Briefing Paper on Hacking

[Name of the Institute]

Briefing Paper on Hacking

Abstract

Today's environment is full of risks and threats. The information and data that we store on our computers are always open to several types of dangers. Hacking is also among the growing security concerns in the field of information technology. Hacking is a practice or may also be defined as an attitude surrounding the consumption, production, and use of computer related work. A successful hacker gets full control over the computer and the stored information and other private documents of the user. Past cases related to hacking have resulted in sever consequences and various organizations are sealed due to this reason. International communities and organizations have established several security standards and policies that must be followed by the organizations in order to save its information and related systems from hacking. This briefing paper explains the phenomenon and threats of hacking, it also highlights the major steps and standards that must by adopted by the organizations in order perform secure functioning free from security threats.

Introduction

In the computerized age cyber security is may be the most significant type of security people and organizations must be concerned with. Banks, schools, health care institutions, organizations, governments and essentially every other present day organization saves and arranges its data electronically. Therefore we may state that the world of computer and information technology is progressively susceptible to pernicious computer hackers.

Hacking is a topic of great interest in today's time due its severity and complexness. Almost every organization in this world has been a victim of hacking or related security threat at least one time since their establishment. The point that must be considered is that hackers are a vital part of our society; therefore the development of security policies and standards requires complete analysis of the hacker psychology. This briefing paper explains the phenomenon of hacking and then critically analyzes the major security concerns related to hacking. Moreover, these studies are utilized in framing of organizational policies and procedures related to hacking.

There is not too much information available about the shadowy hackers while a very clear picture is available related to the damage they do. In 2011, hacker developed computer viruses alone costs $75 billion to businesses, this damage was nearly the double of the damage they inflicted in 2009. In a 2012 survey of American government agencies and companies conducted by the Institute of Computer Security, almost three fourth of the respondents indicated that they have been a victim of computer hacking or related security hazard in the past 12 months, this indicates the severity of the issue.

Description

History of Hacking

The hacking history may be traced from 1960s at the United States of America where the members the of a club at MIT known as “Technical Model Railroad Club” hacked the model trains of control systems in order to make them more efficient and also make them run faster as compared to their initial design. This was the time when this phenomenon was used only for productive purposes, ...