Free Essay on Evaluating Cybersecurity Policies in Florida: A Call for Change and Innovation

Introduction

Modern times have branded information a significant subject to every operational organization, thus transforming its storage to modern technology and its access criteria. The world has proved to be continually developing its level of technology and turning everything to follow computerized procedures for the sake of security and the general good. Technology development has also given the best benefits it can offer by making things easier and time-saving but equally posing a threat to the world by having computer experts who have ill and personal-driven objectives. Such threat levels are associated with hackers, commonly the technological crime lords behind numerous malpractices like hacking and breaching an organization's security protocol. Our day-to-day tasks are carried out with ease as a result of technology. All those functions and individuals involved in various information technology areas can only be kept safe through cybersecurity measures and policies. Cyberspace has proven its vulnerability to the enormous spectrum of hackers, terrorists, and even space sectors.

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Abstract

This paper closely scrutinizes a response plan for cyber-attacks in the State of Florida with a deterred agenda of improving the security level of every operating entity of the state's government sector. The Senate in the state mandates with significant to pass and turn down policies and implement the state's laws to the smaller offices of the government. That position is a perfect audience to ferry the motion of change of the existing policy on caring for cyber-crime incidents (Shoukat & Bashir, 2018). The diverse arguments on the policy amendment will touch on numerous propositions as to why the existing policy needs an elimination and welcome a new dawn of a better approach to secure Florida residents. A further consideration is the analogy of the existing policies, analyzing and assessing its success in safeguarding Florida's people. The analysis is purposed on tabling down the alternative policies that the Senate may consider safer and aimed at the greater good of each member of the public. The policies should align themselves with their positive contribution to the economy and social status of Florida. The work will put an emphasis on possible recommendations and implementations of the new suggested policy and predict the anticipation of its fruition.

Literature Review

Cyber-attacks and disruptions are increasing in today's society as attackers are inventing new hacking methods. The activities are made possible by people who have access to and knowledge of cyber-attacks; hence it is essential to introduce policies regarding anyone caught responsible for the attacks and use advanced technology in cybersecurity. Gary Werner (2014) presented the present approach towards cybercrime, giving out reasons why people should be protected against cybercrimes and in case of cyber-crimes why they should report it. He argued that the need and essence of illegally making money online and avoiding the set guidelines is the main motive of cybercrimes. Research that he analyzed showed that in 2016, the average ransom amount increased to $1077 from $294 the previous year, which was thought to arise due to the sudden rise of Bitcoin. It made it possible for individuals to transfer currency without revealing their details hence the rise of ransomware.

Malware attacks of creating malicious software are on the rise and can cause severe attacks for personal financial gain. Donaldson (2015) researched the main cyber-attacks targeting the databases which involve revealing personal databases. Re-transferring of finances and their related information of integrity threat. By all means, the attackers will try accessing the security defense system after having control over the first level. Due to this, exposure to attacks should be the primary concern; hence the defender should concentrate on rebuilding it and ensuring the security is strong for attacks. He argued that the penetration of hackers into one's organization and success can be too short between the breach and discovery, which is made is helped by a weak defense security system. The control and access over cybercrime through weak cyber defenders was a major weakness that developers needed to concentrate on. He recommended improvement in the current system by developing defenders, which are strong and complicated to be hacked.

Holt (2016), based on the behavioral side, stated that cyber-attacks and disruption could be reduced through replication techniques. The approach to understanding the intricate environment comes from people and software interaction. An Individual's behavior affects the operations of the software and people, resulting in cyberspace. He advised that the cyber teams should include individuals from different sectors who have the knowledge in those fields, and their information could be vital in setting up the security system. He further stated that the making of cyber duties and functions, should include the provision of possible attacks and try to avoid the possible linkages that can lead to the attacks. System developers should always focus on the needs of the user before integrating the security system, and it should ensure it satisfies their desired expectations.

