Telecom CRM Framework Network Perspective †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Telecom CRM Framework Network Perspective. Answer: Introduction: In the modern virtual world, one of the major branches of criminal activity is cybercrime. Along with that, due to the increased dependence of people on machines and virtual storage, there is always a threat of loss of information, degradation of network and attack of hackers or viruses, all of which can severely hamper the functions of an organization and invite both legal costs and damage of the reputation of the organization. Thus, it is necessary for organizations to educate themselves on the kinds of threat that could attack a network or system and make sure that the threats could be neutralized before it can damage or hinder the networking procedures of the organization (Berger Heath, 2007). Loss of PII: The loss of Personally Identifiable Information which is stored in the organization with a trust that it will keep it safe contains all the useful information of the owner of the PII that could be used against him if it is ever compromised. Hence, it is necessary for the organization to keep PII secure so that it does not damage its reputation or loses the trust of customers and employees due to negligence and poor security. Degradation of Networking: Since IT companies run on networking, it is important to keep a track of the hardware that connects the machines and makes the networking possible. Along with that, it is also necessary for the software to be updated and to keep a check whether foreign traffic or the inclusion of hackers is not involving in the degradation of the networking procedures in the organization (Duan, Gu Whinston, 2008). Viruses and spywares could also lead to the degradation of networking and it is necessary to prevent the attack of either of these for the security for the transfer of the networking packets. Insider Attack: Insider attack is one of the worst threats that could take place in an organization in which a trusted employee, or former employee could plant some form of malicious device into the system that could harm the company or steal sensitive information from the company and use it for unauthorized purposes for personal gain. Proper security analysis and protected access should be made to make sure that any former employee could not have access to a data and for that the protection or the security pattern of an organization should be flexible, that is, it could be reconstructed and changed when need be. Ransomware: Ransomware is malicious software which locks the systems and threatens to publish the victims data unless a certain amount of ransom as stated is not paid. The Ransomware has attacked systems as recently as 2017 and has come into the limelight due to its ability to stay under the radar of normal antiviruses. The Ransomware software has been known to wreak havoc in any system and targets IT organization for its purpose. Using advanced malware techniques called cryptoviral extortions, the software encrypts the victims files thereby preventing access to the files and then demands a ransom for decrypting the files which on receiving they either decrypt or leave without response (Fisher, 2010). For such a malicious software, it is necessary to keep the virus information updated and for advanced education into the ransomware software to prevent it from ever attacking the IT system of an organization. Theft of IP: The theft of Intellectual Property is a high rising cybercrime where theintellectual property, that is, the plans, ideas and the creative innovation designs of an organization is stolen from their databases and used by people that do not have access, permission or ownership of the said intellectual property (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel Chowdury, 2009). Hackers are generally guilty of stealing intellectual property from the organization and selling it in the market or to competitors at higher prices. Nowadays, every organization acquires, uses and stores the Personally Identifiable Information or PII for their employees, and depending on the nature of the business or area of establishment, the customers, patients, residents and users. PII is any information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact or locate an individual. About 86% of the US population could be accurately identified by their gender, age and ZIP code with the use of PII. Thus, this amount of private information if compromised could fall in the hands of a wrong person and could be used for ill purposes without the original owner of the PII being involved and that could only be traced back to the original owner (Kim Srivastava, 2007). Hence, a compromise of the PII could not only lead to a legal harassment of the original owner of the PII but it could also be used as a perfect cover for performing illicit crimes under a fake identity. Thus, because of this sensitive issue regarding PII, it is expected of the organizations which deals with the acquiring and storing of PIIs to manage this private data very carefully, and keep it secured to protect it from theft, loss, or any form of unauthorized access. Any form of misuse of the private data, or loss, or compromise of any information could lead to legal proceedings, and carry a steep financial loss and damage to the reputation of the organization. Above that, a compromise of PII can also result in the loss of customer trust, employee dissatisfaction and attrition and clean-up costs after the breach. As a