Security Assessment and Recommendations (Scenario Will Be Uploaded)

Overview

This course does involve a lot of technical information and theory but, what really matters is how this knowledge can be used to identify and remediate real-world security issues. What you learn in this course should be directly applicable to your work environment. The course project that you will complete is designed to further this goal. In Phase I of the project you will use Aircraft Solutions where you will identify potential security weaknesses.

Phase I

In this phase you will identify potential security weaknesses for Aircraft Solutions.
Security weaknesses ??" You must choose two from the following three areas:
hardware
software
policy (excluding password policies)
and identify an item that requires improved security.

To clarify: you must identify
a) one hardware and one software weakness or,
b) one hardware and one policy weakness or,
c) one software and one policy weakness.

You must define the asset or policy with sufficient detail to justify your assessment. Your assessment must include:
the vulnerability associated with the asset or policy
the possible threats against the asset or policy
the likelihood that the threat will occur (risk)
the consequences to mission critical business processes should the threat occur
how the organizations competitive edge will be affected should the threat occur


Other Required Elements:
Cover sheet
APA-style In-text citations and Reference section
Minimum length 3 pages, maximum length 5 pages (not counting cover sheet, diagram(s), references). Do not exceed the maximum length.

Grading Standards

For Phase I. The grading standards is:
Phase I: Grading Standards ??" Total 100 points

Security Weaknesses ??" Identifies two plausible and significant weaknesses from required list (hardware, software, policy). Includes realistic vulnerability(s) associated with the asset or policy, plausible and likely threats against the asset or policy, an estimation of the likelihood that the threat will occur (risk), the consequences to mission critical business processes should the threat occur, and how the organizations competitive edge will be affected should the threat occur. 80 points

Presentation ??" Writing quality and flow demonstrates a graduate-level writing competency and does not contain misspellings, poor grammar, incorrect punctuation, and questionable sentence structure (syntax errors). 20 points


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HI
I have already written my essay, however I was told that it is lack of technical terms, as well as any mathematical equations or anything computer and telecommunication related stuff. I will send you what i have so far, but I need three or four chapters to my essay, where I will have those technical terms and equations. I think that the best idea would be to add them when addressing problems and solutions to the security issues. Also if a graph will be added, and examined in very technical terms it will be great.



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1) Generally speaking, the paper will discuss, analyze and
discover the security issues of online communities from different aspects, such as technical,economic and social aspects. (At least from these three aspects,one or two more aspects will be better.)

2) There are three main parts in the paper.(It would be better if each part could be around 20 pages)The first part will talk about general discription of online communitis, which include definition, classification and other basic
information. In the meantime, the current research in this area should be mentioned and presented. The second part is regarding disccussion, analysis and comparison of current
research in this particular area. Lastly,my own opinion and the research result for this area will be presented in the last part. Meanwhile, the conclusion and the future for this issue will be talked about in this part.

3)I will send a couple of papers to you by email, which are relevant to this are.Hopefully some idea or content from them will be helpful for the paper.

This paper needs to be in APA format. Wikipedia can not be used as a source. I have put this outline together, it doesn't have to be followed but thought it would be helpful.

1 Security issues associated with the cloud
2 Cloud Security Controls 2.1 Deterrent Controls
2.2 Preventative Controls
2.3 Corrective Controls
2.4 Detective Controls

3 Dimensions of cloud security
4 Security and privacy
5 Compliance 5.1 Business continuity and data recovery
5.2 Logs and audit trails
5.3 Unique compliance requirements

6 Legal and contractual issues 6.1 Public records

In a 4-page memorandum to an IT department, outline all the security issues that the IT department needs to have in place for a database system.

Be sure to cite and reference all sources used.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings. I am a research student currently pursuing my master's. My research area is Security issues in Wireless Networks and I concentrate on IEEE 802.11 WLAN's especially its security weaknesses like WEP and also studied WPA - the latest trends in Wireless LAN security.

I have finished doing my research and developed a software my self as a proposal to the prevailing problems. As every other students I have trouble in writing... I would be more than happy if you could help me on it.

I am looking for Introduction and Literature Review on the Security issues in Wireless LAN - espc. IEEE 802.11b. I believe its insecure out of my knowledge and proposed a solution to this insecurity.

I want the Introduction to be in 3 pages and the literature review in 17 pages.

Kindly update me the details,
nithee.

Walter Widget
Design a comprehensive Security Plan for the Walter Widget manufacturing plant.
Write a 10 to 12 page (cover page and reference page not included in page count) report that addresses the issues and problems listed. References must include the text and at least three (3) external scholarly sources that support the points made in the report.
Address the following general topic areas:
?Physical plant intrusion (e.g., burglary)
?Property damage, interior and exterior (e.g., vandalism, theft, etc.)
?Personal security (e.g., assault, personal property loss/damage, etc.)
?Information/records security
?Emergency response
?Hiring practices
?Training practices
?Recommended policies and procedures (topics only)
?Any questions specifically listed in this project
NOTE: Identify any issue not reflected in the descriptive information provided which may have a bearing on security design. Proceed with the plan considering separately both the positive and negative response to the issue.
Example: Does the crime lab maintain controlled/dangerous substances for the purposes of sample testing?
If yes, then
If no, then..
Requirements
1. Your report should include the following:
2. A cover page with your name, project title, course, and date submitted
3. An introductory section that explains the purpose of the paper
4. Your overview of the security issues that will be addressed in your security plan
5. The body of the paper, which meets the requirements above
6. A reference page in which you reference the text and other sources, properly documented and cited.
Security Plan: Walter Widget
An owner of the Walter Widget manufacturing plant (see Diagram 1 - Attachment located in Course Content Section) has received a notice of from their insurance carrier because the building is not equipped with a security plan. A diagram of this building is provided in the sketch. The insurance underwriter is requiring the business owner submit a comprehensive security plan or face significant (and clearly not affordable) increases in their insurance premiums.
Walter Widget manufactures widgets. Office employees work a traditional 40 hour business week (9-5, M-F); the plant operates on 2 shifts, seven days per week. No one is on the premises during non-business hours. It has a workforce of approximately 240 personnel; executives, sales, clerical support, skilled machinists and semi-skilled laborers as well as a small maintenance and janitorial crew. Offices are equipped with computers and traditional support equipment. With the exception of the vending machines and personal money in desks, lockers, etc., there is no cash in the building. IT records include personnel files, sales and invoice records and general business information. Walter Widget has no government contracts at this time and is not classified as an identified terrorist target.
Walter Widget has evolved from a small, 10 person shop over the last 9 years. Vacancies are posted in the local paper or communicated by word-of-mouth. Hiring practices include completion of an application and interview with the General Manager. Hiring is generally based on skill qualification and personal impression. Workers are not unionized. There have been no reports of work-place violence or employee pilferage.
The building is not equipped with an alarm system of any kind. (The building owner has agreed to install this fire alarm system.) It is located in a business/manufacturing are of the city with light to modest police patrol. The surrounding community is primarily blue collar or no-collar households, but is evolving downward due to deteriorating economic conditions. Crime for the areas is increasing gradually in all categories, but highest in larcenies from autos and scrap metal thefts.
1. The building owner has provided you, the commercial security management company, with a list of questions about the design of a security system. Your task is to respond to the questions and to present a comprehensive security plan for Walter Widget. Specific costs are not requested at this time, beyond a reasonable consideration of the limited fiscal resources of this company.

You need to respond in writing to the following questions:

Should the building be alarmed? If so, what protections would be appropriate for this physical plant?
What personnel hiring practices and/or policies should be implemented?
2. Beyond their individual skills training, what employee training would be appropriate for Walter Widget employees from a security standpoint?
3. What levels of IT security, if any, would be appropriate for this company?
The insurance underwriters agent has mentioned a guard force several times. What is your recommendation and why?
4. Walter Widget is also concerned about the security of its employees in the workplace, and also as they leave the building to the two acre employee parking lot (next door) or public transportation across the street from the main plant entrance. What security would be appropriate for these areas?
FORMATTING: APA STYLE, COVER PAGE, SIZE 12 FONT, DOUBLE SPACING, 1 INCH MARGINS ALL AROUND, BEFORE AND AFTER SETTINGS IN PARAGRAPH TAB SET AT 0 AND 0 AND NOT 0 AND 10, IN TEXT CITATIONS (AUTHOR, YEAR) IN THE BODY OF YOUR PAPER AND FORMAL RESEARCH PAPER REFERENCES AT THE END OF YOUR PAPER ON A STAND ALONE PAGE. PAPER IS 10-12 PAGES, OF ACTUAL TEXT, NOT INCLUDING THE COVER PAGE AND REFERENCE PAGE.


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I need an essay on the topic "America's Failing Educational System?. See below on what I want to write about.

1. Why did you pick this topic?
My Library research topic will be on ?America's Failing Educational System?. Education is essential for the advancement of our nation as well as our children. Learning gives children the ability to succeed physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Education opens the door to opportunity for the future. If an individual receives an education, he/she is more likely to be offered better employment. Opinions often differ in regards to our educational system, but I am deeply concerned with the inconsistency of educational standards.
2. What do I already know about it?
I believe the biggest problem with our educational system is government funding; funding that actually comes from the government not the homeowners. Children should not suffer because of their economic background or location, unlike those children from wealthy economic backgrounds. Public education should have no distinction between rich and poor, or black and white. Every child going to a public school should be granted an equal education. Equal funding would grant teachers the proper resources to better educate our children.
3. What is my goal in acquiring new information through my research?
My research will base on the most recent report on state of the country education. I also plan to use the internet for my report.
4. Do I already have strong feelings about the topic?
I do have a strong feeling about this topic because I do believe in education and to see a country that was top leader in education now rank 14th out of 34 countries according to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for reading skills. The US also ranks 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics according to the same report.
5. What information will I want to share with my reader?
I hope to share to my readers why we should take education seriously and how it is important to how national security.
Reference
U.S. Falls In World Education Rankings, Rated 'Average': http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/us-falls-in-world-education-rankings_n_793185.htm

Part 1: Thesis statements:
Education is essential for the advancement of our nation as well as our children. A good education gives children the ability to succeed physically, intellectually, and emotionally.
Outline:
1. Causes of American failing education
2. American ranking in the world education
3. The effect of education to how nation security
4. How we can improved the country education system
Part 2:
By Donna Krache, CNN ?Report Calls Education a National Security Issue? Posted on: 3:04 pm, March 21, 2012, by Dan Jovic
?America?s failure to educate is affecting its national security,? said the Independent Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security, which the council launched last year to focus on the problems in K-12 education.

