Monthly Archives: June 2023

The purpose of this activity is to expose you to the Microsoft Project tool for the purpose of developing a project plan and Gantt chart for a hypothetical 30-day hobby project of your choice. Examples include building a deck, painting the garage, or planting a vegetable garden. Completing this activity will help to jump start your successful completion of the project deliverables throughout the course.

This activity consists of two parts:

Part 1: Project Introduction, or Project Plan

You will write a 3–5-page document outlining the project specifics, such as its key objectives and scope, functional and technical requirements, key components, etc.

Write a detailed paper on the history of computers and science how they are related? and how did they change the world?

For Color and Clarity write some  Conclusions and Insights from the descriptive analysis 

 In the Week 7 readings, employee rights and responsibilities are discussed. One item briefly mentioned is the OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program. Do some research and see if you can find any current literature about whistleblowing activities as reported by healthcare professionals. Summarize and/or share the information you find. A good place to start is the United States Department of Labor Whistleblower.gov site. Demotion, intimidation, reassignment, and other punitive actions are prevented by the OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program.Discuss what you discover about the OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program and any potential negative impact for healthcare professional(s) when reporting unethical practices.To complete this discussion board assignment:

Please review late submission grading posted under policy section Course Modules.

Please submit a word document of your assignment. Your submission will be Unichecked.  

Assignment Description

Please read chapter 15 and review reputable articles/journals and describe what is Software Reuse? Briefly explain the benefits and problems with reuse. 

 Provide (4) 150 words substantive response with a minimum of 1 APA references for RESPONSES 1, 2, 3 and 4 below. Ensure you list and break down each response in a word document, along with its reference. Response provided should further discuss the subject or provide more insight. To further understand the response, below is the discussion post that’s discusses the responses. 100% original work and not plagiarized. Must meet deadline.

ISSC 471

RESPONSES 1:

What advice does the FBI provide in protecting against computer fraud? Do you feel that the Government is doing a sufficient job in this area?

The FBI provides tips on how to avoid being a victim and what to do if you believe you have been a victim. The FBI’s Cybercrime division includes a wealth of material on its website, including Key Priorities, Ransomware, Identity Theft, Related Priorities, How to Protect Your Computer, and External Links, all of which are intended to assist in the fight against cybercrime and computer fraud. (Federal) A few crucial factors of safeguarding oneself against computer fraud are discussed on the website. The primary source of fraud and identity theft is Personally Identifiable Information (PII). A user must be aware of how to avoid revealing personally identifiable information (PII). If a person is a victim of fraud, there are procedures that may be done to mitigate the negative consequences, such as alerting any major credit cards and credit monitoring agencies. The government is doing all it can legally to protect, control, and punish criminals. They may, however, focus on getting the information out to the public. Because technology is becoming more complicated and pervasive in all parts of life, it is critical to disseminate cyber security knowledge to the general population.

Define COBIT and it’s control objective.  Do you feel the framework is detailed enough to serve your organization?  Why or why not?

The effectiveness of Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) is entirely dependent on the organization’s objectives. It’s a framework based on “best practices” for maximizing corporate efficiency via IT governance and management. COBIT 5 focuses on five key aspects to ensure success. Audit and assurance, risk management, information security, regulatory compliance, and enterprise IT governance are the domains covered. (Federal) Given COBIT 5’s in-depth approach, I find it difficult to disagree with the framework for any company. The government, overall, is doing all it can to protect, govern, and punish violators. They may, however, focus on getting the information out to the public. Because technology is becoming more complicated and pervasive in all parts of life, it is critical to disseminate cyber security knowledge to the general population.

What are the components of a good policy framework? Provide an example of each of these components.

The COBIT 5 components that make up a good framework are given above. If a company employed all five of them, I think there would be very little space for mistake. The five sections seem to include both risk assessment and management, as well as ensuring that the business is compliant and well-governed.

What is the Deming cycle approach? How does this approach help improve quality?

The Deming cycle technique, often known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) wheel, is a good, simple way to solve problems. The PDCA loop is similar to the OODA loop used by the Air Force for decision-making. The distinction is in the words rather than the notion. Observe, orient, decide, act is like PDCA, but with subtle differences that make sense for the government and may be too detailed for private enterprises at times.

