The Fight Against Cyber Crime

Running head: THE FIGHT AGAINST CYBER CRIME The Fight Against Cyber Crime: What Can We Do? Abstract Cyber crime is on the rise and every organization must recognize the danger and take necessary steps to help mitigate the threat. While many institutions worry more about hackers than cyber criminals, it is cyber crime that can cause the most damage. A hacker is more easily detected while a cyber criminal may already be in your network undetected. While a hacker may try to breach a network for the thrill or to annoy, a cyber criminal will breach a network for monetary gain.This paper is intended to point out some of the risks of cyber crime and what a financial institute can do to help mitigate the threat of attack. Keywords: cyber crime, cyber attack, Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center, IT-ISAC, Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, FS-ISAC The Fight Against Cyber Crime: What Can We Do? While many institutions worry more about hackers than cyber criminals, it is cyber criminals that should make us more wary.A hacker is more easily detected while a cyber criminal may already be in your network undetected. While a hacker may try to breach a network for the thrill value or to annoy their victim, a cyber criminal will breach a network for monetary gain. This may include â€Å"data acquisition and storage, stealthy access to systems, identity collection and theft, misdirection of communications, keystroke identification, identity authentication, and botnets, among others† (Deloitte, 2010).According to a survey conducted in August 2011 by Ponemon Institute, for the 50 participating companies (see chart 1), the average time it takes an organization to resolve a cyber attack is 18 days with an average cost of $23,000 a day. An insider attack can average 45 days to contain. This does not include the value of any data lost, modified, or stolen in the process. This survey also showed the average annualized cost of cy ber crime to financial institutions was $14,700,000 for 2011, up from $12,370,000 the previous year (see Chart 2).Chart 3 summarizes the types of attack methods experienced by the companies that participated in the survey (Ponemon, 2011). According to security firm Imperva, â€Å"The average large business sees 27 attacks per minute hitting its Website. Attackers can use automation technologies to generate up to seven attacks per second, or 25,000 attacks per hour† (Rashid, 2011). To build a sufficient IT security posture, it is important to assume that an unauthorized user can gain access to the network, and then structure the network to best protect the most valuable data.The valuable data can then â€Å"be tagged and monitored so that the organization knows where it is, where it is going, where it has gone, and on whose authority† (Deloitte, 2010). The organization also needs to understand that they need to not only monitor what is coming into their network but also what is leaving their network. This will help â€Å"detect activities enabled by techniques and technologies that mimic, exploit, or piggyback on the access of authorized users† (Deloitte, 2010).Using standard firewalls and anti-virus programs alone will not accomplish this. The organization must take a more proactive approach to protect its financial data. Now that we know what we need to do, how do we accomplish this? Some very basic steps include employee screening, employee training to help mitigate against social engineering, disabling account access of terminated employees, ensuring software updates and patches are properly implemented, and ensuring firewalls are properly configured.More advanced steps include, but are not limited to, setting up a demilitarized zone to help block the network from outside access, installing a honeynet system to look like an authentic part of the network to entice and trap intrusion attempts for further analysis, installing hard drive en cryption and remote data wipe capability on all laptops and other mobile devices, and requiring smart card and pin number authentication (or some other form of multifactor authentication) to access sensitive data.The Ponemon survey revealed companies utilizing security information and event management (SIEM) solutions such as these average 24 percent less expense in dealing with cyber crime attacks (see chart 5). This reduction in cost is because companies that use SIEM solutions are better able to detect and contain, and therefore recover, from such attacks (see chart 6). Another important step for a financial institute to take is to become a member of the FS-ISAC (Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center).The FS-ISAC was founded in 1999 and led the way for the IT-ISAC (Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center) which was founded in 2001. The purpose of these groups is for organizations to have the opportunity to share the security attacks and vulnerabilities they have experienced with other organizations in their field of industry. Given the sophistication, complexity, and evolution of cyber crime technologies and techniques, no sizable organization can plan and implement the necessary response alone. CIOs, CSOs, CROs, and cyber security rofessionals should share information, techniques, and technologies in their battle against cyber crime. (Deloitte, 2010) The importance of FS-ISAC was proven in 2000 when member