- Include overview of security issues that will be addressed in security plan

- design a comprehensive Security Plan for the Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center that, at a minimum, identifies the facility assets requiring protection, the criticality of those assets, the various threats directed at the assets and the probability of loss.

- report should address the issues and problems listed.

- references must include the text and at least three external scholarly sources that support the points made in report.

- Address the following general topic areas:
Physical plant intrusion (e.g., burglary)
Property damage, interior and exterior (e.g., vandalism, theft, etc.)
Personal security (e.g., assault, personal property loss/damage, etc.)
Information/records security
Emergency planning and response
OSHA standards and violations
Hiring practices
Training practices
Legal issues unique to the site
Recommended policies and procedures (topics only)

- identify any issue not reflected in the descriptive information provided which may have a bearing on security design.

- proceed with the plan considering separately both the positive and negative response to the issue.
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ALL SOURCES NEEDED HAVE BEEN UPLOADED.

Essayquestion: Should environmental concerns be part of the European security agenda? Can securitization be the best way of handling environmental risks in Europe?

Hints: Environmental risks in Europe can be seen as an economic issue rather tna a security issue.

Ressources (articles will be sent to you):

Barnett, J., The Meaning of Environmental Security (Zed Books, 2001).
Terriff, T., et al., Security Studies Today (Polity Press, 1999), ch. 6, 7.
Page, E. and Redclift, M. (ed.) Human Security and the Environment: International Comparisons
(Edward Elgar, 2002) Esp. Ch.1, 8, 9

Lightfoot, S and J. Burchell, The European Union and the World Summit on Sustainable Development: Normative Power Europe in Action?, Journal of Common Market Studies, 43:1
(2005), 75-95.
Shue, H. Global Environment and International Inequality International Affairs 75:3 (1999), pp. 531-45.
Special Issue of International Affairs on The Climate Change Debate: 6 essays, 77:2 (2001), pp.251-345.
Kaplan, R., The Coming Anarchy, The Atlantic Monthly, February 1994. http://dieoff.org/page67.htm
Greene, O., Environmental Issues in Baylis, J. & Smith, S. (eds), The Globalization of World Politics (OUP, 2nd edn, 2001), pp.387-414.
Sawhill, S., Cleaning-up the Arctics Cold War Legacy: Nuclear Waste and Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation, Cooperation and Conflict 35:1 (2000) pp. 5-36
Bretherton, C. & Vogler, J., The European Union as a Global Actor (Routledge, 1999), ch. 3.
Deudney, D., The case against linking environmental degradation and national security, Millennium, 19:3 (1990), pp.461-76.
Hurrell, A., International Political Theory and the Global Environment in Booth, K. & Smith, S. (eds), International Relations Theory Today (Polity, 1995), pp.129-53.
Patterson, M., Green Politics in Burchill, S. et al., Theories of International Relations (Macmillan, 1996), pp.252-74.
Dalby, S., Security, Modernity, Ecology: The Dilemmas of Post-Cold War Security Discourse, Alternatives, 17:1 (1992), pp.95-134.
Patterson, M., Interpreting trends in global environmental governance, International Affairs, 75:4 (1999), pp.793-802.
Dyer, H., Environmental security and international relations: the case for enclosure, Review of International Studies, 27:3 (2001), pp.441-450.
Sheehan, Michael, International Security: An Analytical Survey (Lynne Rienner, 2005) Ch. 7
Page, E., Environmental Security, in E. A. Page and J. Proops (eds.) Environmental Thought (Edward Elgar, 2003) Ch. 9.
Dannreuther, Roland (ed.) European Union Foreign and Security Policy (Routledge, 2004) Ch.11
Hough, P., Understanding Global Security (Routledge, 2004) Ch.6
Hedenskog, J., Konnander, V., Nygren, B., Oldberg, I. and Pursiainen, C., Russia as a Great Power: Dimensions of Security Under Putin (Routledge, 2005). Ch.12
Homer-Dixon, T., On the Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict. International Security, 16:2 (1991), 76-116.
Levy, M., Is the Environment a National Security Issue? International Security 20:2 (1995): 35-62.

Some useful information can also be found on the following web-sites:
www.iisd.ca The International Institute for Sustainable Development
www.unep.org The UN Environment Programme
www.eea.eu.int The European Environment Agency
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Read the Security Plans and follow the instructions found below for completing the case study:

MPSETC

The student will design a comprehensive Security Plan for the Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center that, at a minimum, identifies the facility assets requiring protection, the criticality of those assets, the various threats directed at the assets and the probability of loss.

Write a 10- to 12-page (cover page and reference page not included in page count) report that addresses the issues and problems listed. References must include the text and at least three (3) external scholarly sources that support the points made in the report.
Address the following general topic areas:
Physical plant intrusion (e.g., burglary)
Property damage, interior and exterior (e.g., vandalism, theft, etc.)
Personal security (e.g., assault, personal property loss/damage, etc.)
Information/records security
Emergency planning and response
OSHA standards and violations
Hiring practices
Training practices
Legal issues unique to the site
Recommended policies and procedures (topics only)

NOTE: The student should identify any issue not reflected in the descriptive information provided which may have a bearing on security design. The student should them proceed with the plan considering separately both the positive and negative response to the issue.
Example: Does the crime lab maintain controlled/dangerous substances for the purposes of sample testing?
If yes, the then
If no, then

The Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center is located in Sykesville, Maryland. . (http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/aboutdpscs/pct/index.shtml ) It is operated under the auspices of the Maryland Police and Correctional Training commissions, a division of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The physical plant is generally divided into two areas on grounds totaling approximately 700 acres.
The Firearms Training Facility (FTF) and the Drivers Training Facility (DTF) are co-located approximately 2 miles from the Academic Center. These skill training areas are surrounded by un-fenced open pasture owned by the Department, traversed by a public roadway and tangent to several residential communitiesthe nearest houses being approximately .25 miles from any facility structures. Training vehicles, fuel and other automotive supplies are maintained at the DTF repair garage. The facility itself includes staff offices, classrooms and several computer-based driving simulator stations. The FTF facility also includes staff offices, classrooms, an armory, weapon cleaning area with solvent storage and several computer-based shooting simulation stations. There is no indoor range. The outdoor ranges are approximately .25 miles from the FTF building and consist of 4 pistol ranges and one rifle range, all with self contained bullet traps.

Google map of FTF and DTF:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sykesville,+MD&hl=en&ll=39.374665,-76.947556&spn=0.00831,0.021887&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.861942,56.337891&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=16

The Academic and Administrative Complex (AAC) is located on the grounds of the Maryland Springfield State (Mental) Hospital, operated by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The hospital hosts approximately 400 residential patients currently diagnosed as dangerous to themselves and/or others. The AAC is located on the southern-most edge of the hospital grounds. By mutual agreement, no fencing separates the AAC from the hospital buildings, the closest of which is approximately 100 yards from the AAC.

The AAC includes offices and classrooms, several computer labs, a food preparation area and dining hall, a graphic arts and video broadcasting studio, and maintenance shops. Tangent to the AAC main building are two residential dorms for overnight guests/students as well as a separate a physical training center. The PT center includes offices, classrooms, a standard basketball gym, weight training areas and a swimming pool. The outside grounds include a running track and obstacle course. Public highways and hospital roadways surround the AAC and PC center.

The 122 staff members of the PSETC, including DTF and FTF, are civilian State employees, ranging from Executive Director to Maintenance Technician. There are currently no security positions in the table of organization. Because the PSETC has an independent personnel system, it is not restricted to or bound by standard state/governmental hiring practices. The operating hours for all of the facilities at the PSETC are generally 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, exclusive of traditional holidays. There is no staff presence during non-business hours. The PSETC averages 450 students daily in law enforcement and correctional training programs. While overnight stays average approximately 150 guests/students, on-site housing can accommodate approximately 250 persons. On-site food preparation and sale is performed by a contractor who collects vouchers or cash for meals. Most PSETC services are paid by voucher although cash may be suitable in some circumstances. Students and visitors to the Center may be civilians or armed, sworn police officers.

The records maintenance of the PCTC at the Center includes administrative reports and correspondence as well as the certification records for every public law enforcement and correctional officer in Maryland - - approximately 30,000 personnel. Certification records include the name. SSA number, DOB, background summary and training information for all currently certified and previously certified personnel ??" over 200,000 records.

Janitorial services inside the PSETC buildings and landscaping services are performed by a contingent of minimum security inmates from a local correctional institution. Inmates work under the supervision of a correctional officer. Other maintenance services are performed by PSETC staff or outside contractors.

Springfield Hospital has a small security force which patrols the hospital grounds and responds to calls for assistance from hospital staff in hospital buildings. The small Sykesville police force is responsible for 911 responses to the PSETC.
Google map of PSETC:
http://g.co/maps/fvbka

The Police and Correctional Training Commission is a publically funded agency of the State of Maryland. As such, its budget is limited. Any comprehensive security should consider the least expensive strategy that effectively and efficiently addresses the identified need.


