You have been hired as an information security analyst at a small company called Astounding Appliances. The company sells appliances online. Astounding Appliances owns and hosts all of its IT assets and forward-facing web applications on site. The assets are about 5 years old. The company is seeking to expand its operations in the next 5 years.

Your manager asks you to help her document the threats and vulnerabilities to the company’s IT operations. In addition to what you already know about the company, you learn the following during your interviews and inspections for this project.

The Astounding Appliances company and all of its IT operations are located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The data center is located on the ground floor of the company’s building. There is no basement. No one can come into the data center without a smart card scan. However, there is a physical key system that can override the smart card scanner and access. There is no inventory of who has keys to the data center, although the company’s vice president for operations doesn’t think that too many people have keys.

Because New Orleans is vulnerable to hurricanes, all of the equipment in the data center is stored in elevated racks that sit on a raised floor. Pumps have also been installed to remove water. The pumps are attached to a generator, which has not been inspected in several years. You learn that it has not been inspected in a timely manner because making sure the generator is functional is not on the organization’s disaster recovery checklist.

From the director of human resources, you learn that any Astounding Appliances employee with a valid smart card can enter the data center; access is not granted based on a need to enter the data center. You also learn that smart card access is not always terminated promptly when employees leave Astounding Appliances. The director of human resources tries to audit smart card validity regularly, but this is a low-priority task for her. You also learn that it is not part of the regular employment process for new employees to complete information security training or to sign the company’s IT acceptable use policy.

Answer below:

1. Identify 6-10 vulnerabilities to Astounding Appliances information systems and data. Be sure to include the asset that is affected by the vulnerability.

2. For each vulnerability that you have already identified, document potential threats associated with it. Be sure to list the relevant information security concern (i.e., confidentiality, integrity, or availability) for the vulnerability-threat pair.

3. For each vulnerability-threat pair, identify the relevant information security concern(s) (i.e., confidentiality, integrity, or availability).

4. For each vulnerability-threat pair, identify the vulnerability category.

5. For each vulnerability-threat pair, identify the threat category.