Computer Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Computer Security - Essay ExampleTheir main result being that vulnerability disclosures mostly moderate to a negative and unfavourable change in the market value for a software package developer. A solid base for the formation of their argument against information sacramental manduction is due to the actualization that on average, a vendor loses approximately 0.6% value in stock price when a vulnerability is reported This being about a 0.86$ zillion loss per vulnerability announcement. The Organization of Internet Safety (OIS) defines security vulnerability as a flaw within a software system that rump cause it to work against its original design and make it prone to outside manipulation. With the rapid advancement in technology and the internet evolution information sharing has peaked to a new level. This despite its advantages in terms of rapid information sharing also brings to surface the increased chances of vulnerabilities being exposed. As a result not only are software s ecurity harvest-times like firewalls at a risk but software like operating systems and enterprise software can also be manipulated to create security related attacks Hence providing another aspect that goes against information sharing due to the presence of vulnerabilities. pass on examples in terms of a study by NIST in 2002 can be observed which estimated the cost of faulty software at $60 bn per year. roughly prominent are incidents like Cod Red virus and the Melissa virus in which hackers exploited flaws in the software and caused enormous damages. Moving on to some arguments in favor of information sharing despite the existence of vulnerabilities we see that prior literature suggests that software defects dont necessarily lead to a loss in market value of firm. This is due to two main reasons firstly because the End User License Agreement limits the liability of the software developers encouraging them to facilitate information sharing despite the costs. Second due to the g eneral philosophy held by software stakeholders that it is a uniquely complex product which will pick out understandable defects. A key example here is that of the numerous vulnerabilities present in Microsoft and yet its products are not associated in any way with low quality simply because of the huge user base that it holds in terms of information sharing. Arora, Telang and Xu (2004) look at a more bullish picture of the vulnerability aspect and argue in favor of information sharing as their study leads them to the conclusion that disclosure can force vendors to tumble patches quickly. Arora, Caulkins and Telang (2003) follow suit and they discover that larger software vendors find it optimal to rush product into market and then invest in post establish patching hence saving overall product costs and using vulnerability to their advantage. Externality is defined by economists as a situation in which an individuals actions have economic repercussions for others. It is importa nt to note that in these instances the fact that there is no compensation is of critical importance. Externalities are divided into confident(p) and negative. In negative externality the consequences are mostly known, for example the effects of environmental pollution caused by a plant and the way it might have an impact on the neighboring