Using Crowdstrike as an example, my initial post discussed the risk of cascading technical failures in interconnected systems of the fourth industrial age. My peers’ initial posts also discussed the risks of technical failure, cyber attacks, and data breaches. This summary post will discuss these key risks and possible measures to mitigate them.
Implementing timely patches is one of the widely recognised strategies for defending software systems against cyber threats (Dissanayake et al., 2022). As Marwa highlighted in his discussion of the 2017 WannaCry incident, cyber-attacks that exploit software vulnerabilities can steal sensitive data, and compromise critical operations in whole sectors such as healthcare. Organisations must follow software patch management processes to ensure protection against these vulnerabilities. It is important to involve all stakeholders when implementing patching for large and complex systems. This helps with compliance with industry regulations, minimises disruptions, allows for a smooth transition post-patch, and fosters accountability.
Additionally, strong cyber security architecture is crucial in preventing cyber attacks, and data breaches (Mughal, 2021). Data breaches lead to financial loss, legal repercussions, and damage to reputation. Organisations must protect personal information, and comply with data privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Compliance with strong data governance helps avoid incidents like the 2017 Equifax data breach. Organisations must balance innovation with following privacy laws. For example, as the GDPR mandates, organisations must request explicit consent for data collection, clearly state the purpose for the data collection, provide customers access to their data when requested, and ensure secure handling of the data (Buchanan et al., 2022).
Finally, organisations must invest in resilient technical infrastructures to mitigate the cascading effect of system failures or downtimes. Rigorous testing, automated rollback strategies, phased rollouts, and deploying predictive AI models can mitigate the risk of technical failure. Implementing proactive measures in the fourth industrial age is a significant investment for organisations, but they protect against even more significant potential financial loss and reputational damage.
References
Buchanan, W. J., Gobeo, A. and Fowler, C. (2022) GDPR and cyber security for business information systems. New York: River Publishers.
Dissanayake, N. et al. (2022) ‘Software security patch management - A systematic literature review of challenges, approaches, tools and practices’, Information and software technology, 144, p. 106771.
Mughal, A. A. (2021) ‘Cybersecurity Architecture for the Cloud: Protecting Network in a Virtual Environment’, International Journal of Intelligent Automation and Computing, 4(1), pp. 35–48.