Why is it important for IT Auditors to know about the legal environment of information systems?

Information systems may be placed everywhere on the planet and operate in a variety of legal “environments.” When auditing IT systems, IT auditors must be aware of local, national, and occasionally worldwide rules and regulations. It’s a difficult process, but it’s vital to assure compliance.

-Jimmy

References:

COBIT | Control Objectives for Information Technologies. (2021). ISACA. https://www.isaca.org/resources/cobit

Contact Us. (2020, November 24). Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us

RESPONSES 2:

The FBI offers some very scant information in regards in how to protect yourself and your businesses from internet fraud. Generally, their guidelines follow the typical measures that you would find in any environment. They recommend that you keep your firewall turned on, install or update antivirus software, install or update antispyware tools, keep your OS up to date, be careful in what you download, and turn off your computer when it is not needed. The FBI also offers a word of warning for P2P systems. I feel that while for specific enterprises this is likely an insufficient list of measures to be taken, as each business needs to determine what is acceptable risk and what is not it is a good general list to abide by. I believe that what they could do better is to tell users reading this information that it is not exhaustive, and their case may require different controls to maintain a secure cyber posture.

               COBIT is a framework used for IT governance and management. It is supposed to be a tool for management to be able to better control security issues within the organization. It provides a method for bridging technical issues, business risks and control requirements. Its main control objective is to give effective organizational governance for management teams. This framework would work well in most organizations but should probably be used in conjunction with other frameworks because COBIT in and of itself does not necessarily provide all the tools and methods for completing certain tasks.

               To craft a good policy framework there needs to be three components of the framework itself, Policies, Standards, and Guidelines. Policy frameworks start at the top with the policy which describes the general belief, goal, or objective. An example of the policy portion of the framework could be “Users are required to identify themselves when in corporate buildings.” The standards come next and they support the policies, and example of a standard could be “Users are required to wear company provided identification in clear view on your person”. Lastly are guidelines that further support the policy and the standard, which could be something like “Be sure to keep your ID on you at all times during working hours, report to HR if you forgot your ID or have lost it.”

               The Demning cycle is a way to conduct specific tasks within an organization. It is a cycle where you are required to plan, do, check, and act. This approach helps improve quality by providing a method in which we can implement changes to a system and monitor is ability to perform the required functions.

It is important for IT auditors to know the legal environment of information systems because there are many regulatory requirements for organizations to follow, which will need to be taken in account when conducting and IT Audit of that particular system.

-BRIAN

ISSC341

RESPONSES 3:

When designing a Local Area Network (LAN), some of the components that I would include in my physical diagram are:

-PC/workstation and servers,

-Network Interface Card (NIC), a NIC is a circuit board inserted into each network station (PC. Workstation, server) to allow communication with the stations,

-Cabling and connectors, examples are coaxial cables and BNC connector, Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and RJ-45 connector, and

-Hub, concentrator, and more complicated network devices such as bridge, LAN switch and router.

           Organizations have their employee’s BYOD for many different reasons. One advantage to BYOD is that employees can use devices that they are already familiar with. This increases productivity. Flexibility is another advantage because employees are now able to work anytime/anywhere. Additionally, employers save money since they do not have to buy devices for their employees.

One of the disadvantages of BYOD is the liability. Not have a distinction between work and personal devices may question who is liable for the repair costs. It also compromises security because employees are now using personal devices to access privileged information. Lastly, a plan should be in place to prevent the potential misuse of information. After an employee or contract has been terminated, you may need to remove company’s private information from the employee’s device.

Thanks for reading and hope everyone is having a great start to their week.

Regards,

Ali

Rainoff, M. J. (2020). System Information – Networking, LAN, Local Area Network, NIC, Network Interface Card, Hub, Bridge, LAN Switch, Router, Network Management, SNMP, Simple Network Management Protoco, RMON, JAVA, JAVA-based Network Management System, RMON software probe, Mbp. © 1995–2021 Integrated Data Processing, Inc. https://www.idp.net/sysinfo/networking.asp#2

S. (2021, October 19). The Pros & Cons of a Bring Your Own Device Policy. Device Magic. https://www.devicemagic.com/blog/bring-your-own-device-policy-pros-cons/

-ALI

RESPONSES 4:

When you are designing a local area network what components on the network would you include in your physical diagram?

