Information Systems Failure

There are many factors that can influence the failure of certain Information Systems. Failures of these systems are often overlooked since they rarely occur. When there is failure, it is often devastating to a company’s infrastructure. One of the main reasons why these systems fail are because of possible factors involving the following areas of the system which deal with the degree of change, quality of project planning, use of project management tools, use of formal quality assurance processes, use of computer-aided software engineering tools, or object-oriented systems development. The following articles explain why they can possibly fail. Firstly, the rapid development of the Internet has heightened security concerns. In the more recent years, more and more embedded systems are connecting to company intranets or to the Internet. Such network connections can greatly enhance an embedded systems usefulness and capacity. Unfortunately, they also increase the system's vulnerability to attack by leaving an open door for potentially harmful programs to enter. Embedded systems with network conditions find use in a growing range of applications. Examples of embedded systems include: Industrial-control systems use networks

Creating a sense of motivation from management to work to the best of their ability, could prevent future failures from occurring. This factor can be avoided if employees working closely with management under a watchful eye. As a result, it is important as an outlook for that company to make sure that an information system is running successfully. Examples of hacking in recent times include publishing incorrect product prices on websites: Eastern Airlines advertised flights for 5, the defacing of numerous commercial and government websites, personal details from customers including credit card details were stolen from Ford Credit. Ross Anderson, of Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory states:More than anything else, information security is about work flow"The way to improve security, is to think about people and processes rather than to buy a shiny new box. The results from these security breeches can range from simple system lockup to serious process failures. Organizations must make sure these factors are all taken into effect regularly in order to run its daily operations. It is very hard for programmers to prevent hackers from breaking into these systems since anything theoretically can be hacked into. A common characteristic of all these applications is that the embedded system uses the network for receiving instructions, control parameters, and new programs. The failure of business information systems has a huge impact on how the company succeeds or fails. Insecurity is often due to perverse incentives, rather than to the lack of suitable technical protection mechanisms"The person or company best placed to protect a system may, for example, be insufficiently motivated to do so, because the costs of failure fall on others (Economist 2002). Entertainment systems, such as set-top boxes and game consoles, use the Internet for downloading new menus, features, and games. Even household appliances are connecting to networks to add features and automate maintenance (Monkman 2002). of embedded control nodes for applications such as chemical processing, electrical-power distribution, and factory automation.