Countering Social Engineering through Social Media: An Enterprise Security Perspective

The increasing threat of social engineers targeting social media channels to advance their attack effectiveness on company data has seen many organizations introducing initiatives to better understand these vulnerabilities. This paper examines concerns of social engineering through social media within the enterprise and explores countermeasures undertaken to stem ensuing risk. Also included is an analysis of existing social media security policies and guidelines within the public and private sectors.Comment: Proceedings of The 7th International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence Technologies and Applications (ICCCI 2015), LNAI, Springer, Vol. 9330, pp. 54-6

The Role of Entrepreneurs in Driving the Success of their Businesses in the Digital Era

Purpose: This article examined the multifaceted role of entrepreneurs, from leveraging digital technologies and fostering a digital culture, to innovating with technology and managing data effectively.   Theoretical framework:  This fundamental review of existing concepts and theories serves as a roadmap for developing the arguments you will implement in this work.   Design/methodology/approach: Alongside these digital considerations, entrepreneurs must also prioritize sustainability in their business strategies. Implementing sustainable practices. Research from McKinsey has consistently shown that greater diversity in the workplace is associated with stronger business performance.   Findings:   Entrepreneurship in the digital era is a complex, challenging, yet exciting journey. It requires a blend of technological savvy, adaptability, foresight, sustainable practices, and a deep focus on people - whether they are employees, customers, or wider stakeholders. By harmonizing these elements, entrepreneurs can build and lead successful, resilient, and sustainable businesses in the digital era.   Research, Practical & Social implications:  Alongside these digital considerations, entrepreneurs must also prioritize sustainability in their business strategies. Implementing sustainable practices, engaging employees, being socially responsible, providing transparency, and innovating with sustainability in mind are essential for businesses to thrive in today's world. By aligning with global sustainability efforts like the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, entrepreneurs can create businesses that are not only profitable but also contribute positively to society and the environment   Originality/value: Entrepreneurs can build robust, resilient, and successful businesses ready to thrive in the digital era and beyond. The dynamic nature of the digital era implies that entrepreneurs should remain lifetime learners, continuously updating their knowledge and skills in accordance with the evolving technological landscape. They should also encourage their teams to adopt a similar learning mindset, which can lead to increased innovation, adaptability, and resilience in the face of change.

Addressing the cyber safety challenge: from risk to resilience

Addressing the cyber safety challenge: from risk to resilience describes the cyber safety issues emerging from a range of technology trends, how different populations are using technologies and the risks they face, and how we can effectively respond to each group’s unique cyber safety needs. Written by the University of Western Sydney for Telstra Corporation Ltd, the report advocates for continuing to move cyber safety from a ‘risk and protection’ framework to one that focuses on building digital resilience, as well as fostering trust and confidence in the online environment. To do this we need to: Address the needs of populations often neglected by current policies and programs – including adults, seniors, parents, and small to medium enterprises Continue to build the digital literacy skills of all populations, because digital literacy strongly influences users’ ability to engage safely online – this is best achieved by a hands-on learning approach Keep risk in perspective – the risks and benefits of digital participation go hand in hand Broaden the focus from awareness-raising to long-term behaviour change. As digital technologies become further integrated into the everyday lives of Australians, users are potentially exposed to greater risks. However, the risks and benefits of digital participation go hand in hand. The challenge, therefore, is to support users to minimise the risks without limiting their digital participation and their capacity to derive the full benefits of connectivity. If Australians are to benefit as either consumers or providers of online services and products in the e-commerce environment, consumer safety and trust need to be improved. Cyber safety needs to be considered against a transforming backdrop of technology trends, products and practices. While the rise of social media has tended to dominate recent debate and developments in cyber safety, particularly in relation to young people, a range of other trends is also shaping how users engage online, the risks they potentially face in the new media landscape, and the strategies used to address them. These trends include the rise of user generated content and content sharing platforms; the uptake of mobile technologies and, in particular, the adoption of smartphones; cloud computing; platform integration and single sign-on mechanisms; and the rise of GPS and location based services

Smart Asset Management for Electric Utilities: Big Data and Future

This paper discusses about future challenges in terms of big data and new technologies. Utilities have been collecting data in large amounts but they are hardly utilized because they are huge in amount and also there is uncertainty associated with it. Condition monitoring of assets collects large amounts of data during daily operations. The question arises "How to extract information from large chunk of data?" The concept of "rich data and poor information" is being challenged by big data analytics with advent of machine learning techniques. Along with technological advancements like Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics will play an important role for electric utilities. In this paper, challenges are answered by pathways and guidelines to make the current asset management practices smarter for the future.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of 12th World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM) 201