In a physical network diagram or network topology, there are several components to it. Of course you would find your routers, which is used to route internet traffic between devices and the internet. Switches are used to connect computers to the network. Other components would include racks, ports, cables, and firewalls.

Network Evolution and Trends – Why would organizations use BYOD to have their employees bring their devices to work?  What are some advantages and disadvantages of this trend?

Bring your own device (BOYD) can be used for several different reasons. I think the main reason organizations would use it, because it’s cost effective. Organizations would save a lot of money if their employees brought their own devices instead of purchasing it themselves.

Advantages of BOYD would be employees bringing in devices that have better technology features than what is normally provided. Another advantage would be user familiarity with the devices they bring in. This would require less resources used to train the employees. Lastly, it would be a morale booster for employees, because they get to use their own equipment.

Disadvantages would be the risk of network security. It would be a serious challenge while bringing in your own devices because it’s hard to track your own device. Another disadvantage is with home computers having the proper software in order to be effective at your job.   

-Marcus

Portfolio Assignment

Background:  Assume that there has been a data breach at your organization.  The root cause was one of the following:  Insufficient or weak user authentication, deliberate actions of a disgruntled employee, a server that was missing a critical security patch for 90 days, or a misconfigured SaaS program that was unknown to the IT department.

Topic:  Select one of the possible root causes listed above and write a recommendation to senior management for addressing the problem.  Suggest an immediate action that would need to be taken, then attempt to persuade management to support a project to address the root cause.  Address at least one regulatory reason for action, one ethical reason, and one reason based on industry standards.  Knowing that this effort would be too early for accurate financial numbers for a project, include one paragraph that would address three key financial impacts a project would have on an already fully committed IT budget.

Mechanics:  This portfolio assignment has a target word length of 2,000-2,500 words.  It must be in APA format.  Due to the length, an Abstract is not required.  The word count excludes the Title Page, Reference Section, and any appendices you may desire to add.  A minimum of 3 scholarly resources must be used.  To qualify as a scholarly resource, the resource must be a peer-reviewed article published in a journal in the field related to Digital Forensics. 

Instructions

The chief technology officer (CTO) has indicated that your organization has been requested by the National Security Council (NSC) to comment on the upcoming National Cybersecurity Strategy. The NSC has asked for specific recommendations as it relates to the next cybersecurity strategy, private/public partnerships, and comments on how specific technologies should be incorporated into the assessment.

The CTO has asked you to collaborate with your team to provide the organizational input.

Case Study – Cyberterrorism—A New Reality:

When hackers claiming to support the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad attacked and disabled the website of Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite news channel, in September 2012, the act was another act of hacktivism, purporting to promote a specific political agenda over another. Hacktivism has become a very visible form of expressing dissent. Even though there have been numerous incidents reported by the media, the first case of hacktivism was documented in 1989 when a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega coined the term in 1996. However, hacktivism is not the only form of cyber protest and conflict that has everyone from ICT professionals to governments scrambling for solutions. Individuals, enterprises, and governments alike rely in many instances almost completely on network computing technologies, including cloud computing. The international and ever-evolving nature of the Internet along with inadequate law enforcement and the anonymity the global architecture offers creates opportunities for hackers to attack vulnerable nodes for personal, financial, or political gain. 

The Internet is also rapidly becoming the political and advocacy platform of choice, bringing with it both positive and negative consequences. Increasingly sophisticated off-the-shelf technologies and easy access to the Internet are significantly increasing incidents of cyberterrorism, netwars, and cyberwarfare. The following are a few examples. 