Format Requirements
Include an introductory section that explains the purpose of the paper; provides brief summary of the facility being reviewed; and details the crime prevention and security measures currently in place.
Include your overview of security issues that will be addressed in your security plan
Paper should be a minimum of 2,500 to 3,000 words (or ten to twelve pages)
Double space
12 pt. font
1 margins
Use APA citations for all sources
Include reference page using APA format gui
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This paper will be an analysis of any major actors policies towards (or securitization
of) an international or global security issue.

The paper will answer the question: How has Israel securitized or not
securitized the below mentioned issue?
The paper will have three sections:
1) an explanation of the issue: a) what is the challenge b) and why it should be
considered a security issue (3 pages)
2) a critical examination of country Xs current (or past, if relevant) policies
towards the security challenge (5-6 pages).

3) your policy prescriptions for how the country can best address this issue (2-3
pages)



Tentative outline to follow and expand on, the point is to stress the Israeli case and have it crumble under logic.

How has the state of Israel securitized the freedom of the Palestinian people?

Case Study:
The aftermath of the Balfour document and the consequent U.N. resolutions at the climax of 1947 created the Jewish democratic state of Israel. The author plans to examine the security risks the indigenous people of Palestine pose upon Israels national security.

Hypothesis:
The policies of the Israeli government have allowed it to cement itself onto Palestinian land. It has also succeeded in breaking the will of the Palestinians and attempting to force a wedge between them and said land by various means. This is vital to the security of the State of Israel as they have countless interests scattered all over the globe well before the creation of the State in 1948 that demand such a position.
The Palestinians who have become nationalized Israelis pose a security threat to Israel as they might have access to internal state secrets such outsiders might abuse. This threat creates such notions of segregated roads, schools, and the lack of voting and employment privileges in the name of national security with a shrinking platform for citizenship. The result of such actions would eventually culminate in an Israeli apartheid state that must cast away remaining dissidents past an ever-increasing perimeter to preserve the interests of the Israeli state.

Tentative Bibliography:

The Palestinian-Arab Minority in Israel, 1948-2000: A Political Study; Ghanem, As'ad; 2001, New York : State University of New York Press.

Arabs in the Jewish State: Israel's Control of a National Minority; Lustick, Ian; 1980, Austin : University of Texas Press.

Israel/Palestine, South Africa and the One-State Solution: The Case for an Apartheid Analysis; Bakan et al.; 2010, Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies

Assignment No. 2 Security Risk Analysis
The purpose of this exercise is to have you think and work in terms of system security risks to the enterprise, and thereby to introduce you to the need for security policies.
Ajax Inc. hand-delivers legal documents on behalf of clients. Ajax keeps detailed records of the delivery process on behalf of clients. You have been tasked to manage the security of mobile devices and a mobile device information tracking system through http://AjaxDelivery.org (lets say). The mobile devices are carried by employees and are location-aware. Thus, for example, a manager knows where all of his people and all of his packages are at all times.
Selected data are retained and much of it is confidential. Consider locations themselves to be sensitive data: For example, client A may not want it known that they are communicating with company B. The system enables authorized clients and authorized company personnel to access particular records created during the preceding three years. For example, logging on to http://AjaxDelivery.org and looking up John Does mobile device information, an authorized user can conveniently view Does movement in the Southern Illinois region during a designated time period
Restrict your response to a maximum of five pages of 12-point type and use the following sections. You may include appendices for reference. These will be read on an as-needed basis only and are excluded from page limits.
If you make assumptions that are not mentioned in this problem statement, please tell us what they are.
2.1. Identification and Description
Identify and describe what you consider to be the most important organizational security risk and the most important technical security risk that threaten the security of this system. These risks should be
concrete
realistic
specific to this application, and
not solvable on a just single occasion or by using a remedial application alone (such as an anti-virus application)
Divide your response to this in two parts as follows.
2.1.1: Description of the Organizational Risk
2.1.2: Description of the Technical risk
2.2. Management
Explain how you would manage each of the two risks described in Part 2.1 and describe the residual risk (i.e., the risk that remains after you have carried out the actions and measures described).
Divide your response to this in two parts as follows.
2.2.1: Management of the Organizational Risk
2.2.2: Management of the Technical risk
Be as concrete as you can and express the content largely in your own words. As always, all work must conform to the academic conduct instructions referenced in the syllabus.

HINTS:
As usual, keep in mind the criteria for all homework. Use them to self-evaluate ??" and improve accordingly ??" your own work using them before handing it in
Be careful to distinguish between organizational and technical risks. The notes cover this but here is a brief example. Organizational: backup procedures in terms of who does what and when ; Technical: A program that scans file names and reports anomalies . If in doubt, this is a good topic to discuss with your facilitator.
Write in terms of the particular business in question here; avoid writing generically because the latter is not usually clear or original
Use this weeks lecture notes referencing risk
Greene, page 353, discusses risk assessment and business impact analysis. You may want to tailor some of this to the particular risks that you identify.
Erbschloe discusses risk assessment data of several types on page 52. His checklist approach will give you ideas about where risks could exist in this system. Note, however, that the risks you are required to describe are system- not physical risks, which Erbschloe includes. He shows reporting forms on pp72-73.
Peltier discusses specific measures for risk management on page 250. These should give you ideas. Notice that the procedures are concrete. Tailor yours to the problem described where possible.
The CIA, DREAD and STRIDE checklists and methodologies may help you to identify risks.
Consider security issues that expose the organization to violations of regulations. Could this be applicable here?
As with all homeworks the page limits are provided as an outside limit: Dont artificially force your response to fit the maximum number of pages. There may be many excellent responses that require fewer pages than the maximum.


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Please write a 2 page paper using the material below and please remember to include a reference page.





Security of Health Care Records
With the increase of health information technology used to store and access patient information, the likelihood of security breaches has also risen. In fact, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ):
In the United States, there was a whopping 97% increase in the number of health records breached from 2010 to 2011 The number of patient records accessed in each breach has also increased substantially, from 26,968 (in 2010) to 49,394 (in 2011). Since August 2009, when the US government regulated that any breach affecting more than 500 patients be publicly disclosed, a total of 385 breaches, involving more than 19 million records, have been reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.
A large portion of those breaches, 39%, occurred because of a lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised portable electronic device??"a problem that will likely only get worse as iPads, smartphones, and other gadgets become more common in hospitals. (CMAJ, 2012, p. E215).
Consider your own experiences. Does your organization use portable electronic devices? What safeguards are in place to ensure the security of data and patient information? For this Discussion you consider ethical and security issues surrounding the protection of digital health information.
To prepare:
Review the Learning Resources dealing with the security of digital health care information. Reflect on your own organization or one with which you are familiar, and think about how health information stored electronically is protected.
Consider the nurses responsibility to ensure the protection of patient information. What strategies can you use?
Reflect on ethical issues that are likely to arise with the increased access to newer, smaller, and more powerful technology tools.
Consider strategies that can be implemented to ensure that the use of HIT contributes to an overall culture of safety.
Post on or before Day 3 an analysis of the nurses responsibility to protect patient information and the extent that HIT has made it easier or more difficult to protect patient privacy. Comment on any security or ethical issues related to the use of portable devices to store information. Assess the strategies your organization uses to safeguard patient information and how these promote a culture of safety. Describe an area where improvement is needed and one strategy that could address the situation.


HIPAA
Improving the Privacy and Security of Personal Health Records
BOB BROWN


Bob Brown, PhD, is the director?of Health Information Technology, Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies.
Two New Initiatives May Help Improve the Privacy and Security of Online PHI Not Currently Protected by HIPAA
In my HIPAA article published in the May-June 2007 issue of the Journal of Health Care Compliance, I re- ported on the spread of online personal health record (PHR) systems and the lack of any consistent mandato- ry or voluntary standards for protecting the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information contained in these systems. Since the publication of that article, the use of PHRs has accelerated, especially with the introduction of PHRs by such experienced Internet technology companies as Google and Microsoft.
With millions more people signing up for PHRs, the lack of standards for protecting the sensitive personal data contained in these systems has become even more wor- risome. Two recent developments, however, may help to significantly improve the privacy and security of PHRs.
On December 15, 2008, the Office of the National Co- ordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) re- leased a document entitled Nationwide Privacy and Se- curity Framework for Electronic Exchange of Individu- ally Identified Health Information. The Framework is a short document containing eight principles designed to establish a consistent approach to addressing the pri- vacy and security challenges of online PHRs and elec- tronic health information exchanges (HIEs), regardless of whether or not the organization operating the PHR or HIE service is an entity covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards.
In keeping with the voluntary self-regulation and pub- lic-private partnership models encouraged by the Bush administration, these principles are not required stan- dards but are rather principles...expected to guide the actions of all health-related persons and entities that par-

