OPM System Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities

OPM System Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities Risk Assessment Report Purpose The purpose of conducting this risk assessment was to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities related to OPM System. The risk assessment will be used to identify possible risk mitigation plans related to Agency. The network was identified to have a potential high-risk during security assessment. Therefore, risk assessment is needed to be conducted to measure the impact of any breach that can result from the vulnerabilities discovered. Scope The companys system comprises several infrastructural components. The external interface is a series interactive web page that allows users to input data and receive the required information from the application. The system is built using Internet Information Server that uses Active Server Pages. The network infrastructure helps in the management of information transaction in the entire system. The web application, database and operating systems that support these components are all included in the scope. Making sure that the servers require several firewalls which are set up in almost all the network interconnection boundaries. Threats Cybercrime have been a major source of leak of personal, corporation and governmental leak. The OPM operates without a proper risk governance structure. The OPM does not have a structured and standardized monitoring system for security controls. The OPM failed to maintain accurate IT inventory that undermines all attempts at securing their information systems. Insider threats to information systems may be the biggest threats that any organization might face. The reason why they are said to be the biggest is that it becomes very difficult to determine who would betray your organization among the trusted employees. It is always very easy to ignore the threat within on the assumption that there is always that loyalty within only to realize that the root cause of the threats is from within. The common insider threats are: Theft of unsecured personal device is a very big threat as the mobile devices use in organizations are out of control. These devices can be used to access vital information about the organization not limited to Intellectual Property and Defense plan theft. External threats Some of the examples of external security threats to the information system of the organization are: Phishing attacks is an external attack where a hacker uses the scam to trick an employee into giving them their login details. They send emails that are embedded with a link that captures the details when entered by the employee. Denial of Service attack where the attacker gains access to the network of the organization and keeps users from having access to certain services. The hackers achieve this by disrupting how the host system functions. When the attacker floods all the computer ports instead of only certain port is called Direct denial of service attack. Spoofing occurs when an attacker masquerades as a legit host and steals the IP address, spoofs a website or hijacks a network system and by that means inject malicious codes that are developed to create damage to the system operations. They include Trojan horses, viruses, key-loggers, spyware and many others. Once they are planted in the system, they interrupt the functionality of the system by disabling the firewalls and giving access to the hackers (Catteddu Hogben, 2013). Impact Very Low Low Medium High Very High Likehood Very Likely Known Unpatched Exploit Digital Ransom Hackers / DDoS/ Malicious Codes Somewhat Likely Insiders / Phishing Attacks Partners / Competitors /Terrorists / Spoofing Likely Theft of IT equipment Man in the middle Not Likely Above is the risk matrix of threats that exist in many organizations. This includes their likeliness of occurrence and their level of impact of the attack. Vulnerabilities The OPM allows information systems to operate indefinitely without been subjected to a strict security controls assessment. The FISMA requirements, OMB policies and applicable NIST guidelines have not been followed through appropriately such as dated system inventory which includes the organization and contractor-operated systems. The Risk Assessment Matrix below shows the threat source, threat action likelihood of occurrence and the impact of the vulnerabilities involved. Vulnerability Threat Source Threat action Likelihood of occurrence Impact/s OPM applications do not require PIV authentication Unauthorized users and terminated employees Dialing into the companys database and access of critical information. Very high Loss of crucial data, loss of revenues through litigation expenses in case this information is misused. Unsupported software Terminated employees, Hackers and computer criminals Getting into the system using the unsupported software or any other software Very high This may lead to loss of sensitive files from the system of the company. Lack of annual assessment of its systems Unauthorized users, hackers and computer criminals Accessing the database of the company through hacking or any other way such as getting used to the pattern Very high Remote access of the data which may lead to the access of the data. Impact assessments for exploitation of security weaknesses The weakness of security makes the OPM exposed to data loss. The evaluation shows that OPM does not have a process to record or track security status making the process vulnerable. This also showed the need for OCIO to centrally track the current status of security weakness. Remediation On performance standards, systems owners had to be modified to fit the FISMA compliance systems. These were few remediation forwarded among others. OIG recommends that the OCIO develop and maintain a comprehensive inventory of all servers, databases, and network devices that reside on the OPM network. All active systems in OPMs inventory must have a complete and current Authorization. OPM must ensure that an annual test of security controls has been completed for all systems. Use of Access control is very important in making sure that access to information in the system is controlled. The use of passwords and usernames help the organization protect private data from landing the hands of authorized personnel. This technique is important in protection against threats like spoofing, packet hijacking, malicious codes and many others. RDBMS help in making the transactions within the systems quite efficient and effective because they provide the ACID tests that provide security to the transactions. The use of transaction logs also helps in tracking the changes that are made to the database. Firewall log files help in protecting the transaction within the system secure from attacks. Cryptography also applies complex mathematics and logic to design high-end encryption methods that allows system administrators to maintain confidence of the clients in the organizations operations. People are assured that their data is kept private using cryptography and very important in making sure that the database transactions are kept secured and lock out the attackers (Filipek Hudec, 2015). Cost/benefit analyses of remediation The OPM is working to improve their comprehensive security control system that will, later on, need periodic system authorization. Even though it may cost the organization high to have this work, it will be a win due to the security threats and vulnerabilities they face. Proper governance is needed to proactively implement cost-effective controls to protect critical information systems that support the mission and changing the risk management. High-level plan of action with interim milestones (POAM) The action was done through auditing standards accepted by the government. The standards requirement includes the systems that allows efficient auditing in order to extract sufficient informations and conclusion on any activities in the network. Considering OPM, internal controls were examined for various systems which had varying degrees of computer generated data. Summary This is a report on OPM Authorization program have concluded that OPM has not substantially defined the roles and responsibilities of all positions of the IT management structure. With the existent threats and vulnerabilities, there have been significant improvements to the monitoring program. REFERENCES Catteddu, D., Hogben, G. (2013). Cloud computing risk assessment: benefits, risks and recommendations for information security, ENISA report. Filipek, J., Hudec, L. (2015, June). Distributed firewall and cryptography using PKI in mobile Ad Hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies (pp. 292-298). ACM.

