Software engineering ethics

Software engineering ethics is reviewed. The following subject areas are covered: lack of a system viewpoint; arrogance of PC DOS software vendors; violation od upward compatibility; internet worm; internet worm revisited; student cheating and company hiring interviews; computing practitioners and the commodity market; new projects and old programming languages; schedule and budget; and recent public domain comments

Usable Security: Why Do We Need It? How Do We Get It?

Security experts frequently refer to people as “the weakest link in the chain” of system security. Famed hacker Kevin Mitnick revealed that he hardly ever cracked a password, because it “was easier to dupe people into revealing it” by employing a range of social engineering techniques. Often, such failures are attributed to users’ carelessness and ignorance. However, more enlightened researchers have pointed out that current security tools are simply too complex for many users, and they have made efforts to improve user interfaces to security tools. In this chapter, we aim to broaden the current perspective, focusing on the usability of security tools (or products) and the process of designing secure systems for the real-world context (the panorama) in which they have to operate. Here we demonstrate how current human factors knowledge and user-centered design principles can help security designers produce security solutions that are effective in practice

IDENTIFYING IT SOLUTIONS ON FRAUD IN ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS OF FUNDS FROM BANKING SYSTEM

Although we hear daily of fraud, most of them are not reported. Some reports estimated that approximately 90% of assaults are not reported outside organizations were attacked, and only some of the reports are completed by punishment.In fact, for fear of losing customers, some companies (usually banks and large corporations) prefers to fall to an understanding with attackers in exchange for preserving part of the stolen money and keeping silence. Taking into account the development and modernization of the economies of the world in the last four decades, and simultaneous this global banking development and distribution were strongly influenced by the introduction of new computer technology; in such activities new computer technology had a strong impact on providers and on consumers.IT security, fraud, electronic transactions, banking system

A survey on cyber security for smart grid communications

A smart grid is a new form of electricity network with high fidelity power-flow control, self-healing, and energy reliability and energy security using digital communications and control technology. To upgrade an existing power grid into a smart grid, it requires significant dependence on intelligent and secure communication infrastructures. It requires security frameworks for distributed communications, pervasive computing and sensing technologies in smart grid. However, as many of the communication technologies currently recommended to use by a smart grid is vulnerable in cyber security, it could lead to unreliable system operations, causing unnecessary expenditure, even consequential disaster to both utilities and consumers. In this paper, we summarize the cyber security requirements and the possible vulnerabilities in smart grid communications and survey the current solutions on cyber security for smart grid communications. © 2012 IEEE

Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

The State of e-Banking Implementation in Nigeria: A Post-Consolidation Review

The most widely used e-Banking instrument in �igeria is e-Payment, particularly the automatic teller machine (ATM) card. However, with the adoption of e-Banking by all the banks in �igeria, the volume of cash in circulation has continued to increase pre-and-post bank recapitalization/consolidation exercise. Furthermore, some of the 25 banks that survived the exercise were found lately to have depleted their capital base and have lost credibility before the consumers, e-Banking implementation notwithstanding. Therefore, in this paper, we review the state of e-Banking implementation in �igeria and evaluate the influence of trust on the adoption of e-Payment using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). Similarly, we investigate organizational reputation, perceived risk and perceived trust in the management of banks as a factor for enhancing customer loyalty. The findings in this work reveal that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are not only antecedent to ebanking acceptance, they are also factors to retain customers to the use of e-banking system such as organizational reputation, perceived risk and trust