Essay # 1
When companies have to deal with data breaches it is financially devastating. The financial devastation is a result of money being stolen from the company and potentially clients. Therefore, clients may want to sue due to trusting the company with the data. Some lawsuits may materialize and this can indeed put a financial dent in the company’s profits. Furthermore, the company will have to hire lawyers to investigate and figure out who actually breached and hacked the data. This can cost a lot of money as well. According to research “These costs include revenue lost due to the loss of existing or future customers, a decline in investors' confidence due to a negative reputation of the organization, potential legal liabilities from the breach, and reduced goodwill” (Ko, Osei-Bryson & Dorantes, 2009, p. 3). Hiring more security analysis and others to protect the system is also a financial strain on the company.
The financial loss can also trickle down to loss in customers. If customers cannot trust that their information is secure when they use debit and credit cards, then they are more than likely not going to continue to patronage the company. When Target experienced their data breach they had to gain back company trust. They even tried to use incentives to do so. Once customers believe their personal information is not safe with a company they will choose to leave. Therefore, companies have to launch campaigns to win these customers back or risk losing them.
The national scrutiny that comes with major data breaches can be extremely harmful to companies. In the age of social media information travels fast. Therefore, consumers know about what goes on in terms of serious security breaches within hours of reporting. This can cause national scrutiny and a damage to a company’s reputation. In addition to retaining old customers an organization may not gain new ones. A national security blow to a company can also impact potential business deals and partnerships.
Overall, the greatest threat to organizations is undoubtedly ones that hurt their finances and reputation. As discussed, companies like Target have to invest in damage control in order to avoid catastrophic implications. Companies need to constantly be aware of who is accessing their systems. The greatest investment for an organization in the age of technology is cyber security. The amount of money spent on monitoring and protecting accounts from criminal activity far outweigh the benefits then not doing so. Unfortunately some companies have the “It will not happen to us” mentality. This is completely false. Hackers are so dangerous because their end goal is sheer bravado and a sense of accomplishment. They become their own competition. Therefore, they have no sense of empathy when companies experience catastrophic implications due to being hacked. Even companies like Ashley Madison experienced the devastating consequences of not doing a better job at protecting their clients’ data. So, yes this crime is probably the greatest threat to any organization when it comes to financial loss.
Essay # 2
On a whole in society, the crime that probably poses the greater threat is drug-trafficking. This crimes leads to so many other crimes. It is a catalyst crime that other crimes benefit from. Sure the war on drugs may have been a joke to some, but the devastation that drug use and trafficking causes is very real. Drug crimes can destroy neighborhoods, lead to other crimes, and pose a risk to national security.
The destruction of urban neighborhoods in the United States is more evident today than ever before. The influx of crack cocaine in the 80’s led to economic disparity and destruction for major metropolitan urban cities like Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and others. It is no secret that these areas were probably targeted due to being lower economic. The loss of business associated with the lack of quality education is also evident. Selling drugs to already impoverished neighborhoods lead to a trickledown effect. These communities are already vulnerable to the stressors of life, so engaging in drug activities is a way to deal with some of the anxieties of their. The drug dealers are destroying their own communities, though they will argue that they opt to selling drugs because there are no jobs. Yet, even with some valid reasons as to why people choose to sell drugs, no one can deny the amount of devastation it cases a community. Drug users become addicted to the drugs. To sell someone this kind of destruction should be thought as inhumane. Addicts struggle their entire lives to find a sense of normalcy again. Selling drugs is one of the biggest threats to American society because at its core it destroys the human soul. It destroys human life.
Selling drugs is a gateway crime. It leads to other crimes. Meyer & Anderson (2008) states, “Drug trafficking, drug abuse, and drug-related crime placed an enormous drain on the national economy; most Americans viewed drugs as a threat to the very fabric of modern society” (p. 20). There are so many other crimes associated with selling drugs; this includes but is not limited to robberies, kidnapping, prostitution and ultimately murder. Owing drug money is one of the most popular reasons why murder is involved in drug crimes. Drug addicts steal in order to get money to support their habit. There is probably no other crime that leads to so many other violent crimes. Drugs are not only limited to violent crimes. White-collar crimes can also become a part of drug activity. Someone who is on drugs and need a fix or owes money to dealers, can find ways of stealing from the companies they work for. The argument against drug crimes are endless.
