Tutorial 4 (Computer Forensics)

Recently I went to get fingerprinted for a new job, I went in expecting to be getting my hands inky, pressing each finger against a piece of paper (I guess I was ready to dramatize the process like I had always seen it done on TV). But to my surprise it wasn't in a florescent lit police station, but in a small UPS store with equipment like you might see on CSI. Instead of ink and paper, I put my fingers on a glass pad that scanned them and then uploaded them digitally.

Photo Created by Christina Angelakos, copyright 2011.

This got me thinking about our brief session on Computer Forensics in our Security Lesson. There are some amazing technological tools being used right now to determine and prevent crimes. Among some of the crimes being prevented through Computer forensics are...

-Unauthorized Disclosure of Information

-Industrial Espionage

-Fraud

-Also used in Data Recovery

Computer Forensic Scientists use a lot of different tools to prevent these crimes. According to an article written by Steve Hailey the President and CEO of CyberSecurity Institute, Computer Forensics can be broken down into a few basic processes,

1. Prevention-This includes making copies of the original data in order to ensure data safety.

2. Identification-This phase includes sifting through data to find information pertinent to the case.

3. Extraction-Extracting the pertinent info and then saving it to a file or disk.

4. Interpretation-Using Experts to decide if the information is truly important to the case or not.

5. Documentation-This phase is important throughout the case, since without documentation it would not hold up in a legal battle.

The article goes into great detail of the Forensic Process including examples of cases in which Computer Forensics have been used.

You can read the article for yourself at http://www.cybersecurityinstitute.biz/forensics.htm.

Some famous crimes have been solved using Computer Forensics...for example the infamous BTK killer, Dennis Rader, was found out because of a letter he sent the police in a floppy disk. Forensics was able to trace the disk back to Rader, ending a killing spree that had spanned 30 years. Another example is the end of the largest CD manufacturing piracy scheme in the United States, called “Operation Remaster” ended with the help of a forensics lab called the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL) sponsored by the FBI.

For more information about cases solved by the FBI and RCFL using Computer Forensics read this article...http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/april/rcfl_042908.

Below is a clip of what can happen when all your assets are on computers and what you can do to prevent losing it all.

IBM Linux Commercial. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XRwWwUkow.

Ok, so maybe this would never happen in real life and maybe your solution isn't a Linux. But its a pretty funny commercial and it just goes to show you how important it is to have security for your computers. And thankfully we have the technology to catch criminals and even prevent security risks from happening. Computer Forensics is a growing field with many different uses. To learn more about the types of jobs Computer Forensic Technicians hold or more about the men and women working in this field go to http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-4092.00.

Secure Email Project

This week we learned how to send digitally signed and encrypted emails. These tools come in handy for businesses when they need to send and receive important information via the web.

Above is a Screen Shot of the digitally signed and encrypted email I sent to Dr. Means.

As I was searching for articles about Businesses that have used (or should have used) secure email and other security, I found an interesting blog post at Blog.intuit.com...

http://blog.intuit.com/money/10-ways-to-protect-your-data-from-hackers/

The post basically lists the steps small businesses can take to protect themselves from hackers. Some of the steps include...

-Creating Strong Passwords

-Installing Anti-Virus Programs

-Setting Up Firewalls

-Creating Backup Files

-Performing Regular Updates

In addition to the above blog, I found an article on BusinessDay.com about AdaptIT and Iron Mountain, two companies joining forces to provide software security to businesses in South Africa. According to the article these companies are performing one of the most important services available to the local South African companies...information protection. The article states that according to research done by AdaptIT “93% of all computer users have lost data in the past three years. One out of every two companies that lost data in a disaster was out of business within two years.” They protect these companies from data loss and also help them recover any information that may have been already lost. You can read more about AdaptIT and Iron Mountain and their partnership here at http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=139366

Tutorial 3 (Systems Analyst)

While watching our lectures, I thought that the lesson on System Analysts was interesting. Especially when they performed the interview with a professional System Analyst/Project Manager. When I think of a System Analyst I had always thought more of a social recluse typing away in a dark room...well maybe not that extreme, but I was really surprised to learn that the job contained more social aspects than even technical ones. So I thought a good topic for our 3^rd tutorial would be a little more in depth explanation of what exactly a System Analyst does.