Journal of Health Care Compliance ??" March ??" April 2009
39

HIPAA

ticipate in a network for the purpose of elec- tronic exchange of individually identifiable health information. (p. 6) The principles were developed after an ONC review of a variety of privacy and security standards, best practices, guidelines, and other docu- ments from authoritative sources such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Secu- rity Trust and Privacy Alliance, the Federal Trade Commission, and the HIPAA privacy and security standards.
The eight principles are (1) individual access; (2) correction; (3) openness and transparency; (4) individual choice; (5) col- lection, use, and disclosure limitation; (6) data quality and integrity; (7) safeguards; and (8) accountability.
INDIVIDUAL ACCESS
Individuals should be provided with easy access to their online individually identifi- able health information. This principle em- phasizes that one of the main purposes of a PHR or an HIE should be to provide the information to individuals that they need to manage their health and health care. Even though HIPAA granted the individu- al the right to access his or her individual- ly identifiable health information, covered entities typically make access difficult and rarely provide online access. This principle comes down clearly in favor of providing easy electronic access to the full range of individually identifiable health informa- tion to patients.
CORRECTION
Individuals should have access to a straight- forward process for correcting what they believe are mistakes in their individually identifiable health information. There also should be a clear record of what was cor- rected and by whom. In cases in which the individual believes that the individually identifiable health information is incorrect and the clinician who created the infor- mation does not agree to change it, there should be a process for documenting, dis-
playing, and transmitting the individuals disagreement with the individually identi- fiable health information in question.
OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY
All policies, procedures, and technologies that are employed to collect and dissemi- nate individually identifiable health infor- mation should be made available to the in- dividual in an understandable form. Indi- viduals should be able to learn how their information is collected, who collects it, who sees it, how it is used, and what con- trol they have over the information. The policies and procedures governing the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information should be available be- fore any uses and disclosures occur.
INDIVIDUAL CHOICE
Individuals should be provided with maxi- mum reasonable control over the use and disclosure of their individually identifiable health information. If possible, individuals should be allowed to control which specific types or specific items of individually iden- tifiable health information are disclosed to specific types of recipients or specific indi- vidual recipients.
COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE LIMITATION
Individually identifiable health information should be collected, used, and disclosed only to the extent required to accomplish the pur- pose as specified in the policies and proce- dures associated with the use or disclosure.
DATA QUALITY AND INTEGRITY
Persons and entities collecting and trans- mitting data should take reasonable steps to ensure that individually dentifiable health information is complete, accurate, and up- to-date and that it has not been altered or destroyed in an unauthorized manner.
SAFEGUARDS
Persons and entities collecting and transmit- ting individually identifiable health informa-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 68







40
Journal of Health Care Compliance ??" March ??" April 2009


ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
CONTINUED FROM 38
Adverse Events in Hospitals: Case Study of Incidence Among Medicare Benefi- ciaries in Two Selected Counties (PDF) (OEI-06-08-00220): www.oig.hhs.gov/ oei/reports/oei-06-08-00220.pdf. Adverse Events in Hospitals: Overview of Key Issues (PDF) (OEI-06-07-00470): www.oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-07- 00470.pdf.
Adverse Events in Hospitals: State Re- porting Systems (PDF) (OEI-06-07- 00471): www.oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/ oei-06-07-00471.pdf.
HIPAA
CONTINUED FROM 40
tion should implement reasonable adminis- trative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure its confidentiality, integrity, and availability and to prevent unauthorized or inappropriate access, use, or disclosure.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Implementation and adherence to these principles should be verified through ap- propriate auditing, monitoring, and other procedural and technical processes. Ro- bust comprehensive compliance monitor- ing systems should be in place to detect and correct problems and to mitigate harm caused by breaches.
Because the Framework is a guidance document, there is no statutory requirement for PHR vendors and others involved in the collection and transmission of individually identifiable health information to follow the principles outlined in the document. Like- wise, there are no sanctions or enforcement mechanisms that can be applied to those who do not follow the principles, but there are other factors in the PHR environment that will likely help ensure that these prin- ciples will be incorporated into PHRs.
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology
(CCHIT) is an independent, voluntary, private-sector initiative that has been des- ignated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a recognized certification body for electronic health re- cords (EHRs) and their networks. CCHIT hasannouncedthatstartingin2009itwill certify PHRs. CCHIT has published a draft of the criteria it proposes to use to certi- fy PHRs. While the current draft incorpo- rates most of the principles contained in the Framework, CCHIT has announced that it will review and revise the current criteriatomakesuretheyareconsistent withtheeightFrameworkprinciples.
In the EHR market, CCHIT certifica- tion has established itself as a require- ment in the marketplace; for the most part providers will not accept any EHR that is not CCHIT certified. Thus, it is likely that CCHIT certification will become a de facto requirement for PHRs as well.
The report Nationwide Privacy and Se- curity Framework for Electronic Exchange of Individually Identified Health Informa- tion is available at www.hhs.gov/health- it/documents/NationwidePS_Framework. pdf. Certification Commission for Health- care Information Technology draft stan- dards for PHRs is available at www.cchit. org/files/comment/09/02/CCHITCriteri- aPHR09Draft02.pdf.
HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
CONTINUED FROM 44
claims transactions. Intensive education of HIM coders should be in the final stages, and monitoring of coding accuracy and re- imbursement also can be completed.
Testing of claims with payers can begin up to six months prior to implementation and can include all components of ICD-10. As part of this testing, evaluate potential di- agnosis-related group (DRG) shifts, changes in case mix index, and potential changes in reimbursement. The estimated amount of







68
Journal of Health Care Compliance ??" March ??" April 2009

Requirements:

Review the current literature and write a research paper about the information security issues faced when rolling out an ERP system at a Fortune 500 company. The paper should be in APA style, 25-30 pages, double spaced, with 12 point font. The reference page should include a minimum of 15-20 sources and the body of the paper should include 15-20 in-text citations (direct quotes or paraphased). Be sure to include real world companies / examples / cases in your paper. This assignment is due Friday 12-09-2011.

Text Book: Whitman, M. and Mattord, H. (2008) Management of Information Security, Second Edition, Thomson Course Technology. ISBN-13: 978-42390130-3, ISBN-10: 1-4239-0130-4.
=========================================
More Details:

The company I chose to write about is (Harley Davidson). The format will be somewhat like that:

1- Harley Davidson company history.

2- Financials of the company.

3- Introduction to ERP (what is ERP, why a company [or Harley Davidson] needs it, why it is important to secure ERP)

4- Issues with the implementation. (How to secure the following: [Physical Hardware, Software, Networks, firewalls, anti virus]) in the company.

5- How to secure communication in the company (sending and recieving files for example via emails or other programs) inside the company.

6- Security plans for natural disaster. (how to be ready and secure before or in natural disasters)

7- implementing strategy (long term strategy)

8- Conclusion
================================================
guidlines:

(-)The paper is due Friday 12-09-2011 but I want it on Thursday afternoon.

(-) I wrote the Format up, But you have to check the security book that I listed above and see if I am missing some parts because they listed many security issues. please do what you think is right ifyou think we have to add more parts, because I haven't read the book.

(-) Please make sure you read the book and the details in it, because the professor said he will know if we haven't read it. The paper mainly should be based on the information in it.

(-) The paper is 25-30 pages. If 26 pages is not enough for you I'll update the pages by calling you guys and see how many pages is good for you to cover the paper, you have till 30 pages (max).

(-) Please read the requirments part (above) and follow it exactly regarding the how many sources (in-text and total)

(-) If you have any question, please email me ([email protected]).

(-) I already did the first part (the company part), copy and paste to the paper.

(-) This is an independent study class, the class is about this paper, please do your best as I am graduating this semester.

============================================
This is the company history and financials part that I did,copy and paste to the paper and make double space 12, then you will start with the real part (ERP Security of the company) # 3 in the (more details) part above

History and Background Information

The Harley-Davidson Company dates back to the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1903, William Harley, Walter Davidson, and Arthur Davidson built and sold their first motorcycle: a motorized bicycle with a three horsepower engine. Later, in 1907, Harley-Davidson Motor Company incorporated. By the 1920s, Harley-Davidson had become the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the United States and the industrys technological leader. During the Great Depression, the majority of Harley-Davidsons competitors exited the industry. Harley-Davidson however survived the Great Depression through military sales and exports. During World War II, Harley-Davidson again benefited from military procurement. In the five years that followed the end of the War, Harley-Davidson introduced three luxury models: The K-model, the Sportster Superbike, and the Duo-Glide. In 1953, Indian Motorcycle, the only other surviving American motorcycle manufacturer, exited the market and Harley-Davidson remained as the only American motorcycle manufacturer.
Notwithstanding Harley-Davidsons efforts to expand its customer base, the United States motorcycle market remained stagnant during the 1950s. In the next 15 years, by contrast, sales of small and light motorcycles increased. This increase in demand was primarily for small and light motorcycles. Therefore, Harley-Davidsons sales remained stagnant. Identifying a shift in demand, Japanese motorcycle manufacturers developed smaller, faster, and quieter motorcycles for the American market. Led by Honda, those manufacturers captured a large segment of the motorcycle market from Harley-Davidson. Later, by introducing heavier and more powerful motorcycles, they began to compete directly against Harley-Davidson. Ignoring the shift in demand towards lightweight motorcycles, Harley-Davidson expanded its output of heavyweight machines. To raise capital, Harley-Davidson went public in 1965, but the company quickly became the target of a hostile takeover. In 1969, to protect the company, the founding families sold Harley-Davidson to American Machinery and Foundry (AMF). The acquisition was part of an effort of AMF to diversify into leisure products (Rich Teerlink 5-6).
Subsequent to the change in ownership, labor relations and management style contributed to a decline in the quality of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. As a result, between 1973 and 1981, price and quality comparison between American and Japanese motorcycles further eroded the market share of Harley-Davidson. Hence, AMF sold Harley-Davidson to a group of investors, including a number of Harley-Davidson executives. The executives were determined to increase productivity and quality, primarily by adopting Japanese manufacturing methods. Later, Harley-Davidson emerged as a leaner, more flexible, and competitive business entity. Harley-Davidsons market share in the heavyweight segment of the motorcycle industry rose from 13% in 1983 to 19% in 1986 and to 50% in 1997.
In 1998, Harley-Davidson acquired Buell, a manufacturer of a single cylinder 490 cc. The result was a lighter, sleeker, and less expensive Harley-Davidson motorcycle that appeals to women. In the early 2000s, Harley-Davidson began to sell a special Sportster model designed specifically for women. In addition, seeking to reinforce customer loyalty, Harley-Davidsons brand marketers promoted the sales of motorcycle-related merchandise, such as clothing, house ware, shoes, wallets, and watches. Furthermore, Harley licensed its logo to more than 100 manufacturers, including the Ford Motor Company. Identifying the significance of the export market, Harley-Davidson acquired MV Agusta, an Italian motorcycle manufacturer in August 2008. In October 2009, Harley Davidson ceased production of Buell motorcycles. One year later, in August 2010, Harley-Davidson divested from MV Agusta as well.
Currently, Harley-Davidson operates in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Pacific and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: motorcycles and related products and financial services, which provides financing and insurance services to Harley-Davidson dealers and their retail customers (Mergent Online).