National security is also threatened when it comes to drug crimes. For years the United States and México have had to deal with drug smuggling in both countries. Mexico is a major supplier of cocaine. The national security risks associated with this is already breached with the infiltration of drug activity. Not only is Mexico a major supplier but countries like Japan have also experienced drug criminals coming in and out of the countries. On a national level, drug activity can lead to drug trafficking crimes like prostitution and kidnapping. If the infiltration of drugs is a major threat to a country, crimes like hijacking and terrorism can also pose problems. Nonetheless, the national security crimes associated with drugs are limitless but poses the most serious threats to any country. Overall, the war on drugs is probably a useless and endless one. Many have argued that there is no winning the war on drugs because the amount of damage that drugs do is so devastating that there is no coming back from it. As mentioned earlier, drugs destroy the human quality of life. Once this has been destroyed it is probably irreparable for some. The devastation of drugs runs deep and impacts different elements in society. Millions of dollars are still being spent on curbing the drug problem. Some experts believe. However, there are others who believe that no matter how far gone the problem is, if there is a collected effort in fixing some issues associated with drug crimes, then there is still hope.
Essay 3
Predicting crime becomes easier over time when the behavior is more recognizable. For organizations, they are dealing with the idea of trusting employees but not trusting employees. Employees feeling untrustworthy can lead to low morale in a company. Constantly being micro-managed is a negative trait for any company. However, if a company lets their guard down and suffer consequences, then that can also be an issue. Research surmises “Estimates of the losses American businesses sustain due to employee theft range from $40 to $200 billion annually”( Mustaine & Tewksbury, 2002, p. 113).Therefore, there is a balance with how far to go with micro managing. However, there are some crimes that are easily identifiable than others. Stealing from a company can be easier to manage when employees deal directly with money. The fast food and retail industries more than any other are probably more prone to theft because their employees deal directly with cash and customer information like debit and credit cards. For these two industries tow predictors that can help curb criminal activity is managing the final counts of the day and customer complaints.
In the fast food and retail industry drawer counts are a way that companies know how much money was made during the day. However, it is also a way to track to see if there is consistency for each drawer. Drawers are scrutinized if there is too much money or too little. The receipts are matched against the cash or credit that the particular drawer processed for the day. If the drawer is short, that I certainly a red flag. If the drawer is continuously short for one worker then management handles the situation according to policy. This has proven to be an effective prevention practice in different industries.
Also, if customers and begin to complain that their data has been stolen or the way in which the employer handled the information was suspicious, companies take a look to see if there are legitimate concerns. While, customers do tend to make assumptions, if there is a consistent level of complaining, this is also a predictor of behaviors. For instance recently there have been issues with restaurants stealing customer information through their own machines that run data. A co-worker complained about a waitress running their card twice through a machine at a restaurant. The reports state, “Co-workers of the perpetrator alerted Saad about the waitress’ questionable behavior” (“Detroit waitress arrested”, 2011para. 4). Well, this was suspicious behavior and the co-workers concerns were warranted. It was found that the waitress did indeed run their card through a data processing machine. Therefore, even other co-workers can get involved in curbing these problems.
Unfortunately, these types of issues are happening too often. It used to be cameras would catch behavior, but some employees are finding other ways to commit crimes on the job without being caught on camera. Therefore, older preventions like register counts are still as effective today as they were when first introduced. Relying on customers to report information may not be as reliable but it can raise red flags for companies. Nonetheless in a world of innovative crimes, companies need to use as many preventive measure as possible to save their finances and reputations.
References
Detroit waitress arrested For skimming credit card information. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.creditcardassist.com/blog/detroit-waitress-arrested-for-skimming-credit-card-information-6250/
Ko, M., Osei-Bryson, K., & Dorantes, C. (2009). Investigating the impact of publicly announced information security breaches on three performance indicators of the breached firms. Information Resources Management Journal, 22(2), 1-21.
Meyer, A. D., & Anderson, D. P. (2008). The air national guard and the war on drugs: Non-state actors before 9/11. Air Power History, 55(3), 12-29.
Mustaine, E., E. & Tewksbury, R. (2002). Workplace theft: An analysis of student-employee offenders and job attributes. American Journal of Criminal Justice : AJCJ, 27(1), 111-127.
