Reply this article by 200 words with references. A recent data breach into America Job Link, has threatened roughly 280,000 private data records from Maine, and another 4 million records throughout 10 states. Law enforcement officials believe the attack could have taken place between Feb. 23 and Feb. 26. Before JobLink, Maine used the state Office of Information Technology to oversee their department of Labor records.

Last year Maine made the switch, and while it saved $48,000 a year, Maine was more likely to get attacked. How much money does it take to ensure security? According to Kim (2018), "Information systems security can be described in three parts: the hardware, operating systems, and the application software. These pieces work together to collect, process, and store data for individuals and organizations. All three need to be fully upgraded, and up-to-date with the latest defenses to ensure absolute security."

This costs a lot of money, and can be detrimental to business if not placed on the highest priority. How can businesses safely budget for information security? Maine department of labor may have saved $48,000 annually, but now they may lose valuable online customers from this one occasion. They attempted to budget for information security by hiring an out of state firm for a lower price, but the decision ended up costing them.

One would believe that the larger the security company, the better the security, this was not the case. Once serious data breaches occur, entire security companies often go under when all their clients decide to take their business elsewhere. I believe Maine will decide to go back to managing their own labor websites, even though it may be more expensive, at lease then they can have better control over what levels of security are placed on the front lines. Just as the bible says (1999), "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." It may be difficult to find peace without strong defenses.

Data breaches are now one of the easiest methods to gather huge amounts of personal, or even classified information. Without strong walls and defenses, the attacks will just keep on coming.

Kim, D., & Solomon, M. (2018). Fundamentals of information systems security. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Mistler, S. (2017, March 23). Labor Department: 283,000 Maine Records Affected by Job Website Data Breach. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http://mainepublic.org/post/labor-department-283000-maine-records-affected-job-website-data-breach#stream/0

The King James Bible: red lettered. (1999). Palm Beach, Fla. (P.O. Box 2273, Palm Beach, 33480): The Publisher (Psalms 122:7).