On security expenditure, Blackbarrow (2019) researched and came up with that organizations spend a lot of their funds in trying to set up a security system. They incurred the extra charges since they were not aware of the best defender to install in their entity to make their organization not vulnerable to external attacks. Therefore, there was a need to evaluate and upgrade to the current technology to ensure its software is free from malicious attacks and reduce the set-up security expenses. Pal (2018) described how hackers access their target data by executing different and systematic steps. The penetration of passwords was made possible by users not setting a strong password or forgetting their set password. The hackers can too sneak harmful codes into the system and have total control over the system hence performing their malicious attacks successfully. He argued that hackers can still take advantage of a weak network on the users' system or use the key logger to capture the required data.

Overview

In preventing and minimizing cyber disruptions, there are set policies that will help to reduce crime rates. The current set of policies is not protective enough to prevent crimes from happening due to their various weaknesses exposed by the attackers in different situations. The attacks can have consequences that are not appreciated by society for they can make one lose vital data for work or research after being infected with malicious software. It can lead to a reputation of being compromised due to revealing personal information that is private and not suitable enough for the public (Shoukat & Bashir, 2018). Also, organizations spend a lot of expenses trying to fix the weaknesses vulnerable to the attacks and also spend in hiring security experts who curb the attacks. Further, organizations and individuals incur huge amounts of losses as cybercrimes can borrow loans from financial institutions by using the details of a person or company, making them pay the loans.

Due to the various weaknesses exposed by the current set of guidelines, there is a need to change the policy, to make the current cyber technology more accepted by a larger population. A large number of organizations highly depend on the network to store their company data; hence they need assurance that the network will be a safe place to store their data, and they can access it without complications. Individuals use debit cards and credit cards while performing transactions and purchasing products, which will be made possible by ensuring their finances are safe and not vulnerable to crimes of discounting them. Currently, the government keeps its data using electronic forms like tax returns and soft loans, so there is a need to have a strong policy that will ensure that the details are not attacked, and they can be kept in the designed platforms for a long period of time. Further, due to the advanced technology, people have adapted to using the new advanced technology like using social media platforms; therefore, the logins are not to be accessed by anyone either through cyber disruptions or through cybercrimes. Due to various reasons, there is a need to change the currently used policy and adapt to a new set policy, which will ensure the elimination of cyber-attacks.

Analysis of the Current Policy

The state of Florida pursues the policy of engaging in information technology reorganization as enacted by the state legislature to curb possible cyber-attacks aired toward every residence. The governing body in Florida State has enacted a major policy that allows the designation of a state chief information security officer (Mbaziira & Jones, 2016). The qualifications for this post are well stated on the basis of experience and expertise in security and risk management for communications and technology resources. The appointment of an individual in the post of chief information officer is mandated with a responsibility to create a task force for Florida cyber-security. This policy can be best considered effective based on the achievements that it has acquired on the Florida management body based on their metric of good performance. The argument supporting the existence of this policy is that the task force formed is given a responsibility to assess and review the state's cyber-security and governance of the related operations. The task force should identify and analyze any developing changes in the information technology department and see any possible maintenance and development projects related to technology.

The public's perception is unchanged with a consideration of the performance of the task force as they view that the policy enacted is not socially benefiting but rather well castigated to aid only the government-related operations, which rarely impact the members of the public to the positive (Mbaziira & Jones, 2016). The call for an assessment of this current policy is total disapproval of how the state management has been failing cause of a futile policy. Florida State has recorded a continuous increase in the number of cyber crimes from one year to the other. The residents are in total complaining about the crime rate as the Floridians have experienced numerous losses on related crimes making the area unfavorable to reside in. Florida State has been recorded as one of the most fertile States for cyber-related crimes at a national level making it the third most populous state.

The stakeholders involved in safeguarding the Floridians from the cyber-attacks involve the appointed chief of state information security with his board of members and the operations task force. Further, the state is under the safety of cybersecurity bodies who are guided by their internal management as other ranks among the best companies in the world; Easy Solutions and Veriato Company. Considering the weight bestowed on the shoulders of the Floridians, the topic of cyber-attacks is a timely and convenient asset to direct the public administration on the way to go and the options to adopt in the wake of such threats. The topic further verifies the failed nature of the current policy that develops the urge for change, transition, and innovation of new means of security by Florida's governing body.