Information security legislation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Information security legislation - Essay Example Never the less, times have changed and the recent past has seen a lot of regulations and legislation which impacts information security. Some of these legislations are the European Data Protection Directive, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the Capital Adequacy Directive, just to mention but a few. In the event of these new compliance rules organization are being forced to resort a range of codes and standards to control their information systems. (Purtell, 2007) Information security is an organization problem, and not a technologically one. With increasing spotlight on information security in legislation and the media all over the world, companies are being faced with a complex need to conform to privacy and security regulations and standards. This is making information security issues to be discussed in the boardrooms and many executives and directors becoming aware of their responsibility in ensuring information security in an organization. Information security is driven by; The knowledge of issues and challenges being faced in information security currently has increased. Through, the government, the media, crimes, cyber attacks and proliferation of products that are vulnerable, information security has continued to receive more attention (Purtell, 2007) Through successful attacks for example code red and Nimrod, companies are realizing that security technology product is not the overall solution to information security. Information security is an organization problem and technology is only but a small element in the organization. (Purtell, 2007) Companies are facing complex needs and requirements to conform to numerous regulation/standards. Even those vertical organizations such as financial services organizations, complication to adhere to security measures brought about by different regulations, for example the US Gramm-Leach Biley Act, 1999 (GLBA),

Importance Of Java To The Internet Computer Science Essay

Importance Of Java To The Internet Computer Science Essay At the beginning Java was known as oak but it was renamed as Java in 1995. The main aim of this language was to provide platform independent language that could be used to create software to be embedded in various consumer electronic devices. Features of Java Java is a programmers language. Java is cohesive and consistent. Except for those constraints imposed by the Internet environment Java gives the programmer full control. Java is to Internet programming where C was to system programming. Importance of Java to the Internet Java has had a profound effect on the Internet because it allows objects to move freely in Cyberspace. In a network there are two categories of objects that are transmitted between the Server and the Personal computer. Passive information Dynamic active programs The Dynamic Self-executing programs cause serious problems in the areas of Security and probability. But Java addresses those concerns and by doing so has opened the door to an exciting new form of program called the Applet. Java can be used to create two types of programs Applications: An application is a program that runs on our Computer under the operating system of that computer. It is more or less like one creating using C or C++. Javas ability to create Applets makes it important. Applet: An Applet is an application designed to be transmitted over the Internet and executed by a Java compatible web browser. An applet is actually a tiny Java program, dynamically downloaded across the network, just like an image. But the difference is it is an intelligent program, not just a media file. It can react to the user input and dynamically change. Features of Java Security Every time you that you download a program you are risking a viral infection. Prior to Java, most users did not download executable programs frequently and most users were worried about the possibility of infecting their systems with a virus. Java answers both these concerns by providing a firewall between a network application and your computer. When you use a Java-compatible Web browser, you can safely download Java applets without fear of virus infection. Portability For programs to be dynamically downloaded to all the various types of platforms connected to the Internet, some means of generating portable executable code is needed .As you will see, the same mechanism that helps ensure security also helps create portability. Indeed Javas solution to these two problems is both elegant and efficient. Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Beyond the language there is the Java virtual machine. The Java virtual machine is an important element of the Java technology. The virtual machine can be embedded within a web browser or an operating system. Once a piece of Java code is loaded onto a machine, it is verified. As part of the loading process, a class loader is invoked and does byte code verification makes sure that the code thats has been generated by the compiler will not corrupt the machine that its loaded on. Byte code verification takes place at the end of the compilation process to make sure that is all accurate and correct Java Architecture Java architecture provides a portable, robust, high performing environment for development. Java provides portability by compiling the byte codes for the Java Virtual Machine, which is then interpreted on each platform by the run-time environment Compilation of code When you compile the code, the Java compiler creates machine code (called byte code) for a hypothetical machine called Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The