Are Information Systems More Secure or Vulnerable as Accounting has entered the Data Age?

• In Event: SET System Design

Abstract

Advances in technology have made it possible to capture vast amounts of financial and non-financial information and at the same time shifting more control from producers and assurers of this information to recipients of information. As a result, threats to IS have grown exponentially, which has made IS security audits even more cumbersome. For instance, nowadays, an auditor while auditing for IS security should not only check to see whether IS are resistant to both software and hardware attacks but also needs to take into account the susceptibility of IS to various cyber-attacks as any security vulnerability is an inherent threat. This has led to proliferation of analytic and diagnostic tools to analyze and detect potential security vulnerabilities as the intent of IS security audits is to test for security controls aimed at reducing the risks, threats, and vulnerabilities associated with information assets. In this paper, we examine whether the information systems have become more secure or vulnerable as accounting has entered the digital age.

Authors

• Sunita Goel, Siena College

• Margaret Garnsey, Siena College

• Qi Liu, Rutgers University

• Ingrid E Fisher, SUNY - Albany