WEEK 2

Threat and Vulnerability Assessment

(Transportation Security Administration)

Jovan Padia

Introduction

All organizations are susceptible to certain risks linked to threats. These threats may come from various factors such as accidents, natural events, technological failure or human intentions to cause harm. Regardless of the extent of the risk, the organization should develop ways of mitigating or reducing these risks. Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) is no exception. The security officials as TSA should, therefore, develop a risk management method that includes identifying the risks, the assets and the internal and external threats to the assets of the organization.

How the Security Officials Can Determine the Possible Risks at TSA

A survey can be useful in the determination of the various categories of risks. Organizations use the security officials to conduct these studies. An excellent review outlines the weaknesses in the external perimeters of the property, for instance, the parking lot and gives strategies of reinforcing these perimeters. The boundaries of a building are critical in maintaining the assets of the business and protecting them from the external threats. However, some risks still exist within the company (Stewart, 2013).

Personnel and their behaviors of work can expose the organization to the human made, natural and technological threat. The natural hazards include adverse weather conditions such as droughts, earthquakes, heat waves or blizzards. They are very hard to avoid as they occur naturally. They, therefore, need more attention and safer security measures in place. Negative working performance can cause more damage in case of these natural calamities. However, if the employees collaborate with their employers, they can together help in mitigating the threats that come with a result of the natural disasters.

Technological and human-made risks include damages that can be prevented if the employees follow the proper rules in each case. There are standards and regulations in TSA that personnel is expected to follow (Stewart, 2013). However, some people may choose to break these rules and mishandle the assets of the company such as computers and electrical appliances. Other technological and human-made risks include dam failure, civil disturbance, terrorism, fire, hazardous materials and security breach. These risks can be mitigated by the change in workforce behavior. Furthermore, every person in the organization has defined roles that can lead to risks if not performed correctly.

Hazardous equipment within the structure can also be a source of risks. These materials require certain guidelines in the transportation industry to safeguard the individuals including passengers from potential damages or accidents. Similarly, the location of the premise can also expose the organization to the possible threats. For instance, if the company is located in a region that is prone of terrorists, there will be high chances of terrorist attacks on the organization. Terrorism includes release of toxic materials, bombing, fire, and information security breach. Regardless of the type of risk, the behavior of the employees can minimize the threats.

Types of Assets and Their Characterizations

The property in TSA is anything that is valuable to the organization. The three primary assets in TSA are the human resources, infrastructure, and data. The system was containing the data and the infrastructure that links these systems are critical assets to the organization. The support includes the AIT machines that detect the objects with high density such as gels, liquids, and powders that may pose a significant threat to the organization's assets. The costs accompanying the infrastructure, human resource and the company's data are also a total asset to the team. All the assets mentioned above are susceptible to the threats and should, therefore, be protected. In the production environments of enterprises today, it is very crucial to protect these assets.

Types of Interior and Exterior Threats

Internal Threats:

These are the risks that come within the system of the organization (Lehtiranta, 2014). They may include malicious employees and the non-malicious employees who make mistakes. A malicious employee can log into the system through his/ her personal server then share the information that is not backed up then deletes all the information that is crucial to the organization. Another internal threat can result from social engineering whereby attackers get access to the organization's network by exploiting information from the employees. Other ways are through downloading malicious content from the Internet. Similarly, information leakage can pose great threats to the organization. Finally, internal threats can come from mishandling of hazardous equipment such as electrical appliances.

External Threats:

These are threats that originate from the outside network. They can be from internet hackers, business competitors who would want to sabotage the company and natural occurrences (Lehtiranta, 2014). An unknown person or terrorist can maliciously scan through the rooter of the organization's servers and connect it to his/ her system then try out the password or crack them to get access to the relevant information. The natural external threats include computer database failure, airplane crash, and release of hazardous materials, dam failure, power outage, train derailment and urban fire.

Conclusion

With the emerging technology, the most susceptible asset to threat is information due to technological failure. Data assets at TSA should, therefore, be protected with an active security management system. The company should also have the robust risk management plan to mitigate other possible risks that may occur as a result of natural occurrence or human-made prompts.

References

Leese, M. (2016). Governing airport security between the market and the public good. Criminology & Criminal Justice.

Lehtiranta, L. (2014). Risk perceptions and approaches in multi-organizations: A research review 2000–2012. International Journal of Project Management.

Stewart, M. G., & Mueller, J. (2013). Terrorism risks and cost‐benefit analysis of aviation security. Risk Analysis, 893-908.