companies where saved from a major denial-of-service attack that many other companies experienced (Hurley, 2001). As shown in chart 4, a denial-of-service attack can be costly. A more recent example of FS-ISAC at work is the August 23, 2011 report of the Help Net Security (International) Ramnit worm which uses Zeus Trojan tactics for banking fraud.As the FS-ISAC points out, â€Å"When attacks occur, early warning and expert advice can mean the difference between business continuity and widespread business cata strophe† (FS-ISAC, 2011). Knowing and having the chance to combat against these attacks can save an institute millions. In conclusion, financial institutions must stay vigilant to current and new cyber threats. Table 1 through 3 gives a breakdown of cyber threats and controls that can help reduce the impact if these threats become reality. It is important for an organization to enroll in its respective ISAC and to share in the lessons learned from previous attacks.While it would be almost impossible to learn about and prevent every type of attack, staying vigilant will help reduce the likelihood and the impact. References Deloitte Development LLC. (2010). Cyber Crime: A Clear and Present Danger. Retrieved December 23, 2011, from the World Wide Web: http://eclearning. excelsior. edu/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/pdf/M7_Deloitte_CyberCrime. pdf FS-ISAC. (2011). Current Banking and Finance Report, Retrieved 24 December, 2011, from the World Wide Web: http://www. fsisac. com/ Hurley, E. (2001, January 29).IT-ISAC: A Matter of Trust. Retrieved 24 December, 2011, from the World Wide Web: http://searchsecurity. techtarget. com/news/517824/IT-ISAC-A matter-of-trust Ponemon Institute LLC. (2011, August). Second Annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study. Retrieved December 24, 2011, from the World Wide Web: http://www. arcsight. com/collateral/whitepapers/2011_Cost_of_Cyber_Crime_Study_August. pdf Rashid, F. (2011, July 25). Cyber-Criminals Use Botnets, Automation to Launch Multiple Blended Attacks. Retrieved December 24, 2011, from the World Wide Web: http://www. week. com/c/a/Security/CyberCriminals-Use-Botnets-Automation-to-Launch-Multiple-Blended-Attacks-656032/ Chart 1. Sample of Participating Companies by Industry (Ponemon, 2011) Average annualized cost by industry sector ($1M) *Industry was not represented in the FY2010 benchmark sample. Chart 2. Average annualized cost by industry sector (Ponemon, 2011) Types of Attack Methods Experienced Chart 3. Types of Attack Methods Experienced (Ponemon, 2011)Average annualized cyber crime cost weighted by attack frequency *The FY 2010 benchmark sample did not contain a DoS attack. Chart 4. Average annualized cyber crime cost (Ponemon, 2011) Comparison of SIEM and non-SIEM sub-sample of average cost of cyber crime Chart 5. Comparison cost of SIEM and non-SIEM companies (Ponemon, 2011) Chart 6 Percentage cost for recovery, detection & containment (Ponemon, 2011) categoryFinancial Impact Regulatory ComplianceIndustry Reputation 4CriticalIncrease in costs greater than $1MFines in excess of $1MSignificant, sustained negative media exposure.Significant loss of business due to blemish on public image. 3MajorIncrease in costs $100K to $1MFines between $100K and $1MNegative media exposure. Loss of business due to blemish on public image. 2ModerateIncrease in costs less than $100KFines under $100KSome negative media exposure. Slight loss of business due to blemish on public image. 1MinorNo significant co st increase expectedNo fines expectedNo media exposure or loss of business expected. Table 1. Impact 4Imminent 3Highly Likely 2Possible 1Unlikely Table 2. Probability PxI (before controls / after controls)Financial Impact Regulatory Compliance Industry Reputation Controls Denial of service1x3=3 / 1Ãâ€"2=21Ãâ€"3=3 / 1Ãâ€"1=11Ãâ€"4=4 / 1Ãâ€"2=2Implement router filters, install patches to guard against SYC flooding, disable unused services Web-based attack2x3=6 / 2Ãâ€"2=42Ãâ€"3=6 / 2Ãâ€"2=42Ãâ€"4=8 / 2Ãâ€"2=4Restrict website access to only what customer needs, disable account log-in after 3 failed log-in attempts, require multifactor authentication to access sensitive data Malicious code2x4=8 / 2Ãâ€"2=42Ãâ€"4=8 / 2Ãâ€"2=42Ãâ€"4=8 / 2Ãâ€"2=4Software updates and patches, anti-virus and anti-spam software pdates, firewall configuration, employee training Malicious insider1x4=4 / 1Ãâ€"2=21Ãâ€"4=4 / 1Ãâ€"2=21Ãâ€"4=4 / 1Ãâ€"2=2Employee screening, disable account access fo r terminated employees, require multifactor authentication for access to data servers, least privilege, separation of duty Phishing & social engineering 2Ãâ€"3=6 / 1Ãâ€"3=32Ãâ€"3=6 / 1Ãâ€"3=32Ãâ€"3=6 / 1Ãâ€"3=3Employee training, least privilege, separation of duty Stolen devices2x4=8 / 2Ãâ€"1=22Ãâ€"4=8 / 2Ãâ€"1=22Ãâ€"4=8 / 2Ãâ€"1=2Hard drive encryption, remote data wipe capability Botnets 3Ãâ€"3=9 / 3Ãâ€"1=33Ãâ€"3=9 / 3Ãâ€"1=33Ãâ€"3=9 / 3Ãâ€"1=3Software updates and patches, anti-virus and anti-spam software updates, firewall configuration, employee training Malware3x3=9 / 3Ãâ€"1=33Ãâ€"3=9 / 3Ãâ€"1=33Ãâ€"3=9 / 3Ãâ€"1=3Software updates and patches, anti-virus and anti-spam software updates, firewall configuration, employee training Viruses, worms, trojans4x3=12 / 4Ãâ€"1=44Ãâ€"3=12 / 4Ãâ€"1=44Ãâ€"3=12 / 4Ãâ€"1=4Software updates and patches, anti-virus and anti-spam software updates, firewall configuration, employee training Table 3. Risk Analysis