Company Internal Analysis

An internal analysis of Harley-Davidson begins with a review of the corporations competitive advantage. A company gains a competitive advantage over its rivals if its profitability exceeds the average profitability of all companies in its industry. A sustained competitive advantage therefore is an important part of functional strategies; an advantage that will generate above-average profits and growth. To maintain a sustained competitive advantage, management must develop its organizations unique resources and capabilities, as well as differentiate its products from those of the rivals (Hills, 2010, p.74). Harley Davisons resources are the companys tangible and intangible assets: the companys tangible assets include advanced production equipment and facilities; the intangible assets include strong management labor relations, supplier relations, dealer relations, and strong customer loyalty. Harley-Davidson has used its assets to build strong brand loyalty, reduced the cost-structure of the production, and differentiated the Harley-Davidson products from the products of its main competitors.



Company Financial Analysis

To indentify and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Harley-Davidson, Harley-Davidsons current performance has been compared against its historic performance. Financial ratios are standard measurements for analyzing the performance of corporations. The following ratios are used to evaluate the performance of Harley-Davidson: (1) profitability, (2) liquidity, (3) and debt ratios.
Profitability Ratios
Profitability ratios reflect a companys assets utilization and expense control and measure a companys financial performance (Finance Goropelli p 442). Profitability ratios measure specific aspects of profitability, such as return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and profit margin. ROA measures how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. ROE, however, measures the net income that a firm generates as a percent of stockholders' equity, is the most important ratio applying to stockholders, and is the best measure of performance of management. Profit margin measures how well a company controls its costs. An increase in a companys profit margin corresponds to an increase in the companys cost control.
Table 2 shows Harley-Davidsons profitability ratios for a five-year period from 2006 to 2010. For year ending 2010, Harley-Davidson had a 1.58% ROA, an increase of more than three times since the previous year. During the same period, Harley-Davidsons ROE and profit margin have also increased.

Table 2
HARLYE-DAVIDSON PROFITABLITITY RATIOS
Profitability Ratios 12/31/2010 12/31/2009 12/31/2008 12/31/2007 12/31/2006
ROA % (Net) 1.58 (0.65) 9.68 16.69 19.34
ROE % (Net) 6.79 (2.61) 29.08 36.39 35.72
ROI % (Operating) 7.14 2.85 19.54 31.91 36.64
EBITDA Margin % 15.15 9.34 21.45 26.89 29.71

Therefore, for four consecutive years, from 2006 to 2009, Harley-Davidsons profits declined. In 2010, although Harley-Davidson was more profitable than it had been in 2009, it still could not reach the profit levels it had experienced in 2006 to 2008.
Liquidity Ratios
Liquidity ratios are used to determine a company's ability to pay its short-term obligations. A company's ability to turn short-term assets into cash to cover debts is of the utmost importance when creditors are seeking payment. As shown in Table 3, Harley-Davidsons liquidity ratios fluctuated during the last five years (Mergent Online). The current ratio or working capital ratio is the most commonly used liquidity ratio. It is an excellent way to gauge business liquidity because it measures the extent to which current assets exceed current liabilities. The higher the ratio, the more capable a company is of paying its obligations.

Table 3
Harley-Davidson Liquidity Ratios
Liquidity Ratios 12/31/2010 12/31/2009 12/31/2008 12/31/2007 12/31/2006
Quick Ratio 1.52 1.47 1.81 1.54 1.56
Current Ratio 2.02 1.91 2.07 1.82 2.23
Net Current Assets % Total Assets 21.77 22.65 35.44 27.62 35.34

On the other hand, the quick ratio, also called the acid-test ratio, measures the relationship between the more liquid current asset accounts such as cash, marketable securities, and accounts receivable to the current liability accounts. Although, Harley-Davidsons liquidity ratios had fluctuations within the last five years, the fluctuations were insignificant. In addition, companys liquidity ratios are above the industry average which shows companys ability to pay-off its debts.
Debt Utilization (leverage) Ratios
Debt ratios capture the relationship between a companys debts and assets, as well as the relationship between interest payments and earnings. A debt-to-equity ratio gives an indication of a companys total liabilities in relation to total assets. The higher the ratio, the more leverage a company uses and the more risk it assumes. By using a combination of assets, debt, equity, and interest payments, leverage ratios are used to measure a companys ability to meet long-term obligations. As shown in Table 4, the long-term-debt-to-equity ratio has a steady increase which shows a company is heavily relying on long-term debt to acquire assets.
The relationship between interest payments and earning, the interest-coverage ratio, measures a company ability to pay interest expenses. The ratio reflects the amount of interest due as a percentage of a companys earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)

Table 4
Harley-Davidson Debt Management Ratios
Debt Management Ratios 12/31/2010 12/31/2009 12/31/2008 12/31/2007 12/31/2006
LT Debt to Equity 2.6 1.95 1.03 0.41 0.32
Total Debt to Equity 2.61 2.67 1.85 0.88 0.62
Interest Coverage 6.2 9.04 226.56 186.24 209.36

. As shown in Figure 6, Harley-Davidson is using an increasing percentage of its earnings to pay for interest on its debt obligations. As its debt-to-equity ratios increases, Harley-Davidson is using an increasing percentage of its earnings to pay for interest.
====================================================================

please send me email, so that I'll be able to contact you for further updates. ([email protected])

Please follow the instructions below to completion:
The below paper needs further research and should follow the below five steps to completion.

ONLY Acceptable References:
Acceptable references include peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings as well
as published theses and dissertations. Genuine textbooks are acceptable as scientific
sources. ACM/IEEE publications with the word transactions in their title are normally
acceptable.
RFCs, ISO standards, ACM and IEEE standards, and ECM standards may be cited for the areas they discuss.

Overall, the research MUST detail the following:

Research Paper:

I. Problem Statement:
Document that details the problem you wish to address. MUST include acceptable references (see above) that justify your assertion that this is indeed a problem that is recognized in the field.


II. Project Proposal:
Draft the project proposal that clearly describes the research project that you will be conducting. The proposal should include a brief:

i. description of the problem being investigated
ii. the solution/approach that will be applied to addressing the problem
iii. and the expected results of their project.

III. Final Report:

1. Introduction
Provide the necessary background and discuss the relevant literature to
motivate the research problem that your paper addresses.

2. The Problem
Discuss the problem in detail and formulate it a manner that makes it
tractable.

3. The Method
Describe the method used to address the problem. Justify the approach that
you have adopted.

4. Results
Present the significant results of your study and relate it to the existing literature.

5. Conclusion
Summarize and highlight the significant contributions of your work. Identify
potential limitations of the study and suggest areas of research that can
address these limitations.

A. An additional 18 pages is required to be added to the existing document below
B. An additional 25 references is required.
C. Therefore, there should be 25 pages and 40 references in total when completed


PROJECT PROPOSAL: INFORMATION SECURITY IN CLOUD COMPUTING PLATFORMS

Problem Statement
Cloud computing manipulates and alters our way of understanding of how current computing systems are aligned. The economics of cloud computing are re-ordering the enterprise software industry globally, bringing greater value at a lower price to companies needing to stay in step with customers (Ambust, et al., 2009). The continued growth of cloud computing is also driving more digital content and information into data centers and the cloud than has ever been the case in the past, completely redefining the development methodologies of applications as well (Rajkumar, Yeo, Venugopal, 2008). Information and data are banished to a hypothetical land of bits and bytes that really exist nowhere but the cloud. All digital information in cloud computing relinquishes its presence on specific sets of computer, hard drives, and other storage components (Durkee, 2010). Cloud computing changes the locality of digital information which can be universally distributed to any geographic location. As a result, the command and control of this data is significantly diffused. This technological diffusement gives rise to new problems as well, including the need for managing security more effectively than has been the case in the past with enterprise applications (Kaufman, 2009). The most impactful concern dealing with cloud computing services is the customers' concerns dealing with the potential limitations that this trend leans towards including confidentiality of data and the need for greater fidelity of data platforms and their underlying technologies (Lin, Fu, Zhu, Dasmalchi, 2009).
In order to understand these limitations it is important to investigate the finer points and details that give cloud computing its definition. Many differing expectations and opinions must be explored to fully grasp the relative perspectives that arise from this idea. The thesis of this exploration deals with the legal, technical and economic viewpoints of cloud computing (RN Calheiros, et al., 2010). Specifically, this problem requires an identification process that potential customers should propose to cloud computing service providers before agreeing to their specific terms of contracts. This area specifically is focused on the area of Service Level Agreements (SLA) and their relative value for enterprise customers including their potential to re-order the economics of enterprise cloud computing in the enterprise (Balachandra, et al., 2010). The continual evolution of cloud computing from a technology standpoint continues to show significant potential for reduction of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while also reducing the incremental costs of aligning a specific application to the needs of a segment or larger audience of enterprise computing users (Ambust, et al., 2009). The lowered costs that cloud computing platforms are enabling and accelerating today are being further strengthened by how quickly applications on these platforms can be aligned to the specific, very precise needs of customers. Also what unified all of these strategies together is the continual reliance on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and their role in stabilizing the nascent yet very fast moving aspects of cloud computing in the enterprise. The goal of this pursuit addresses the problems that might arise related to the capabilities and performance of software applications that are executed in cloud computing scenarios. The argument focuses upon previous research and personal experimentation in designated cloud computing scenarios. Ultimately, the goal is to distinguish the specific contributions affecting performance and, simultaneously provide some possible recommendations or solutions or to potential cloud users that might affect performance problems that are all initially defined through SLA benchmarks and continually monitored through real-time analytics of service performance including reliability and security metrics of performance (McQueen, M. (2008).

