Issues and Challenges That Information and Communications Technology Professionals Face - Coursework Example

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (PIIT) INDIVIDUAL REPORT By Musab Alhazme-7036302 Tutor – Maryam Nickpour EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This individual report is written to bring out the various issues and challenges that ICT Professionals face in their day to day activities as they practice their career. Through this report, students will get a clear understanding of the issues in the ICT profession as well as identify the current trends in ICT as well as the ever evolving technology and their impacts on the performance of organisations and instituitions. Students will also obtain a sense of responsibility and develop professional code of ethics. The report will also state the experience of such ICT professional expert in person and document a detailed analysis of the issues. We will give a detailed comparison of the literature review finding and the response of the interviewee and see if they conqure at some point and if there is any contradictions in the findings. An ICT professional will be interviewed to give his experiences in his field and the challenges that he faces. The Interviewee is Ravi Teja, an employee of GE Capital, a financial instituition. Ravi started as an IT support, fixing IT issues within the company. He rose ranks and now works as the system administartor, creating and deleting user accounts and maintaining them as well as far as Australia and New Zealand for GE Capital. And since there was need to evaluate team work, this report will seek to explore individual behaviour in the team and collective responsibility and diversity of each member. This report is a collective effort of a team of students that combined the topics of challenges facing ICT professionals, that is cloud computing, cyber crime, authentication and bring-your-own-device (BYOD). Findingsfrom these topics will therefore explain these challenges and how to counter them. Table of Contents PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (PIIT) 1 INDIVIDUAL REPORT 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 INTRODUCTION 4 Stakeholders 7 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES 7 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING ICT PROFESSIONALS 7 As for Smart Cards, this is a cryptographic method of identifying a users’ authenticicy. Users are given cryptographic keys for pubblic and private access depending on their level of confidentiality, the system will itself determine which level to access by matching the details with the server. These cryptographic keys are single user and is not to be shared. This system is commonly used to store secret keys for authentication. 9 INTERVIEW 11 CONCLUSION 12 REFERENCES 14 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 INTRODUCTION 4 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES 6 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING ICT PROFESSIONALS 7 Cloud computing........................................................................................................................8 Authentication...........................................................................................................................8 Cyber-crime.............................................................................................................................10 BYOD........................................................................................................................................10 INTERVIEW 11 CONCLUSION 12 REFERENCES 13 INTRODUCTION Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has today taken over as an essential and important factor to consider in every organization. ICT services have significantly contributed to positived increased profits in businesses as well as efficiency. Instituitions world wide have adopted ICT to effectively and conviniently run their day to day activities, keep record of their information and details, as well as access resources from remote locations away from the instituition. Of the many technologies that companies are adopting today, cloud computing is one of the major technologies that is taking the centre stage and becoming a vital factor to be considered. So what is cloud computing?? CLOUD COMPUTING Cloud computing is an improvement to the various existing approaches of technologies to computing. It enhances the collaboration of information resouces and application as well as services, infrustructure, comprised of computers, networks and storage facilities. Increased amounts of data as well as leves of connectivity has made service providers to come up with an infrustructure that is larger, dynamic and flexible. Therefore, organizations can be able to distribute and replicate their data in servers in remote locations thereby improving resource utilization. Adopting such technology like cloud computing involves a series of factors that could be complex. Security and privacy is important on individual information. By the fact that it is personal data or information, its very ipmortant that it is secure and only authorized personnel access it when need be. Business enterprises are also venturing into cloud computing, and it would be very important that they go through the terms and condition from the provider of the technology, understanding its privacy and security policies. Types of clouds Cloud computing comes in different types, providers offers depending on the needs of the subscriber. They are Public cloud which can be accessed by anyone as long as he or she has a connection to the cloud and internet. Then there is the private cloud which is provided to specific organizations and its access is limited to just that organization. Another type is the community cloud which provides a sharing platform access by several organizations that have similar requirements. Finally there is the hybrid cloud which is a combination of the other types of clouds, incorporating at least two clouds. Benefits of Cloud computing. Cloud computing comes with its benefits, ranging from being cost effective in that companies can outsource computing services thereby saving on purchases of such services. Cloud computing also is reliable since incase of any disaster, the data can still be recovered, and flexibility in that in allows companies to use its other resources to the maximum thereby providing quality services to customers. Its ease of access makes it