Future IT Professional Practice Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : IT Computer Science

This reflection journal aims to address the learning from the previous weeks while discussing relevant concepts and theories. It will also reflect the use of gained knowledge in future IT professional practice.

Learning from The Previous Weeks

Going through “Ethics in Information Technology” allowed me to explore different concepts about ethical practices associated with IT (Information Technology) in business organisations. Two Chapters in the subject were fascinating for me. These were “Chapter 3: Cyberattacks and Cybersecurity” and “Chapter 4: Privacy”. I have been close to computers for more than a decade now. I found them interesting, which helped decide my future career as I opted IT related courses to pursue my education. I had gained limited knowledge while growing up that computers can be hacked to steal user information. However, I always wondered the reasons for which the incidents so prevalent. At the same time, I wondered the ways such attacks could be prevented. Growing up, I thought ‘anti-virus’ was the biggest solution for this. However, that was not true as I came to know there are several other things like different security frameworks/programs, firewalls and much more.

From the ‘Cyberattacks and Cybersecurity’ chapter, I learnt that, in a business organisation, computer incidents have become prevalent because the organisations are becoming more complex in their use of technology and technological devices. The organisations can be found allowing employees to access resources using personal devices. Also, the implementation of newer technology and software without testing for security threats exposes the systems and networks to security risks. Moreover, I was amazed to know the different types of exploits that are used for the cyberattacks, each with different functionality. These included viruses, trojan horse and ransomware, spams, and DDoS (Distributed denial-of-service) attacks, phishing, cyberterrorism and more.

I got to know that there are federal laws for prosecution in computer attacks like the Computer Fraud Abuse Act which defines computer frauds. Another key area which I explored in this chapter was the ‘CIA Security Triad’ which defines the effective security practices to follow in an organisation using the IT framework. The chapter of ‘Privacy’ seemed relatable to the other chapter as privacy was being exploited through the cyberattacks. Before, I had limited knowledge about the rights of privacy and the laws which aim to protect privacy. I got to learn about the Privacy Act 1988 and the IPC (Information and Privacy Commission NSW), both of which oversee privacy protection. It was also informational to view different privacy issues which could be present like cyberloafing and monitoring of employees’ devices at the workplace to the use of advanced devices to record public data.

Relevant Concepts and Theories

Bendovischi (2015) discussed the increase of cyber-crimes (the attacks and the damage to the victims) in the technology- and data-driven world. The researcher implies that the fight against the cyberattacks/cybercrimes needs more improvement. Lack of understanding of the different attacks, their characteristics and the level of impact they can have affects the strategies which can be used to handle security and privacy. The CIA security model provides the key pillars which are required to be ensured to promote information security. This model comprises information at its core which is surrounded by the aspects of availability, integrity and confidentiality. Here confidentiality translates to privacy, integrity defines the maintenance of accuracy, consistency and trustworthiness of the data, while availability is associated with ensuring upgrades and repairs to safeguard the data (Qadir and Quadri 2015).

The organisations are using cloud computing and technology services more than ever, which have increased the threats to data security and data loss. This highlights the need for disaster recovery to ensure the continuity of business after the event of security threats and security disasters (Patel and Keerthana 2019). The organisations can choose different services and products to ensure data recovery at the earliest. However, this focuses on scenarios where attacks have occurred while the priority should be to prevent such attacks in the first place. Vijayarani and Sylviaa (2015) describe IDS as a software application used to monitor system activities and networks to identify malicious operations in the systems. Such technology should be used proactively to ensure the security of information. Cloud computing and technology services offer a great opportunity for advancing organisational performance. However, key security and privacy measures must be ensured (Awodele et al. 2017).

Use of The Knowledge in The Future as An It Professional

This learning was significantly useful in improving my understanding of cyber issues in IT. Cyberattacks violate ethics and pose a threat to the victims’ confidentiality. I plan to explore more areas associated with cybersecurity in future. I also plan to get myself involved in learning advanced programming and exploring security frameworks to detect threats at an organisational level. Moreover, the use of literature highlighted the lack of knowledge of such attacks by the public. To address this, I plan to promote cybersecurity issues and potential solutions which can be implemented at and individual level first. This will help in ensuring better security practices that will consequentially help to promote security at an organisational level.

References

Awodele, O., Ominike, A. A., Adebayo, A. O., and Tayo, O. O. 2017. Security and privacy issues in cloud computing. Communication on Applied Electronics (CAE), 7(3).

Bendovschi, A. 2015. Cyber-attacks – Trends, patterns and security countermeasures. Procedia Economics and Finance, 28.

Patel, J. S., and Keerthana, V. 2019. Disaster recovery in business continuity management. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD), 3(4).

Qadir, S., and Quadri, S. M. K. 2016. Information availability: An insight into the most important attribute of information security. Journal of Information Security, 7(3).

Vijayarani, S., and Sylviaa, M. S. 2015. Intrusion detection system – A study. International Journal of Security, Privacy and Trust Management (IJSPTM), 4(1).

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