JVM is supposed to execute the byte code. The JVM is created for overcoming the issue of portability. The code is written and compiled for one machine and interpreted on all machines. This machine is called Java Virtual Machine. Simple Java was designed to be easy for the Professional programmer to learn and to use effectively. If you are an experienced C++ programmer, learning Java will be even easier. Because Java inherits the C/C++ syntax and many of the objects oriented features of C++. Most of the confusing concepts from C++ are either left out of Java or implemented in a cleaner, more approachable manner Object-Oriented Java was not designed to be source-code compatible with any other language. This allowed the Java team the freedom to design with a blank slate. One outcome of this was a clean usable, pragmatic approach to objects. The object model in Java is simple and easy to extend while simple types such as integers are kept as high-performance non-objects. Robust The multi-platform environment of the Web places extraordinary demands on a program, because the program must execute reliably in a variety of systems. The ability to create robust programs was given a high priority in the design of Java. Java is strictly typed language; it checks your code at compile time and run time. Java virtually eliminates the problems of memory management and de-allocation, which is completely automatic. In a well-written Java program, all run time errors can -and should -be managed by your program. SERVLETS Introduction The Java web server is JavaSofts own web Server. The Java web server is just a part of a larger framework, intended to provide you not just with a web server, but also with tools. To build customized network servers for any Internet or Intranet client/server system. Servlets are to a web server, how applets are to the browser. About Servlets Servlets provide a Java-based solution used to address the problems currently associated with doing server-side programming, including inextensible scripting solutions, platform-specific APIs, and incomplete interfaces. Servlets are objects that conform to a specific interface that can be plugged into a Java-based server. Servlets are to the server-side what applets are to the client-side object byte codes that can be dynamically loaded off the net. They differ from applets in that they are faceless objects (without graphics or a GUI component). They serve as platform independent, dynamically loadable, pluggable helper byte code objects on the server side that can be used to dynamically extend server-side functionality. For example, an HTTP Servlets can be used to generate dynamic HTML content. When you use Servlets to do dynamic content you get the following advantages: Theyre faster and cleaner than CGI scripts They use a standard API (the Servlets API) They provide all the advantages of Java (run on a variety of servers without needing to be rewritten) There are many features of Servlets that make them easy and attractive to use. Easily configured using the GUI-based Admin tool Can be loaded and invoked from a local disk or remotely across the network. Can be linked together, or chained, so that one Servlets can call another Servlets, or several Servlets in sequence. Can be called dynamically from within HTML pages, using server-side include tags. Are secure even when downloading across the network, the Servlets security model and Servlets sandbox protect your system from unfriendly behavior. Advantages of the Servlet API One of the great advantages of the Servlet API is protocol independence. It assumes nothing about: The protocol being used to transmit on the net How it is loaded The server environment it will be running in Features of Servlets: Servlets are persistent. Servlet are loaded only by the web server and can maintain services between requests. Servlets are fast. Since Servlets only need to be loaded once, they offer much better performance over their CGI counterparts. Servlets are platform independent. Servlets are extensible. Java is a robust, object-oriented programming language, which easily can be extended to suit your needs Invoking Servlets A Servlet invoker is a Servlet that invokes the service method on a named Servlet. If the Servlet is not loaded in the server, then the invoker first loads the Servlet (either from local disk or from the network) and the then invokes the service method. Also like applets, local Servlets in the server can be identified by just the class name. In other words, if a Servlet name is not absolute, it is treated as local. A client can invoke Servlets in the following ways: The client can ask for a document that is served by the Servlet. The client (browser) can invoke the Servlet directly using a URL, once it has been mapped using the Servlet Aliases section of the admin GUI. The Servlet can be invoked through server side include tags. The Servlet can be invoked by placing it in the Servlets/ directory. The Servlet can be invoked by using it in a filter chain. Java Database Connectivity What Is JDBC? JDBC is a Java API for executing SQL statements. (As a point of interest, JDBC is a trademarked name and is not an acronym; nevertheless, JDBC is often thought of as standing for Java Database Connectivity. It consists of a set of classes and interfaces written in the Java programming language. JDBC provides a standard API for tool/database developers and makes it possible to write database applications using a pure Java API. Using JDBC, it is easy to send SQL statements to virtually any relational database. One can write a single program using the JDBC API, and the program will be able to send SQL statements to the appropriate database. The combinations