Question

Task

The purpose of this risk management assignment is to identify, understand and manage work-related risks. You are required to:

• Choose a sector (eg construction, health, hospitality, retail, local government, etc.);
• Select one particular potential risk (e.g. shortage of skilled labour, exposure to hazardous chemicals or dust, working at heights, contaminated soil, etc.); and
• Discuss how the risk should be managed.

Answer

Introduction
As evident in the risk management assignment, today, retail businesses are growing rapidly that enables customers to purchase products and access retailing services easily. Retailing companies are now dependent on information technologies and communication networks that help to manage complexity and control retailing operations effectively. More than 80% of the retailing communities have shifted towards digitalization and information technologies to improve performance and efficiency. However, securing data with technologies is a major challenge for retailing businesses as technologies are connected with the internet that can enable hackers to perform hacking and cyber-attacks easily. It is important for retail companies to identify and manage security risk like data breach related to business networks so that the confidentiality and privacy of sensitive data can be protected. The aim of this research is to analyze the security risks and issues related to retailing businesses and review the implications of security threats on the privacy of retailers. The structure of this research will cover major three sections such as risk management, security issues with retailing and recommendations.

Risk management
Risk management refers to the technique used to identify and detect risks from businesses and helps companies to analyze the risk factors affecting the performance and effectiveness of the businesses. With the help of a risk management plan, it is easy for the retailers to identify the insider risks and issues affecting business operations and based on the identified risks, effective plans and strategies can be implemented. In terms of security, managing risk is one of the effective ways to reduce cyber-attacks and security vulnerabilities posed by hackers and private details of customers can be secured effectively. Chatterjee, Chaudhuri, & Vrontis, (2021) reported that risk management is beneficial for companies to manage the risk factors and issues affecting the performance and delivery of appropriate analytical activities. In this research, security issue in the retail industry is selected as a risk where risk management will be applied to control and manage internal security risks and propose effective countermeasures against cyber-attacks.

Retail industry contains various characteristics such as supply chain, inventory controls, delivery support and GDP. In the context of GDP, risk management plays a major contribution that has the ability to enables companies to identify insider risks and issues related to business operations and propose effective strategies to overcome organizational risks. By managing, risks and issues from businesses can lead to an increase in the rate of GDP, improve services and production. In the context of retailing, risk management can be applied to manage security risks and issues and a number of employees can access risk management programs to protect personal details and defend against cyber-attacks.

Security risk: data breach in Retailing
Retailing companies are now accessing digital technologies and computing networks to manage business issues and perform multiple operations through a single system. Using information technologies can lead to an increase in the performance of retailing businesses but also increase security risks and data breach concerns. Mainly, retailing operations are based on internet and communication networks where cyber-criminals can perform hacking operations and reduce the confidentiality of sensitive data. More than 70% of the retailing companies worldwide access internet-based communication channels for providing updates related to product delivery and supply chain and hackers can target these channels and reduce privacy. Gupta, et al., (2020) reported that the presence of security issues and risks in retailing operations can lead to affect the security of personal details and hackers can produce ethical and illegal problems. Major three risk factors are identified as increasing security issues in retailing businesses such as lack of understanding, miss-configuration and improper risk management plans. Due to a lack of understanding about security vulnerabilities, it is difficult for the employees to identify and manage internal issues that lead to increase chances of hacking. More than 80% of hackers perform unauthorized activities over computing systems used by the employees and produce internal security vulnerabilities for obtaining login credentials (Horn, Oehler, & Wendt, 2020).

For example, Walmart is a leading retailing company that has suffered from security risks and threats due to improper security controls and understanding about cyber-security. The implementation of simple passwords for databases and retailing operations can be accessed by hackers easily and data loss related problems can be produced in the workplace. Joshi, & Akhilesh, (2020) agreed and stated that improper security frameworks and risk management plans in retailing businesses can lead to increase hacking and cyber-threat related problems.

Communication networks are linked with the business operations and computing systems where miss-configurations of servers and protocols can enable the hackers to connect malicious and third parties with the servers and gain login credentials easily. Retailing companies use wireless and IoT based communication systems that enable users to perform video conferencing and data transmission related activities. In the last four years, more than 56% of retailing companies have suffered from a data breach incident and hackers were capable to gain the personal details and information of users.