Health Care Transparency Essay

Healthcare transparency has been defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as making available to the public, in a reliable and understandable manner, information on the health care system’s quality, efficiency and consumer experience with care, which includes price and quality data, so as to influence the behavior of patients, providers, payers and others to achieve better outcomes (American College, 2010). Transparency allows consumers to make better informed decisions. It also helps health facilities convey information to the public. With more information in the open, there will be less overall confusion. People will be better equipped and facilities will know how they compare to other facilities. In the past transparency has been affected by lawsuits. With the risk of being sued, many physicians and hospitals did not want to divulge private information. Of course, this attitude is beginning to change. In the video â€Å"Healthcare Transparency† Dr. Patrick Cawley expresses that transparency in the future will be greatly increased (Dr. Cawley, P., 2009). More information will lead to better patient care. Eventually a patient will be able to review how well a hospital or physician is able to provide care. Everything from infection rates to waiting times will all be accessible to the public. I agree with all forms of medical transparency. Access to wait times will better prepare potential patients for their visits to a hospital. Knowledge of infection rates will affect how the public perceives a health institute. If infection rates are high, most likely public opinion will be able to change this. No longer will things of this nature be shrugged off as typical health care. If a facility is providing less than optimal care, people will be aware of this and know to avoid the facility. This means that poor health care facilities will rightfully fail, while prominent effective health  facilities remain active and prosperous. Thus means overall better patient care. If only the best health care facilities are able to thrive, more people will be able to receive optimal care. Patient satisfaction surveys will also help potential patients understand the environment they are about to enter. If a staff is rude and curt than the public will have access to this. Essentially, this will encourage health care providers to give optimal quality of service to each and every patient. Of course, it’s important that a patients expectations are not too grand. Nothing in life is perfect and people should understand this. Busy hours and numerous patients can cause fatigue. After all, health care providers are still human. Perhaps if all physicians were machines then we could expect them all to be perfect. Performance of medical procedures will enlighten a patient of how well a hospital is able to provide a service. This in turn will allow consumers to make the best choice when selecting a facility for providing care. Someone needing back surgery should be able to locate and choose a facility right for them. If a facility performs poorly with back surgeries, the public has a right to know so that they can avoid this. People have the right to make the most well informed decision. Facility treatment of patients should definitely be transparent. If a facility is trying to hide something it can’t be good. People have the right to know how well a facility treats their patients. This also encourages a facility to always do their best. Ultimately, everyone wants the best health care possible. With expanded information more people will be properly informed of all their choices. Transparency means freedom for consumers. It means more access to information, and more freedom to select the best choice. Without transparency health care is more of a guessing game. Does the facility perform well with back surgery? Who knows guess you’ll have to find out on your own. Of course, that’s risky. But why risk, when you can be informed? At least with information the public can make better decisions. Better decisions will ultimately lead to the best health care. The strong will survive, while the weak will perish. Poor health facilities will fail as more and more people choose the best facilities. As the best facilities succeed the health community will become stronger as a whole. A strong health community will lead to an overall better equipped public community. References American College of Physicians. (2010). Health Transparency. Retrieved from http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/current_policy_papers/assets/transparency.pdf Dr. Cawley, P. (2009). Health Care Transparency. Retrieved from https://portal.phoenix.edu/medialibrary/videodetails.05V130128092014044.html

Comparing Music Genres With Drug Abuse Essay - 1276 Words

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The researcher connected the findings with the sponsorship done by alcohol companies that use rap in their advertisement and endorsements. In a different study, more than 50 percent of hip-hop and rap mention alcohol or drugs in their lyrics as compared to only 10% of other music genres, Electronic Dance Music included (Van Havere et al. 369). The use of drugs is associated with the frequent exposure of users in music with reference to substance abuse (Vuolo, Uggen and Lageson 539). There are few gaps in the literatureShow MoreRelatedWhat Does The Strength Perspective Can Be Beneficial? Adolescents?1285 Words   |  6 Pagesbased perspective and the program. Many of the teens liked how they learned to identify and use their strengths. They likes learning how to focus on their strengths instead of focusing on their problems. This could help the adolescents from turning to drug use because thinking and determining their strengths can be a deterrent. 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arthritis Essay - 1303 Words

nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Arthritis.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Arthritis is a disease that in some way effects everyone. Whether you have†¦show more content†¦nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Another type is Rheumatoid arthritis. It is what’s known as an inflammatory arthritis. It is the second most common form of arthritis, right behind osteoarthritis. It affects primarily the small joints in the hands and feet, causing crippling deformities. 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