accessible by employee at any place therefore increase productivity. With these benefits, also comes challenges that comes with the adoption of cloud computing. A major challenge is security and privacy, but there are other challenges such as lack of standards, continuous evolving and compliance concerns. Compliance concerns are legislative acts that are imposed by the government for example The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the US and Data Protection directives which vary from state to state or governments. User requirements evolve each and every day, meaning that the structure of the cloud and its connections and interfaces evolve as well and need to be changed from time to time. Reduced Cost Reliable Flexible Public Private Benefits Community Types Hybrid Local Location Remote Distributed Stakeholders Providers Users Resellers Fig.1 Cloud Computing PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES The purpose of this report is to achieve the following Obtain a clear understanding of the issues and challenges facing IT professionals Get a first hand understanding of the dilemmas facing IT professionals Develop interviewing skills as part of the project Obtain analysis skills ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING ICT PROFESSIONALS There are various issues and challenges that face ICT professionals in their careers everyday some of which range from professionalism to codes of conduct. Professionalism in ICT is very vital. Its can be explained in a number of ways. This includes providing quality services, competence, honesty, development, being selfless and a many more. Quality is a must, the ICT professional must give the best quality work ever, if given a task to take, one must give the best such that anyone who will use the services of your work will be satisfied with it. This goes hand in hand with competence since one has to be very good at his job to provide quality work or service. Honesty is another aspect of profesinalism that must be abided to. The services that one gives, presentation of skills have to be authentic and has to be aquired legally. Also, it is professional to put the interest of the public before ones interests, and ensuring one abides by the rules of integrity to the latter. Cloud Computing Cloud computing is an improvement to the various existing approaches of technologies to computing. It enhances the collaboration of information resouces and application as well as services, infrustructure, comprised of computers, networks and storage facilities. Cloud computing provides a flexible platform where employees can effectively work from any location. The main issue with cloud computing is trust, since the organisation might need to access resources from a remote location or store them in the same. A company will be required to obtain the services of third parties for cloud services. Therefore, the type of data being put in the cloud and its sensitivity will determine if a company will require cloud computing. According to Ravi Teja (the interviewee), he would not be comfortable to store his data in a place he cant have control over. Also, issues of cost may come in since it will require that the company invests in a security system that may be above their budget allocation to secure their data in that remote location. He however believes that the future of computing is going to be cloud due to its convinience, accessing data from anywhere can be an attracting force for company managers to adopt the technology. But that is if it is secure. Authentication Authentication is a method used by computer systems to identify users at various levels of confidence to access them. Therefore its goal is to identify users and verify their access to the system. Information fro identification is normally stored in the database in that the system uses the information given by a user and counter checks it with the databse if they match. Some of the authentication methods include passwords, smartcards, biometrics, to mention but a few. Passwords are the most common. Users are required to provide their username, email address or other user identifiers after which he or she will be granted access if the information match, and denied access if the information don’t match. Passwords are normally used by websites, wireless networks, single user computers and emails. Passwords are however vulnerable to breaching since someone can guess or even try every possible combination and theft attacks. As for Smart Cards, this is a cryptographic method of identifying a users’ authenticicy. Users are given cryptographic keys for pubblic and private access depending on their level of confidentiality, the system will itself determine which level to access by matching the details with the server. These cryptographic keys are single user and is not to be shared. This system is commonly used to store secret keys for authentication. Biometrics is authentication methods that use the physical aspect if identifying individuals. Such include thumb print scanners, voice recognition, retinal scans or face recognition. This is normally used to identify individuals using specific parts of their bodies. This method however has its short comings since criminals can bypass the biometric system using a photo of a legitimate user. According to the interviewee, he believes that the biometric system can restrain access to the system if one doesn’t give the details properly, for example, if you don’t place your finger properly on the thumb print scanner, or if your finger has an injury and the scanner can recognize it, then you will be denied access. Another challenge is cost, since some of these biometric systems are quite expensive, therefore small companies may find it difficult buying a security system to secure things that cost less than it. Cyber crime Cybercrime is an act of crime whereby computers and computer devices and their peripheral accessories are used in criminal activities. Some definitions try to take the objectives or intentions into account and define cybercrime more precisely, defining cybercrime as computer-mediated activities which are either illegal or considered illicit by certain parties and which can be conducted through global electronic networks. According tho Ravi Teja, cyber crime can be for example a person using his personal computer to steal money from a bank without going to the bank. This is a major challenge facing ICT professionals since they are tasked with curbing this vice, then also