It was a typical madhouse time on the night before a payroll run. Some employees were entering time cards; other employees were checking data entry lists to time cards and calling supervisors about employee numbers that they could not read. The system started slowing down, and then staff started getting SYSTEM ERROR messages when they tried to execute menu items. Initially, technical support staff suspected a cable break or an operating system failure. Diagnostics were run, but they revealed nothing. Finally, a staff member began running the SCAN virus detection program and uncovered a new virus that seemed to have originated from the central server. The virus cost the company about 25 person-hours in technical support and about 70 hours in overtime for payroll clerks, who worked until 4 a.m.

The company has one local area network with 250 stations using linked central servers. Some stations have their own hard disks; some stations have no disk drives at all. Sales¬ people have laptop computers that they use to connect from remote locations to conduct customer inquiries and place customer orders.

REQUIRED

a. Identify the potential sources of the virus infection.

b. How could this virus infection have been prevented?

c. What elements of a disaster recovery plan are required for recovery from a virus infection?

d, How would the quality of access controls at the company affect your audit?