Database Secuirty Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Database Secuirty - Coursework Example As such, the company ought to put in place structures that will ensure information security in two main ways, (1) authentication and authorization, and (2) general policies and procedures. The firm’s database containing all information pertaining to tenants and other aspects of the business will be stored in two main servers. These servers will be accessible by all tenants and building managers. Every database user will have a login account that will allow them access to the database. There are two general types of accounts, (1) tenant accounts for tenants, and (2) manager accounts for building managers. Each account will determine the scope of information that the given user is allowed. While manager accounts will have administrator privileges, tenant accounts will have very limited access to the database. Each login account will have a password that will be created by each user upon creation of the account. A firewall is in essence a baseline control for the securing of any network environment of any enterprise. Routers are usually integrated with a firewall. Examples include software based packet filtration and Network Address Translation. A distinct firewall that is hardware based is recommended. This is due to the disturbing fact that hackers in this time and age employ advanced technology and methodologies that they use to breach networks. A good example of this is APT (Advanced Persistent Threats). These employ advanced phishing techniques and complex algorithms. The threat posed by such security menaces may damage a company’s reputation or compromise the integrity of its confidential information, causing it to lose clientele as banks would in the case where credit card numbers are leaked. The use of a firewall supplemented by an antivirus is not sufficient to ensure information security. An intrusion detection system will be put in place. An intrusion detection system is vital for the

Leonardo da Vinci Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Leonardo da Vinci - Research Paper Example Besides, Leonardo provided ample importance to his career as an artist, but provided less importance to his personal life. Thesis statement: Leonardo da Vinci’s professional life, major accomplishments, and major influences prove that Leonardo is symbolic of the influence of Renaissance spirit on humanity in general. Earlier Life: Some important facts on Leonardo’s birth, early life, parents, childhood days, and education are examinable. First of all, he was born in the year 1452. In addition, his birthplace was in Vinci. Joanne Mattern stated that, â€Å"Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in a town called Vinci, Italy† (8). His father was Ser Piero, and his mother was Caterina. His father was born in a wealthy family, but his mother was a peasant. He spent his early childhood with his mother. Later, Leonardo became under the control of his father. But Leonardo’s father did not try to be a role model to his son because he ignored Leonardoâ€℠¢s mother. For instance, Leonardo’s father married Albiera and Francesca Lanfredini. In short, Leonardo was raised in Florence, under the direct control of his father, and this deeply influenced his later life. But this did not affect his education because he received education in the Latin language, geometry, and math. Besides, hardships in early life helped Leonardo to turn his attention towards nature and to observe human relationship with nature. At the same time, Leonardo considered that art can help him to acquire mastery in different fields. Besides, he did not hesitate to learn new things in his life. So, one can see that all these factors molded Leonardo’s character. Personal life From a different angle of view, Leonardo considered that one’s personal life should not be shared with others. To be specific, his lifelong bachelorship, career centrism, and workaholic attitude hindered him from creating intimate relationships with women. Besides, his earlier life with his father may have instilled the feeling of hatred towards married life. But one must not misunderstand that Leonardo was not able to create and maintain cordial friendship with womenfolk. For instance, Leonardo maintained lifelong relationship with two women, named Beatrice and Isabella. Leonardo’s relationship with these women was so intimate because he painted Isabella’s portrait and carried the same with him. This proves that some women were allowed to enter Leonardo’s private domain without any restriction. From a different angle of view, Leonardo provided ample importance to his career and it reduced the scope of marriage in his life. In addition, Leonardo was a strict vegetarian. As an individual who is deeply interested in nature, vegetarianism and consideration towards living things deeply influenced his life philosophy. At the same time, Leonardo maintained a number of male friends in his private life. This helped him to be in touch with ot her fields of knowledge like mathematics, architecture, and military science. But Leonardo never disclosed his sexuality and never allowed strangers to enter his private circle. He passed away in the 16th century (say, in the year 1519). Professional life: Leonardo started his professional life with Verrocchio. John Malam stated that, â€Å"When Leonardo was in his teens, his father took him to the city of Florence to meet Andrea del Verrocchio, who was a well known artist†

