Instructions: Prepare a research paper based on the outline (Topic: The role of contracts in protecting information assets) that was submitted. Papers must: Be formatted using APA guidelines Include...

Running Head: PASTE YOUR TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT    HERE            1
THE ROLE OF CONTRACTS IN PROTECTING INFORMATION ASSETS
CLASS: CSEC 477 GOVERNANCE POLICIES AND INFORMATION ASSURANCE
PROFESSOR: ANDY REEDER
UNIVERSITY: DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
STUDENT: ELIEZER ANDUJAR
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Overview    3
Legal Contract    4
Confidentiality Agreement / Contract    4
Information Assets    5
Risks to Information Assets    6
Importance and Role of Legal Contract    6
Detailed Evidence of Information    7
Prevention of Misunderstanding and Miscommunication    8
Provides Security    8
Confidentiality is Ensured    8
It can be used as a Company Record    8
Breach of Contract    9
Types of Contract Breach    9
Legal Issues    9
Organizational Viewpoints on Knowledge, Data, and Information Security    9

Management at the Strategic Level    9
Management of Knowledge    10
Management of Information Security    10
Conclusion    11
Bibliography    12
Introduction
The literature on strategic management emphasizes the need of safeguarding organizational information and knowledge, particularly in terms of preserving competitive advantage. They have compiled a list of strategies from the literature that businesses might use to safeguard their data and knowledge. One of them is legal contracting.
Furthermore, as the volume of digital information generated by business operations grows, organizations have an increasingly tough issue in preserving their data assets. Failure to safeguard such data exposes businesses to a variety of new threats. The rise of externally hosted social and services networking technologies has added another degree of complexity to maintaining data security[footnoteRef:1]. [1: Contract Law. "Aspect of Contract and Negligence for Business"]
Overview
Today, one of a company's most valuable assets is information. Organizations are struggling to determine who truly "owns" the data. Who is the "custodian" of the property? Who is in charge of what? This paper is a first step in comprehending the many responsibilities and roles associated with information. Leakage of sensitive data through unknown conduits and routes is a particularly difficult management challenge.
The rapid use and appropriation of perimeter information technology such as networking technologies, social media, mobile devices, and cloud computing has aggravated the problem[footnoteRef:2]. Breach of confidentiality agreements may have a range of consequences for businesses, including costs, reputational harm, and income loss. [2: Contract Law. "Aspect of Contract and Negligence for Business"]
The amount of digital data created in 2011 will be close to 1,800 Exabyte’s, 10 times the amount produced in 2006. Unstructured data is expected to account up more than 80% of all data. These systems are increasingly being hosted outside of the business and are often outside of the organization's direct control. Organizations are rapidly recognizing the advantages of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 tools and media. However, there are extra commercial risks that come with this potential value[footnoteRef:3]. [3: Riikka Peltola. "Customer understanding in a case company's contract manufacturing business." (2020)]
E-compliance and risk management in a digital world require more attention from businesses. Concerns are developing about organizations' capacity to legal discovery, meet privacy, and data protection requirements. One out of every three businesses has had trouble recovering information from backup, and a similar percentage has struggled to locate emails written only 18 months ago for audit purposes.
One of the most difficult difficulties that companies confront is balancing the reality that, on the one hand, information is a source of commercial value and, on the other hand, it is a source of risk, the authors added[footnoteRef:4]. It is to be re-purposed and re-used, including information risk management and the retention of corporate information as evidence. [4: Riikka Peltola. "Customer understanding in a case company's contract manufacturing business." (2020)]
Legal Contract
A contract is a legal instrument that may be enforced in court. It can refer to a service, a purchase, or the transfer of property ownership. In general, only the parties who make the contract have any rights or obligations under it. If a disagreement arises, the court will guarantee that such obligations and rights are respected. Validity, Execution, Nature of Consideration, and Formation are the four sorts of contract classifications[footnoteRef:5]. [5: Cemre Bedir. "Contract law in the age of big data" European Review of Contract Law 16, no. 3 (2020): 347-365]
When it comes to law enforcement, legal contracts are crucial. When parties sign a legally enforceable contract, it provides a reference document for law enforcement and the judicial system to use in making decisions. There are various sorts of common legal contracts in law; some of them relevant to protecting information assets are confidentiality agreement[footnoteRef:6]. [6: Cemre Bedir. "Contract law in the age of big data" European Review of Contract Law 16, no. 3 (2020): 347-365]
Confidentiality Agreement / Contract
Company should keep working projects, creative ideas, and exciting new products secret to preserve a competitive advantage. A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is a legal contract that keeps such sensitive material under wraps. Within a broader legal document, these agreements may be referred to as Confidentiality Agreements (CA), confidentiality declarations, or confidentiality clauses.
Confidentiality in writing, signed by all parties, can help to build confidence in these types of discussions and avoid intellectual property theft. Some NDAs bind a person to confidentiality for an unlimited length of time, preventing the signer from disclosing the secret information included in the agreement at any time[footnoteRef:7]. Without such a formal agreement, any material supplied in trust may be utilized for evil reasons or unintentionally made public. [7: I. Nyoman Putu Budiartha. "Principles of Contract Law Underlying Business Activities in the Globalization Era." In International Conference on Business Law and Local Wisdom in Tourism (ICBLT 2018), pp. 70-73. Atlantis Press, 2018]
When it comes to sensitive or confidential information, business owners frequently have to speak with outsiders. Non-disclosure agreements have long been a legal foundation for protecting the people or individual with whom this information is exchanged. Manufacturing procedures, Secret recipes, and proprietary formulae, are examples of information that may necessitate NDAs. The consequences of information leaking might have a negative impact on the project and company's value[footnoteRef:8]. [8: I. Nyoman Putu Budiartha. "Principles of Contract Law Underlying Business Activities in the Globalization Era." In International Conference on Business Law and Local Wisdom in Tourism (ICBLT 2018), pp. 70-73. Atlantis Press, 2018]
Information Assets
An information asset is a collection of data that has been maintained and as a single entity so that it may be easily used, protected, understood, and shared. It might be in any type, including electronic or paper, as well as organized databases or unstructured communications. The lifecycles, content, value, and risk of information assets are all manageable and observable[footnoteRef:9]. [9: Nader Sohrabi Safa, Carsten Maple, Steve Furnell, Muhammad Ajmal Azad, Charith Perera, Mohammad Dabbagh, and Mehdi Sookhak. "Deterrence and prevention-based model to mitigate information security insider threats in organizations." Future Generation Computer Systems 97 (2019): 587-597]
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