Fundamentals of Information Systems Security, 4th Edition

Effects of Access Control Violations

You have seen some of the ways attackers can compromise access controls. But what happens if an attacker is successful at compromising access controls, and what might the impact be? An access control violation can have the following harmful effects on an organization:

• Loss of customer confidence

• Loss of business opportunities

• New legislation and regulations imposed on the organization

• Bad publicity

• More oversight

• Financial penalties

For example, Egghead Software voluntarily reported a breach in the summer of 2000 and was sold to Amazon within a year of the disclosure. Its sale was necessary because, after the breach, customers did not trust the company with their credit cards and therefore hesitated to ...