A Rapid Change in Information Technology, Essay Example

A Rapid change in information technology has widespread the user friendliness in computer systems. The desire of organizations to implement state of the art computers systems to accomplish critical tasks has been an achievement. Accounting Information System is vital for all organizations. Every organization needs to maintain the AIS. Accountants, auditors and academicians are only considered when they meet the same level of intelligence. They design, operate, and control the AIS. They instruct business from the prevention of a business loss (Beard, 2007). A comprehensive definition is available on PC Mag which states that, “The human and machine resources within an organization that are responsible for collecting and processing the daily transactions and preparing financial reports”. These systems enable organizations to achieve paperless operations of critical accounting operations. On the contrary, this technology has also created threats and security risks which need to be countered. The technology is developed and implemented faster rather than the advancement in leadership practices. It has not been combined with the similar development of the employees understanding, proficiency, attentiveness and compliance. When operating AIS, erroneous reports can be found regarding incorrect financial data, violation of internal control, theft, sabotage etc. The organizations must be fully aware of the security breaches and need to prevent them from happening.

Critical Evaluation of AIS

Some of the gripping investigations and research is conducted in this area. The researchers conducted a research on threats of a management information system. They analyzed on microcomputers, mainframe computers and network components. They listed 12 security threats which incorporate natural disaster, a typo from an employee resulting in feeding of incorrect data, inadequate control over the media, un authorized access of the MIS from the hackers are ranked among the top security threats. The results claimed the experts that the biggest threats come within the organization.

The threats created within the organization due to (Information security: GAO-08-775T.2008)

• Improper documentation of purchasing system
• Payments to the vendors are paid without supporting documents
• Purchase requisitions are missing
• Prices charged for some items are usually high than normal

Identification of threats related to AIS are (Information security: GAO-08-775T.2008):

Un Authorized system access

The financial documents can be accessed by unauthorized access. This threat may occur within or outside the organization network. If the systems are vulnerable to network with no security policies or firewall protection, the files can be edited, or copied. Unauthorized system access can damage the organizations financial data in various ways. The files can be deleted or modified.

Choosing an inappropriate technology

This problem occurs when the existing network and systems of the organization are not able to cope with the current requirements. The AIS is not able to work efficiently due to heavy traffic on the network. Old switches do not support error control. They are not compatible to transfer large files because they do not support full duplex mode of transfer. The systems utilize a lot of time to complete a task due to defective specifications.

Tapping into data transmission

The data transmission from the AIS can be interrupted by creating another session of the same data transfer to the unknown destination.

Loss of data integrity

This usually occurs when there is no control on access mechanism. Everyone is accessing the AIS resulting in incorrect feeding, altering, accessing of data.

Incomplete Transaction

Incomplete transaction occurs when the AIS is out of data, incomplete, or out of context. This threat links to the incorrect feeding of data.

System Failure

System failure involves a fault in the corruption of system software or application software due to various reasons. For software instability, viruses are the leading cause. Hardware failure also falls in the category of system failure.

Incompatible Systems

This issue relates to the incompatibility of the system hardware or software with the organizations workstations for connecting to the AIS.

Unintentional Threats

• Accidents caused by human carelessness
• Innocent errors or omissions
• Misplaced or lost data
• Logical errors
• Systems that do not meet company’s requirements

Intentional Threats

• Sabotage
• Computer Fraud
• Embezzlement

These threats occur in the organization due to an increasing number of client / server access given to inadequate users. This means that the access of workstations and server is granted to impulsive number of employees. The local area network is distributed within the organization and is tougher to monitor or control. The mechanism of communication via a wide area network is allowing the inbound workers of the organization to communicate with the outside workers. They both have access to each other’s system making confidentiality a concern.

Physical Network layout

The biggest mistake organizations make, when designing the physical layout of the network, they expose the “mission critical” system including database, application server to the Internet. The systems are more vulnerable because they are on the same network.

Physical Security

Physical security is an important aspect to secure critical data, applications and servers. The security breach in server may not only provide loss for one time only, but it may lead to backdoors for taking control of the critical data for years to come. A small hacking patch can be installed for communicating with the server and giving hacker privileges to stay connected. Hardware equipment for example, hard drives can be stolen from the servers resulting in a substantial loss due to “mission critical” data, upcoming policies and milestones of the organization being handed over to the competitors.

Control Procedures & Strategies

Certain controls needs to be in control when running AIS to ensure employees are completing their tasks and the system runs properly. Internal management control lays a foundation to achieve an error less environment and maintained AIS. It is the responsibility of management to maintain internal organizational control. Implementation is conducted to reduce errors; irregularities. It is personnel oriented and designed to help employees to achieve organization goals. The unintentional and intentional acts of the employees can be minimized by controlling internal management procedures.

References

All, By. “AIS Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia.” Technology Product Reviews, News, Prices & Downloads | PCMag.com | PC Magazine. Web. 18 Aug. 2010. <http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=AIS&i=37631,00.asp>.

Beard, D.,H.Joseph. (2007). Reducing the threat levels for accounting information systems. CPA Journal, 77(5), 34.

Information security: GAO-08-775T. (2008). GAO Reports, , 1.