According to O*Net.com a Systems Analyst make on average $77,080 annually, and their interest code is ICR (Investigative, Conventional, Realistic). Some important skills for a Systems Analyst according to O*Net.com are...

• Critical Thinking

• Active Listening

• Reading Comprehension

• Speaking

• Systems Analysis

• Complex Problem Solving

• Judgment and Decision Making

• Programming

• Systems Evaluation
  

• Writing

To read the full summary report of a System Analyst go to http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1051.00.

And if you think like I did that the only places that hire System Analysts are Universities and Financial Institutions, think again! Here are some cool places that hire System Analysts...

• Disney World (Orlando, FL.)

• Paramount Pictures (Hollywood, CA.)

• ESPN (Bristol, CT)

• San Diego Zoo Global (San Diego, CA.)

• ConAgra Foods (Omaha, NE.)

As I was browsing the web, looking for more of a scoop into the life of a System Analyst, I found this great interview on a website called Mycooljob.org. The interview was with Bettina Bair, and during the interview when asked what she liked most about her job she responded, “I love being the person that everyone goes to when they have a problem with their computer, knowing that I can fix it.” That response said a lot about the type of person she was, and I thought it was a great view into the type of person who would choose to become a System Analyst. System Analysts are tech-savvy, dedicated, social people who want to help other people solve their problems. You can read the rest of Ms. Bair's interview here at http://mycooljob.org/wise/systems_analyst.php.

Overall, a Systems Analyst has an interesting, important job that allows them to interact with a lot of different people and to work in some of the most exciting industries in the world.

(The Top photo was taken from Stock.Xchng.com @ http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1116902)

(The Bottom Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Database Project

I learned A LOT during this project…Since I had never worked with Microsoft Access before I felt like everything I needed to do for the project was something completely new that I had to learn. One thing in particular that surprised me about Access were the Reports and Forms. I didn’t realize that Access could create professional looking documents with just a few simple clicks.

Above is a Screen shot of a Form in Access that I took using Jing.

While I was working on this project my mind kept racing in a billion different directions on all the ways this program could be used. Obviously, as we learned during the lectures and while doing the project, Access is great for keeping records of products, people and dates. But I was thinking, since it automatically assigns numbers to lists, it could also be used to organize buildings (for instance City Planners could use it to organize their work), patients (Doctors could assign a random number to each patient to ensure confidentiality), subjects (Researchers could use the random numbers to assign to test subjects to keep those that are placebo's a secret). I'm sure that these reasons are already being used, and that there are also about a million others that I haven't even thought of!

All in all, I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn more about Microsoft Access and its MANY features. I'm sure that I will be using this program in the future...in a lot of different ways!

Web 2.0 Project

Below is my Presentation for the Web 2.0 Project. I chose to do a presentation on a nonprofit company called “Man In The Mirror” which is an organization designed to help men become better husbands and fathers.

Self-Critique:

Its always difficult to critique your own work, but I think for the most part that my project flowed logically. I tried to think of any possible questions before hand and attempted to answer them before the viewer would think to ask. The opening of my presentation was attention grabbing, I used soft music and interesting statistics to pull the audience in.

I asked several direct questions to spark interest (which I immediately answered). But one of the things I could have worked on a little more was validating my claims, I probably could have added more statistics, or shown some more examples of how MIM has helped solve the problem I set up in the beginning of the presentation.

I really wanted to avoid clutter in my presentation so I made it as simple as I possibly could. I think this also helped with the presentation's readability, since there are very few words on the screen, the viewer is able to read them quickly, and still follow what I am saying in my presentation.

Overall (at the risk of sounding a little biased), I think it is a very good presentation. It's short, direct and interesting to watch and I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Peer-Critique:

Its a little difficult to critique someone's work too, because you want to be honest and give good feedback, but at the same time you don't want to hurt their feelings. In my case it was really easy though, since I thought the one I critiqued was great! Critiquing someone's work does open your eyes to holes in your own work though. For instance, while I was critiquing my peer's project, I was thinking about how my presentation stacked up against the rubric.

What I learned:

I learned a lot from this project...mostly from making mistakes while I was learning how to use the different video capture programs.

