Organization Security: Protecting Database from Risks - Essay Sample

Introduction

While handling the database, an organization must be conscious of data security threats. The database is usually prone to risks like loss or someone gaining access to the information illegally. At times the information is destroyed by malicious people, or accidental damages occur (Denning & Denning, 1979). A firm must always be ready to counter all these vulnerabilities. Every organization needs to protect some information that it feels its private.

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The most common type of threat to database systems is hacking. Hacking is whereby an unauthorized person gets access to organizational information. The cases of hacking have risen significantly with the advancement in technology. Some companies have suffered a significant loss in data and finance. Whenever this happens, it causes a flow of the company's information to unauthorized people. To control hacking, a firm must ensure that they install database servers with robust security software. The firm should also do monitoring of logs in the system regularly. Log monitoring helps to detect any unauthorized user in right time (Hacigümüs et al., 2004).

Another severe danger that could hurt the safety of the organizational database is impersonation. Someone could use an organization's login details to penetrate the data system illegally. Once someone gets the company information, one can misuse the information and cause harm to the company. To control illegal access, companies should embrace authentication and activity log auditing. Authentication ensures that only those people with passwords can log into the system. Auditing activity log makes the firm to discover any unusual use of the system (Denning & Denning, 1979).

Database in an organization stands a chance of loss as a result of system failure. The failure could be as a result of overloading in the server. The system could also fail due to the input of a corrupted file in the system (Hacigümüs et al.,2004). An organization can control the issue of system failure by controlling the content in the server. Some organizations also use content filters to ensure there is no issue of uploading unsafe files.

To control the security of the database in a firm, the organization needs to identify the most likely vulnerabilities. Once an organization determines the risk, there is a need to come up with mitigation measures.

References

Denning, D. E., & Denning, P. J. (1979). The tracker: A threat to statistical database security. ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS), 4(1), 76-96. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/1-4020-8070-0_5

Hacigümüs, H., Iyer, B., & Mehrotra, S. (2004). Ensuring the integrity of encrypted databases in the database-as-a-service model. In Data and Applications Security XVII (pp. 61-74).

Springer, Boston, MA. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/1-4020-8070-0_5