The Strategy of the World's Largest Producer of Bearings Case Study - 10

The Strategy of the World's Largest Producer of Bearings - Case Study Example SKF has been contacted by ITC, its major distributor in the United States in order to participate in a reverse auction by Steelcorps, one of SKF's customers through ITC. The process of procurement will award the lowest bid in terms of price for the raw materials that Steelcorp needs, and with SKF as its major supplier of bearings during the past couple of years, the latter is expected to join the reverse auction.Answering the invitation and participating in the reverse auction is not an easy choice to make for the executives of SKF, however. The executives are on a crossroad between two major decisions: to join or not to join the reverse auction.If SKF joins the reverse auction, it signals the whole industry about the change in its value proposition, which is to deliver excellent services at a premium – a more for more strategy in the value proposition matrix (Fathy & Smithee 1999). If it joins the reverse auction where the winner will be determined based on the lowest price o f the bid, the company becomes inconsistent with its strategy and it blurs what its brand stands for; this is one of the considerations. On the other hand, Steelcorp is one of the company's major source of revenues through ITC, its biggest distributor in the US. ITC relies on SKF with the latter's high mark up an allowance for ITC, as ITC needs the profit margins from the SKF sales to Steelcorp in order to boost its profitability. Because of the recession, SKF's revenue targets are 5% lower than the previous year; dropping the Steelcorp reverse auction will also substantially affect its profitability for the current year. These are the complications.

IMF's Stuctural Adjustment Programme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IMF's Stuctural Adjustment Programme - Essay Example Some of the conditions that third world debtors needed to fulfill were devaluing currency, import liberalization, privatisation, "cuts in government expenditure", continued debt servicing, economic development focused on exporting goods and moratorium on hiring and pay increases for both public and private sectors (Kreye and Schubert,1988, p.264). "The structural adjustment scheme was primarily implemented to address balance of payments issues". These issues were largely generated by internal conditions such as high inflation rates, budget deficits or inefficient allocation of resources. The IMF assumed that in order to recover from the debts, third world countries must tighten its expenditures and divert them to more productive domestic investments. However, tightening the belt meant reduced government subsidies on food and services, higher interest rates, more lay-offs, higher interest rates and taxes. The scheme inadvertently affected the poorest segments of the third world country. Ferraro and Rosser (1994) noted that instead of easing the burden debt, the policies of the IMF appeared to drive the country into further debts. The IMF's policies with exclusive emphasis on internal economic improvements failed to consider external factors such as oil price movements or global recession that might affect the fiscal positions of the third world nations. ... emphasis on internal economic improvements failed to consider external factors such as oil price movements or global recession that might affect the fiscal positions of the third world nations. Their policies had pushed the heavily indebted countries into more desperate conditions and the future of economic growth in these countries was hampered. The structural adjustment programmes were perceived as benefiting more the creditors than debtor countries. In addition, the foundation of the SAP framework was rooted in neoliberalisation and an emphasis on export capacities of debtor countries. The SAP also would require the poor country to be integrated into the international market economy. Most of the poor nations hardly had the right political and economic structures that would address the demands of the IMF SAP. Instead of easing the burden of debt, SAP appeared to have driven the poor countries into dire positions. The intent of the SAP was to remove any government controls over key economic sectors to induce a free market financial condition. Socio-Economic Impact of IMF SAP The inappropriateness of IMF structural adjustment programmes could be seen in various aspects of socio-economic structures of a debtor country. The stringent conditions imposed by the SAP on the debtor countries as a requisite to avail of the IMF financing has affected the poor nation's socio-economic fundamentals. Currency Devaluation The currency devaluation requisite of the IMF SAP meant that the population would experience increases in basic cost of goods formerly accessible. In addition, essential items like agricultural machineries, medicines and other provisions included in the development project would be expensive (Riddell, 1992, p.57). The purchasing power of the local currency

Sunshine State Share Dealing Limited (SSSDL) Support System Essay

