Ethics and Information Security

1. Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.

The ethical issues surrounding copyright infringement and intellectual property rights are consuming the e business world. Advances in technology make it easier for people to copy everything from music to picture.
• Intellectual property – the collect of rights that protects creative and intellectual effort.
• Copyright – the exclusive right to do, or certain acts with intangible property such as a song, video game and some types of proprietary documents.
• Fair use doctrine – in certain situations, it is legal to use copyright material.
• Pirated software – the unauthorised use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyright software.

2. Describe the relationship between an ‘email privacy policy’ and an ‘Internet use policy’.

Email privacy policy is so pervasive in organization that it requires its own specific policy. According to experts in the field such as David Thompson, Managing Director of AXS-One pty ltd, 80% of corporate communication is done electronically via email and instant messaging.
Internet use policy is similar to email, the internet has some unique aspects that make it a good candidate for its own policy. These include the large amounts of computing resources that Internet users can expend, thus making it essential that such use be legitimate. An internet use policy contains general principles to guide the proper use of the internet.

3. Summaries the five steps to creating an information security plan.

• Develop the information security policies – identify who is responsible and accountable for designing and implementing the organization’s information security policies.
• Communicate the information security policies – train all employees on the policies and establish clear expectations for the policies.
• Identify critical information assets and risks – require the use of passwords, and ID cards and antivirus software on all systems.
• Test and re-evaluate risks – continually problems security reviews, audits, background checks and security assessments.
• Obtain stakeholder support – gain the approval and support of the information security policies from the board of directors and all stakeholders.

4. What do the terms; authentication and authorization mean, how do they differ, provide some examples of each term.

Authentication is a method for configuring user’s identities. A password is an example of authentication. Using password helps to identify individual user.
Authorization is the process of giving someone permission to do something or access files or confidential documents.

5. What the Five main types of Security Risks, suggest one method to prevent the severity of risk?

• Human error
• Technical failure
• Natural Disaster
• Management failure
• Deliberate acts

Network Applications & E-Commerce

1. What is an IP Address? What is its main function?

An IP is an Internet Protocol. It is the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network. Each computer on the Internet has an IP address, these can either be private or public, and however every address must be unique.


2. What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?

Web 2.0 is referred to as the Live Web. Users can collaborate and build their own content.
Business are using Web 2.0 to enable access to critical business application for employees and customers.

According to one commentator, 'web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. The web is no longer thinking text; its thinking people.

3. What is Web 3.0?

Semantic web encompasses the following:

• Transforming the web into a database
• An evolutionary path to artificial intelligence
• Search for information using different medias
• Evolution toward 3D


4. Describe the different methods an organisation can use to access information.

Organisations can use search engines to access information. Search engines are computer programs that search for specific information by key words and report the results.
Meta search engines search several engines at once and integrate the findings of the various search engines to answer queries posted by users.


5. What is E - Business, how does it differ from E - Commerce?

E-Commerce – the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet
E-Business – the conducting of business on the Internet including, not only buying and selling, but also serving customers and collaborating with business partners.



6. List and describe the various e-Business models? (Hint: B2B)

Business to Business (B2B) Applies to business buying from selling to each other over the Internet. Online access to data, including expected shipping data, delivery data and shipping status provided either by the seller or a third – party provider, is widely supported by B2B models.



7. List 3 metrics would you use if you were hired to assess the effectiveness and the efficiency of an e Business web site?

The following three metrics can be use to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of an e Business web site:

• Cookie – a small file deposited on a hard drive by a website containing information about customers and their web activities. Cookies allow websites to record the comings and goings of customers, usually without their knowledge or consent.

• Click – through – a count of the number of people who visit one site and click on an advertisement that takes them to the site of the advertiser.

• Banner ad – advertises the products and services of another business, usually another dot com business. Advertisers can track how often customers click on banner ads resulting in a click – through their website.


8. Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?

Opportunities:

• Highly accessible - Business can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• Increased customer loyalty - Additional channels for contacting, responding to the accessing customers helps to contribute to customer loyalty.


Challenges:

• Protecting consumers - consumers must be protected against unsolicited goods and communication, illegal or harmful goods.

