Share at least five risks to accounting information systems
Discussion topic:
1. Virtually all organizations have at least some information system infrastructure. Share at least five risks to accounting information systems, either from your work experience, the textbook, or from research the internet.
Student Post
2. Threats to accounting information systems come from a variety of sources. If ignored, they can destroy the relevance and reliability of financial information, leading to poor decisions by various stakeholders.
At the point of data collection, it is important to establish security controls that ensure that transaction or event data are valid, complete, and free from material errors. Masquerading (pretending to be an authorized user) and piggybacking (tapping into telecommunications lines) are examples of hacker activities that can seriously impact valid data collection.
Threats to accounting information systems can also occur during the data processing phase. Creating illegal programs, accessing or deleting files, destroying or corrupting a program’s logic through viruses, or altering a program’s logic to cause the application to process data incorrectly all represent threats. Threats to database management might include unauthorized access that allows altering, deleting, corrupting, destroying, or stealing data. The failure to maintain backup files or other retrieval techniques represents a potentially devastating loss of data. Threats to the information generation and reporting phase must also be considered. For example, the theft, misdirection, or misuse of computer output could damage the competitiveness or reputation of the organization.
Advances in information technology and increased use of the Internet require that management, accountants, auditors, and academicians become more knowledgeable and conversant in the design, operation, and control of accounting information systems
3. It is imperative that all organizations have at least some kind of information system infrastructure to prevent harmful actions from attacking their internal systems, including accounting databases. Due to the confidentiality of the information in the accounting information system, any unauthorized use could be severe, placing an organization at the risk of losing information, and that information being misused. Despite security measures that are in place, there are still risks that could occur to the accounting information systems.
Risks to accounting systems are serious, ranging from false transaction inputs to individuals appropriating a backup tape that contains all of the organization’s financial information. Additional examples of risks that could occur to accounting information systems include:
• Theft of social security numbers for contractors and employees
• Unauthorized payments remitted to potential “scam” vendors
• Deletion and/or loss of data
• Corruption to backup tapes/files
• Theft of computers or servers
Below are security measures that, if implemented, could help prevent information attacks from occurring:
• Frequent password changes, and “strong” password ideas
• Data Encryption
• Ongoing monitoring of internal/external servers
• Archiving of backup tapes/files
Answer preview to share at least five risks to accounting information systems
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