Group items tagged

- In this article, "Data Security Is No Longer an Option," written by Eve Tahmincioglu is stating that the issues that concern Groogle. Groogle is a company which is a small online travel site that can supply the same to others from this site. (Scott Larsen, IT Director for the company, Groogle.) Jon Clay (product marketing manager for Trend Micro) will help get Tokyo based security software that will help this small business result in to a faster growing business. They will require a set of requirements that will be met by 95%. The upgrades made by the security measures have increased sales. Looking on from other companies, they have seen what is known as the virtual private network which sends encrypted data one location to the other without others looking at it. This is possible because of the firewalls and he spyware filtering programs that help keep out unknown individuals. At the end they came down to a decision that says they will upgrade to an intrusion detecting system that will cost around $25,000 to $125,000. Even though they will be enhancing their system there will be one problem which is the idea of making the computer adapt to the changes.

Purchasing songs, apps, movies, and etc on ITunes requires each user to have an ITunes account. Upon signing up for the account, a valid credit or paypal account must be entered to pay for any purchased items. These purchases are made using a SSL (secure socket layer) connection so that when the user sends their information to ITunes to set up an account, log in, or purchase an item, the information they are sending is encrypted.The sender is given a public key to show that he or she was the one sending the message and ITunes will get the private key. The data is encrypted using a code that will translate the data into a message incomprehensible to others if not decrypted using a private key. Once it has reached the ITunes database after being sent over the network, the private key will decode the message and proceed with the transaction.  However, the problem lies within the process of setting up an account. Many customers' itunes accounts are being hacked into and sold online to other people in China. Hackers are still able to find and intercept customers' information, such as their passwords or credit card number, and use it to sell to other people. Passwords may be too weak in some cases or authentication by the itunes store may be too weak. The issue of security is therefore involved as sensitive information can be accessed by others. The customers are affected since they are being charged for items that they are not purchasing. The company, Apple, is also affected negatively since their customers may not feel safe buying from them anymore and therefore losing business. Then there are the hackers who are benefiting in such a situation, profiting off of other people illegally.

Even during natural disasters such as hurricanes, patients can get medical help because of telemedicine. The University of Texas Medical Branch have set up a consult service in the Houston Area in case of a devastating hurricane. The use of telephones in this situation is used to help provide people with medical attention. The doctors can have a consult to help them with triaging and diagnosing patients. This method however, is not reliable because it uses other industries' networks, which can cause problems with connecting. Data which is also backed up is also located far away from the site which may make it unreliable if it is forwarded manually. Then there are standards which must be applied to the use of the information being stored because there are health records of a general public and must be handled securely. 

Careful, when you say: "also located far away from the site which may make it unreliable if it is forwarded manually. " you make a faulty assumption about the causes of reliability problems.

According to Alexander Vo, an associate professor in preventive medicine and community health, telemedicine is a helpful measure to be taken in order to help patients from a remote location. However, he says that problems have arose when telemedicine was used in relation to diaster relief. One example given is the earthquake in Haiti, when many technologies were donated by companies in order to promote the use of telemedicine for immediate disaster relief. Vo says that this technology was not used, especially within the first few weeks, because the locations were staffed with enough doctors. Further, even if the technology could be used, the doctors were not trained to use it, and there was no time to train them at that moment.Only after the voluntary doctors went back to their home towns could they be of any use in regard to telemedicine. The patients in need of special care could then connect with the doctors in the remote areas, however, there could be problems if the internet was down, or if the necessary hardware was destroyed due to the diaster. Even though the egagement in telemedicine was not the best for Haiti, it was seen to be of great help for a hurricane in Texas recently. Vo explains that telemedicine was successful because it was already established within the communities. The technology was available throughout the affected areas, and could be put to use immediately. The use of cell phones was also crucial, because many of the patients had pre-established access to doctors who could help diagnose and alleviate the problems of the patients in affected areas. Because the protocols were established prior to the disasters, the care was planed out to be available to the most amount of patients. Plans in advance can also taken into account the problem of damaged internet service, cables, and networks, and determine what the best plan of action is given the situation. Thus, the relief would allow the affected area to be back on track quickly, and efficientl

This article is regarding the use of Electronic Health Records, and digitalizing medical documents for the "betterment" of the medical staff, and the ease of use that databases provide as a solution to the IT issues that these facilities face. Many health care policy makers within the government, including President Obama, are advocating for the major shift in the use of electronic health records, and digitalizing patient information. However, only a small percentage of medical treatment offices have done so (approximately 17%). Basically, electronic health records document personal information of the patients, for example name, address, age, and medical issues that they face, making it much more easier for doctors and medical staff members to get into the use of e-prescriptions, providing treatment electronically. However, as information becomes digitalized, often times, major issues such as reliability of the IT equipment becomes and important aspect of the scenario. Major companies such as Dell and IBM are in the run to provide electronic health record databases for medical facilities to use. To these major stakeholders, these databases, when set-up properly, are basically a tool for health care providers to use; they can reduce costs and improve the type of care that is provided for patients. They also have the patient's entire medical history, and other medications, along with lab tests that if properly connected to databases, can ease the treatment guidelines. Thus the benefits include less trivial tests, reduced health related errors, and better care with less costs for patients. The IT systems that are provided, including faster networks with improved wireless connections and more financially affordable computers are what will basically be used within the medical facilities running on electronic health records with digitalized information. Also, there will be more space for these new machines to be placed in, since all

continued... the paper documents are now going to be taking no physical space; entirely stored digitally. However these devices do not provide the solution of reliability that staff members may face when on the wireless networks and/or dealing with digital data. One solution that the article provides is the new Internet-based service model, known as cloud computing, in which much of the computing firepower and data reside in remote data centers, which doctors, nurses and staff would use via the Web browsers on their personal computers. Through cloud-computing, there is a more reliable and efficient way for medical staff members to document data without having system failures, and also if they ever plan on outsourcing, they can easily work with the database online.