• Leveraging existing systems - Most companies already use information technology to conduct business in non-Internet environments, such as marketing, order management, billing and customer service.

Strategic Decision Making

1. Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages.

TPS - is Transaction Processing System. TPS’s often provide the foundation for all the other information systems. Many TPS’s are also outward-reaching and convey impressions to the customers about the quality of the business, eg. Point of Sale (POS) systems
•provides a standard browser interface
•allows multimedia data transfer
•fairly fast response time
•storage of large databases of graphics and videos
•is in real time
•lower cost – no humans

DDS - is Decision Support System. help managers make decisions, particular in relation to more complex problems, so called unstructured or semi-structured problems
•estimating the sum of future cash flows from the use of long-lived assets
•judging the adequacy of an argument promoting a reduction in the capital gains tax rate
•preparing an operating budget for the next 5 years.


2. Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems.
Three quantitative models used by DSSs include:

 Sensitivity analysis - the study of the impact that changes in one (or more) parts of the model have on other parts of the model.

What-if analysis - checks the impact of a change in an assumption on the proposed solution.

Goal-seeking analysis - finds the inputs necessary to achieve a goal.

Simple versions of all these tools are found in Excel, and you will apply these in the workshop.


3. Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation.

A business process is a standard set of activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customer order or enrolling a student. It is important because Organisations are only as effective as their business processes, these must be studied, understood and improved.


4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.

Business Process improvement is a continuous process model attempts to understand and measure the current process, and make performance improvements accordingly.

Business Process Re-engineering is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises. It assumes the current process is irrelevant, does not work, or is broken and must be overhauled from scratch.


5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.
Technology makes the process invisible, so BPM makes the processes visible.
BPM is the activity of making detailed flowchart or process map of a work processes, it aims to;
a. Show process details in a gradual and controlled manner
b. Encourage consciousness and accuracy in describing the process model
c. Focus attention on the process model interfaces
d. Provide a powerful process analysis and consistent design vocabulary

Information Systems In Business

1.Explain information technology’s role in business and describe how you measure success?

Information Technology is everywhere in Business, understanding IT provides a great insight to anyone learning about business.
Information technology has become an important part of organisations’ strategy, competitive advantages, and profitability. There is management pressure to build systems faster, better and at minimum cost. Success is incredibly difficult to measure, but we can measure success by Efficiency IT metrics and Effectiveness of IT metrics.

Efficiency IT Metrics
Measures the performance of the IT systems itself, such as throughout, speed and availability.
Effectiveness IT Metrics
Measures the impact IT has on business process and activities, including customer satisfaction, conversion rates and sell through increase.


2.List and describe each of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model.
Understanding the five forces can help a company identify potential opportunities and create a competitive advantage wile determining potential rivals. The five forces are the following,
•Buyer Power
•Supplier Power
•Threats of Services
•Threats of new entrants
•Rivalry among existing competitors

Buyer Power
When a buyer have many sellers to choose from, and is low when their choices are few. It is reflected by their ability impact the price they are willing to pay for an item.

Supplier Power
Consists of all parties involved, in the procurement of a product. In a typically supply chain, an organisation will probably be both a supplier and a customer.

Threats of Services
Threats of service are high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and a low when there are few alternatives from which to choose.


Threats of new entrants
Threats of new entrants are high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant barriers to entering a market.

Rivalry among existing competitors
Rivalry among existing competitors is high when competition if force in a market and low when competition is more complacent. Although competition is always more intense on some industries than in others. The overall trend in towards increased completion in almost every industry.


3.Compare Porter’s three generic strategies.
An organisation can follow one of Porter’s three generic strategy when entering a new market.
1. Broad cost leadership
2. Broad differentiation
3. Focused strategy

Broad strategies reach a large market segment, while focused strategies target a niche market. A focused strategy concentrates on either cost leadership or differentiation. Trying to be all things to all people.


4.Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains.
Business process is a standardised set of activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customer’s order. To evaluate the effectiveness process, an organisation can use Michael Porter’s value chain approach.

Value Chain is an approach view of an organisation as a series of process, each of which adds value to the product or service for each other. To create a competitive advantage, the value chain must enable the organisation to provide unique value to its customers.