Smart Grid Technologies in Europe: An Overview

The old electricity network infrastructure has proven to be inadequate, with respect to modern challenges such as alternative energy sources, electricity demand and energy saving policies. Moreover, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) seem to have reached an adequate level of reliability and flexibility in order to support a new concept of electricity network—the smart grid. In this work, we will analyse the state-of-the-art of smart grids, in their technical, management, security, and optimization aspects. We will also provide a brief overview of the regulatory aspects involved in the development of a smart grid, mainly from the viewpoint of the European Unio

How can SMEs benefit from big data? Challenges and a path forward

Big data is big news, and large companies in all sectors are making significant advances in their customer relations, product selection and development and consequent profitability through using this valuable commodity. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have proved themselves to be slow adopters of the new technology of big data analytics and are in danger of being left behind. In Europe, SMEs are a vital part of the economy, and the challenges they encounter need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. This paper identifies barriers to SME uptake of big data analytics and recognises their complex challenge to all stakeholders, including national and international policy makers, IT, business management and data science communities. The paper proposes a big data maturity model for SMEs as a first step towards an SME roadmap to data analytics. It considers the ‘state-of-the-art’ of IT with respect to usability and usefulness for SMEs and discusses how SMEs can overcome the barriers preventing them from adopting existing solutions. The paper then considers management perspectives and the role of maturity models in enhancing and structuring the adoption of data analytics in an organisation. The history of total quality management is reviewed to inform the core aspects of implanting a new paradigm. The paper concludes with recommendations to help SMEs develop their big data capability and enable them to continue as the engines of European industrial and business success. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

4th Industry Revolution Digital Marketing Adoption Challenges in SMEs and its Effect on Customer Responsiveness

4th industrial revolution of cyber-physical technologies (4IR) intersecting digital technologies and entrepreneurship serves as an external stimulus in fostering a new method of venture creation transforming customers’ purchasing and consuming behavior. Large corporations are leading in leveraging on 4IR digital marketing for their marketing strategy but SMEs are lacking behind. This study explores the conundrum using an exploratory sequential mixed method. Semi-structured interviews were carried out on a sample selected using non-probability purposive sampling and determined through attaining thematic saturation of discursive patterns. Scale development for quantitative instruments performed using SPSS statistical software. A quantitative study was carried out on a sample size of 153 SME respondents. Analysis was undertaken by paired-sample T-test. Kuskal-Wallis H test and Spearman’s rho correlation test due to the nonparametric nature of data distribution. The outcome reveals that although SMEs are increasingly reliant on DM for their marketing strategy, most of these SMEs are only willing to invest in building low-level DM capability citing a lack of financial budget, inadequate technology infrastructure to support such setup, cyber security issues and lack of DM knowledge. Financial budget and technology infrastructure are considered the most critical concerns by SMEs with low and moderate DM adoption. However, these concerns are less pronounced in SMEs with high DM adoption. Finally, the weak but significant correlation between SMEs’ DM adoption and customer responsiveness infers the significant role of 4IR technology as an enabler of digital marketing strategy that also depends on other critical contributing factors such as price and qualit

Fighting Cybercrime with Zero Trust

Zero Trust Architecture focuses on securing critical data and access paths by eliminating trust as much as possible by “assuming breach.” It establishes trust every time a user tries to access an asset in the system by questioning the premise that users, devices, and network components should be implicitly trusted based on their location within the network. We have chosen Zero Trust to help reduce the impact of cybercrime and establish baseline security practices. It is a dramatic paradigm shift in the philosophy of securing our infrastructure, networks, and data, from verifying once at the perimeter to continually verifying each user, device, application, and transaction. Trust in humans is essential to forming connections; however, trust in network connections can create dangers and potential security gaps in the digital world. In a hyper-connected world, anyone can launch an attack virtually and participate in cybercrime by violating the trust of systems or networks. The cost of not implementing good security practices is evident in the growing number of data breaches and ransomware attacks that erode consumers' trust in tech and online space. Considering Zero Trust and Zero Trust Architecture developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) should help reduce the impact of cybercrime and protect the crown jewels in cyberspace from a malicious insider or an external attacker