Security of Data (Essay Sample)

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Business Information System
Question 1
Sony is a multinational company that has been in operation since 1946. In 2006, they enlisted the services of Qriocity to start a play station network. On April 28 2011, it was ascertained that the Sony Play station network was hacked. The attack spanned a week. On April 17, there was illegal activity in the network servers. This was detected and the network was shut down the following day so as to prevent further damages. On 21st of April Sony hired external security experts to look at the problem. They brought the Federal Bureau of Investigations in to the loop on the following day. The main networks affected were the play station network and Qriocity services. It was later discovered that the hackers had access to people’s details such as names, addresses, e-mails, login details, passwords and even credit card numbers. About seventy seven million users were registered with the network with twelve million of the profiles having credit card information. Sony announced this in a press release where they told their uses of the loss of data and the potential identity threats. This caused a huge uproar across the world with people threatening to take legal action against the company. The UK fined the firm a quarter million pound sterling while the firm paid fifteen million US dollars in 2014 as damages to several lawsuits filed due to the breach. The share price of Sony immediately fell in the stock markets. To date, it is considered to be the worst cyber attack in the world.
Question 2
The Sony cyber-attack emphasized the need for companies to protect their clients’ information and just how sensitive such information is. This attack made people question the prudence of saving information on iClouds. But with few other flexible ways to save such big bulks of data, the only option left was the use of more security measures such as heavier encryptions. Companies such as Apple and Microsoft have put in place security measures to protect client data. The three companies aforementioned, Sony, Apple and Microsoft do collect data from clients. This mainly happens through customer registrations when buying gadgets or any other online activity. They collect data so as to get the customers’ preferences and know them better so that they can better market services to them as well as offer personalized services. The companies however do not hoard information. They only keep what they need, as keeping too much...