Influence of Financial Information on Threat Agents
“Since we know that this particular instance of the AppMaker implements a customer-facing store that processes financial transactions, how does that influence which threat agents may be interested in attacking it?”
The process of financial transactions is very sensitive and requires high levels of security to protect customers’ finances from threats agents intending to steal the customers’ data. Considering that the system has some vulnerabilities, it is very risky to handle the customer’s financial transaction process because the financial information attracts the threats agents to steal sensitive financial information for their monetary gains. The threats agents such as cybercriminals can easily hack into the system, steal the financial information, and extort money from the customers for their profits (Ebrary.net, 2014). In some instances, the attackers may sell sensitive financial information to people or organizations willing to pay more money for the data. In other scenarios, the attackers use the data on the customers’ financial information to access their finances in the banks or saving companies mostly using back doors.
The presence of the financial information in this system is a motivating factor that will influence the hackers to break into the system and obtain the information for their benefit. Past research has shown that threat agents such as cybercriminals, hackers, and crackers are usually attracted to organizations that provide financial services such as banks to quickly obtain money from such organizations ()Pal, 2014). In some instances, the threat agents buy products and services at lower prices than the usual, and in others, they use fake values to raise the prices of products or commodities. Also, there is a very high risk of the attackers misusing the customers’ personal financial information obtained from the AppMaker. For example, the attackers can block the customer’s PIN numbers and prevent them from accessing their accounts in the future, thus offering them a difficult time for malicious reasons. Therefore, financial information is very private and sensitive information. When it falls in the hands of the threat agents, both the customers and the organization providing the financial services will suffer. As such, it is essential to identify any loopholes in the AppMaker and fix them in advance to ensure customer financial and other sensitive information is secure.
References
Pal, M. (2019). Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting the financial services industry. SC Media. Retrieved from https://www.scmagazine.com/home/opinion/executive-insight/cybercriminals-are-increasingly-targeting-the-financial-services-industry/
Ebrary.net (2014). List All the Possible Threat Agents for This Type of System. Computer Science. Retrieved from https://ebrary.net/84347/computer_science/list_threat_agents_this_type_system