Assessing the Determinants of Cloud Computing Services for Utilizing Health Information Systems: A Case Study

Health information systems refer to the utilization of IT-related systems to capture, store, manage, or transmit information related to the health of individuals or the activities within the health sector. Utilizing cloud services in the healthcare sector is a flexible solution to improve the performance of an organization as it can provide numerous features such as self-service, ubiquitous network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and pay-per-use pattern. A preliminary study was conducted in the Iraqi public healthcare sector to obtain preliminary data acquisition about the current situation of IT and to determine the key factors associated with the utilization of cloud computing to foster current health information systems. During the study, a total of 30 technicians and physicians from four hospitals in Iraq were invited for interview in which the researcher directed questions in a semi-structured form. The findings of the investigation concluded the key determinant factors; these include factors related to the environmental structure such as software, hardware, cost, network, and training. Other factors that were found related to the system such as compatibility, complexity, data security and privacy. These two aspects were found to influence personal factors related to the behavioural control and confirmation to utilize cloud computing services in this sector

IS Human Capital: Assessing Gaps to Strengthen Skill and Competency Sourcing

Past research has mainly focused on defining information systems (IS) skills and competencies at the industry or global level; it has offered little guidance on best practices for managing IS at the organization level. And yet, a resource-based view indicates that failure to properly manage skills and competencies could lead to suboptimal outcomes such as a loss of IS process knowledge and innovation, an inability to adequately evaluate vendor performance, and a lack of critical skills and competencies needed to meet future demands. In this paper, we examine how one government agency managed its systems for testing personnel. We describe the need for a process to assess IS skills and competencies in order to analyze the gaps and ensure they are filled. A concrete understanding of existing gaps guides sourcing of skills and competencies through hiring, training, internal transfers, and work allocation. This paper presents an effective methodology for this purpose

The Pandemic\u27s Impact on the Efficacy of Chaplaincy at the Baldwin State Prison

Chaplains usually provide pastoral care for inmates, staff members, and counseling for offenders and offenders’ families. Because of the pandemic, they have not provided adequate pastoral care and counseling in their respective facilities. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic have negatively impacted the chaplain’s ability to adequately provide pastoral care and counseling in most federal and state correctional institutions. The Department of Georgia Correctional facilities, particularly at the Baldwin State prison, has also experienced this decrease in pastoral care and counseling due to the pandemic. In the Georgia Department of Corrections, all visitations, including lawyers and clergy, have been suspended since March 2020. Due to these restrictions, the chaplain of the Baldwin State prison in Georgia cannot coordinate the various religious services representing the different religious groups housed in the facility. Secondly, the facility has seven dormitories that house one hundred and seven inmates (107) per dormitory, and the COVID-19 virus can spread exponentially due to this overcrowded condition. The pandemic has severely hindered the Baldwin State prison\u27s chaplain\u27s ability to provide this critical pastoral care and counseling for staff members and offenders. This body of research implications is discussed: the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the overcrowded conditions at this facility have impeded the Baldwin State chaplain\u27s ability to adequately provide the pastoral care and counseling required for this facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. This lack of pastoral care and counseling results in moral issues and increased mental health challenges throughout the facility

Security Strategies for Hosting Sensitive Information in the Commercial Cloud

IT experts often struggle to find strategies to secure data on the cloud. Although current security standards might provide cloud compliance, they fail to offer guarantees of security assurance. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the strategies used by IT security managers to host sensitive information in the commercial cloud. The study\u27s population consisted of information security managers from a government agency in the eastern region of the United States. The routine active theory, developed by Cohen and Felson, was used as the conceptual framework for the study. The data collection process included IT security manager interviews (n = 7), organizational documents and procedures (n = 14), and direct observation of a training meeting (n = 35). Data collection from organizational data and observational data were summarized. Coding from the interviews and member checking were triangulated with organizational documents and observational data/field notes to produce major and minor themes. Through methodological triangulation, 5 major themes emerged from the data analysis: avoiding social engineering vulnerabilities, avoiding weak encryption, maintaining customer trust, training to create a cloud security culture, and developing sufficient policies. The findings of this study may benefit information security managers by enhancing their information security practices to better protect their organization\u27s information that is stored in the commercial cloud. Improved information security practices may contribute to social change by providing by proving customers a lesser amount of risk of having their identity or data stolen from internal and external thieve