• According to The Israel Electric Company, Israel is attacked 1,000 times a minute by cyberterrorists targeting the country’s infrastructure—water, electricity, communications, and other services.• The New York Times, quoting military officials, said there was a seventeen-fold increase in cyberattacks targeting the US critical infrastructure between 2009 and 2011.• The 2010 Data Breach Investigations Report has data recording more than 900 instances of computer hacking and other data breaches in the past seven years, resulting in some 900 million compromised records. In 2012, the same study listed 855 breaches, resulting in 174 million compromised records in 2011 alone, up from 4 million in 2010.• Another study of 49 breaches in 2011 reported that the average organizational cost of a data breach (including detection, internal response, notification, post notification cost) was $5.5 million. This number was down from $7.2 million in 2010.14 The Telegraph (London) reported that “India blamed a new ‘cyber-jihad’ by Pakistani militant groups for the exodus of thousands of people from India’s north-eastern minorities from its main southern cities in August after text messages warning them to flee went viral.”

There have been recorded instances of nations allegedly engaging in cyberwarfare. The Center for the Study of Technology and Society has identified five methods by which cyberwarfare can be used as a means of military action. These include defacing or disrupting websites to spread propaganda, to conduct espionage and gain access to critical information, to disrupt enemy military operations, and to attack critical infrastructure. In 1999, pro-Serbian hacker groups, including the Black Hand, broke into NATO, US, and UK computers during the Kosovo conflict. In 2000, both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups created panic for government and financial networks, and in 2001, the world saw hacking with a patriotic flavor when Chinese and US hackers traded attacks on computers in both countries. 

One of the first widely documented cases was the cyberattack on the Republic of Georgia in 2007. On April 26, a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks targeted government, media, and financial networks and Internet infrastructure. Many other servers were hacked, and websites changed to display pro-Russian messages. Many of the initial attacks were said to have originated from Russia and, in some cases, allegedly from Russian government computers. The first wave of attacks against Estonian websites fizzled out after the Estonian foreign minister publicly declared that many of the attacks had originated from Russian government computers. 

The Estonian Internet infrastructure was subjected to more attacks. On April 30, 2007, attackers utilized so-called robot networks (botnets) from numerous sources around the world. About a week later, there were more DDoS attacks, including one on Estonia’s Hansabank, which reported a loss of about $1 million because of the attacks. The attacks continued intermittently for a few weeks before finally dying off in the summer of 2007. 

Another incident was the South Ossetia conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008. This Russian-Georgian conflict is classified as the first cyberspace conflict that was synchronized with traditional combat actions. Just as Russian troops were crossing the border, websites for communications, finance, government, and many international organizations in Georgia became inaccessible. These actions included various DDoS attacks that disrupted communications and information networks in Georgia. The attackers also defaced Georgian websites, adding pro-Russian images, supposedly for propaganda purposes. One of the first networks attacked was a popular hacker forum in Georgia. Consequently, pro-Georgian hackers made successful attacks against Russian networks as well. 

Although both the Estonian and Georgian attacks were widely believed to be the work of state-sponsored Russian hackers, no proof has ever been found conclusively linking Russian authorities to the incidents. 

The “First Cyberwarfare Weapon”: Stuxnet 

In June 2010, an Iranian nuclear facility in Natanz was said to have been attacked by a sophisticated, standalone malicious malware that replicated itself to spread to other computers. The malware, called Stuxnet, initially spread via Microsoft Windows operating system and targeted industrial software and equipment—in particular, certain specific industrial control systems made by Siemens. In all, versions of Stuxnet targeted five Iranian organizations, all allegedly linked to the Iranian nuclear program, and may have caused significant damage to the Iranian nuclear enrichment program facility located at Natanz. Stuxnet is said to have been in use since 2009 and was first identified in July 2010 by VirusBlokAda, an information-technology security company in Belarus, after it was said to have “accidently spread beyond” its intended target, Natanz, via infected USB sticks. However, some experts have argued that Stuxnet is not a “worm,” since it was propagated via removable media—CDs, DVDs, thumbdrives—and did not distribute through self-replication over the Internet. 

In any event, the 2010 version of Stuxnet has been called the “largest” and “most sophisticated attack software ever built,” and one investigative article said that the event foreshadowed the destructive new face of 21st century warfare, writing that “Stuxnet is the Hiroshima of cyberwar.” According to a report by Symantec, data from the early days of the Stuxnet attack showed that Iran, Indonesia, and India accounted for the bulk of the infected computers. The report also said that Stuxnet was the first piece of malware to exploit the Microsoft Windows shortcut “LNK/PIF” files’ automatic file execution vulnerability36 to spread. 