Problem Description
As was defined in the problem description, the legal, technical and economic viewpoints of cloud computing form the foundation of this thesis, with specific focus on the issues that enterprise customers are facing in the context of extended service agreements including Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The cloud computing industry has however found that SLAs are often not enforceable with cloud computing services providers, as many of them do not allow for their contracts to be binding from a legal standpoint (Rajkumar, Yeo, Venugopal, 2008). This is because the performance of their back-end systems defy a purely scientific level of management; there is no clear cause-and-effect of how to manage a highly integrated and complex cloud computing architecture with the same level of precision as a desktop operating system for example (Balachandra, et al., 2010). Even the most well-known enterprise software companies who have cloud computing applications running on the Software as a Service (SaaS) platform are not offering legally binding SLA contracts, and this includes Salesforce.com (Stolfo, et al, 2012). For these very large, rapidly growing cloud computing and SaaS-based enterprise software companies, SLAs are more for marketing and less for actually managing the overall performance levels of the applications they deliver (Stolfo, et al, 2012). In many instances the SLA commitments made are not enforceable legally and are meant to be offered as miles per gallon (MPG) ratings for new cars; as in each buyers and companys mileage may vary (Durkee, 2010).
In addition to the lack of enforceability of SLAs often cloud computing and SaaS-based enterprise software companies rely extensively on maintenance fees and annual maintenance contracts to generate the case they need to operate on a daily basis. The reliance on maintenance fees within enterprise software is commonplace and often doesnt lead to greater innovaton in new product development, instead making the enterprise software companies even more complacent over time due to the lack of urgency of generating revenue (Leavitt, 2009). For the typical enterprise software customer, this is often the case. They pay often up to 22% of the purchase price of their applications on a yearly basis, only to be given periodic, small updates that only incrementally deliver value (Rajkumar, Yeo, Venugopal, 2008). Cloud computing vendors including Salesforce.com, and others have created a strong business model by concentrating their efforts on selling against the maintenance fee model of on-premise software vendors, promising to deliver a continual stream of new product updates in exchange for the maintenance fees they charge, which ironically are in the same range as their on-premise counterparts (Balachandra, et al., 2010). The cloud computing enterprise software vendors also claim that their maintenance fees are also delivering more value because they refresh their entire application suite online every 30 days or less; which is significantly faster than any on-premise application can (Kaufman, 2009). Even with all these commitments to deliver a continual stream of new product and feature updates seamlessly over the Web via their cloud platforms, many cloud computing software companies still are not keeping the majority of commitments to their customers. Also, the SLAs they promise are not legally binding given the complexity of wording and lack of accountability and traceability of results (Pronto, JP (2008).
These factors taken together leave the enterprise software buyer with little protection from cloud computing-based software vendors from delivering on their commitments to increased levels of application performance and greater availability of enterprise-grade applications over the Internet. Today the economics of cloud computing are compensating for the lack of accountability of long-term performance (Stoddard, M. (2005). Yet from a legal, technical, and economic standpoint, the broader implications of cloud computing growth are at stake with how these enterprise software vendors choose to manage the distance and dichotomy of their promises and what they deliver. The SLA as a legal instrument needs to continually improve and gain a strong legal precedent to ensure it will be able to protect customers over time and ensure they get the value they are promised. This extends to their reliance on security, scalability of the cloud computing platforms as well, in addition to the development of more effective accounting and performance monitoring systems as well. Salesforce.com has been a leader in this area, as the value proposition of moving CRM systems off of on-premise; highly expensive to maintain systems to cloud computing has been a very profitable selling strategy. The creation of trust of salesforce.com is an example of how cloud computing vendors are working to create a more effective approach to quantifying and verifying their performance over time.

Solution or Approach to Solving the Problem
What is needed to alleviate the obfuscation and confusion that enterprise software vendors are propagating on this issue is an independent entity such as a standards organization to benchmark the SLAs of enterprise cloud computing vendors and report the results publically. This index needs to also take into account customer satisfaction levels and show how cloud computing, when properly implemented, can lead to significant gains in enterprise performance from a profitability and workflow perspective as well (OBryan, 2006). The indexing of corporate performance also needs to include a TCO (total cost of ownership) component to evaluate the real value of cloud computing in the enterprise.

Expected Results of the Project
By creating an index of cloud computing performance and defining its attributes from a TCO standpoint, the industry will have a truer measure of the real value of cloud-based applications. This approach to defining a performance-based taxonomy will also allow for a more effective comparison within industries as well. All of these factors taken together will provide enterprise computing buyers with more effective foundations of arguing for more thorough measures of application performance. The net result will be much greater visibility into how cloud computing is actually changing the global economics of the enterprise computing industry.
























References
Ambust, M. et al. (2009). Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing. UC Berkeley Reliable Adaptive Distributed Labratory, 10 Feb 2009. Retrieved from http://x- integrate.de/x-in- cms.nsf/id/DE_Von_Regenmachern_und_Wolkenbruechen_-_Impact_2009_Nachlese/$file/abovetheclouds.pdf

Balachandra, R. et al. (2010). Cloud Security Issues. 2009 IEEE International Conference on Services Computing. Retrieved from http://xml.csie.ntnu.edu.tw/JSPWiki/attach/Supergud/Cloud%20Security%20Issues.pdf

Durkee, D. (2010). Why Cloud Computing Will Never Be Free. Communications of the ACM, May,2010,53, 5. Retrieved from http://www.san.uri.br/~ober/arquivos/orientacoes/artigos_referencia/communications201 005.pdf

Kaufman, L. (2009). Data Security in the World of Cloud Computing. IEEE Security & Privacy, July/Aug 2009. Retrieved from http://xml.csie.ntnu.edu.tw/JSPWiki/attach/supergud/Data%20Security%20in%20the%20 World%20of%20Cloud%20Computing.pdf

King, R. (2009). Cloud computing: Small companies take flight. Business Week. http://
www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc2008083 619516.htm

Leavitt, N. (2009). Is Cloud Computing Really Ready for Prime Time? Computer, 42(1), 15-20. Retrieved from https://www.hh.se/download/18.70cf2e49129168da0158000123279/8+Is+Cloud+Compu ting+Ready.pdf

Lin, G., Fu, D., Zhu, J., & Dasmalchi, G. (2009). Cloud computing: IT as a service. IT Professional, 11(2), 10,13.

McQueen, M. (2008) System Security Through Ideal Driven Technical Metrics. Idaho national laboratory. Jan. 2008. Retrieved from: http://www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/3881671.pdf

(OBryan, 2006). Critical elements of information security program success. Retrieved from http://www.isaca.org/Journal/Past-Issues/2006/Volume-3/Pages/Critical-Elements-of-Information-Security-Program-Success1.aspx

Pronto, JP (2008) Developing Metrics for Effective Information Security Governance. Getronics. Retrieved from: http://www.interop.com/newyork/2008/presentations/conference/rc10-pironti.pdf

Rajkumar, B. Yeo, C., Venugopal, S. (2008). High Perfomance Computing and Commuications. HPCC 08, 10th International Conference on Computing. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4637675&url=http%3A% F%2Fi eeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4637675

RN Calheiros, R. Ranjan, A. Beloglazov, C. Rose, and R. Buyya. Cloudsim (2010) a toolkit for modeling and simulation of cloud computing environments and evaluation of resource provisioning algorithms. Software: Practice and Experience, Wiley Press, New York, USA, 2010

Stoddard, M. (2005) Process Control System Security Metrics ??" State of Practice. I3P. Retrieved from: http://stuweb.ee.mtu.edu/~ssmoily/section_4.pdf

Stolfo, S. et al. (2012). Fog Computing: Mitigating Insider Data Theft Attacks in the Cloud. Security and Privacy, 2012 IEEE Symposiom, p 125-128, 2012. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6227695&url=http%3A%2F%2Fi eeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D6227695

Individual for SEC/320 University of Phoenix

Vulnerable Areas of Industrial Security Operations Paper and Presentation Select a company from the texts or a company of your choice with facilitator approval.

Write a 500-word paper discussing areas in industrial security where there are vulnerabilities and suggest countermeasures to those vulnerabilities.

Include the following areas:

? Sabotage
? Espionage
? Transportation
? Utility industry security issues, if applicable

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines including citations and references. Be prepared to share your information with the class.

Write a research paper on pipeline security. Discuss some security issues and dangers relating to pipelines. What are some meseaures currently being taken to deal with security? Discuss new technologies and how they are to be used. How can security be improved?

After watching the interview with Karina Ordonez, Arizona Governor?s Officer of Homeland Security http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1QfMXZ7ED4 answer the following question: What types of border security issues relate to homeland security, according to both Karina Ordonez and your own experience?
What types of border security issues relate to homeland security, according to both Karina Ordonez and your own experience?
Do you feel the Patriot Act infringes on your civil rights?

Reference:
Oliver, W. (2006). Homeland security for policing (1st ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Survey recent periodical literature (4 years old or less) and find real-world stories that discuss the various security-related issues that organizations have faced when implementing emerging technologies. See if you can identify any trends in security issues across the various technologies.

Please properly reference at least 5 articles.

