Using Control Frameworks to Map Risks in Web 2.0 Applications

Web 2.0 applications are continuously moving into the corporate mainstream. Each new development brings its own threats or new ways to deliver old attacks. The objective of this study is to develop a framework to identify the security issues an organisation is exposed to through Web 2.0 applications, with specific focus on unauthorised access. An extensive literature review was performed to obtain an understanding of the technologies driving Web 2.0 applications. Thereafter, the technologies were mapped against Control Objectives for Information and related Technology and Trust Service Principles and Criteria and associated control objectives relating to security risks. These objectives were used to develop a framework which can be used to identify risks and formulate appropriate internal control measures in any organisation using Web 2.0 applications. Every organisation, technology and application is unique and the safeguards depend on the nature of the organisation, information at stake, degree of vulnerability and risks. A comprehensive security program should include a multi-layer approach comprising of a control framework, combined with a control model considering the control processes in order to identify the appropriate control techniques.Web 2.0, Security risks, Control framework, Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (CobiT), Trust Service Principles and Criteria

Genetics of adaptation: Experimental test of a biotic mechanism driving divergence in traits and genes.

The genes underlying adaptations are becoming known, yet the causes of selection on genes-a key step in the study of the genetics of adaptation-remains uncertain. We address this issue experimentally in a threespine stickleback species pair showing exaggerated divergence in bony defensive armor in association with competition-driven character displacement. We used semi-natural ponds to test the role of a native predator in causing divergent evolution of armor and two known underlying genes. Predator presence/absence altered selection on dorsal spines and allele frequencies at the Msx2a gene across a generation. Evolutionary trajectories of alleles at a second gene, Pitx1, and the pelvic spine trait it controls, were more variable. Our experiment demonstrates how manipulation of putative selective agents helps to identify causes of evolutionary divergence at key genes, rule out phenotypic plasticity as a sole determinant of phenotypic differences, and eliminate reliance on fitness surrogates. Divergence of predation regimes in sympatric stickleback is associated with coevolution in response to resource competition, implying a cascade of biotic interactions driving species divergence. We suggest that as divergence proceeds, an increasing number of biotic interactions generate divergent selection, causing more evolution in turn. In this way, biotic adaptation perpetuates species divergence through time during adaptive radiation in an expanding number of traits and genes

A Seismic Reflection Survey of the Surface of the Basement Complex in Indiana

Indiana Geological Survey Report of Progress 18The surface of the basement complex that underlies five counties in southwestern Indiana has been mapped by the reflection seismograph method. Seismic shot points were spaced 1 to 3 miles apart along six traverses in Gibson, Pike, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties. A structure map on the surface of the basement complex shows an elongate northwestward-trending depression that is as much as 22 miles in width and that has a maximum depth of 3,500 feet below the regional slope of the basement surface. Structure maps drawn on the surface of Devonian limestone, the Trenton Limestone, and the St. Peter Sandstone show a monocline over the northeast flank of this basement depression. The depression in the surface of the basement complex and the monocline shown on Paleozoic maps may be related structurally to the LaSalle Anticline.Indiana Department of Conservatio

Understanding the unintended consequences of online teaching

In March 2020, South Africa entered a hard lockdown and students and academics, were forced to transition into the fully (emergency) online remote learning space. Lecturers innovated, adapted and learnt how to use many new tools in a short period of time. Despite the changed context in which lecturers find themselves, the traditional academic and professional expectations on staff remain unchanged. Lecturers had to balance personal and professional decisions as well as disruptive technologies. This, with the added responsibility for the governance of these technologies and the uncertainties they represent. Each lecturer accepted a set of risks associated with online teaching. The purpose of this article is to outline and reflect on the problems and challenges relating to streaming and recording lecturers. Online education works effectively in developed countries. It faces practical issues at a scale that traditional learning does not. Notwithstanding these practical issues, there are additional fundamental downsides teaching online which gather around three themes: changes in teaching practices, changes to the student experience, and the re-shaping of institutional strategy and responsibilities specifically relating to this new digital environment

The Influence Of Knowing Web 2.0 Risks And Controls On Web 2.0 Usage And Security Practices Of Online Users

Significant changes have taken place on the internet in recent years. The most prominent is the introduction of Web 2.0 technologies (Web 2.0), which promotes sharing and collaboration. This study investigates the usage patterns, and awareness levels of the risks and controls associated with Web 2.0 by educated and uneducated users. Accounting students (as a proxy for educated users) are taught about the risks and controls of Web 2.0 as part of their studies, whereas Business Strategy students’ (as a proxy for uneducated users) exposure is limited to popular media and their own research. The results indicate that the use of Web 2.0 is popular among South African students irrespective of which course they major in. The Web 2.0 awareness levels of both populations were relatively high with no significant differences. Contrary to expectation, the level of usage; types of Web 2.0 technologies; types of risks; and the manner and frequency of sharing of information by the two populations were not found to differ significantly. The research highlights that although Accounting students are taught about the risks and controls in Web 2.0, they do not take these risks and controls into consideration in their personal life when interacting with Web 2.0. Contrary to expectation, it appears that being formally educated on Web 2.0 does not have a larger impact on user behaviour than awareness gained from popular media. It also indicates how user behaviour influences the effectiveness of online controls

Special issue: Illuminating occupations at the heart of social problems

As this special issue of the Journal of Occupational Science goes to press, the timing seems particularly pertinent to consider the intersection between how society and the rise of social problems impact upon and are influenced by the occupational lives that people, as individuals and collectives, lead. It seems that in all domains of life - work, school, home, leisure, and others - people are having to navigate the challenges of adapting their current occupations or adapting to new occupations as they seek to maintain the health and well-being of themselves and those around them. It is in times of such uncertainty that the complexity of occupation, as central to social life, becomes more visible to a range of societal actors. Drawing on liberatory pedagogical theory in occupation-based learning, Simaan illuminates a classroom activity using his research on occupations associated with olive growing in Palestine

Impacts of dieback at Pine Lake, Tasmania

The possibility of a new plant disease in alpine plant communities was identified in 1994, following an investigation of dead and dying plants in the Central Plateau Conservation Area. Seven areas of dieback were identified within the affected catchment and monitored. Symptoms included leaf discolouration, loss of foliage and plant death. No disease of this type has previously been recorded in the Australian alpine environment. Temporal and spatial patterns in disease development along with evidence of lesions on plant roots suggested a soil and water-borne pathogen could be contributing to the dieback. A species of Phytophthora was isolated from plant material collected at the site. Investigations have focussed on whether plants at the limits of their range have been more susceptible to a combination of below-average rainfall, above-average temperatures and the presence of pathogens. Initial rapid development of disease symptoms suggested the potential for local extinction of species, including Tasmanian endemics such as Athrotaxis cupressoides, and significant alteration to community structure through a loss or substantial reduction in the tree and shrub layers. However, longer term monitoring suggests short-term disease events followed by recovery of surviving plants with only localised impacts. Management actions have been concentrated on containment, monitoring impacts and investigation of the cause of the dieback

Fortran Program for the Upward and Downward Continuation and Derivatives of Potential Fields

In 1960 Roland G. Henderson, of the U.S. Geological Survey, published a comprehensive system for computation of first and second derivatives of potential fields and the continuation of fields to levels above or below the plane of observation. In our study a Fortran IV program (HNDRSN2), based on Henderson's algorithm, uses map data digitized at an equally spaced grid interval. Output from program HNDRSN2 includes maps of the field continued upward or downward from one to five grid units and first and second derivative maps on the surface and on selected downward continued levels. Test cases demonstrate the reliability of the program in standard analyses of gravity and magnetic fields