I loved using Prezi, its really easy and fun to use. Also, Camtasia is phenomenal! Once I created my Prezi and recorded the voice over, all that was left was to capture the Prezi and add the audio to the video capture.

I will definitely be using both Prezi and Camtasia in my future, they are great programs to have in a business environment. I think Prezi is a great alternative to PowerPoint since it is so interesting visually and is really easy to create. Camtasia is also a great tool for any business since you can make a professional looking product with a few simple clicks.

This was such a fun project to work on, I loved learning how to use new tools and having to think creatively...I hope you enjoy the presentation and I hope that I get a chance to work with these wonderful tools (and maybe some new ones too) in the near future.

Tutorial 2 (Digital Rights Management)

With the Grammy’s having just passed I thought Digital Rights Management would be a good topic for the second tutorial. According to TechTerms.com the definition of Digital Rights Management (or DRM) “refers to a collection of systems used to protect the copyrights of electronic media. These include digital music and movies, as well as other data that is stored and transferred digitally.”

DRM has become a huge issue in our instant gratification generation and, with the appearance of Youtube.com and iTunes, downloading and pirating music has never been easier. This is why it is so important for recording artists and the owners of these copyrighted arts to protect their rights by limiting access to their work. This is where DRM comes in handy.

DRM's basic function is to prevent copying, and it can control access to digital music through several different ways...

-By limiting playback to one device- For example this will only allow music to be played on one computer.

-Using an expiration date- Music will expire after a certain amount of time.

-Using digital watermarks- This is special digital data that is written only on the original file.

Many companies use DRM to protect their media. Below is a screen capture I took using Jing, of iTunes' use of DRM.

Below is another screen shot I took that shows iTunes policy of limiting playback to 5 devices. The page shows how to authorize a computer to allow for playback

Unfortunately DRM is not a fool-proof plan for protecting copyright owner’s rights. There are a number of ways to get around DRM. One of the most popular ways is an “Analog Hole”. An Analog Hole is basically when you record music from one device using a microphone on another device. This simple technique is just one of the many foils to DRM.

Another issue facing DRM is the debate of whether or not it should even exist. There are some people who argue that the results of using DRM outweigh it's benefits. Some of the issues they cite include annoying honest customers because they are limited in the control of their legally acquired purchases, as well as the legal issues they face because of the tracking some DRM software does on customers activities. These issues are just a few of the many problems plaguing DRM today, for more information on the different issues and views concerning DRM you can find hundreds of articles at... http://www.computerworld.com/s/topic/144/DRM+and+Legal+Issues.

Below is a 5:50 min clip about the differing views on the topic of DRM by some of the leading experts in the music industry including Richard French, Gerd Leonhard, Ted Cohen and Lee Shupp.

Digital Music Panel Discussion – Pros and Cons of DRM Video. By ForaTv. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XRwWwUkow.

For more in-depth information about the history of DRM and how it works, there is a really interesting article by Julia Layton, “How Digital Rights Management Works”. You can find the article by clicking on the following link....http://computer.howstuffworks.com/drm1.htm

EXCEL PROJECT

For this project we were told to organize data for our “boss” the owner of a fitness center. The owner wanted information on the customer's heart rates, target heart rates, maximum heart rate and whether or not the heart rate was achieved. The owner also wanted a few Pivot Tables to analyze the data and to use as a quick guide. Below is a screen shot I took of one of the Pivot Tables I created so that the owner could see the average percent increase in the subjects heart rates divided by age group and gender.

To complete this project I had to learn a few new techniques from Excel. Three of the techniques that I learned and felt to be the most useful were...

1) Using the Freeze Panes

2) Learning how to use the Pivot Table

3) Learning how to create an Absolute Value in Excel formulas

I couldn't believe how easy it is to organize data using Pivot Tables. Also, how professional and organized a chart can look by using something as simple as Freeze Panes. The absolute value in Excel formulas was a great new tool to learn about too. Before, trying to type out 30 different formulas was a real problem, now I just type it in once with the absolute value and then copy and paste! This project opened my eyes to the crazy amount of things you can do with Excel...I really think that these techniques will be valuable tools I can use in the future.