Sunshine State Share Dealing Limited (SSSDL) Support System Development - Essay Example This research will offer a deep insight into the system’s business and IT-based aspects. This paper will also outline some opportunities and challenges that Sunshine State has faced in the development of the system. During the system development for the Sunshine State Share Dealing Limited (SSSDL) business, the management has faced a lot of problems and challenges. The new project at the Sunshine State is about handling and managing its large business departments. In this scenario, the business has faced a lot of challenges regarding this system implementation. In this scenario, the main challenge is about the software development that was essential to support all the business processes. Additionally, in this large size project the basic challenge was to meet the needs and requirements of all the type of system users, for instance, management, customers, and working staff. In addition, the new system was indented to fulfill all the working aspects of users, since this system was a multi-site, multi-supplier, multi-system project. Moreover, another main challenge was to meet the project deadline that simply could not be missed. Thus, all these challenges and issues made this project more sensitiv e to manage and develop. This section outlines some of the key factors in the successful development of the Share Dealing system. Sunshine State Share Dealing Limited deals with more than 5 million customers and covers around 20% of the Australian mortgage market. Thus, to manage such a large size business the manual and paper-based techniques were not helpful. In this scenario, Sunshine State Share Dealing Limited was also competing on an equal footing with the existing 4 major banks and to raise the capital they decided to abandon their traditional mutual status. In this working environment, the business was not able to gain a better competitive edge and effective market through the traditional ways of working and business management technology.

Cyclermate Report Essay Example for Free

Cyclermate Report Essay I. An executive summary Dai Armstrong and Lewis Llewellyn are the two men who planned to open their own company after being superfluous due to the shutting down of the steel plants in their town of South Wales were Dai Armstrong and Lewis Llewellyn. They became good friends because of taking part in the local club of cycle touring together and decided to start Cyclermate, which was a bicycle manufacturing company that was laid down in the year 1988. In the beginning of time, Cyclermate gained a huge influence over the share of the market. The company appeared well with no problems and difficulties up to 2010, the time when the business is in trouble, it confronted lots of consequences with respect to operation human resource and finance. Therefore, the demand by purchasers fell continue sadly even though the prices were cut down by the company; the distinguishing attributes of the goods were not up to the quality as they were earlier. The rising complaints from the customers regarding degrading quality and faults in the product and the concern by the bank manager regarding the overdraft could cause trouble if the problems are not solved as soon as possible. Because of that, the company requires a right way to deal with this issue and save it from the edge of going bankrupt. II. Introduction Based on case study research in Cyclermate Ltd. and a series of case in community, this report will work out the financial problems and various other problems confronted by Cyclermate. It has been designed to analysis the business environment and management, measured by SWOT and PET models that are required to be looked upon. The report also draws on a brief summary for the financial side of the business. In addition, this report takes into account an examination of difficulties confronted by Cyclermate and possible solution for the problems, included short and long term solutions. Another function of this report is to examine how the company could get out of the crisis and get back to the current market share. Finally, the report brings us some recommendations and conclusion of the whole Cyclermate case study. III. Analysis of Business Environment 1. PEST Analysis PEST analysis is involved in the chief external environmental that effect or control considerably a business strategy. As we can see, PEST is aimed for Political, Economic, Social and Technological matters that can affect the business. PEST is recognized to persuade it in a utile manner of summarizing the external environment. However, it may be adopted the ability of how an establishment should react to these factors. Political Factor A political factor has a powerful impact on income tax, labor law, trade restriction and many more. Company did not recruit enough workers to meet the targets and worker had to work overtime to get the work done and workers are getting paid at normal rate. Using a traditional method may harm workers health and decreased their productivity as well. These mistakes made Cyclermate become a target of health and safety agencies. They have to improve the quality or else they can be stuck in authorized issues. On the  other hand, they also need to achieve higher standard in manufacturing to meet requirements of the market, especially foreign markets. Economic Factor Cyclermate had purchased a larger storehouse for goods, which indeed was essential to them but did not suffice their requirements. Purchasing a