phishing' is another fraudulent activity in which cyber criminals send fake money transfer requests from foreign countries to innumerable email accounts for the purpose of deceitfulness. 'Spear phishing' is a more specific approach in which a single individual is targeted with personalized fake emails. Virtual offenders also attempt to make people enter details into a bogus website and this is known as 'spoofing.' Pharming' is another tactic used by cyber criminals in which they re-direct website traffic from genuine website to a fake/bogus website.

Scareware is another such method of fooling people wherein cyber criminals make people download fake software into their computer. This can be any software but instead of performing the task it was created with, it proves detrimental to the computers where it has been downloaded; for instance, counterfeit anti-virus software) by making use of fright tactics or other immoral advertising practices. This aforementioned software is usually unsuccessful but it may seem to tackle some kind of virus prior to infecting the system with the viruses it contains. Later, the victims have an undeniable need to give payments to these offenders so as to get rid of the virus and any impact it might have had on the entire system.

Financial or monetary deception occurs when cyber lawbreakers can refuse to outstanding dues or make deceptive assertion through the means of attacking authorized online channels (for example online self-evaluation forms). This also restricts the public-sector spending and culminates with decreased investment on the infrastructure. Virtual lawbreakers can also steal profits online from various businesses.. In most of the cases, the criminal is usually aided by an insider.

Extortion is another method used by cyber lawbreakers in which they make company pay to avoid intentional denial of service. For instance, they may make use of malware to inundate the server of a company with invalid online traffic. They may also alter the company website links by linking them to pornography or other such offensive material. This way the entire brand name loses its reputation in the market. These criminals have a knack for stealing data of individuals from a company (data can be monetary, medicinal or even a legally offensive record) for the purpose of retailing it to outsiders or using it for blackmailing attempts.

Industrial surveillance can take more than a few forms, for example, a competitor or a third party gaining illegal access to classified information for strategic or competitive benefits. For instance, the bidding price of an opponent's organization can be accessed. It is also possible to gain confidential knowledge or data for monetary gains.

IP theft is another tactic employed by cyber lawbreakers, usually financed by competitor companies or countries. Their job is to thieve information, designs, and product descriptions, trade undisclosed information, and systems. Money Laundering is another famous crime wherein virtual lawbreakers make use of online means to transfer the profits of illegal acts (for instance during composite, online, facilitated transfers amid international and distant foreign bank accounts).

Examples of Recent Cyber threats

Rhodes (2011) mentioned that the worm of Stuxnet (July 2010) (a composite computer cipher) was employed in the original cyber aggression that focused on particularly on developed control schemes. This attack was directed at Iran, and the nuclear programme of Iran. Stuxnet is unique because it allows cyber criminals to manoeuvre practical paraphernalia without the knowledge of any the operators. The worm aimed at Siemens' systems which were employed in the power sector to manage the infrastructure of nuclear, gas and also the industrializing & automotive production. It has been guesstimated that around five to ten people worked on the Stuxnet worm for a span of six months.

Rost & Glass (2011) mentioned that Operation Aurora (December 2009) Google identified an extraordinarily complicated and targeted aggression on its commercial communications emanating from the region of China. This attack had somehow installed malware through electronic post on systems of 30 firms and quite a few Government organizations. This was also one of the most dangerous attacks witnessed in the history of cybercrime.

Another all-encompassing scam (2009/10) in which It was a group based in Essex, which was put on trial for an internet scam. Because of this scam, they were making £2 million monthly by thieving log-in information from 600 bank accounts of UK and also fooling people into giving extra details at the log-in time. The Police e-Crime Unit worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the banking sector, revealed the deception which victimized poor safety measures on people's computers employing Zeus Trojan malware (i.e. A malevolent software programme camouflaged as an electronic post attachment).

Keats (2010) stated that Conficker (2008) A botnet has been operating on an unparalleled scale since the time of November 2008 disturbing billions of systems throughout the world by employing the Windows operating system. Estonia (2007) and Myanmar (2010) experienced famous DDoS transgressions which were claimed to be politically influenced. In either situation, numerous computers weighed down the solitary target at the same time.

Myanmar had also been cut-off from the Internet after dealing with 10 days of DDoS transgressions which concluded in a gigantic information inundation and this weighed down the country's communications systems a little before the common voting. Estonia's monetary functioning was relentlessly jeopardised and administration infrastructure networks were limited to the use of radio for a specific span of time.

Impact on Individuals

Citizens should take the initiative to decrease the consequences of virtual offences themselves. They should undertake numerous rational safety measures to be able to stay safe online. These may include steps like installing a firewall, frequently updating different software's and making use of legal software in all cases. They should also go for specialist indemnity for protection in opposition to the crime of identity theft. The costs associated with dealing with this kind of crime are far more than what is perceived in the society.

None of these safety measures are completely foolproof and even well-prepared people may have to go through a variety of costs as a result of and in dealing with virtual offenses: it usually happens that the sufferers of identity theft have to compensate for the loans acquired with their name by virtual offenders. Sufferers of internet fraud are not even surprised to know that their credit card particulars are employed by these lawbreakers to buy different products or service. The sufferers of phishing fraud are easily fooled into disclosing passwords, PIN numbers and all kinds of other details which these criminals can easily retail or take advantage of. Alternatively, citizens may be compelled into purchasing defective software as a result of receiving or inadvertently downloading scareware.