""In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional command-and-control techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity. "Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability." "

An interesting twist on using social networking in the workplace

"Pupils in North Yorkshire have jammed with one of the UK's leading orchestras, thanks to high-speed broadband lines. The video-linked music workshop over 10Mbps (megabits per second) connections provided sessions with the Southbank Sinfonia. The project was organised by NYnet, which has set up high-speed broadband in the area. "

"The art of connecting things is becoming more and more complex every day. In this article, we will look at a method of connecting devices, called Bluetooth, that can streamline the process. A Bluetooth connection is wireless and automatic, and it has a number of interesting features that can simplify our daily lives. "

IT Background article

Leading scientists gathering in Washington, D.C., this week say more research is needed to once-and-for-all determine whether cell phones pose major health risks. Read this blog post by Marguerite Reardon on Signal Strength.

"Last week, one of the world's most successful online gaming companies, Blizzard Entertainment of Irvine, told its global community of World of Warcraft players that they'd have to use real names in forums. The pushback was severe. The most outraged, as Register writer Ian Hamilton reported, lashed out by publishing online every public item they could find about Blizzard employees and, in some cases, their relatives."

Might be a good lead article to spur classroom debate about anonymity in social networking.

Chinese people wait in line for each of the new Apple iPhone releases, buy them at premium price of $600, and send it back to where it was made to get it unlocked.

Chinese people wait in line for each of the new Apple iPhone releases, buy them at premium price of $600, and send it back to where it was made to get it unlocked.

This article meets the requirements for an IT article because, to begin with, it discusses one of the main IT systems, the cellphone (a sophisticated phone such as the iPhone however). It is reliable because it comes from a new source such as the New York Times, which has a reputation of giving reliable information to its readers. The time that the article was written is as recent as can be (less than 24 hour news, meaning that it involves one of the main issues and impacts that affect society on a greater scale today). There are stakeholders involved - the people responsible for the social/ethical issue(s), the people being affected by it, and the people becoming involved as a result of the impacts of these issues. Therefore it can be stated that this article meets all the requirements for ITGS. The social and ethical issues that result from this IT situation are significant to what it led to. One of the main issues that revolves around this issue is the digital divide and equality of access. Once the iPhone is "unlocked", the user has access to many digital streams of data; data in which regular iPhone users do not have access too, or they are unable to stream it. Integrity is also one of the main social and ethical issues; the IT device in question (an Apple iPhone) was "tampered with" and has therefore lost most of its value as well as its originality. People and machines, although it is a social and ethical issue that affects almost all IT systems, it can also be said that it is relevant to this situation as well. The people who are unlocking the iPhone are on this "digital treadmill" in which their life revolves around the database and access to digital information. Information that is so immense and updated so quickly that it can be overwhelming sometimes, yet provide the user with an extensive amount of knowledge, which is often put into good use. The specific scenario that this IT system and its impacts are based upon is politics and government. The act

The main stake holders in this articles are the Military, FBI, the government and all foreign surveillance. The technology involved is the military database. It has many important details and high level data that would be harmful if in wrong hands. The government needs to secure the data base to avoid in foreign invasion on their database hence this would pose a serious threat to the nations security. The first step in securing the government database is to take it off the main internet and hence there would be no way to access it unless if an individual or an organization had authorization to it.

This relates to ITGS because the stakeholder her is a 17-year female who goes to high school in California and does her homework. However, when it comes to doing homework she gets distracted really quick and forgets. When she comes back she feels like she has so much homework until she finally she goes in to a room where she is isolated without technology which helps her complete concentrate and finish her tasks for school. This shows that home leisure comes in affect where technology at home which in this case is a computer and a phone directly links it to social networking and communication. If she was without a phone and a computer I am pretty sure it would less harder for her to get distracted. Sometimes using a computer will help complete the task faster this then will give her more time with her social life. What I am trying to say is that technology has its advantages and disadvantages.

An article about the unsafe nature of many mobile phone applications including commerce and finance related apps. This article allows the reader to see the increasing problem of security holes of these apps and sites like Twitter who were hit with the same problems, such as "cross site scripting."

Actually, if you click on the link to the article (the one in blue) and bookmark it again (it won't loose your previous work) you can click the Cache box and it will actually cache it. Try it. Normally, you would cache it the first time you bookmark it, but that technique works after the fact.

In a way, downloading an app or downloading anything in fact is like interviewing a book or finding a reliable source. It's always better to pick from an author or publisher you know about. Usually, more well known companies will release an app and if there are a lot of people complaining about it, then they will fix it. It takes patience and control to wait for a better version to come out so that you know its safe. Additionally, people should take more caution into the apps they are using and what kind of information they are registering in it.

In the most recent Iranian elections, the government censored many websites on the Internet in order to prevent news and other information from leaking the country/"classified governmental issues within the election". The Iranian people started using social networks (mainly Twitter) to spread the information of governmental oppression around both nationally and through out the world. After Twitter started blocking such sites, Iranians started using their cellphones as the method of sending out information on the injustices occurring during the election.

This is a very interesting article. I find it interesting that Iran is afraid of the word of their government is getting out, so they block one of the most used wrbsites on the internet, I feel as though you could have argued the point that the tweets were not neccesarily the most reliable. As said in the article, "The vast body of information about current events in Iran that circulates on Twitter is chaotic, subjective and totally unverifiable. It's impossible to authenticate sources. It's also not clear who exactly is using Twitter within Iran, especially in English. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the bulk of tweets are coming from "hyphenated" Iranians not actually in the country who are getting the word out to Western observers, rather than from the protesters themselves, who favor other, less public media."