warehouse, which fulfilled the needs of the company, could have saved a lot of money and that same money could have used in new or currently in existence projects. Another factor in economics that affects to the development of Cyclermate Ltd is labor. The unemployment rate is increasing, therefore, this is a good chance for this company to choose worker more easily, and employ them easily with affordable price. Social Factor Social factor has a powerful impact on human behavior, Cyclermate had many order but they did not have enough workforce to complete these orders. They have to work long hours in order to achieve their goals. One more important thing is that high-speed innovation as well as the increasing demands of consumers requires Cyclermate to change and improve every day. But there is a truly infact that living standard of clients could effect to their choices. The higher income distribution they get, the higher demands they re Technological Factor Cyclermate Ltd is using the oldest way to advertise their products by posting advertisement in traditional newspapers. It has limited their goods to the customers. Instead, this company can set up its own website. In addition, Cyclermate Ltd is using the oldest way to advertise their products by posting advertisement in traditional newspapers. It has limited their goods to the customers. Instead, this company can set up its own website. 2. SWOT Analysis It is a methodical technique that is utilized to categorize and identify substantial external (Opportunities and Threats) and internal (Strengths and Weaknesses) factors confronted with a specific area. (Johnson, 1993) It  renders data which are useful in corresponding the capabilities and resources to the spiritual atmosphere in which it functions and hence is a significant addition to the planning and marketing procedure. (Pearce, 2005) Let have look at the SWOT of cyclermate to understand more about the current issue that company has to face with. Strengths Direct channels of sale Cyclermate has direct channels of sales with the direct sales and direct shops; hence intermediary’s cost is largely eliminated. Reducing the cost of manufacturing could unquestionably help Cyclermate achieve a huge share of the market. As direct channels are in direct contact with the providers, thus, it could help in increasing in quantity or value of the sales and it provides a good opportunity to the providers to empathize the clients and could make required changes are per the requirement of the customers. Motivated workforce The employees at the Cyclermate are extremely pioneering and are can fully utilize and achieve any given objective or alterations in the company but they are inhibited by the administration as a result they are unable to express their views freely. The employees could have a crucial role in the company for its overall growth and development. Possession of buildings and lands Unlike Cyclermate most of the companies don’t possess either building or land and hence have to pay the heavy rents which adds to the cost but cyclermate can make any changes in the buildings and could capitalize in whichever way they wish to as they own it, which reduces the overall cost. Weaknesses Inexperience and unmotivated staffs of the company The company has made use of untrained workers. These untrained workers are not given the proper training after their employment. It is the fact that the employees and the staff are never allowed to put forward their creative and self-ideas due to the policies of the management, as a result of this  motivation in the staff is lost. Sales are decreasing in amount or degree and there is piling up of stocks in the warehouses which generates a feeling among the staff that they are not under a good management and as this feeling flourishes they lose hopes from the company and it has a very bad impact on their morale. The investors do not truly interested in the business Due to the low returns on the capital invested by the investors, they are unhappy with the performance of the company and are losing faith in it. In addition, the very fact that the shareholders were not paid any interest last year, it may result in the withdrawal of their money from the company. The quality concerns Because lack of the power to be effective of the staffs to keep up the measures of the goods and the quality of raw material utilized is leading to degraded quality of the goods eventually. Old machinery such as traditional spaying technique, painting and low-quality stock control technology needs updating as soon as possible if the business hopes to improve the production and sales in the coming time. Opportunities Take the advantages of social media Cyclermate should launch its website, which provides complete detail and range of the products available with them. Company can employ a new computer system for keeping a good database of the company. They can introduce online selling and modification according to the wish of customers. Introduction of new machines They should introduce some of the modern machinery in order to achieve higher-level productivity. Cyclermate could bring in new robotic machinery in the production process that will lead to speedy output and a superior quality of goods. Employ trained workers They have the opportunity to make use of the trained workforce, which has been recently laid off from the nearby production site. More workforce