Due
to the report as of 30 June 2017, the internet users worldwide was 3.58 billion
which is higher than previous year record 3.39 billion. (https://www.statista.com) In the year 2005, only around
1.02 billion use internet and start from 2005, the internet users rate is
constantly growing because it is easier for people to access the computer and
increased mobile phone usage encourage people to use the internet frequently.
As the world becomes highly connected and globalized, it becomes a flattened
world and the information from the north part of the world can be easily
accessed by the southern part of the world. Globalization helps the business
organizations in many ways such as helping the firm to produce goods and
services with extraordinary cost reductions by finding low-cost suppliers from
different countries and managing production facilities in other countries. The
blooming of the Internet into international communication systems helps to
reduce the operating and transacting cost of the business on a global scale.
Therefore, especially the large manufacturing film, the information system
plays a vital role in coordinating the activities within manufacturing
industries which engage in producing and processing the products and automating
many steps in business processes which were produced manually. Corporate firms
also have to deal with different information to organize work activities in
order to operate efficiently and effectively and increase the firm’s performance.
The flow of information can be changed and accessed to many more people and
share information when the new technology is emerged. Nowadays, businesses
highly rely on information systems as they can achieve the strategic business
objectives with the help of information systems. Information systems play an
effective tool in practicing Operational Excellence which is one of the business
objectives. For example, KPI for business processes can be measured and stored
into a database and as a next step, KPI can be value-added as information
system is also an effective tool in creating value for the organization. And
information can change the entire business models, for example, from former
manual business into automated business. Not only to achieve Operational
Excellence, information system helps the managers in decision making process.
Information system support the organizations by combining the raw data to
compile the useful information and documents which helps the managers to get
the real time data of the market or the organization operation process as
managers had to rely only on the forecasts not the actual data in the past.

The final aim of all the business
firms is to minimize the cost, maximize the profit and achieve competitive
advantage. To be able to achieve those, the business firms have to know the
needs of customers and suppliers. Walmart, the
biggest retailer in the world, use the information system effectively. Data
center which has a capacity of 460 terabytes of data, universal
bar code, which allowed the suppliers and retailers to genarate all kinds of
information which
they can tract the inventory and it helps in cost reduction. For tracking
Point-Of-Sale, preparing a payroll and billing a customers, Walmart use TPS
(Transaction Process System) which summarize, record and merge the raw data
into the form of report. This report can be past, present and forecast and can
be used by managers effectively. None of the company except Walmart use the
information system effectively. Therefore, managing the information system is
also essential for the organizations. The organization can learn the diverse
needs through various information system such as decision support system,
modelling system etc. Management information system provides the managers
everything for efficient and faster decision making and productive strategy planning.
Therefore, in order to know the need of not only the internal organization such
as operation processes, human resources but also the external environment such
as the local or international market, businesses are heavily reliant on the
information systems. Although there are a lot of
benefits in using information system, there can be also other unforeseen
threats of using information system. Such threads may be different types of
damages and such damages may lead to the financial losses. As the communication
technologies are highly developed and internet are easily accessible,
organizations face to threads such as insecurity of the information. Big
organizations face such system security threads as large amount of data are
stored in a database. Vulnerability varies from some threads which cause
computer system breakdown to some leads to data loss which impacts company’s
image. Not every system is safe and secure. Therefore, nowadays, system
security and control is the first priority to the organizations which hugely
rely on information system.

There are various types of threads
to attack the system such as virus threats, spyware threats, hackers, malware, phishing
threats, etc. As communication networks are well developed, you can get the
information in different locations through information system. Vulnerabilities
can take place in every layers of the networks such as from client(user) to
corporate systems. Such attack could allow the user to access the data without
authorization, stealing, altering the data and some attack can cause harm to
the computer to temporarily break down. If the computer system breaks down and
doesn’t work properly, the systems malfunction cannot be arranged to fit it in
a designated task. Not only system vulnerabilities but also internet
vulnerabilities is an important factors to tackle. Such internet
vulnerabilities increasily occurs through using e-mail, instant messages and
some file sharing programs. Some may find the attachment in email which is a
kind of malware or unauthorized access to internal corporate system. If
employees open the attachment, they may transmit the company’s financial data
or confidential information to unauthorized recipient and it can cause the
trouble to the company. Malicious software system which includes various
threads such as virus, worms, trojan horses, spyware and hackers can destroy
the data or access the information without authorization and computer crime
such as phishing thread, identity theft, bluesnarfing and social engineering
will steal your personal information and support the fraudsters to escape from
the crime. A kind of software which is linked with other software program,
computer virus performs the malicious action without user’s knowledge. It can
reproduce itself and entering onto other programs or files and causing programs
to run improperly. Virus spread from one computer to another through hard disks
or when users open and copy the infected file using network or file sharing
programs. Another kind of thread software is worm and unlikes viruses, it can
duplicate itself and doesn’t rely on other computer software. The fact that
worm is worse than virus is that it destroys and all the data and programs. Moreover, as most of the instant messaging applications
do not use any security system in an application, the outsiders can track or
read the important messages while the users use the internet. Not only through instant 
message but also through peer-to-peer (P2P) network, outsider can get
the confidential information. Free wireless network at airport or public
location is not completely safe either as outsiders can easily hack using
laptops, wireless cards and hacking software. Outsiders will try to access the
passwords or credit card numbers of the users who log on to the network which
is pretended to offer trustworthy Wi-Fi connections.

