Information Systems Paper Essay Example for Free

Information Systems Paper Essay Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the special services agency of United States of America, formed to serve the department of Justice and provide internal intelligence services. To assist them serve with â€Å"Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity†, FBI departments are equipped with technically updated Information Systems. They are committed to deliver actively reliable and efficient information systems to centrally connect all its departments and records they collect. With central databases, FBI information Systems provide relevant information to criminal justice agencies, special agents, national and local justice courts and FBI agents, who are committed to prevent any criminal or terrorist activity within their areas of operations. FBI’s information systems include (FAS, 2008): †¢ â€Å"Counterdrug Information Indices System (CIIS)† †¢ â€Å"Central Records System† †¢ â€Å"Electronic Surveillance (Elsur) Indices† †¢ â€Å"Identification Division Records System† †¢ â€Å"National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC)† †¢ â€Å"National Crime Information Center (NCIC)† †¢ â€Å"Security Access Control System (SACS)† National Crime Information System (NCIC) NCIC is a centrally connected criminal record system that provides important information, like criminals’ records and reported cases, to central law enforcing agencies and all policies departments across the country. By maintaining all the records centrally, NCIC provides 24/7 365 days information to all geographically distributed departments, that enables real time processing of any suspect arrested, any property detained or any lost person recovered. This information system is protected physically, technically and administratively. Through passwords, security alarms and other safety procedures, only authorized persons are allowed to view and alter any record. All the information in NCIC is provided by FBI, criminal justice agencies and local courts. FBI has the right to control, alter or distribute any such information, it finds appropriate for the concerned party. All the information included recorded in NCIC is quite sensitive, and is subjected to authority, scrutiny and relevance. In case if this system is cracked, hacked, or physically assaulted, loss of information would be tremendous, and could be disastrous for the social structure and peace of the society. Criminal Justice authorities will lose major source of their information, and the country will be vulnerable to criminal activities, since there would be no track left. In case of termination of services of NCIC, all law enforcing agencies will be affected, as they won’t be able to endure their regular practices. In order to avoid any such situation, this computer system has strict physical security measures. Any person visiting the computer center is thoroughly scrutinized for his identity, scope of visit, and they are always accompanied by local staff personnel. Any sharing of information taking place, under the supervision of FBI officials, is documented and records of all such transactions are maintained. All the information is encrypted, and stored in a way it is planned to be. Moreover, all the data communication lines are dedicated for NCIC, and are heavily protected. There is no termination between these points. On the other hand, all external access points are also heavily protected. Authorization is provided to very limited officials, and only relevant information is provided. Moreover, both manual and automatic logs are maintained at both ends, and later exchanged to scrutinize the transactions.