Ipremier and Denial of Service Attaack
MEMORANDUM
To: Prof. Timothy Shea
From: Linda Cosme
Date: April 2, 2013
Subject: iPremier and Denial of Service Attack – Case Study
______________________________________________________________________________
The iPremier and Denial of Service Attack case study is a made up case from the Harvard Business School. This case shows clearly how companies may not be taking their security seriously and after several high profile hacking stories, we can see that is the truth. The background of the case is that iPremier, a high end online store, suffered a DOS attack during the night. Those in charge of operations attempted to find the cause of the attack but were met with resistance from their collocation facility. Once granted access and after almost the entire company’s senior management team was involved, the attack stopped. There was no rhyme or reason as to how or why but it stopped and business was back to normal on the site.
The main problem for the company was that they didn’t have a plan of attack or set plan on how to deal with situations like these. Many of the employees and management were on the newer side and weren’t aware of any type of plan of action to take with an intruder attack. There was some type of “binder” for these situations that had contacts and steps but that it wasn’t really used and hadn’t been updated. Another problem was the resistance and lack of support they had with their collocation facility Qdata. They met resistance when trying to access the necessary equipment and didn’t get much support when they contacted the facility.
A good plan of attack would be to develop a business continuity plan and keep it updated to maintain the highest level of efficiency possible. The company should consider having better training in place for emergencies like this type and develop a clear line of communication hierarchy. This would allow these emergencies and issues to be communicated only to those individuals necessary
To: Prof. Timothy Shea
From: Linda Cosme
Date: April 2, 2013
Subject: iPremier and Denial of Service Attack – Case Study
______________________________________________________________________________
The iPremier and Denial of Service Attack case study is a made up case from the Harvard Business School. This case shows clearly how companies may not be taking their security seriously and after several high profile hacking stories, we can see that is the truth. The background of the case is that iPremier, a high end online store, suffered a DOS attack during the night. Those in charge of operations attempted to find the cause of the attack but were met with resistance from their collocation facility. Once granted access and after almost the entire company’s senior management team was involved, the attack stopped. There was no rhyme or reason as to how or why but it stopped and business was back to normal on the site.
The main problem for the company was that they didn’t have a plan of attack or set plan on how to deal with situations like these. Many of the employees and management were on the newer side and weren’t aware of any type of plan of action to take with an intruder attack. There was some type of “binder” for these situations that had contacts and steps but that it wasn’t really used and hadn’t been updated. Another problem was the resistance and lack of support they had with their collocation facility Qdata. They met resistance when trying to access the necessary equipment and didn’t get much support when they contacted the facility.
A good plan of attack would be to develop a business continuity plan and keep it updated to maintain the highest level of efficiency possible. The company should consider having better training in place for emergencies like this type and develop a clear line of communication hierarchy. This would allow these emergencies and issues to be communicated only to those individuals necessary