2-13 - Threats to ICT Systems

Five Threats to ICT Systems:

- Disgruntled Employees

- After an employee has been made redundant, once they find this out they could go back to their desk and make changes to the computer system, copy files or even delete them.

- An example would be deleting client details from a computer system after an employee has been fired.

- A way to guard against this would be to either remove the employee straight away from the company or to restrict the access to the system such as only being able to access file as read only. 

- Untrained Staff

- An untrained employee could make errors to the system or even go against company policy.

- An example could be an employee leaving a computer logged on when they are away from their desk, meaning anyone could access the information.

 - A way to prevent against this would be to give staff adequate training and make sure they are aware of the company’s policies. 

- Viruses

- Viruses don't always have to be a damaging to a computer system. However the normally are used to delete files or make significant changes to an IT system.

- An example of this would be a virus attached to an email that once opened starts deleting the files around it until the whole system has been infected.

- Ways to prevent this is to use virus checkers that are continually updated so all the known viruses can be prevented 

- Spyware

- This is where data stored on internal systems is sent to and external source

- For example someones key strokes are sent to an external source, which they then use to access data with passwords etc

- To prevent this would be to use spyware checkers, frequently change your passwords or turn your Internet on and off which would change your IP address.

- Hackers

- This is where a person accesses a computer system unauthorised and could try to commit a further offence such as stealing data.

- An example of this would be obtaining credit card details of a computer system and then buying goods with the details.

-  To prevent the possibilities of hacks the ICT system should have measures in place such as encryption of data, passwords that are changed regularly.