Balancing usability and security in the business cloud authentication

Jatkuvasti suosiotaan kasvattavat pilvipalvelut luovat monia uusia mahdollisuuksia etätyöntekijöille, yhteistyökumppaneille ja hakkereille päästä käyttämään yrityksen työkaluja ja asiakastietoja. Kun pilvipalveluissa olevan tärkeän yritysdatan määrä kasvaa, myös palveluiden tietoturvavaatimukset kovenevat. Pilvipalveluiden tietoturvallisessa suunnittelussa tulee ottaa huomioon lukuisia erilaisia hyökkäysreittejä monella eri palvelun tasolla aina verkon rajapinnasta yksittäisten ohjelmistokomponenttien haavoittuvuuksiin. Yksi isoimmista hyökkäysvektoreista on myös reitti, joka on pakko jättää osittain avoimeksi palvelun varsinaisia käyttäjiä varten – autentikointi, eli käyttäjien todentaminen palveluun kirjautumisen yhteydessä. Diplomityön tavoitteena oli löytää tasapainokohta ja siihen vaikuttavat tekijät pilvipalveluiden käytettävyyden ja tietoturvan väliltä. Käyttäjän autentikoinnin tulee olla tarpeeksi tietoturvallinen, etteivät mahdolliset hyökkääjät pääsisi käsiksi järjestelmän arvokkaisiin dataan ja resursseihin. Samaan aikaan autentikoinnin tulee olla myös tarpeeksi käytettävää, jotta varsinaiset käyttäjät pääsevät palveluihinsa tehokkaasti ja ilman tarpeetonta turhautumista. Aihetta lähestytään kirjallisuuskatsauksella aihealueen keskeiseen tutkimukseen ja pilvipalveluihin sopivien autentikointimenetelmien kartoittamisella. Näiden lisäksi työssä suunniteltiin ja järjestettiin kuudelle osallistujalle käytettävyystesti, jossa mitattiin käyttäjien suhtautumista neljään erilaiseen autentikointimenetelmään ja niitä yhdistelevään monen menetelmän autentikointiin (multi-factor authentication). Samalla käyttäjiltä kartoitettiin puolistrukturoiduilla haastatteluilla erilaisia tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat heidän kokemaansa käytettävyyden ja tietoturvan tasapainoon. Tutkimuksessa tunnistettiin useita tapoja parantaa käytettävyyden ja tietoturvan tasapainoa yritysten pilvipalveluissa. Monen keskivahvan autentikointimenetelmän yhdistelmän havaittiin olevan käyttäjäystävällisempi kuin samaan tietoturvan tasoon yltävän yhden menetelmän vahvan autentikaation. Käyttäjien kouluttamisella ja tietoturvan tavoitteiden selkeällä kommunikaatiolla oli myös iso merkitys, etenkin epävirallisten, tietoturvaa heikentävien ”kiertoteiden” välttämisessä. Unohtuneiden käyttäjätunnusten uudelleenasettaminen on myös eräs usein liian vähälle huomiolle jäävä tekijä, jolla on iso vaikutus sekä järjestelmän käytettävyyteen että tietoturvaan.Increasing wave of cloud services is creating many new ways for remote workers, outsourcing partners and hackers to access the essential tools and business data of the cloud-enabled companies. As the amount of business critical data in the cloud services increase, so does the need for securing it. Securing a cloud service needs balanced defenses against many different attack vectors in various levels of the service, starting from the edges of the public network and continuing deep inside the individual design of the each software component of the cloud service. One of the biggest attack vectors is also the one route that has to be left open for the legitimate users to use the service – user authentication. The goal for this thesis was to find balance between making the user authentication in business cloud services secure enough and usable enough. Authentication has to be secure enough to prevent malicious attackers from gaining access to the valuable data and resources inside the service. At the same time it has still to be usable enough for the legitimate users to be able to access their cloud services without unnecessary frustration. The topic is approached through literature review of relevant research and relevant authentication methods. In addition, several (n=6) usability tests are performed in combination with half-structured interviews to evaluate the user preference in authentication method selection and the factors affecting the experienced balance of security and usability. In addition, the thesis evaluates other important factors, in addition to the authentication method itself, that are affecting the security – usability –balance of the entire authentication process. As a result the thesis presents several ways to improve the balance of usability and security in business cloud services. Multifactor authentication is observed to be more usable than equally secure single-factor authentication. Educating the users and communicating the security needs clearly helps to reduce the unsanctioned security “shortcuts” that reduce the overall security. Authentication resetting is often neglected, but really essential factor both as usability hindrance and possible attack vector