result, the necessity to keep PII safe and secure from any form of compromise should be one of the top priorities of an organization (Kim, Le, Lauw, Lim, Liu Srivastava, 2008). The following flow-chart provide an overview of the solutions that an organization should look for while counterattacking any form of breach that might threaten PII: Some way in which PII could be protected are: Encryption:A full disk encryption of PII could make it difficult for an outside to access the information. USB, CD and Removable Media encryption Policy-based Email Encryption File share encryption Central key management and backup Ability to audit encryption status Threat Protection: The protection of endpoints should be necessary and there should be an increase in the security at those points. Detection of known and unknown malware proactively without the need for an update, including viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, suspicious files, suspicious behaviour, potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) and more Antivirus, firewall, application and device control in a single agent Defending all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX) Data Loss Prevention: Prevention of data loss by scanning repeatedly the storage places of data and keeping the data stored in several other as backup that should be maintained properly (Leitner Grechenig, 2008). File matching rule: Specified action should be taken based on name or type of file a user is attempting to access or transfer Content rule: Contains one or more data definitions and specifies the action taken if a user attempts to transfer data that matches those definitions Policy Compliance: There should be a strict policy of the organization which should be followed while any kind of data is stored in the organizations storage system. Lists should be maintained and the frequent synchronization and updates should take place to keep the security system active and able to tackle with increasing and modern attackers and their tactics (Leitner Grechenig, 2009). Network Degradation refers to the decrease in the connectivity of a network or the response time of response speed of a network. This severely hampers the working of an organization and it could lead to packets of data being lost in transmission which will only slow down the function of the organization and enable outsiders to steal packets and information (Lorenzo, Constantinides, Geurts Gmez, 2007). Diagnosing network performances and tracing back the reason for the slowing down of network performance is necessary and for that an education into the types of network performances should be conducted. Propagation Delays: Propagation delays can generally occur when there is a problem with routing which results in a delay in the transportation of data from one point of the network to the other. A proper analysis of the causes of delays could prevent this problem. End-Point Problems: This problem tends to occur at the end points that is the terminals or work station which are data destinations and they may experience delays due to insufficient memory or processing capacity. Engineers and developers should consider if there is a fault in the system and try to repair it. Malware or Spyware: The breach of malware or spyware into the system can severely lower the speed of the transfer of data and can infect the packets of data that are moving along in the network traffic. For this problem, a proper antivirus or security measures should be taken to prevent breach of malware or spyware into the system. Fragmentation of the Data Packets: A lot of fragmentation of the data packets can lead to the slowing down of network and the free transfer of data could be hampered because of increases fragmentation (Palmer, 2008). This depresses the functionality of the network at work. Developers should make sure that the data packets are fragmented reasonably so that too much of network degradation does not take place. Denial of Service: Various kinds of outside hacking can lead to the complete denial of service if the hacker has gained control over the system, thus leading to the termination of work on that data unless the hacker is weeded out of the system. Steps should be taken to increase the security of the system to prevent hackers from entering into the network (Stephen Toubia, 2009). For this, penetration testers should be hired to detect weaknesses in the system and thereby, strengthen security. An insider attack is a malicious attack that has been perpetrated upon a system by a person who has authorized access to the system. This makes it more difficult the trace the source of the attack as the insider not only has security access but the insider will also have enough knowledge about the network architecture and system policies making it easier for him to hide under the radar (Trusov, Bodapati Bucklin, 2009). Above that, the organization would generally expend time and money on preventing external attacks thereby keeping a careless eye to internal attacks. Intellectual Property theft is the stealing of organizations ideas, plans and creative property, also known as intellectual property, and thereby taking away the uniqueness and ownership of the intellectual property from the company. This is a high rising cybercrime that needs to be arrested and for this sort of crime, the cyber police need to be contacted in case such a crime does happen. Generally, competitors are the ones who hire hackers to breach into the system of the organization and tend to steal IP so as to