Computer Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Computer Security - Essay Example To understand the nature of this proverbial beast we must take a closer look at the misaligned incentives that guide the basic design and deployment of computer systems, which form a major chunk of the issue. These misguided incentives begin with what economists call a moral hazard effect which resulted in a landslide of fraud. Other incentives include consumer’s lack of prioritizing on security measures which resulted in their minimum spending on software security. This is referred to by economists as ‘The tragedy of the commons’ with consumer’s unwilling to spend on measures that did not directly benefit them. Third is the failure in privacy and prolonged regulatory issues due to poor allocation of online risks. Last is the ability of these incentives to affect defense and offense strategies. With highlighting these key aspects we can move on to examining two mutually exclusive reasons for the decline in credit card number prices and violations of securit y based on economics being the reason for the existence of economics of security. The first of these reasons is ‘Network Externality’. In the information sector network externality refers to the software industry. Where the number of software users’ counts as the operating system developed depends on the choices of these people. So when the software company is in its initial development phase it tends to ignore security to strengthen its market position, later they add security measures once they have locked down on their target market. In economies this principle is called the Metcalfe’s law, stating that the value of a network grows with the number of people using it. This principle when applied to credit cards can be viewed as more merchants take credit cards their usefulness increases in the eyes of the customer. This results in more customers having credit cards increasing the likelihood of more merchants accepting them. So we notice that although the credit card network grows slowly initially but as positive feedback rolls in an exponential growth results. This has a direct impact on the decrease in the credit card number prices with a burst of credit card users. The second reason for this mutually exclusive occurrence has to do with ‘competitive applications and corporate warfare’. In reference to credit cards we look at the business strategy that requires manipulating switching costs. This can incorporate direct and indirect switching costs in terms of making systems incompatible or controlling marketing channels. Sometimes product differentiation and higher switching costs can both be used as security mechanism goals. For example look at Microsoft Passport, which operates with the promise of a single sign-on that facilitates consumer convenience. However that being said the real goals of Microsoft Passport is to subtly gather huge sums of date on consumer purchasing patterns with the expansion of a strong networ k externality. Also it limits the customer choice since the undertaken transactions are only operational on Microsoft software. This shows how instead of a concentration on security the product concentrates instead on web server control and acquisition of information markets. The products credit card transactions and details, which are all kept by Microsoft, result in the creation of a target market. This increases the probability of a greater external threat as well as a complete stranger