Cloud Computing Adoption in Afghanistan: A Quantitative Study Based on the Technology Acceptance Model

Cloud computing emerged as an alternative to traditional in-house data centers that businesses can leverage to increase the operation agility and employees\u27 productivity. IT solution architects are tasked with presenting to IT managers some analysis reflecting cloud computing adoption critical barriers and challenges. This quantitative correlational study established an enhanced technology acceptance model (TAM) with four external variables: perceived security (PeS), perceived privacy (PeP), perceived connectedness (PeN), and perceived complexity (PeC) as antecedents of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEoU) in a cloud computing context. Data collected from 125 participants, who responded to the invitation through an online survey focusing on Afghanistan\u27s main cities Kabul, Mazar, and Herat. The analysis showed that PEoU was a predictor of the behavioral intention of cloud computing adoption, which is consistent with the TAM; PEoU with an R2 = .15 had a stronger influence than PU with an R2 = .023 on cloud computing behavior intention of adoption and use. PeN, PeS, and PeP significantly influenced the behavioral intentions of IT architects to adopt and use the technology. This study showed that PeC was not a significant barrier to cloud computing adoption in Afghanistan. By adopting cloud services, employees can have access to various tools that can help increase business productivity and contribute to improving the work environment. Cloud services, as an alternative solution to home data centers, can help businesses reduce power consumption and consecutively decrease in carbon dioxide emissions due to less power demand

IT Laws in the Era of Cloud-Computing

This book documents the findings and recommendations of research into the question of how IT laws should develop on the understanding that today’s information and communication technology is shaped by cloud computing, which lies at the foundations of contemporary and future IT as its most widespread enabler. In particular, this study develops on both a comparative and an interdisciplinary axis, i.e. comparatively by examining EU and US law, and on an interdisciplinary level by dealing with law and IT. Focusing on the study of data protection and privacy in cloud environments, the book examines three main challenges on the road towards more efficient cloud computing regulation: -understanding the reasons behind the development of diverging legal structures and schools of thought on IT law -ensuring privacy and security in digital clouds -converging regulatory approaches to digital clouds in the hope of more harmonised IT laws in the future

Emerging Informatics

The book on emerging informatics brings together the new concepts and applications that will help define and outline problem solving methods and features in designing business and human systems. It covers international aspects of information systems design in which many relevant technologies are introduced for the welfare of human and business systems. This initiative can be viewed as an emergent area of informatics that helps better conceptualise and design new world-class solutions. The book provides four flexible sections that accommodate total of fourteen chapters. The section specifies learning contexts in emerging fields. Each chapter presents a clear basis through the problem conception and its applicable technological solutions. I hope this will help further exploration of knowledge in the informatics discipline

Progression Magazine, 2017 Summer

Magazine of the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/progression/1008/thumbnail.jp