get a glimpse of the organizations future plans or to use the stolen IP as their own and get an edge in the market (Wu, Ye, Yang Wang, 2009). For the protection of IP, security measures need to be taken so that the said IP does not get hacked and stolen by hackers and so proper firewalls against malware and spyware needs to be put into place. The ownership of the intellectual property should not be compromised for the future benefit of any organization. Ransomware software is a malicious programme that breaches into the software of a computer, takes control of the files, encrypts the file to prevent user access and demands ransom in exchange of decrypting the said files, or demands ransom so that the private information of the user is not published publicly (Yang, Dia, Cheng Lin, 2006). The Ukraine attack of 2017 and other previously documented attacks have brought ransomware into limelight and it has been charged of invisible notoriety. Block Payload: Software should be installed which could block known payloads that could transmit the malware into the system, thereby preventing the breach of ransomware into the system. Updates: Repeated updates of virus definitions to include new forms of malware and their varieties should be made to mitigate any vulnerability present in the system. Offline Backups: Offline backups should be kept of the necessary files in external storage drives or devices, that is, locations that do not have any access to any network and thus will say safe from the attach of ransomware. Network Segmentation: Network Segmentation is the act of splitting the network of a computer into different subnetworks which are called network segments. This helps in boosting performance and in increased security. Decryption: Since Ransomware works by encrypting the data of a specific system, it is necessary for software to try and decrypt the encrypted data thereby reversing the attack of ransomware. Termination of Connection: This is the optional step that needs to be taken if the ransomware had spread out in a specific system beyond redemption and as a result the entire infected system needs to be plugged out or to be completely disconnected from the network so as to prevent the spreading of the malware into other systems. when the ransomware has spread out beyond repair in one system a complete termination of that system from the network, excluding it from the working of the organization and keeping it isolated, could help prevent the further spreading of ransomware to the other system thus increasing the losses of the organization (Lorenzo, Constantinides, Geurts Gmez, 2007). Hence, from the above examination of the kinds of threat that an IT company could face and the cybercrimes that are rampant in the world of today, it is necessary to include certain aspects into the application product so that it could successfully keep the threat in check, keeping updated with the latest virus definitions and keep all the information of a company secured (Palmer, 2008). This should also have an incident response time so that it can either notify and act accordingly and instantly when a cyber incident occurs. Education: The first necessity of the application should be to educate the user of its uses and how it works. Making Backups A security application should create offline backups in external storage drives or devices that do not have any access to the internet or network during a sudden cyber incident. Network Segmentation Splitting the network into segments increases performance and security and so the application should be able to maintain segments of network. Analysis of Network: The application could be able to analyse and detect internal problems or the source of cyber incidents in the network and notify them to the authorities (Xinogalos, Psannis and Sifaleras, 2012). Anti-Virus and Anti- Malware The application should have properties of anti-virus and anti-malware to prevent it from entering or working in the network. Firewall A strong firewall should be put in place so that any form of threat is immediately blocked from entering. Updates Virus definitions should be updated all the time to keep up with the times. Internal Intrusion Detection Systems Installing Internal Intrusion Detection Systems to detect any form of internal intrusion and create an instant incident notification and reset if necessary. Decryption The application should have the capability to decrypt any form of encrypted files that had been hacked or infected by ransomware. Notifications/Warning Any threat of breach by hackers or outsiders should trigger a warning or notification mechanism so that the authorities are notified of the external interference (Stephen Toubia, 2009). System Reconstruction The application should be intelligent enough to request password changes or system reconstruction where necessary and if permitted by the admin as a response to a cyber incident. Termination of Connection The application should be able to isolate a system from the network if it has been infected so that the infection does not spread, however, after notifying and seeking permission from the admin or the authorities as a reaction to a cyber incident. Reference Berger, J. Heath C., 2007. Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity Signalling and Product Domains. Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 34(2), 121-134. Duan, W., Gu, B., Whinston, A. B., 2008. Do online reviews matter? - An empirical investigation of panel data. Decis. 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