Question 1. Define and explain the concept of the following terminologies:

The Power of Competitive Advantage

            Having a competitive advantage over the similar commercial establishments is very much beneficial to improve the net profitability of the business (Noe et al., 2017). Range of products and services can be adjusted after getting the understanding the power of competitive advantage.

Data Discovery

There are diverse categories of data discovery techniques and procedures which are used in the data recovery process. Data recovery process can be very much significant to categorise both the unstructured and structured data. Diverse categories of patterns of the data can be examined and reviewed using the data discovery procedure (Fernandez et al., 2018). Data analytics and orientation of data are the two prime aspects of data discovery.  

Data Marts

            Being one of the most significant subset of data warehouse, data marts are very much useful to manage different departments of a business like sales, marketing, HR and finance. Dependencies of the data can be reviewed using the data marts (Roantree, Scriney & O’Connor, 2017). The source if the data can also be identified in the first place using the data marts.

Text Analytics & Mining

            Statistical machinery is one of the prime advantages associated with text mining, at the same time it can also be said that labelling and training the data is the other advantage of text analytics (Berezina et al., 2016). Flexibility offered by text analytics can be one of the prime advantages of text analytics and mining.

            There are other are diverse categories of advantages associated with the deployment of text analytics as it helps in minimising the text analytics. Understanding the complicated data is the other advantages offered by the text mining.

Business Continuity

            Managing the essential business functions is one of the prime advantages of business continuity. The diver categories of risks associated with business can be identified in the first place using the business continuity plans. The risk management process can be evaluated in the first place using business continuity plan (Tracey et al., 2017). Each of the process of the business can be identified in the first place using the business continuity plan.

Electronic Records Management

            Tracking and storing any set of data sets is possible using the electronic records management. Creation and maintenance of the records can be done in an organized manner using ERM. Any sort of schedule which is related with any data sets can be reviewed and monitored in an organized manner using ERM (Manikas, 2015). The data archive processes can also be enhanced using ERM.

Question 2: What are the current sustainability issues for the IT Industry? Discuss with examples.

            There are diverse categories of sustainability issues which can have an impact on the progress of the IT industries such as the followings:

            Resource: Identification of the exact resources required for any specific project is one of the trending sustainability issues faced in most of the global commercial establishments.

            Risk: Balancing the risks and rewards in each of the projects is the other sustainability risk associated with the IT industry (Laudon & Laudon, 2016).  

            Cloud network issues: There are diverse categories of cloud network issues in the IT industry in terms of the security issues, managing the cost of each of the resources which are about to be used in the IT projects, governance, managing the cloud services and containment are the prime cloud network issues associated with most of the IT industry.

            Public perception and trust: The needs and expectations of the consumers are the prime sustainability issues which are faced by most of the major IT industries in the recent times.

Question 3: What are the Main Types of Cyber-Threats?

            There are diverse categories of cyber threats which usually have a negative impact on the contemporary business environment such as the followings:

Phishing emails:  Instant spoofing is possible using thus cyber threat. This is one of the major social engineering techniques which helps the social engineers to get personal data of the users.

Trojan Horses: This malware is very much significant to gain access to the user systems. Personal data and business data can be compromised using Trojan horse. Most of the hacking activities can be done using Trojan horse.

Botnets: Most of the internet connected devices are vulnerable to the botnet attacks as this allows the attackers to get the access of the confidential data (Butavicius et al., 2016). Functionality if any system can be easily altered by the social engineers using the botnet attacks.  

Ransomware: The use of this malicious software can be very much useful for the social engineers to extract huge amount of money in the form of bit coins from the users of each of the infected devices. Crypto-viral extortion is one of the most significant aspect of ransomeware (Kharaz et al., 2016).  There are diverse categories of ransomeware attacks which have a devastating effect on our society like Wanna Cry Ransomeware, Bad rabbit and Crypto-locker.

DDoS: Data of systems can be compromised in an organized manner using the DDoS attack.  There are diver categories of DDoS attacks also such as the traffic attacks, bandwidth attacks, and application.

Wiper Attacks: It can be defined as the type of cyber security attack which s conduced by the social engineers using the malware viruses. Destructive malware are deployed in most of the wiper attacks.

What are the defence mechanisms to be considered?

            There are diverse categories of defence mechanisms which can be deployed to safeguard the computers and mobile devices from cyber threats like maintaining stronger passwords, updating the software and version of operating system, regularly managing the social media settings, and strengthening the home network.

Why APT Threats are particularly difficult to address?

            The advance persistent is one of the most advanced criteria of APT threats as these threats are directly associated with intellectual. Database deletion is one of the most significant criteria of the APT threats and this is directly associated with each of the data storing and data retrieving facility which can be one of the prime factors to which these threats cannot be easily mitigated (Rot & Olszewski, 2017). The total site takeover is the other characteristic feature of the APT threats which can be the other reason behind for which APT threats cannot be easily mitigated.

Explain how Defence-In-Depth Model can help to address the Cyber-Threats?

Valuable data which are compromised during the cyber threats can be very much beneficial to address the cyber threats. The network security control and the antivirus software which are compromised in the cyber-attacks can be secured in an organized manner using the Defence-In-Depth Model (Radhakrishnan et al., 2018). Integrity of the data which are compromised in the cyber-attacks can also be maintained if this model is deployed.

References

Berezina, K., Bilgihan, A., Cobanoglu, C., & Okumus, F. (2016). Understanding satisfied and dissatisfied hotel customers: text mining of online hotel reviews. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 25(1), 1-24.

Butavicius, M., Parsons, K., Pattinson, M., & McCormac, A. (2016). Breaching the human firewall: Social engineering in phishing and spear-phishing emails. arXiv preprint arXiv:1606.00887.

Fernandez, R. C., Abedjan, Z., Koko, F., Yuan, G., Madden, S., & Stonebraker, M. (2018, April). Aurum: A data discovery system. In 2018 IEEE 34th International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE) (pp. 1001-1012). IEEE.

Kharaz, A., Arshad, S., Mulliner, C., Robertson, W., & Kirda, E. (2016). {UNVEIL}: A Large-Scale, Automated Approach to Detecting Ransomware. In 25th {USENIX} Security Symposium ({USENIX} Security 16) (pp. 757-772).

Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information system. Pearson Education India.

Manikas, K. (2015). Records management and electronic records management opportunities and limitations: a case study in Greek companies.

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Radhakrishnan, M., Narayanasamy, G., Maarop, N., Hassan, N. H., Azmi, N. F. M., Ishak, R., & Bahari, R. (2018). A Review of Insider Threat Detection Model For Government Agencies. Open International Journal of Informatics (OIJI), 68-79.

Roantree, M., Scriney, M., & O’Connor, M. F. (2017). Integrating online data for smart city data marts.

Rot, A., & Olszewski, B. (2017). Advanced Persistent Threats Attacks in Cyberspace. Threats, Vulnerabilities, Methods of Protection. In FedCSIS Position Papers (pp. 113-117).

Tracey, S., O’Sullivan, T. L., Lane, D. E., Guy, E., & Courtemanche, J. (2017). Promoting resilience using an asset-based approach to business continuity planning. SAGE Open, 7(2), 2158244017706712.