The PC revolution changed the technology world beginning in the early 1980s. ?That was soon followed by bulky "luggables," the first portable personal computers. Then, luggables became lightweight, ushering in the laptop era. In early 2000, Microsoft introduced the first tablet PC. Our society fully embraced the tablet PC concept when Apple introduced the iPad in 2010. Since then, the "personal computer" market has changed dramatically.
? In March 2011, The Gartner Group downgraded its forecasted growth for worldwide PC shipments from 15.9 percent to just 10.5 percent.
? Tablet and smartphone sales (in units) are expected to exceed PC sales by 2012.
? By 2014, tablet and smartphones combined are predicted to represent 64 percent of all computers.
? By 2017, approximately two tablet PCs will be sold for every three laptop computers worldwide
? . Apple sold almost 15 million iPads in 2010, generating $9.5 billion in revenue. It is forecasted to sell 43.7 million iPads in 2011 and 63.3 million in 2012.
? In August 2010, year-on-year growth of laptop unit sales went negative to [-]4%.

The tablet PC is no "flash in the pan." It's here and here to stay. With an ever-increasing focus on mobility and battery life, more and more consumers are choosing tablet PCs over their bigger, bulkier, and power ?hungry desktop and laptop predecessors. Of course, Apple's iPad is leading the charge, but others are sure to follow, creating a highly competitive market. Tablets are not just for personal use. All types of organizations are finding unique and innovative ways to incorporate tablet PCs into their operations.
RESTAURANTS
The tablet PC is not much larger than the typical paper menu in a restaurant, but it offers much more functionality.

? Flagstaff House (Boulder, Colorado's best known restaurant) places iPads on each table to display its 2,500+ wine list. According to Scott Monette, General Manager and Partner of Flagstaff, "When I saw the iPads come out, I thought it would be great to have our wine list on them. I was a little concerned that we should keep some paper lists around if people don't want the iPad. But we haven't had that happen yet."

? Food Well Built's (a Southern California restaurant chain) tables come standard with an iPad so patrons can design and order meals, all without ever talking to the wait staff.

? BJ's Restaurants patrons can view menu options, including designing their own burgers and pizzas. Patrons can even pay for meals using the tablet PC.

? Restaurants by Delta Airlines at JFK and LaGuardia airports provide tablets so patrons can order meals.



SCHOOLS
In Auburn, Maine, all kindergarteners now receive the Apple iPad2 as a part of their school supplies. The children use their tablet PCs to learn their ABCs, 1-2-3s, art, and music. According to Angus King, the former Maine Governor who championed the use of tablet PCs in the classroom, "If your students are engaged, you can teach them anything. If they're bored and looking out the window, you can be Socrates and you're not going to teach them anything. These devices are engaging."
Not everyone shares Angus's enthusiastic views. According to Larry Cuban, Stanford University professor emeritus and author of "Oversold and Underused: Computers in Schools," there is no proof that children learn better in a technology-rich environment as opposed to by more traditional methods. He states, "There's no evidence in research literature that giving iPads to 5-year-olds will improve their reading scores."
AIRLINES
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently approved the use of tablet PCs by pilots instead of paper charts and manuals. Many airlines, such as Delta, American, and Alaska Airlines, quickly made the transition to tablet PCs. Alaska Airlines is transitioning all of its 1,400 pilots to iPads. According to Randy Kleiger, a 15-year pilot for Alaska Airlines, "Now we have all the information in the iPad. And that makes it more efficient and safer."
But again, some people believe that there may be downsides to the pilot-use of technology in the cockpit. For example, in November 2009 pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight flew past their destination while using a laptop and not talking to air traffic controllers. It's rather like driving a car. The GPS system can be very useful, but something like texting can be a distraction.



Read Case above and answer the questions below. APA formatting guidelines require a title page, abstract page, and reference page in addition to the body of the paper.

The proliferation of tablet PCs is changing the systems development process. Tablets represent a new platform on which systems run, and the interface is different, to say the least.

1. Computers, using some AI techniques can learn. In the classroom while a child is using a tablet PC to learn the basics of addition, how can software be developed to aid in the learning process? Does this mean that teachers are no longer needed for some subjects? Are teachers needed in earlier grades while computer-based training can take over in later grades? Why or why not?
2. End-user systems, like those that allow patrons to order meals on an iPad, must be ?idiot proof.? (We apologize for the crudeness of that term.) That is, systems must be usable without training and created in such a way, for example, that a patron at one table can?t accidentally change the order of a patron at another table. What does this mean for systems development? Can complex and complicated end-user systems be developed and deployed on tablet PCs so that people can use the systems without training and without intervention by a knowledgeable person such as a waiter or waitress?
3. What security issues are involved in allowing people to pay with tablet PCs? Does this payment process make it easier for someone to steal your credit card information? Are you comfortable using a restaurant-supplied technology to enter your credit card information? Why or why not?
4. What will happen to offshore outsourcing for software development? Can outsourcing firms in India and China for example be expected to develop software systems for use in U.S. schools? Can those same firms be expected to develop systems that meet FAA rules and restrictions?

I have to create a contextual report for my last year of uni, which is kinda like a disseration paper.

The topic i chose for this was security analysis mobile adhoc networks. I choose this topic because there are currently a lot of security issues related to mobile adhoc networks, and it would be easy to create an artefact for it.

The contextual report itself can be divided into three sections:
1. Introduction
2. The Contextual Review (includes: market research & market surveys)
3. Planning for the artefact (Output from market research & market surveys)

For the 3rd part you will need a bit info on my artefact (solution to security issues regarding Mobile Adhoc Networks):
I will use the output from market survey & market survey to create a secure mobile adhoc network using packet tracer (a program made by cisco) or NS2 (Open Source Networking tool).

Citation/ references should be in Harvard style.
The sources you will use should include journals & websites

And any findings should be as recent as possible.

I will email more info on contextual report and market survey to your email.
There are faxes for this order.

The paper mus also compare the homeland security issues faced by France with those faced by the United States.

The paper must contain the following information about France AND compare/contrast France with the United States:

a. discussion of homeland security laws (what are they, where are they found, and the similarities/differences between France's and those of the U.S., and your opinion of which are better and why);

b. description of the organizations within France with homeland security responsibilities and what those responsibilities include, and the similarities/differences between theirs and those of the U.S.;

c. evaluation of the nations homeland security challenges from the view of both the government and any specific groups that the government accuses of being terrorists. You must specifically address whether the group is terrorists or fighting a war of liberation, and support your position. Must define war of liberation and contrast terrorists in your nation with those who have attacked the U.S., including BOTH foreign and domestic terrorists

Include at least 15 references from United States government documents and France's government documents relating to the nations homeland security challenges. Also expected to include additional supportive citations from other types of sources such as newspapers or magazines, given the recent nature of the event.

Assignment Instructions
This assignment is a take-home essay assignment of one question for which the student is expected to develop a 3-4 page essay that fully responds to the question.
Question: Examine the role of risk management within the homeland security enterprise.

The basic equation for risk is defined as R = ?(C*V*T) where R is the level of risk, C is the consequences (public health, our economy, government action, public confidence in our institutions) of an attack, V is an assessment of the vulnerability of a potential target (how hard or easy it would be for it to be hit by terrorists) and T is the threat or the likelihood that a specific target will suffer an attack or disaster from a specific weapon. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that it will apply risk management principles to homeland security operations and has stated that ?Ultimately, homeland security is about effectively managing risks to the Nation?s security? (DHS 2010, 2). Drawing upon your class readings and additional research examine how risk management is used by the homeland security enterprise and how that use benefits such aspects as resource allocation, strategic planning, grant award, or any of the multitudes of other homeland security issues or operations.
Reference:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 2010. Quadrennial homeland security review report: A strategic framework for a secure homeland. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/qhsr_report.pdf. (accessed August 10, 2012).



Scoring Rubric:


A copy of the complete scoring rubric for this assignment is attached. The following is a synopsis of that rubric.


Area of Evaluation
Maximum Points
Focus/Thesis 20
Content/Subject Knowledge 20
Critical Thinking Skills 20
Organization of Ideas/Format 20
Writing Conventions 20


Technical Requirements:


Length: 3-4 pages, double spaced, 1" margins, 12 pitch type in Times New Roman font.

Sources: All sources for this assignment must come the assigned reading within the course. You are not limited to the pages assigned from each document, but are limited to those documents only to defend and support your arguments/claims.

Citations/References: You must use the Turabian Reference List (Parenthetical) style for this assignment.

Submission: All work is to be submitted as an attachment to the assignment link by midnight on the Sunday ending Week Six, the due date. All work should be prepared in Microsoft Word format and submitted as an attachment.

I would like you to answer the question with 300 words and I will send u the material through the email so you can answer the question.


After reading the Burgess chapter the question I have is 'are we going over the top a little, are we broadening the agenda to much'?

For instance Burgess discusses Societal and Migration, could they not be discussed together? Likewise climate change, water, and energy are the not linked? And finally organized crime, narcotics, human, and arms trafficking are they not the same issues (Organized crime)?

What do others think?

- reading : Broadening the Agenda of Security
Burgess, J. Peter. Non-Military Security Challenges?, in Contemporary
Security and Strategy, 2nd edition, Craig A. Snyder (ed.) Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2008, pp. 60-78.
Homer-Dixon, Thomas F. Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict:
Evidence from Cases?, International Security, vol. 19, no. 1, 1994, pp. 5-
40. Available in the eReadings.
Purvis, Nigel and Joshua Busby. The Security Implications of Climate Change
for the UN System?, ECSP Report, Vol. 10, 2004, pp. 67-73. Available in
the eReadings.



Below is some of the reading for you so you can answer the qustion.........