means opportunity to gain more productivity. Threats Overseas competitors As a result of the growth to a global or worldwide scale, many companies from across the globe have entered the market with products of low price and high quality, which certainly is a threat for Cyclermate as it supplies good with high cost and of lower quality. Due to recession, which is prevailing in Europe the purchasing power of people is going down. Thus, company can have reduced sales or can face financial crises. Reputation Due to poor-quality product for a period of Cyclermate’s reputation is going down and therefore people do not like to go for their products. Huge retail Merchants Retail Merchants like Argos and Halfords are captivating the market eventually and it might happen that Cyclermate may lose the market share completely. Customer threatens them to sue their company after their product was fail in delivering the good performance. IV. Analysis of Business Management 1. Financial Problems Prob. 1.1: Uncontrolled cost The main problem that company is in this situation is because of the uncontrolled cost and mismanaged budget. The costs are increasing yearly with the sales and selling price of the products going down. Let have look at the financial statement that company has  £210,800 worth of non-current assets. Loan request will be refused as company only holds cash fund of  £675 into their bank account. Costs are increasing at a rapid rate year after year. Asset turnover ratio is 2.06:1. This indicates that the profit margins for the company are very low that’s why the ratio is so high. We can also conclude from this that the company’s pricing strategy is not effective leading to lower profits. Prob. 1.2: Dealing with a big loan Creditor days – 24 days leads to the company has to pay back it its debtors in 24 days and it is just left with 675 £ of cash. The Company is liable to pay  £87,500 to the creditors and if they don’t so a legal action may be taken on them, which are not good for company’s reputation. They may talk to the creditors and ask for an extension in time for payments as they are going through financial crisis and don’t have money right now to pay back. Prob. 1.3: Lots of inventories Besides, it shows that the majority of inventories are stored and not effectively managed, that is why current ratio is at such high level, which also means low sales and low revenue gained. Moreover, the company relies on the bank loan as the main monetary support. 2. Operation Problems Prob. 2.1: Stock control system Disturbingly, materials are always in the shortage which results in the disruption of the production process recently. Although the demand is higher and higher, company cannot meet their requirement because of lacking necessary components. Prob. 2.2: Inappropriate division of duties The inappropriate division of duties obviously had made such a burden on many workers. In particular, Dai Armstrong has to deal with many tasks such as making all the frames, factory manager and business director at the same time. He himself also finds it hard to keep up the level of production (approximately 8 frames/day) because it requires the harsh physical demands. Prob. 2.3: Assembly is a complex process Moreover, assembly is a complex process, which takes 2 or 3 hours for one person. Janice Jones and Ffred Gregory often have to work overtime to catch up with the progress. As a result, their health and time issue could be heavily damaged. 3. HR Management problems Prob. 3.1: Improper workforce in manufacturing Unreasonable workforce division is one of the most serious problems of Cyclermate Ltd. Besides, lack of experienced employees and the aging workforce are worrying the production process and raising a big question for a more effective training system. Prob. 3.2: The training system creates The training system creates such obstacles for the assembly process. Typically, Fred, who is 18 years old, is a new and un-experienced person; the training for him is necessary, however, not easy at all. It takes so much time to instruct Fred in traditional way, which is apparently the cause of slow production recently. Prob. 3.3: Corporate culture The staff is highly de-motivated due to decreasing sales and profits and also the behavior of the management as in the sinking company they are not free to put up their ideas even if they do they are rejected because of the superiority of the management. V. Solution A. Short term and immediate planning 1. Financial problems: Solution 1.1: Cost in selling and distribution Cost in selling and distribution could be possible declined to save more money for the company such as cutting cost for postage and courier charges by substituting by cheaper service, as well as the travelling and hospitality. Those indirect costs contribute such high cost to the manufacturing of the cycles, restricting them would help boost the sales with cheaper price. Solution 1.2: Ask for trading debtors to repay The solution to this issue is that they should strictly resolve and for the  trade debtors to repay the loans as soon as possible. The amount of $200,571 would help the financial situation better in the coming time. Once their assets are raised through and their liquidity are proved to be valuable enough to afford the loan, it will be beneficial for them to borrow money from the banks. Solution 1.3: Direct sale prices Cyclermate’s direct sale prices are higher than shop sale price. In order to generate healthy revenue, Cyclermate needs to reduce their direct sale price. By reducing the direct sale prices will increase their sale and it will be easy for them to generate healthy revenue. 