Preparing graduates to handle global IT security – article critical analysis

Preparing graduates to handle global IT security – article critical analysis

Businesses on the date are heavily dependent upon their Information Technology infrastructure for the smooth running of their business processes. However, there are significant challenges that are associated with the implementation of IT and its security aspects on a global scale. It is thus essential to prepare capable candidates with the skills necessary to meet the challenges arising in the domain. A chosen article on this topic will be analyzed to understand it to a better extent.

Critical analysis of the article

In the chosen article, the researchers have worked on the ways that can be used to prepare the students graduating in Information Systems and help them to develop the capabilities essential to handle the hurdles towards ensuring global IT security. In the study, the researchers have worked on some of the critical security issues that organizations face in terms of Information Security and assurance. They have identified that it is one of the crucial elements, especially for those businesses where the customers want more secure experience with the products, thus making it compulsory for the organizations to implement the best practices for ensuring the security with human resources and technical innovations (Sauls & Gudigantala, 2019).

During the study, the researchers have stated that all of the steps taken by the global organizations to ensure information security are guided by customer demands. However, the necessity of a business to invest in its information security resources to safeguard is own business processes cannot be neglected (Vroom & Von Solms, 2004). This is because, in today’s digital age, information, especially sensitive ones, can change the entire way that a business performs in the market. The count of cyber threats is on the rise, and the customer information is also at risk under such circumstances, thus urging the global companies to find ways to provide the customers with the assurance of security they demand. Some of the major issues for global companies, as identified during the study, include implementing uniform frameworks for information security at various branches through a uniform standard such as firewall settings, use of encryption technology, security policies, et cetera.

The article also points out that not all security risks of Information Systems are encircled around technological factors only but also include various human factors such as communication errors, non-uniformity of laws across nations, access control threats, and many more. In this context, the researchers have not worked on identifying substantial ways to cut down the risks identified by them. However, they have laid their emphasis on how the graduates in Information System should be trained for the purpose. In other words, they were more inclined towards developing adept human experts rather than concentrating on technical ways to increase information security and assurance. One aspect that the researchers failed to shed light on was how the risks identified during the study could impact the information security of the customers. Conducting an extensive literature review on the topic could have revealed essential and vital information in this context, which has not been included in the study.

Key offerings of the article

The article presents valuable advice that can be used by the Information Systems Faculty members across the globe to plan and execute the subject curriculum. However, the suggestions are not enough to mitigate all the risks that exist towards information security and assurance. Instead, the researchers present the faculty with some valuable inputs that can be used to plan the graduation course on the subject. The emphasis on the professionals gaining the foundational technical knowledge is evident as it will enable them to develop analytical thinking skills – one of the prime necessities for the job role (Conklin, 2006). Practical exposure is undoubtedly one of the best ways to prepare candidates. It must be kept in mind that the students should have prior exposure to the challenges and not direct faceoff in the industry (Couger, 1989). Various other useful steps to encourage the students in the subject has also been mentioned, most of which can be treated as a guideline to design the course outline for the students.

The researchers should have also presented some tips that the students could also look into to enhance their understanding of the risks and develop ways to mitigate the same at the industrial level. Some suggestions for the students would have significantly increased the quality of this article to a great extent.

Reference

Conklin, A. (2006, January). Cyber defense competitions and information security education: An active learning solution for a capstone course. In Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’06) (Vol. 9, pp. 220b-220b). IEEE.

Couger, J. D. (1989). Preparing IS students to deal with ethical issues. Mis Quarterly, 211-218.

Sauls, J., & Gudigantala, N. (2019). Preparing information systems (IS) graduates to meet the challenges of global IT security: Some suggestions. Journal of Information Systems Education, 24(1), 7.

Vroom, C., & Von Solms, R. (2004). Towards information security behavioural compliance. Computers & security, 23(3), 191-198.