Cyber Security in Business Organizations Case Study - 1

Cyber Security in Business Organizations - Case Study Example However, Target had half a year prior to that installed malware detection systems from the FEYE computer security firm (a very reputable provider with equally renowned clients, such as the Pentagon and the CIA). Target had an expert team at Bangalore to monitor the system securities at all times. In any event of suspicion or malicious activity concerning system security, this monitoring group immediately informs the Minneapolis security operations center. On Saturday 30th November, when the hackers were putting in place the escape route of the data that was to be stolen, installed FEYE system spotted the malicious activity and the Bangalore team conveyed the sensitive information to the Minneapolis group, as was the stipulated protocol. However, the Minneapolis team failed to respond to the red flag from Bangalore, and the theft of over forty million credit card numbers eventually occurred (Riley, Elgin, Lawrence & Matlack, 2014, March 13). The reasons why this warning was not acted upon are not clear at the moment, amidst a plethora of speculation and on-going investigation. I believe the main reasons why the red flag was ignored were chiefly negligence concocted with a lazy hubris from the assumption that the security system that had detected the malware in the first place would inevitably also halt any such attempts on its own. Perhaps they wrongly assumed that the system could not be hacked into as a result of the technology they had in place, confident that such attempts were feeble and futile. This is a recurrent failure of most cyber security personnel (Augastine, 2007). According to the email statement issued by Gregg Steinhafel (the chairman, president and CEO of Target), Target had, in the wake of the hack, performed a thorough review of its employees, technology and processes so that they are better placed to improve their system security and gain valuable lessons from the unpalatable event. This is actively