Denial-of-Service Attack known as
“DOS” Attack is the software which forces the network server, website or a
service to stop running. Unlikes virus or worms threat, DOS attack doesn’t
destroy the data of the organization, however, it makes the websites of the
companies or services shut down by flooding network with lots of traffic and
requests and it causes the network crash. The example of DOS attack would be
against BBC websites on December 31, 2015. A group named New World
hacking knock the BBC websites and its iplayer streaming service down for
several hours and make many users complaint as the website are unavailable due
to the attack. Although DOS attack doesn’t steal or remove the data or other
assets, it makes the organization to spend money and time to recover the
website. Another computer crime is identity theft which the
fraudsters try to obtain the personal informations and pretend to be someone else.
Among the victims,
Bill Gates, Steven Speilberg and Oprah Winfrey are the well-known people who
have experienced identity theft. Somehow, there is an internal
threads in an organization which is the employee. Employees who have limited
knowledge of technology face the problem of not recognizing the virus. Some
employees allowed others to know their computers passwords and use them. Therefore,
employee’s lack of common knowledge also lead to insecurity. And some
employess surf the internet for personal use- may be watching the youtube video
or playing game. And malicious software come to attack by pretending they are
from the members of the company. When employees enter into a trap, those
intruders can track all of the information of the company such as finaicial
data or confidential important which is very important to the organization.
Therefore, it is important to give the employees the proper knowledge about
technology.

The most common cyberattack in most
of the organizations is ransomware attacks, a kind of cyber kidnapping. Ransomware
is a malicious software which take over your computer and encrypted the data or
information so that the owners couldn’t access to their data. If the
organization paid the ransomware during their time limit, hackers transfer the
key to decrypt the files. In order to get the access to the computer of the
targeted victim, ransomware use some delivery system and it can be more than
one. Most common delivery systems are phishing emails, social engineering
schemes, malvertising networks or watering hole attacks. With ransomware,
hackers harm the computer, steal the data inside it and demand the money from
the actual owners. Therefore, ransomware becomes one of the fastest growing
cyber threads used by hackers to take out the profit from victims. You may lost
all the confidential and important information in your computer if it has been
attacked by ransomware. Nowadays most of the organizations face this common
cyber thread and not only lost billions of money but also have to spend so much
time to get systems back. Moreover, ransomware can be very harmful to
organization’s productivity because all the production process had to on hold
until the important data is recovered and the system is secured.

Although organizations are trying
to prevent the ransomware attacks, hackers keep trying to find ways to advance
the ransomware system and the system is continuously advanced. In 2017, the
advanced ransomware system makes the organizations around the world shock as it
can hit businesses in more than 100 countries within 48 hours and is recorded
as biggest attack among ransomware attacks. That ransomware is wanna decryptor
2.0 known as WannaCry or wcry. WannaCry 2.0 is a specific ransomware system
which block all the data access and leaves the users only with the instructions
of what to do next and WannaCry program information. When the users open the
software, they are informed that all the data are encrypted and are asked for
payment in Bitcoin. If the users don’t know how to buy Bitcoin, the software
will provide you the information to buy and bitcoin address to send to.

According to 2016 ransomware report
which surveyed in four countries such as United Kingdom, the United States,
Canada and Germany, 40% of business organizations were attacked by ransomware,
30% of business lost the revenue and 20% of victims have to stop the business
immediately which cause thousands of employees lost their jobs. Therefore,
cyber attacks can also indirectly increase the unemployed rate. As the victims
couldn’t know they are attacked until the hackers take over the computers and block
access to all the data files, some businesses don’t get enough time for
prevention and according to research, nearly 19% of the organizations had to
stop the business immediately. As nearly 60% of the ransomware attacks on
business demanded over $1000 and over 20% of attacks claimed over $10,000, some
small business cost lot of money to recover their data and their loss is bigger
than the large organization because large companies can use sophisticated
systems and those system can be able to sense this attack and minimize the
damage. However, paying the ransomware can’t guarantee that all of the data can
be retained safely because fraudsters are not someone who are trustworthy
people. But if the company doesn’t pay till deadline they give, all the
encryption and decryption keys will not be transferred and that means all the
data will be lost.

