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

A policy and program for invigorating science and technology for national security: consultation paper – April 2014

This paper outlines the development of a new science and technology (S&T) policy for national security, and invites submissions. Introduction The Hon Stuart Robert MP, Assistant Minister for Defence is championing the development of a new framework for achieving a whole-of-government approach to national security science and technology (S&T). The framework will comprise a national security S&T policy statement and supporting Program. The intention is to transition from poorly coordinated and under-resourced S&T effort to a collaborative co-investment approach between government, academia and industry that effectively and efficiently delivers innovative S&T solutions in priority national security areas for Australia. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is responsible for leading and coordinating national security S&T, a role transferred from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to the Department of Defence in February 2012. As part of that role, DSTO is leading the development of a new policy and supporting program in consultation with the national security S&T communities, for consideration and endorsement by Government in 2014. The national security S&T policy will: enunciate the Government’s priorities for national security S&T, provide a means by which S&T investment can be balanced to support short-term national security operational needs in addition to enduring security challenges, establish an efficient management and governance framework that delivers S&T outcomes to national security agencies, and encourage shared public and private investment in national security S&T, and facilitate commercialisation of research outcomes for national benefit. The policy will be delivered through a coherent and coordinated national security S&T program that address national security S&T priorities and delivers real tangible outcomes for national security users. The national security S&T policy and supporting program will harness S&T providers, including publicly funded research agencies (PFRAs), universities and industry to benefit national security ‘user’ agencies, including policy agencies, regulators, emergency response agencies, policing and law enforcement agencies, border protection agencies and the intelligence community. This paper aims to promote discussion and elicit input from government agencies and the S&T community that will assist in developing a national security S&T policy and program that will improve the delivery and application of S&T to address Australia’s national security challenges now and into the future.   Find out more about making a submission her

Cybersecurity Awareness and Training Programs for Racial and Sexual Minority Populations: An Examination of Effectiveness and Best Practices

The purpose of this research study was to examine the barriers of cybersecurity awareness and training programs for racial and sexual minority populations. The findings suggest that lack of representation is a significant barrier to the effectiveness of cybersecurity awareness and training programs. Many programs are designed by and for people from dominant racial and gender groups, which makes it difficult for minority populations to relate to the information presented. As a result, it is crucial to incorporate diverse perspectives into the development of materials to improve engagement and effectiveness. The study also found that language and cultural barriers pose challenges to minority populations' participation in cybersecurity awareness and training programs. Minority populations may speak languages other than English, making it challenging to access information and training materials. Additionally, cultural differences may lead to different understandings of cybersecurity risks and how to mitigate them. To overcome these barriers, training programs should provide resources in multiple languages and build cultural competence into the curriculum. Access to resources was also identified as a barrier to participation in cybersecurity awareness and training programs. Minority populations may have limited access to technology and the internet, preventing them from participating in training programs and protecting themselves from cyber threats. This barrier can be addressed by partnering with community organizations to increase access to resources and providing training programs in a variety of formats that can be accessed through different mediums. The study also found that fear of discrimination is a significant barrier to participation in cybersecurity awareness and training programs. Minority populations may be hesitant to participate in these programs due to fear of discrimination or mistreatment based on their race or sexual orientation. Therefore, it is essential to create a safe and inclusive environment in cybersecurity training programs that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. The study found that lack of trust is a critical barrier to participation in cybersecurity awareness and training programs. Minority populations may have less trust in institutions and government agencies due to past experiences of discrimination, leading to lower engagement in cybersecurity awareness and training programs. Thus, building trust through transparent and inclusive communication strategies can promote increased participation and engagement in these programs

DXC Dandelion Program: 2018 in Review

[Excerpt] 2018 was another very successful year for the DXC Dandelion Program. DXC established a number of new, critical partnerships that continue to propel autism at work programs to the forefront of workplace inclusion. This has resulted in the program growing significantly throughout the year. DXC has now successfully established seven teams across four states in Australia, employing over 80 people on the autism spectrum

Education Cybersecurity Assessment Tool: A cybersecurity self-assessment tool for the Australian K-12 sector

The K-12 education sector is a unique sector that continues to be the target of cyber security threats. A growing misconception is that large organisations are the main target of hackers; however, the attack surface of K-12 schools is often greater than large organisations and small, medium enterprises (SME), given the numbers of students. Schools are tasked with protecting against cyber threats; however, existing frameworks are often complex and inappropriate for the education sector. This paper presents a novel cybersecurity self-assessment tool for Australian K-12 schools to assess their compliance with the National Institute of Standards and Technology – Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

Human Factors in Security – Cybersecurity Education and Awareness of Business Students

Theoretical background: The rapid development of Internet interactions and a growing number of information technology users caused by digital society development and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic yield the significant growth of cyber-attacks and cybersecurity incidents. Members of Generation Z use information technology as a main tool for broadening their knowledge and skills. For such digital natives, proficiency in ICTs appears as an indispensable element of life. This is even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they are forced to use IT tools more often, both for the entertainment, education, and work. Such acceleration generates new possibilities, but also new threats.Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to check if members of Generation Z are aware of cybersecurity issues and whether they know basic threats and methods/tools that can improve the safety. We analyse students’ behaviour in the event of cyber incident and examine whether the analysed group is willing to improve cyber knowledge, skills, and attitudes.Research methods: We explored data collected from business students (N = 182). The online questionnaire was prepared in LimeSurvey. Finally, data analysis and visualization were performed in Microsoft Excel and Tableau.Main findings: The analysis indicates that business students have rather poor knowledge in cybersecurity. The results demonstrate the need for targeted educational campaigns and trainings that address the specific cyber weaknesses to build secure ecosystem, combining both technical, organizational, and behavioural aspects

Performance of Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics paradigms in Cybersecurity and Cloud Computing Platforms

The purpose of the research is to evaluate Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics paradigms for use in Cybersecurity. Cybersecurity refers to a combination of technologies, processes and operations that are framed to protect information systems, computers, devices, programs, data and networks from internal or external threats, harm, damage, attacks or unauthorized access. The main characteristic of Machine Learning (ML) is the automatic data analysis of large data sets and production of models for the general relationships found among data. ML algorithms, as part of Artificial Intelligence, can be clustered into supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised, and reinforcement learning algorithms