Securing data is one of the biggest problems linked with retailing companies that enable hackers to obtain the private details and banking information of customers without their knowledge. It is found that retailing companies do not apply appropriate security controls and frameworks due to which it is easy for hackers to target web servers and accessed databases. Kaushik, & Dahiya, (2018) reported that retailing companies do not include any firewall and encryption techniques over web applications and communication networks that increase the chances of hacking. The cyber-criminals target communication channels through malicious codes that caused the security incidents such as confidentiality, availability and integrity of sensitive data.

Securing data is a critical condition for companies that require proper knowledge and effective security frameworks. In the case of retailing, the management did not implement appropriate security frameworks and plans due to which the hackers were capable to target users' accounts and gained personal details. More than 60% of retailing users were suffered from data breach incidents in the last five years and their personal details including names hashed passwords and email addresses have been accessed The presence of security risks and vulnerabilities in computing networks and communication channels can lead to reducing confidentiality of sensitive data and hackers can produce ethical and illegal problems.

Muhire, & Ayyagari, (2018) identified that due to improper security controls and programs, retailing companies are not capable to identify insider threats and increased the chances of hacking and cyber-attacks. Information security framework plays a major contribution in the protection of data against cyber-attacks and risks. It is verified that the criminals target verbal exchange channels and computing gadgets via unauthorized activities and uncommon sports. It is important for businesses to deal with unauthorized sports in order that spoofing threats may be managed. For example, a biometric actual machine is greater dependable and suitable that gives a platform to control and discover unauthorized sports significantly.

Types of security risks and threats in retailing businesses
There are four security threats are linked with retailing businesses such as malware, phishing, DDoS attack and ransomware.

Malware and unwanted signals
Malware is a typical security concern that arises in web applications when thieves create unwanted programmers and target computer servers in order to get access. The presence of infection signals can allow hackers to compromise the privacy of web apps and gain easy access to sensitive user information. Taylor, (2016) identified that firms should focus on security and managing malware threats in order to improve the security of web apps. When odd information is sent off a translator as part of the hacking, injection flaws such as SQL occur in computer applications.

The translator can be duped by the assailant's frightening data. Mainly, two types of malware threats are linked with retailing businesses such as viruses and worms. Most of hackers share viruses over computing networks that can spread from one network to another easily and reduce the confidentiality of data. Therefore, it is important for retail companies to identify and manage malware viruses from systems so that data can be protected.

Phishing attack
Phishing is one of the major attacks linked with the computing networks that enable the hackers to target communication networks and servers used by retailing companies. Phishing is a frequent sort of cyber-attack that everyone should be aware of in order to stay safe online. Email phishing is one of the common techniques used by hackers that enable them to reduce the privacy of communication channels by sharing fraud or spam signals and obtain login credentials. Many employees in retailing companies use email-based communication systems where hackers transfer fraud or spam emails that contain botnet and malicious codes and reduce the privacy of sensitive data.

DDoS attack
The term DDoS refers to the “distributed denial of service attack which is able to reduce privacy of computing networks by sharing traffic networks. DDoS assaults are effective for hackers as they use numerous compromised systems to produce data breach incident in retailing businesses. Computers and other networked resources, such as IoT devices, are examples of exploited machinery. A DDoS assault is analogous to unanticipated traffic congestion obstructing the roadway, preventing ordinary traffic from reaching its destination. For example, Amazon is an online retailing company that provides online delivery facilities to customers through web servers and applications. The presence of security risks and DDoS attacks in Amazon businesses can reduce confidentiality and produce data breach incidents. Therefore, it is important for retail companies to identify traffic signals so that privacy can be improved.

Recommendations
There are the following recommendations and strategies that can be used by the retailing companies to protect data and manage security risks:

Develop training programs
It is found that many employees in the retailing business are not aware of cyber-security and security threats due to which they can access third parties and unauthorized servers in computers and increase hacking problems. It is recommended that companies should hire a security team and develop training programs for employees so that understanding and knowledge about cyber-security can be improved and internal risks can be managed (Zhang, Fan, & Xue, 2019). Moreover, the security team should regularly update systems and communication networks as the oldest systems can contain security bugs and risks due to which hackers can gain accessibility and produce data breach problems.

Implement risk management plans
Risk management is one of the effective techniques that should be implemented in retailing businesses to identify and review the security risks and improve the privacy of sensitive data. It is recommended that the risk management plan should be applied to the computing networks and databases so that the unauthorized activities posed by the hackers can be detected and the chances of hacking can be minimized. The adoption of risk management can helps to set priorities for security risks and enables the team to apply effective security controls based on the priorities.

