Information Security Evaluation Paper

Nowadays, security breaches are prevalent in our environment, both physical and logical. Different types of unauthorized access are conducted by different groups of individuals for different purposes.

One good example of breach is the TJX data theft that happened sometime in mid-2005 and on subsequent dates from mid-May 2006 to mid-January 2007. The TJX data theft is considered as the largest case of intrusion of data to occur to date. According to the article, the data stolen by hackers were at least 45 million credit and debit cards numbers from its IT systems. More personal information was also stolen from more customers such as driver’s license, military identification and state identification numbers. The article also mentioned that although TJX had taken security measures by means of encryption and obfuscation, the company did not apply such measures across its systems. As a result, the company has no idea of the exact amount of the stolen customers’ records since the intrusion was never determined if the breach was continuously done throughout the years or happened in separate intrusions.

This article is very informative and will serve as a good source of information on investigations and legal actions to the consequences of the fraud of the company and individuals involved. Identity theft is one of the serious threats an individual can experience. Being aware of this type of fraud gives an individual an idea to be more cautious, watching out for unauthorized entities who wish to steal important personal information. And as for the companies that gather information about their customers, proper security procedures must me implemented across the company. Aside from physical security, companies must be very careful of their patrons’ records. I also think that contingency plans should be made incase of disruptions and crisis that may arise in the future. These plans are often developed to explore and prepare for any eventuality. Security is everyone’s responsibility and should be taken seriously.