2. Operation Problems Solution 2.1: Buy stock when needed Company should only buy stock when they needed. Buying stock earlier will harm company’s financial positions, because raw material does not hold their value and it has got more chances of losing its market value. Solution 2.2: Require clear division A good answer for this problem is that the company should require clear division to who is able to undertake and separate arrangement of duties. Specifically, assigning other qualified person on frame-making position so that Mr. Dai could concentrate and dedicate himself to external relations business only. Solution 2.3: hiring more experienced labors The company should consider hiring more experienced labors for assemble line and frame-making because Mr Dai can no longer put up with the physical requirement of the task. With those simple tasks like packaging, it is acceptable for free hand employees to help out, but only when they finished all their tasks. 3. HR Management problems Solution 3.1: Employ cheaper labors In this case, the company can consider employ cheaper labors that are  suggested by Maldwyn Jones: Chinese or Taiwanese labor to make the machine for them- much better quality but half the price and move Idris Pugh to higher position as a supervisor for the whole wheel-making process. Solution 3.2: Improving the staff’s skills This training program involves directly in the new changes with a purpose of improving the staff’s skills, expertise and methods to complete an error-free task, exposing them to unfamiliar ideas and of course, giving them the chance to practice task under time/speed limit. Solution 3.3: Core business value Trust in others and a firm belief in overcoming difficulties (set up new mission: overcome difficulty, minimize waste and consequence) B. Long term and efficiency improvements Present fiscal condition of Cyclermate (Accounting ratios).The acid / liquid ratio of Cyclermate is 0.76:1, which depicts Cyclermate is incapable to satisfy indebtednesses of shorter term, which mean that it would not be competent to satisfy fiscal difficulty which may happen in the time to come. The Asset turnover ratio for Cyclermate is 2.06:1. As the ratio is excessively high, this means that profit margins are very low. The pricing strategy of Cyclermate is ineffective and because of that low profit. Return on capital employed –Cyclermate has far too less returns on the capital employed, just a mere 0.11 or 11%. Debtor days –It would take Cyclermate 115 days to get back the money from debtors. Creditor days – Cyclermate has to pay back in 24 days to its debtors with a cash balance of 675 £. The financial statement of Cyclermate shows that it has non-current assets which is of worth  £210,800.Any request regarding a loan from the bank will be refused as it has a mere cash balance of  £675. It may get a loan based on the position of its non-current assets. In place of the above-discussed alternative, it can sell its freehold land, which is worth  £160,000, and use the proceeds from the sale in the business. Cyclermate could acquire funds if they pursue its trade debtors to pay off soon. Debtors worth  £200,571 are to be recovered and the funds would be acquired soon if the debtors do not  default and pay in full. Once it has sufficient fund, Cyclermate could apply for the bank loan. VI. Conclusion Overall, Cyclermate will have a better future if they operate their business in slightly different ways. Cyclermate products were famous for its quality and price,if the company still provide what the consumer wants than it would be no harm to the company. But there few changes needs to be changed and once the new rules and regulation apply into the business than it would be a great opportunity for Cyclermate to operate their services. Moreover, With the movement of new threats into the marketplace the present systematic plan of action of Cyclermate is continuously below the acceptable level in its performance due to the fact that the new firms and the existing organizations are coming up with improved quality of products at a cheaper price VII. Recommendations The company must sign up correct individual as per the requirement of the position. Currently the management is interfering in the process of production and is unable to focus of the activities they should be concerned. The financial hardships through which Cyclermate is going through at present could be resolved by selling the unused stock that is piled up in the warehouse. In order to generate revenues and funds to invest in other arena of the company, Cyclermate must sell its freehold land that would certainly generate high revenue. In order to achieve higher output and productivity, modern technology should be applied in the production process. Installing a computer database through which the management could look into all the important and relevant data as and when required. Cyclermate should launch its website, which provides complete detail and range of the products available with them. Reducing both direct sales prices so as to sell the current stock and trade debtors. Employing young and trained workforce that is fit for the position.