4.         As
the network system is well developed in most of the countries, such malware
attacks are often occurred anywhere in the world. Most countries which is
attacked mostly include United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, China,
Germany, India, South Korea, etc and those attacks can negatively impact the
country and organizations. That’s why countries and organizations are more
emphasized on preparations for cyber attack nowadays. However, the question is
how we will protect the sudden ransomware attack. Malware attackers are fully
aware of the basic traditional ways the organization use to avoid the thread
and therefore, they are continuously developing the ransomware system until the
system are advanced. It makes the society to increase the awareness of the
cyber security and learn more basic knowledges about technology in order to
minimize the chance of leaking out the information which negatively impact on
organizations. Organization must protect the security of not only their own
information but also shareholders, business partners, customers and employees
as well. If they fail to protect them, it could create harm to the organization
and organization will have to handle the risk.

As their main target is the
confidential or important information of organizations or individuals, the
organization or individual should back up their information first. If there is
back up information, even if the ransomware attack and the company data is
lost, there is not much damages in organization. However, especially for the
large organizations which retain thousands of information, sophisticated
security system is always needed as connecting to the internet would be
dangerous if there is no medium which protects malware and intruders.
Firewalls, intrusion detection system, antivirus and antispyware software are
essential tools for business to protect fraud, computer crime and various
malicious software.

Firewalls

Malicious software such as virus
and worms steal and remove the data while firewalls don’t allow the
unauthorized users accessing from other computers. Firewalls is well known as
the protection tool which protect the private network from public one. Firewalls
ban all the unauthorized between internal and external world. The outer barrier
of firewalls blocks all the entries except those destined for service and the
inner barrier of firewalls cut off all outgoing traffic. It helps the
organization to minimize the various attack systems.

Intrusion Detection System

Intrusion Detection System is the
software application which check and record the network and find if any
suspicious process occurs. Intrusion Detection System monitors full-time and
give an alert if it detects a malicious process. IDS also featured the tool
which can cut off a specific part of a network if it is entered through
unauthorized access.

Antivirus and Antispyware Software

            One
of the basic method of defensing the malware attack is installing antivirus and
antispyware software in every computer in the business. Antivirus software
detects and erase the malware such as virus, worms, spyware, Trojan horses and
other programs which are designed to damage a system. However, new kind of
viruses are found out everyday and antivirus software need to be updated
regularly. Antispyware protects from leaking out the information to the third
party without the owner’s knowledge. Especially the organizations should have
both antivirus and antispyware software. Information technology is
constantly improving and internet and various information systems help the individual
and organizations to be able to access the information of one another in a short
time. Although organizations may gain benefit from information system as the
data they get from information system largely support in decision-making
process, on the other side, it increases the ethical issues. Lack of privacy,
copyright infringement, security, increased computer crimes are the major
challenges which information technology is now facing. Due to the nature of
advanced network system, organizations’ or individual’s network can easily be
accessible and are being threatened by intruders. Such kind of computer crimes
rate are basically increase recent years. As the computing power doubles every
18 month, many more organizations depend a lot in information technology and
vulnerability to social system is increased. In this section, the major
challenges of information technology regarding about the ethical issue will be
discussed.

Lack of Privacy

Advanced data analysis techniques
are also the technology trend which raise ethical issues because business can
be able to take advantage over the detailed information of the individuals
which are accessed through data analysis software. There are many ways our
privacy can leak out. Internet webcam is a kind of online stalkers and users
can turn on the computer which is online via internet system and your daily
life can be accessed. Famous celebrities are the victim of internet webcam. Using
social media also exploit your personal data as people share their life with
their friends or family and some users who they only know via online. In
Myanmar, Facebook is the most popular social media channel and it has 18
million monthly active users. Digital Marketing is very trendy marketing
strategy of businesses and Facebook support businesses to target their audience
very specifically and it is obviously showing that our personal information on social
media is leaking out.

Copyright infringement

Copyright becomes topic of many
artists’ discussion nowadays. Due to the developed internet technology, everyone
can get the file of music, videos, books, movies or photos easily as there are
also many music and photo sharing networks and it leads to the fact that most
of the original creators facing loss of the credibility of their work. Users
can download songs, videos, e-book and movies for free and it makes users save
money, however negatively affects to the original creators.

Security

No matter how hard you and your organization
try to protect the important data using security software, there is always a
way to attack and steal the data as the malware systems are being developed
continuously. Many businesses track the information of their customers using
wide spread of internet cookies to determine which products or services should
be advertised. Financial service such as online banking system is also widely used
and hackers can break the security system of the mobile banking and makes all
the money to be transferred to their accounts.

As much as the data analysis
software advances, the possibilities of leaking your private information is
also growing. Advance analysis software can access detailed information of the
individual from various location and organizations can maintain all the data easily
in the database because data storage cost rapidly decrease. Not only data
storage cost drops but also the cost of transferring information and making it
accessible from anywhere reduce as well and that leads the high vulnerability
to the system network. Moreover, over half of the populations of every developed
and developing countries use mobile phone. Mobile phone is one of the mediums as
well to track individual’s data without his or her knowledge. Other mediums
which hackers can track the digital information include credit card purchase, banking
records, magazine subscriptions and website traffic. Advanced information
technology promote the invasion of privacy.