Overview of Stuxnet Symantec found that not only did versions of Stuxnet exploit up to four “zero-day” vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system, at half a megabyte it was unusually large in size and seemed to have been written in several languages, including portions in C and C++. Another sign of the sophistication was the use of stolen digital certificates from Taiwanese companies, the first from Realtek Semiconductor in January 2010 and the other from JMicronTechnology in July 2010. The size, sophistication, and the level of effort has led experts to suggest that the production of the malware was “state-sponsored,” and that it is “the first-ever cyberwarfare weapon.” The effects of Stuxnet have been likened to a “smart bomb” or “stealth drone,” since it sought out a specific target (programmable-logic controllers made by Siemens), masked its presence and effects until after it had done the damage (the operation of the connected motors by changing their rotational speed), and deleted itself from the USB flash drive after the third infection. As programmed, Stuxnet stopped operating on June 23, 2012, after infecting about 130,000 computers worldwide, with most of them said to be in Iran. 

THE QUESTION IS

-What does the threat do?

Exp19_Excel_Ch08_CapAssessment_Employee_Satisfaction

Exp19 Excel Ch08 CapAssessment Employee Satisfaction 

Excel Chapter 8 Capstone Assessment – Employee Satisfaction

Project Description:

You work as a data analyst for Camino Marketing, a U.S.-based web marketing company. You have been asked to conduct an employee satisfaction survey. As part of the survey, you will collect sample data to help provide insight into employee salaries, productivity within the three national offices, and to predict the growth of the New York office’s client base by 2025.

1

Start Excel. Download and open   the file named Exp19_Excel_Ch08_CapAssessment_EmployeeSatisfaction.xlsx.   Grader has automatically added your last name to the beginning of the   filename.

2

Ensure the Employee Satisfaction   worksheet is active, then use the FREQUENCY function to calculate the   frequency distribution of job satisfaction in column D. Place your results in   the range G5:G9.

3

Enter a function in cell G12 to   calculate the standard deviation of column c.

4

Enter a function in cell G13 to   calculate the variance between salaries. 

5

Enter a function in cell G14 to   calculate the Covariance of the salaries and job satisfaction in the data   set. Note this is a sample of data not a population.

6

Enter a function in cell F17 to   calculate the correlation coefficient between employee salary and job   satisfaction.

7

Ensure the Data Analysis ToolPak   add-in is active. Use the Data Analysis ToolPak to create a histogram based   on the salaries in column C. Use the range I4:I9 as the Bin Range. Ensure   that Cumulative percentage, column labels, and chart output are included in   the results. Place the results in cell K4. Edit the result text in cell K4 to   display   Salary, if   necessary.

8

Ensure the Office_Data worksheet   is active. Use the Data Analysis ToolPak to perform a single factor ANOVA on   the range C3:E35. Place the results starting in cell G3. Be sure to include   column labels. Resize columns G:M as needed.

9

Create a Forecast Sheet that   depicts year over year growth in customer growth. Set the Forecast end year   as 2025 and place the results on a new worksheet named 2025Forecast.

10

Ensure the Customers worksheet   is active then create a scatter plot chart that places the Years on the X   axis and the Clients on the Y axis. Add a linear trendline to the chart that   also shows the Equation and the R-square. Add the title Customer   Growth.

11

Enter a function in cell E4 to   calculate the intercept of the linear trendline created in the prior step.

12

Enter a function in cell F4 to   calculate the Slope of the linear trendline.

13

Enter a function in cell G4 to   calculate the R-square of the linear trendline.

14

Enter a function in cell H4 to   calculate the Standard Error. 

15

Use the FORECAST.LINEAR function   in cell E7 to the total number of customers by the end of 2021. 

16

Complete your analysis by added   formulas in the range F7:G7 to calculate the high and low thresholds of the   forecast.

17

Save and close Exp19_Excel_Ch08_CapAssessment_EmployeeSatisfaction.xlsx.   Exit Excel. Submit the file as directed.