Broadening the security agenda
Objectives
When you have completed this topic, you should be able to:
identify the key non-military threats of security
understand the multidimensional nature of security
critically assess the non-military responses to security.
Introduction
Since the end of the 1980s, with the end of the era of superpower rivalry and the receding threat of nuclear war, scholars, politicians and other decision-makers have fundamentally reassessed the notions of international security.
The new approach to the question of international security takes the view that the security threat to states from other states, is on a downward course. Analysts and policy makers have become increasingly concerned with other sources of instability, including issues such as environmental degradation, economics, societal and political sources of conflict, giving way to a more ambiguous understanding of security. The concept of security, therefore, needs to encompass not just the protection of a state against foreign military attack but also the protection of states from non-military threats.
Moreover, recent years have witnessed a growing recognition of the intimate relationship that exists between the security of states and the security of the citizens who constitute such entities. The notion of human security, is creeping around the edges of official thinking, suggesting that security be viewed as emerging from the conditions of daily life, food, shelter, employment, health, public safety, rather than flowing downward from a countrys foreign relations and military strength. Thus, the individuals security does not, necessarily, derive from their nations security. It has become clear that some states which are militarily and strategically powerful are not necessarily strong or stable. The concept of security is an issue that involves many different levels and agents, referring not only to practice within the state or between states, but encompassing different units, from the individual to the global, in addition to a temporal dimension, from the immediate and the proximate to the longer term.
In this new era threats to state security are less and less likely to emanate from other states. More emphasis is being placed upon internal and trans-boundary threats to security. Such threats to security include environmental degradation, economics, international crime, migratory movements and mass population displacements.
Multidimensional nature of security
As Barry Buzan (1991a, p. 432) argues, security is no longer limited to the protection of a state or society against foreign military attack but also the protection of an independent identity of that state or society from forces of change that challenge this identity. He further identifies five major sectors in which influences upon security can be divided up into: military, political, economic, societal and environmental.
Generally speaking, military security concerns the two-level interplay of the armed offensive and defensive capabilities of states, and states perceptions of each others intentions. Political security concerns the organisational stability of states, systems of government and the ideologies that give them legitimacy. Economic security concerns access to the resources, finance and markets necessary to sustain acceptable levels of welfare and state power. Societal security concerns the sustainability, within acceptable conditions for evolution, of traditional patterns of language, culture and religious and national identity and custom. Environmental security concerns the maintenance of the local and the planetary biosphere as the essential support system on which all other human enterprises depend. These five sectors do not operate in isolation from each other. Each defines a focal point within the security problematic, and a way of ordering priorities, but all are woven together in a strong web of linkages.
(Buzan 1991b, pp. 1920)
There also exists, however, a traditional school of military thinking which argues that security studies is about the study of war and the use of force, threat and the control of military power. Walt argues that widening the agenda beyond this: runs the risk of expanding security studies excessively; by this logic, issues such as pollution, disease, child abuse, or economic recessions could all be viewed as threats to security. Defining the field in this way would destroy its intellectual coherence and make it more difficult to devise solutions to any of these important problems. (Walt, cited in Buzan, Waever & de Wilde 1998, pp. 34)
In the previous topics military and societal security has been extensively covered and as such the focus for this topic is on the other sectors of security threats as identified by Buzanpolitical, environmental and economic.
Textbook
Begin your reading with the chapter by Peter Burgess (2008), Non-military security challenges, in C Snyder (ed.), Contemporary security and strategy, 2nd edn, pp. 6078.
Burgess focuses on non-military challenges to security. He begins by looking at the class of non-military security threats against which military force has little or no utility. These may be either local or global in character, but their impact will register on the security of states sooner rather than later, if they are not doing so already. These include environmental issues (e.g. humanly-generated climate change in general and global warming in particular); resource depletion (e.g. deforestation; over-fishing); health issues (e.g. the consequences of the HIV-AIDS epidemic); forced migration; and organised transnational crime. Of course, many of these matters overlap and reinforce each other. These should be regarded as security concerns for states insofar as they directly threaten the peace and prosperity of a country and its citizens, and indirectly insofar as they give rise to violence and undesirable political and strategic change.
Economic security
Economic security involves the maintenance of economic growth, open sea-lanes of communication, free and fair trade practices, access to finance, markets and natural resources. Restructuring of the global economy has occurred leading to the emergence of a two-tier system of states. In the first tier are the developed states of North America, Western Europe. In the second tier are the developing states of East and South-East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, Central and South Asia. This is also commonly referred to as the North-South divide as the developed states (with the exception of states such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore) are in the Northern Hemisphere while the developing states are to the south of the developed states.
Economic security is about access to the resources, finance and markets necessary to sustain acceptable levels of welfare and state powetherefore many individuals in the South live in a state of economic insecurity. For the poorer nations economic threats to security cover a range of issueseconomic stagnation, environmental degradation, impoverishment, and in some cases depletion of resources, especially water, coupled with a lack of legitimacy of many governments and reinforced in most cases by rapid rates of population growth. As such, some states (e.g. Sudan, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Liberia) are unable to sustain even basic human . This can contribute to internal instability. Further potentially contributing to internal instability is uneven economic development and the distribution of resources.
Economic change is a fundamental necessity in most developing countries. If these countries are unable to manage their economic problems there will be serious political and social upheavals that will, eventually, spill over into the developed regions of the world. The developing countries will be able to threaten the developed world with unwanted migration, because economic conditions in the sending countries may be so harsh that migration becomes the only resort, unless welfare standards are maintained and development prospects kept alive.
Buzan, Wver and de Wilde (1998, p. 116) argue that the issue of economic security is a fuzzy one at best but that economic activity can directly influence security issues in all the other sectors. This can be triggered by economic failures (e.g. famine and negative development) or by economic success (e.g. cultural homogenisation, loss of autonomy in military production, pollution and the gutting of state functions). As economics serves as the foundation for many of the other sectors threats to security can spill over from threats to the economic sector.
Environmental degradation as a source of political violence
Whilst dating back many centuries, the problem of international environmental degradation has only really started to gain prominence on the international agenda since the early 1970s. Some scholars have argued that linking security with the environment has created a political awareness and sense of urgency which are required to solve environmental problems and thus increase security. However, concerns have been raised that this linkage could lead to a militarisation of thinking about environmental problems. Such traditional military thinking is often state centred with the ability or will of a state to address such problems often dependent upon its character.
Environmental degradation can be considered a major threat to human life. Pollution, soil erosion and other problems of resource scarcity can negatively impact upon standards of living. Thomas Homer-Dixon (1994), takes this argument further. He argues that over the next 50 years human population will increase dramatically, and as a result there will be scarcities of renewable resources, high quality arable land and the species within them. This will then lead to violent civil or international conflict. This violence is often sub-national in nature, persistent and diffuse.
Poorer areas of the globe are already experiencing such shortages. These shortages can increase demands on institutions of the state whilst reducing their ability to meet these demands. These have the potential to lead to state fragmentation or despotic government, which can lead to internal problems and insurgency. Resource disputes can also lead to conflict between countries. As such definitions of environmental security have focused on sustainable utilisation and protection of resources. Environmental degradation as a result of warfare can often escalate conflicts. In peace time non-warfare military activity can impact on the environment not only in terms of pollution and resource usage, but also with regard to problems with nuclear testing, accidents with nuclear powered vessels and dumping of nuclear waste.
E-reading
Now read Thomas Homer-Dixon (1994), Environmental scarcities and violent conflict: evidence from cases.
How does Homer-Dixon argue that environmental degradation causes violent conflict? Is this the same as a security threat? Who or what is the referent object and how should it/they be secured?
E-reading
Finally, read the article by Nigel Purvis and Joshua Busby (2004), The security implications of climate change for the UN system.
This explores the security implications of climate change. Purvis and Busby present a summary of the adverse impacts of climate change. They analyse the security implications and offer policy recommendations for strengthening the UNs capacity to respond to climate-related security threats.
Political threats
Political security is even more difficult to categorise then economic security. It can be argued that all actions are political and hence all threats to security at their core are political. Political security can, however, be distinguished from the other sectors through the questioning of what is necessary to maintain stable organisation structures within a state. Political threats to the state can therefore be directed towards the idea of the state, particularly its national identity and organising ideology, and the institutions which express it. (Buzan, cited in Buzan, Waever & de Wilde 1998, p. 142) Political threats can vary in importance or intensity depending on the strength of the state. Strong states, or those states with strong political institutions, are less vulnerable than are weak states whose political institutions lack a general consensus of legitimacy.
Political threats to weak states can take on the following forms:
internal threats based on ethnic or national divisions within states
internal threats based on political or ideological grounds
inadvertent threats based on a state-nation split (such as differing assumptions in regard to calculating territorial rights for a state-nation)
external, but unintentional threats to states on political-ideological grounds
security of and against supranational, regional integration
systemic, principled threats against states that are vulnerable because of a state-nation split
structural (systemic) threats to states on political-ideological grounds
threats from trans-national movements that claim a higher sovereignty than the state
threats to international society, law and order.. (Buzan, Waever & de Wilde 1998, pp. 1559
Conclusion
In dealing with security issues in future, military strategists will have to talk to a much wider range of people (i.e. sociologists, environmentalists and scientists in addition to historians and political scientists), if they are to be successful.
The military aspect of security is, however, by no means dead. Armed forces still play an important role in maintaining state sovereignty, providing deterrence and international prestige, contributing to international operations and fulfilling diplomatic roles. However, it must be remembered that states that are militarily and strategically powerful are not necessarily strong, stable or secure.
References
Buzan, B 1991a, New patterns of global security, International Affairs, vol. 67, no. 3.
Buzan, B 1991b, People, states and fear: an agenda for international security studies, Harvester Wheatsheaf, New York.
Buzan, B, Wver, O & de Wilde, J 1998, Security: a new framework for analysis, Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Colo.





There are faxes for this order.