The extensive and comprehensive nature of all these characteristic virtual misconducts signifies that their cumulative consequence could be fatal to the economy of UK. Besides, implicit macroeconomic implications could occur as a consequence of virtual offences targeted at the citizens of UK. For instance, there will be decreased confidence in services like online banking (although the facts and figures are not in favour of this idea).

Influence on government

The Government and public-sector bodies squander considerable amounts of money on safety measures to lessen the influence of lawbreaking in UK. These expenses, which are inclusive of the yearly expenses of the Police Central E-crime Unit, demonstrate that the cost of dealing with this kind crime is substantially high. On the other hand, costs of responding particularly to cyber crime are also inclusive of lost corporation and individual tax proceeds as a result of fiscal fraud.

This together with the price of fines charged for private data violations, goes up to a sizeable amount. This may serve to restrict the extent of competence savings received by giving online access to government services. Additionally, when virtual offences have a significant impact on tax returns and the confidence of overseas investors is also deteriorating, it is possible that the financial growth of UK comes to a halt.

McConnell (2000) stated in his report,

"1. Companies should fortify their networked information to make it even more secure. Rules and Regulations to implement property rights work if property owners take sensible and rational steps to look after their property. This is the most initial phase of making anything secure. In the places where rules and regulations are sufficient, companies depending on the online network should take steps to secure their own information and systems themselves. In the places where enforcement of these laws is still a distant dream, this becomes all the more important.

2. Governments need to ensure that their rules and regulations are also relevant to cyber crimes.

Nationalized governments are the leading authority for keeping a check on illegal behaviour throughout the world. In most of the situations, countries will notice that that the existential rules and regulations need to be updated with time. Implementation of cyber transgression laws which respect individual rights of people are the next step in this battle against cyber crime.

3. Companies, governments, and social society should work together to fortify authorized Frameworks for the security of cyberspace.

The local rules and regulations must be respected but all the countries must also define cyber crimes in that same way. International Convention on Cyber Crime is important at this point in time. This conference will address all the issues like unlawful access, illegitimate interception, data intrusion, system intervention, computer-related counterfeit, computer-related scam, and the support given for these offences.

One more term which was thought to be offensive could criminalize the creation and utilization of invasive software, or hacking programs. But these are designed for lawful and legal safety testing purposes. This act could suppress the advancement in technology fundamental to keep up with growing computer-generated threats."

Traditionally, the common approach for the protection of computer has been the "boundary defense." It is put into practice by inserting routers and "firewalls" at the entrance point of a sub-network to obstruct admission of external attackers. Experts know very well that this approach does not work properly. These kinds of defences can easily be penetrated or evaded. Even without these types of security transgressions, it is not important that the system is entirely safe.

The predicaments are presently more understandable than the probable explanations. One thing is for sure that engineering needs to come up with innovative solutions while giving maximum priority to cyber security. Enhanced methods are required to validate hardware, software, and information in different computer systems and to authenticate identities of users. Biometric is an important asset for dealing with cryber-crime.

A crucial challenge is engineering more safe software. This can be done through improved programming languages which have security and protection. Advancement in technology is required which would enable users to become aware of vulnerable features earlier than the software is installed. One more challenge is providing enhanced safety for data flow in every route available on internet so that the data can seldom be diverted, observed, or modified. Existing procedures for controlling the flow of data online may be utilized to make messages appear to come from any place except their place of origination.

Each and every engineering approach for attaining security should be accompanied by ways of supervising and speedily detecting any security issues. As soon as the breaches are detected, technology which can fix it or deal with the problem, should be available as well.. Ultimately, engineers should be aware that a cyber security system's accomplishment depends on understand the entire system and ensuring that the system is not only protecting its particular parts. Subsequently, computer-generated transgression and terrorism should be dealt with on private, public, political and electronic front. This is how it will be possible to make cyber space more secure.

It is crucially important to understand the psychology of the computer users. If safety systems are troublesome, people will steer clear of using them, favouring expediency and functionality to safety. A research needs to be conducted on the way people work together with their systems, Internet, and with the data available on the internet over-all. Traditional and societal influences can have an effect on how people make use of computers and electronic information so as to reduce cyber-crime to maximum extent possible.

Similarly it is important to know what kind of psychological or social factors are present in the minds of criminals that they are more than determined to break-through the security breaches in any way they can. Systems need to be secured for both insiders and outsiders. Insiders may also serve to interfere with the system from inside. Additionally, laws and legislations relating to the security of cyberspace should be assesed for their impact on the way people use or exploit electronic information.

Reference List

McCollonel '(2000). Cybercrime And Punishment. Page 8-9. www.mcconnellinternational.com.

Balkin J. M (2007)Cybercrime: digital cops in a networked environment. NYU PRESS. New York. USA.

Perline I.H. & Goldschmidt J. (2004). The psychology and law of workplace violence:a handbook for mental health professionals and employers. Charles C. Thomas Publisher. USA

Keats J. (2010) Virtual Words: Language on the Edge of Science and Technology. Oxford University Press. USA.

Rhodes. R. (2011). Cyber Meltdown: Bible Prophecy and the Imminent Threat of Cyberterrorism. Harvest House Publishers. USA.

Rost J. Robert L. Glass R.L. (2011). The Dark Side of Software Engineering: Evil on Computing Projects. John Wiley and Sons.USA.

Fleet D.D.V. & Fleet E.W.V. (2009). The Violence Volcano Reducing the Threat of workplace violence. Age Publishing Inc. USA

Sennewald C.A.(2004). Effective security management.4th Edition. Butterworth-Heinemann.USA