There are quite a number of potential threats to computer and I.T. systems out there. Some of these threats are: technical failure, human error, hacking, identity theft and phishing. In this article I will explain the impact they can cause.

Because all devices aren't guaranteed to last forever they all will fail one day, and because devices are becoming ever more complex it is becoming more difficult to predict all the possible failures that may occur.

Impacts on an organisation
1. Because of this threat, thorough user training has to be carried out so that the equipment is used properly and safely, this may cost a lot of money for the company to carry out.
2. Another way to avoid technical failures would be to perform regular preventative maintenance checks so that faults can be spotted earlier. This may affect quite a considerable amount on the company’s budget.
3. Another way they can avoid technical failure is to invest in new, more reliable technology because most of the time the latest technology tends to be more reliable than older ones.
This way will definitely cost a lot of money on the organization’s behalf because it will mean renewing old hardware on workstations maybe even the software, installing the new things and the company might have to take days off for implementation of the new systems.
4. Having a back-up plan protects a company from lost business and is especially important when experimenting with new technologies.

Counterfeit goods are simply put, illegal copies of an original. They are advertised and sold as the genuine article so this is a form of fraud. Because counterfeit articles are cheaper to make and can be sold for the high prices associated with an original, the fraudster makes a lot of profit.

Common counterfeited goods are:
• Software applications
• DVDs
• Computer games
• Music
• Clothing

Impacts on an organisation
Most of the impact of counterfeit goods comes from P2P’s (peer-to-peer networks). These networks operate by relying on a number of different computer systems to distribute bandwidth and small chunks of a file. At the end of the downloading process the chunks are then glued together, because these chunks are being downloaded in any order by a number of computers this type of networking is decentralised. Therefore it is complicated to track and is hard to tackle.
This is a major threat to every organisation that sells software and companies should be aware of this and try to make ways of preventing piracy.
When an organisation bases most of its services/trade through e-commerce they are open to a lot of threats. Not too long ago, when organisations had a loss of an I.T. service they could still be able to function. However, because organizations have become more dependent on I.T. systems any little thing could completely stop interactions with customers.

It is a fact that people make mistakes. This can cause a lot of disruption in an organisation if someone who is prone to mistakes is handling data entry. There are silly mistakes that have little impact and can be reversed and then there are big errors that can be life threatening and irreversible because of poor judgement.

In an organisation an employee should feel that they can reveal any errors they have made without fear of dismissal or immediate disciplinary action.

These are the most common of all threats probably because it involves money directly. These types of tactics are usually posed on average web users. Threats include things like:

• Website tampering
• Denial of service attacks (DoS)
• Computer phishing
• Theft of customer information

Impacts on an organisation
Any unauthorised changes to a website are a serious threat to organisations because they rely on their web presence to attract customers. If the website becomes defaced or distorted by a hacker then this might deter customers and then the potential customers may give it a bad reputation to all their friends.
DoS attacks can prevent staff from doing administration, delivering service and making sales. A company can lose a lot of money if they are denied service for even a day.
Some hackers attack web servers just to show companies how weak their administration security is or that their software is flawed. Although most of the time it is speculative sometimes they may leak sensitive customer information. This brings down the organisation’s reputation and causes current clients and potential clients to lose trust in the organisation.

There are lots more other threats but I don't want to cram it all into one blog so I will talk about some other threats such as piggybacking and viruses in my next blog. Stay tuned.