Current security threats in the national and international context
Lavinia Mihaela Cristea · Accounting and Management Information Systems · 2020
Research Question: What are the main security threats emphasized by national and international surveys?Motivation: The rapid growth of IT brings worldwide security issues (Takahashi et al., 2010;Benjamin et al., 2015).IT usage brings new challenges (e.g. higher risks of data exposure, sensitive corporate data, phishing, electronic fraud, impersonations, information security issues) (Morrow, 2012;Thielens, 2013; Rîndașu, 2016), cybercrime being a "sophisticated transnational threat operating on an industrial scale" (Hunton, 2012: 203).Idea: This paper intends to underline the great exposure of financial and non-financial information in the new cybersecurity context, indicated by IT impact on security threats and cyberattacks.Data: The author traced the analysis of the most frequent cyber threats, over a period of six years (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018), based on 20 security reports.Tools: The author adopts the qualitative method, applying critical observations on emerging technologies impact.A hand-collecting method is required, for the analysis and comparison of cybersecurity threats reports.Findings: This investigation highlights Targeted attacks/ APTs, malware and ransomware on top security threats that continue to disrupt worldwide and Romanian landscape, along with a major rate of employee errors.The paper enhances on the consequences, main security threats and concludes on security cybercrime prevention (i.e.adequate business model implementation, Cloud security solutions, 24/7 monitoring for continuous protection, continuous IT security training, implemented modules against a variety of security incidents, regular updates).Contribution: By bringing to the fore actual security issues, the author concludes on main security threats and completes previous specialized works on security against cybercrime.