the company has to go to great lengths to ensure proper security measures are taken. Computer viruses are other kinds of cybercrimes that criminals use. These viruses can be used to destroy important and confidential data. These data can also be accessed and shared by unauthorized persons thereby compromizing company information. Bring Your Own Device Bring your own device (BYOD) is a policy adopted by some organizations allowing employees to come with or use their personal devices such as laptop computers, phones, tablets and so on at their place of work. Many believe that this policy helps employees be more efficient and productive as well as provide convenience. The use of this policy however comes with its risks since the devices are used to access company networks and services that might be confidential and sensitive. For example, an employee may use his laptop or smart phone to access company network and data and if he or she loses the phone or computer, or if someone else accesses the device then the data is compromised, also, if an employee leaves the job and he was using his own device, then he will carry with him the company information since the device is his and doesn’t have to leave it with the company. INTERVIEW An interview was done to Ravi Teja, an employee of GE Capital, a financial instituition. Ravi works as an IT support, fixing IT issues within the company. But due to several issues, he works as the system administartor, creating and deleting user accounts and maintaining them as well as far as Australia and New Zealand for GE Capital. Ravi gives his experience in the ICT field, the issues and challenges he faces in his career. He comments on issues of cloud computing, cyber crime, BYOD and authentication. At the moment, his company does not use cloud computing since it is a financial instituition and they would rather have their information within their company’s database. However, he beleives that the future of computing is cloud. About cyber crime, he believes that it is a major challenge since the information technology sector is growing at a fast rate and more people are getting access to computers and internet. Good thing is that companies are coming up with or are purchasing counter measure for these cyber crimes. Cyber crime is a major headache for most financial instituitions like GE Capital, the one Ravi Teja works for. GE Capital has taken drastic measures to ensure the company is cusioned. Each member of staff undertakes training programs on the risks of cybercrime and how to safeguard their data and information. Authentication is another topic that the interview was done. Ravi said that the most common type of authenticatin method is the use of password, its quite safe and easy to acquire. Problem is when one forgts his or her password will be denied access. The other types of authenticatin method discussed were use of smart cards and biometric. CONCLUSION From this report, we see that there are so many challenges facing ICT professionals in their careers. These challenges are there to stay and more challenges are even expected since IT is growing day in day out and new challenges emerge. Despite all the percieved challenges, concerned organizations take the initiative of providing a secure working environment for its employees. Every company wants to maximize on their employees performance and would therfore do all they can to secure their information, data and details. Accoring to Ravi Teja, the company he works for, and many other companies as well face so many challenges. ICT implementation could seem easy but its entire infrustructure and utilization requires an upto date technical team that will face the challenges and successfully overcome them. Cases of cyber crime are rampant and affecting the daily running of organizations. Ranging from hacking, cyber terrosism, cyber harrasement, computer viruses, and malicious sites like Wikileaks are affecting many companies today. Thererefore curbing them is every company’s responsibility and they have to have the best ICT technicians to curb them. Cloud computing being fast growing technology adopted by most company is a challenge to some since trusting it is a problem, therefore, companies nee to have experienced ICT technicians who can implement it successfully Therefore, the challenges facing ICT professionals can be successfully implemented to ensure a smooth running of companies world by proper training of such staff and the entire company staff on the implementation of techonolgies like cloud computing for proper adoption and implementation. Training on cyber crime to enable them understand what it means, its risks and how to avoid it. Understand the importance of authenticating and protecting the privacy of their data and avoid breaches and data loss. REFERENCES Lin, A. & Chen, N.-C., 2012. Cloud computing as an innovation: Percepetion, attitude, and adoption. International Journal of Information Management, 32(6), p. 533. Catteddu, D; Hogben, G eds. (2009), ‘Cloud Computing - Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security’, European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) – available at http://www.enisa.europa.eu/act/rm/files/deliverables/cloud-computing riskassessment/ OpenNebula: Sotomayor, B; Montero, RS; Llorente, IM & Foster, I (2009), ‘An Open Source Solution for Virtual Infrastructure Management in Private and Hybrid Clouds’. IEEE Internet Computing, Special Issue on Cloud Computing, October 09 Armbrust, M; Fox, A; Griffith, R; Joseph, AD; Katz, RH; Konwinski, A; Lee, G; Patterson, DA; Rabkin, A; Stoica, I & Zaharia, M (2009), ‘Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing’. Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2009-28 – available at http://www.eecs. berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2009/EECS-2009-28.html Wikipedia, ‘Cloud Computing’ - available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing Garrison, G., Kim, S. & Wakefield, R. L., 2012. Success Factors for Deploying Cloud Computing. Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, 55(9), p. 62Linthicum, 2013. Infoworld. What will ‘cloud computing’ mean in 10 years? Infoworld .com Garrison, G., Kim, S. & Wakefield, R. L., 2012. Success Factors for Deploying Cloud Computing. Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, 55(9), p. 62 Fernando, N., Loke, S. W. & Rahayu, W., 2013. Mobile cloud computing: A survey. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(1), pp. 84-106. Read More