Senior Information Security Analyst example essay topic

With constant changes within the IT / IS industry it is imperative that we as students become fully aware of these changes. The changes that are of most interest are the skills required to perform jobs in the IT / IS industry. The aim of the course Issues in Information Systems is to provide students with an opportunity to practice and further develop their generic knowledge work skills gathering, critical appreciating, developing a judgement and communicating the results. From completing this report we are able to practice these skills and in doing so find out how career opportunities within information systems are evolving. With the rapid advances in computer and telecommunications technology organisations need to become better acquainted with the latest developments. These new developments are the main drivers behind the emergence of new job titles and hence new skills are required to meet the expectation that comes with the jobs.

At present new job descriptions are appearing with increasing frequency. These jobs include chat / board coordinator, configuration managers, device driver engineers, network administrator, network engineer, page publisher, Web developer, Web publisher, security administrator, project manager, senior information security analyst, business analyst to name a few. In order to understand how career opportunities within the IS / IT industry will change, we need to find out how these changes will take place and the reasons for the changes taking place. Thus from completing the assignment, we will become more informed of the latest trends and will be able to plan towards acquiring these skills. If Internet businesses are to survive, they must be aware of the threats and attacks that can be used against it. Businesses need to be on guard against information theft, espionage and liability.

To compensate for these deficiencies, security jobs are being created at an accelerating rate to meet the demand of organisations to work within a secure environment. According to a 1998 study done by the Computer Security Institute, security staffs at small organisations are growing at a rate of 68 percent per year. Medium and large organisations were also hiring, 27 percent for medium companies and 24 percent for larger ones. These statistics show that companies of all sizes are interested in security, from which you can conclude security is not a luxury it is a necessity (Joss. M, 2000). After the events of September 11, the amount of spending on IT security has increased (Kirkpatrick, 2002).

IT executives are more thoroughly enforcing security procedures, and line executives are more willing to improve security practices. Overall, security, already a top priority has gained more importance. The risks associated with not fully securing the organisation from outside threats are substantial with the following problems likely to occur. Seemingly innocuous information can expose a computer system to compromise. Information that intruders find useful includes which hardware and software are being used, system configuration, type of network connections, phone numbers, and access and authentication procedures. Restricted information can enable unauthorized individuals to get access to important file and programs, thus posing a dangerous threat to the system.

Those at risk include banks and financial companies, insurance companies, brokerage houses, consultants, government contractors, government agencies, hospitals and medical laboratories, network service providers, utility companies, the textile business, universities, and wholesale and retail trades. The following information gives you an idea of how easy the Internet can be exploited and as a result more security jobs will become available. Many early network protocols that now form part of the Internet infrastructure were designed without security considerations. Without a fundamentally secure infrastructure, network defense becomes a difficult task. To add to these problems, the Internet is increasingly becoming dynamic, in terms of both topology and emerging technology. Because of the structure of the Internet and the original design of protocols, Internet attacks in general are quick, easy and inexpensive, and difficult to trace.

Another factor contributing to the vulnerability of the Internet is the rapid growth and use of the network, along with the rapid deployment of network services involving complex applications. In most cases, these services are not designed, configured and maintained securely. In order to get the product out to the market quickly, they do not fully ensure that all the bugs are tested and as a result introduce new vulnerabilities. Compounding the problem, operating system security is not considered in the purchase criteria. Commercial operating systems vendors often report that sales are driven by customer demand for performance, price and ease of use, maintenance and support.

As a consequence, these packages often come with an insecure configuration that allows sites to use the system immediately after installation. This lack of secure configuration makes the system vulnerable to attacks, which sometimes occur within minutes after connection.