Multinational Firms Face With Security

¶ … Multinational Firms Face With Security

Challenges Multinational Corporations Are Facing With Network Security

For any multinational corporation (MNC) operating in today's turbulent and uncertain economic environment, operating globally includes a series of significant risks, with the most significant being the threats to corporate information systems. Network security is one of the most difficult areas of strategic information systems planning and management to anticipate threats and risks, with many corporations continually being behind threat assessments and risks (Doddrell, 1995). As the pace of globalization accelerates, the complexity and severity of threats to network security doe as well (Fyffe, 2008). The intent of this analysis is to explain the challenges that multinational corporations face with regard to continually confronting and solving complex network security problems.

Analysis of Challenges MNCs Face with Network Security

The greatest challenge that is faced today is making the many diverse transaction and pricing systems well integrated enough to ensure security of financial, sales, and profitability data. As MNCs continue to grow through mergers, acquisitions and entrance into entirely new markets, the need becomes every more critical for defining secured gateways and role-based access to the most critical financial data (Fyffe, 2008). The initial generation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems accomplished through the use of secured transaction gateways based on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards that were batch-oriented yet delivered a very high level of security globally (Samiee, 1984). The batch-oriented nature of EDI and the constrained level of transaction support eventually forced many MNCs to move away from this approach to managing transactions and embrace secured Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections and technologies. VPNs proved to be very effective for managing global transaction traffic, becoming exceptionally strong with financial trading standards and hardening trading networks globally (Levitsky, 2003). VPNs have been credited with alleviating fraud and drastically reducing criminal network infiltration into international banking systems (Levitsky, 2003).

A second major challenge for MNCs continues to be able to create a trusted network platform for ensuring collaboration and knowledge sharing across broad geographic distances. Often knowledge transfer faces the most significant threats in globally distributed MNCs, as the core part of their international property is included in the knowledge they are sharing across networks (Caelli, 2002). Knowledge transfer however is critical for being able to compete effectively on a global basis, as customers increasing a re buying expertise, not just products. This requirement is often exacerbated by local governments in foreign nations who often require disclosure of the data being transmitted in and out of their countries, with China being one of the most aggressive on this issue (Cohen, 2000).

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