The Key Authority - Secure Key Management in Hierarchical Public Key Infrastructures

We model a private key`s life cycle as a finite state machine. The states are the key`s phases of life and the transition functions describe tasks to be done with the key. Based on this we define and describe the key authority, a trust center module, which potentiates the easy enforcement of secure management of private keys in hierarchical public key infrastructures. This is done by assembling all trust center tasks concerning the crucial handling of private keys within one centralized module. As this module resides under full control of the trust center`s carrier it can easily be protected by well-known organizational and technical measures.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

The Key to Risk Management: Management

The Barings, Daiwa Bank and Sumitomo Corp. financial debacles in the mid-1990s suggest that management failures rather than misfortune, errors, or complexity are a major source of the risk of financial debacles. These errors are systematic and are a concommittant of the structure of trading and of human nature. Risk management systems must take these facts into account.

A Framework for Key Account Management and Revenue Management Integration

This is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.Key Account Management (KAM) and Revenue Management (RevM) have been widely practiced in the service industries for more than three decades, but the effects of RevM on KAM remain largely unknown. This paper addresses this neglected area of study in the marketing field by presenting a framework for KAM and RevM integration that aligns the potentially conflicting management priorities of the two. The study uses an international hotel company as a research context to investigate, first, how a long-term relational approach to KAM may have been affected by RevM short-term revenue maximization goals, and, second, how KAM could be facilitated by RevM through an integrated approach to yield optimization from perishable products and from key accounts. The proposed framework is the first attempt of its kind to amalgamate KAM and RevM, involving critical analysis to assess comprehensively the revenue and the relationship value of a key accountPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Group key management based on semigroup actions

In this work we provide a suite of protocols for group key management based on general semigroup actions. Construction of the key is made in a distributed and collaborative way. Examples are provided that may in some cases enhance the security level and communication overheads of previous existing protocols. Security against passive attacks is considered and depends on the hardness of the semigroup action problem in any particular scenario.Comment: accepted for publication in Journal of algebra and its application

Key knowledge management variables for facilities management organisational effectiveness

Although knowledge management concept has grown noticeably during last few years, management of facilities knowledge has been little studies. Facilities knowledge is of crucial importance for organisational effectiveness and makes a proactive contribution to business to achieve competitive advantage. The research addresses the importance of managing facilities knowledge and to reveal the key knowledge variables by examining the current practice and gaps in application of knowledge management techniques in facilities management context. The intellectual capital framework is introduced as a conceptual model with which facilities users can identify and organise facilities knowledge in a purposeful way

Key issues in participatory irrigation management

The recent developments in irrigation sector in the developing world are dominated by PIM/IMT concept. Although the conditions of success and the impediments discussed in this paper concerning the concept are in the context of India, the same are applicable to all countries that are aspiring to achieve success in this respect. Therefore, the aspiring countries, including India must be cautious of the financial allurements of donor agencies because PIM seems to suffer from a number of infirmities that cannot be overridden but in exceptional cases. This is borne out of the fact that although the concept of PIM is being tried in India for over last thirty years, it has yet to achieve even a semblance of acceptability and replicability, not to talk of scaling up. Large canal systems in India contain nearly 40 percent of country’s total irrigation potential of 94 million ha, a substantial part of which, remains unutilised. The main reason behind the lack of utilisation is the ill maintenance of irrigation systems, particularly micro systems at lower levels and those at the farm level. Faced on the one hand, by the near collapse of such irrigation systems and on the other, utter financial crunch, administrators are susceptible to donors like World Bank and Asian Development Bank, who are currently coming forward with funds with the conditionality of PIM. Coupled with this alluring prospect is India’s experience of the last three decades with the concept of PIM. The scenario that exists in India provides both an opportunity and challenge. The paper based on the author’s experience as a researcher/consultant cutting across country’s cultural and geographical boundaries, short lists conditions of success of PIM/IMT along with a close scrutiny and analysis of the impediments that impinge on its path.Length: pp.541-557Irrigation managementParticipatory managementWater users associationsFarmer-agency interactions

Risk Management in Public Key Infrastructure

Nowadays it is almost impossible not to hear or read about the risks of using computer systems. Top management is becoming more interested in risk management process and their analysis regarding the use of information technologies within their organization. This is due primarily to the Internet boom and high level of dependence of their business to information systems. Risk management is the process that allows IT managers to balance the operational and economic costs of protective measures and obtain assets in mission capability by securing the IT systems and data that help their organizations performances. In this paper we present the risk management processes, the main services offered by the Public Key Infrastructure and security risks that may arise in implementing Public Key Infrastructure.risk management; public key infrastructure; PKI services; PKI risks.