Ethical Challenges in Information Technology

When I think about the ethical challenges I have encountered, the most challenging has been digital ownership. When a client submits a picture on their website, I check to ensure they own it, have permission from the owner, or are free to use it for their commercial endeavor. Quite a few of my clients would…

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Object Modeling

A debate is raging at the IT consulting firm where you work.  Some staff members believe that it is harder for experienced analysts to learn object-modeling techniques because the analysts are accustomed to thinking about data and processes as separate entities.  Others believe that solid analytical skills are easily transferable and do not see a…

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Requirements for Engineering

What is total cost of ownership (TCO), and why is it important?  The total cost of ownership (TCO) is all the direct and indirect costs of a project or system over its lifetime. For system developers, when trying to get cost estimates for system downtime and support, an accurate TCO estimate is invaluable.  A group…

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Managing Systems Projects

What is a work breakdown structure?  A work breakdown structure (WBS) is where you breakdown a project into smaller tasks.  How do you create one?  There are two types of charts that project managers can use to breakdown a project: Gannt charts and PERT/CPM charts.  What are task patterns, and how can you recognize them. …

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Employee Exit Policy

Having an Employee Exit policy is an essential part of the disconnect process. I remember a job I had where I was hired to augment 2 other developers but within a month, one had quit and the other was terminated. Both left abruptly and left little in the way of guidance for doing the job,…

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Encrypting Data

Photo by Logan Kirschner from Pexels

Governments should not have the ability to decrypt user data, even to access data that would support criminal cases. These are my 3 main reasons: The government already has tools in which to conduct investigations. The recent push for a backdoor to encrypted data by law enforcement is couched in the idea of protecting children…

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Securing Email

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Emails are a necessary component in today’s business world and a point of concern for any IT department. Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and damaging and one of the ways attackers gain access is with Phishing emails. According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report for 2020, the top threat action in breaches is caused by…

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Viruses & Malware: Lucifer

Introduction Malicious Software, better known as Malware, is software that is designed, according to Cisco.com, “to damage and destroy computers and computer systems.” There are various types of Malware: Virus – This type of malicious software is attached to a file and only runs once the infected file is opened or run. Worms – Unlike…

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Access Policy: Physical & Hardware for CATALINA.COM

Introduction A physical and access policy is important for Catalina.com to protect hardware, software, and data from internal and external unauthorized access that would harm the organization. Assessing, addressing, and preventing these threats are one of the responsibilities of the IT and Security departments and an access policy is a way to define the standard…

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Physical & Host Security

What are your thoughts about password management?  Do you or do you not agree with having rules around passwords, i.e.: Requiring the use of special characters, having passwords of a minimum/maximum length requiring passwords to be changed on a regular, etc…What do you think is the single most important password “rule” requirement? I have been…

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