Follow security frameworks
It is suggested that companies should develop a security framework based on the NIST program as it is capable to propose effective strategies to minimize security issues and risks. NIST security framework is more effective and reliable that should be implemented to protect networks and systems from hackers. NIST security framework included various phases that should be followed while implementing a risk management plan such as identification, detection, evaluation, recovering, responding and many more. With the help of these phases of retailing, companies can protect data and improve the confidentiality of business operations.

Include strong passwords and apply two-step verification
Including simple passwords to the accounts can increase cyber-attacks and data breach problems for which strong and complex passwords should be implemented and users should update passwords regularly. It is recommended that retailing companies should suggest the employees change passwords timely and include strong passwords including characters, numeric keys and special characters so that privacy can be improved. Moreover, two-step verification should be implemented due to their potential to manage unauthorized activities and helps the employees to secure their accounts from cyber-criminals. Managing unauthorized activities from internal systems positively influence privacy and protect data against cyber-attacks.

Install anti-phishing tools and firewall techniques
Communication systems used by retailing companies are more vulnerable that enables the hackers to transfer unwanted or spam signals and gain accessibility of exchanged data easily. In retailing operations, updates related to the supply chain, inventory controls and product deliveries are shared through communication networks for which anti-phishing tools should be applied. Moreover, a package filtering firewall should be implemented over computing networks that can lead to detect and manage traffic signals from servers and increase the privacy of sensitive data.

Implement encryption programs
Retailing businesses have implemented information and communication technologies to improve efficiency but also increase security risks and issues. It is recommended that management should develop and apply encryption programs over communication and database systems due to their ability to protect data and manage security issues. The major feature of encryption technique is that it converts or encrypts data into codes using private keys by which exchanged data can be secured and data breach can be minimized. It is recommended that companies should implement AES encryption programs as they provided better private keys by which strong encryption techniques can be implemented and confidentiality can be improved. Therefore, all these are effective and reliable techniques and strategies that should be implemented by retailing businesses to improve privacy and manage security risks.

Conclusion
From the above evaluation, it may be concluded that retailing companies should implement a risk management plan to protect data and manage security vulnerabilities from internal systems. This research helped to improve understanding of security risks and issues related to retailing businesses. It is found that including simple passwords to the accounts can increase cyber-attacks and data breach problems for which strong and complex passwords should be implemented and users should update passwords regularly. Communication networks are linked with the business operations and computing systems where miss-configurations of servers and protocols can enable the hackers to connect malicious and third parties with the servers and gain login credentials easily.

Due to a lack of understanding about security vulnerabilities, it is difficult for the employees to identify and manage internal issues that lead to increase chances of hacking. Securing data is one of the biggest problems linked with retailing companies that enable hackers to obtain the private details and banking information of customers without their knowledge. Risk management is beneficial for companies to manage the risk factors and issues affecting the performance and delivery of appropriate analytical activities. The adoption of risk management can helps to set priorities for security risks and enables the team to apply effective security controls based on the priorities. It is recommended that management should develop and apply encryption programs over communication and database systems due to their ability to protect data and manage security issues.

References
Chatterjee, S., Chaudhuri, R., & Vrontis, D. (2021). Examining the global retail apocalypse during the COVID-19 pandemic using strategic omnichannel management: a consumers’ data privacy and data security perspective. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 29(7), 617-632.

Gupta, R., Tanwar, S., Al-Turjman, F., Italiya, P., Nauman, A., & Kim, S. W. (2020). Smart contract privacy protection using ai in cyber-physical systems: Tools, techniques and challenges. IEEE Access, 8, 24746-24772.

Horn, M., Oehler, A., & Wendt, S. (2020). FinTech for consumers and retail investors: Opportunities and risks of digital payment and investment services. In Ecological, Societal, and Technological Risks and the Financial Sector (pp. 309-327). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Joshi, K., & Akhilesh, K. B. (2020). Role of Cyber Security in Retail. In Smart Technologies (pp. 233-247). Springer, Singapore.

Kaushik, K., & Dahiya, S. (2018, November). Security and privacy in IoT based e-business and retail. Risk management assignment In 2018 International Conference on System Modeling & Advancement in Research Trends (SMART) (pp. 78-81). IEEE.

Muhire, B., & Ayyagari, R. (2018). Employee Compliance to Information Security in Retail Stores. Communications of the IIMA, 16(4), 2.

Taylor, E. (2016). Mobile payment technologies in retail: a review of potential benefits and risks. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 4(2), 2.

Zhang, L., Fan, H., & Xue, C. (2019, May). The development trend of the new retail format integration application cloud ERP system. In 1st international conference on business, economics, management science (BEMS 2019). Atlantis Press.