of Java and JDBC lets a programmer write it once and run it anywhere. What Does JDBC Do? Simply put, JDBC makes it possible to do three things: Establish a connection with a database Send SQL statements Process the results. JDBC versus ODBC and other APIs At this point, Microsofts ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) API is that probably the most widely used programming interface for accessing relational databases. It offers the ability to connect to almost all databases on almost all platforms. So why not just use ODBC from Java? The answer is that you can use ODBC from Java, but this is best done with the help of JDBC in the form of the JDBC-ODBC Bridge, which we will cover shortly. The question now becomes Why do you need JDBC? There are several answers to this question: ODBC is not appropriate for direct use from Java because it uses a C interface. Calls from Java to native C code have a number of drawbacks in the security, implementation, robustness, and automatic portability of applications. A literal translation of the ODBC C API into a Java API would not be desirable. For example, Java has no pointers, and ODBC makes copious use of them, including the notoriously error-prone generic pointer void *. You can think of JDBC as ODBC translated into an object-oriented interface that is natural for Java programmers. ODBC is hard to learn. It mixes simple and advanced features together, and it has complex options even for simple queries. JDBC, on the other hand, was designed to keep simple things simple while allowing more advanced capabilities where required. A Java API like JDBC is needed in order to enable a pure Java solution. When ODBC is used, the ODBC driver manager and drivers must be manually installed on every client machine. When the JDBC driver is written completely in Java, however, JDBC code is automatically installable, portable, and secure on all Java platforms from network computers to mainframes. Two-tier and three-tier Models The JDBC API supports both two-tier and three-tier models for database access. In the two-tier model, a Java applet or application talks directly to the database. This requires a JDBC driver that can communicate with the particular database management system being accessed. A users SQL statements are delivered to the database, and the results of those statements are sent back to the user. The database may be located on another machine to which the user is connected via a network. This is referred to as a client/server configuration, with the users machine as the client, and the machine housing the database as the server. The network can be an Intranet, which, for example, connects employees within a corporation, or it can be the Internet. JAVA Application JDBC DBMS Client machine DBMS-proprietary protocol Database server Java applet or Html browser Application Server (Java) JDBC DBMS Client machine (GUI) HTTP, RMI, or CORBA calls Server machine (business Logic) DBMS-proprietary protocol Database server In the three-tier model, commands are sent to a middle tier of services, which then send SQL statements to the database. The database processes the SQL statements and sends the results back to the middle tier, which then sends them to the user. MIS directors find the three-tier model very attractive because the middle tier makes it possible to maintain control over access and the kinds of updates that can be made to corporate data. Another advantage is that when there is a middle tier, the user can employ an easy-to-use higher-level API which is translated by the middle tier into the appropriate low-level calls. Finally, in many cases the three-tier architecture can provide performance advantages. Until now the middle tier has typically been written in languages such as C or C++, which offer fast performance. However, with the introduction of optimizing compilers that translate Java byte code into efficient machine-specific code, it is becoming practical to implement the middle tier in Java. This is a big plus, making it possible to take advantage of Javas robustness, multithreading, and security features. JDBC is important to allow database access from a Java middle tier. JDBC Driver Types The JDBC drivers that we are aware of at this time fit into one of four categories: JDBC-ODBC bridge plus ODBC driver Native-API partly-Java driver JDBC-Net pure Java driver Native-protocol pure Java driver

The 1947 Roswell Crash Essays -- Aviation

In 1947, an unidentified flying object crashed into the small town of Roswell, New Mexico. The United States Air Force published a report in 1994. So why do conspiracists still believe an alien crashed into Roswell? After a hot humid day in July 1947, severe and violent thunderstorms filled the night sky. Long time farmer, Mac Brazel was used to thunder, and storms out in the country. Although something about this night was different. He heard an extremely loud crash, though didn’t think much of it. The next morning however, Brazel stumbled upon the debris of a strange object on his farm. Brazel brought some of the material to a nearby neighbor who urged him to report his find in hopes of getting a reward. Brazel informed the sheriff of Chaves County about the strange material, and he was sure it was the remains of a â€Å"flying disc†. The Sheriff then informed the Roswell Air Force Base. Major Jesse Marcel immediately looked into the matter. Colonel William Blanchard ordered the debris field to be cordoned off, and began the investigation. On July 8th, Blanchard ordered a press release confirming that the Air Force had a â€Å"flying disc† in its possession. Shortly after, the statement was revoked and a new statement was made that it was not in fact a flying disc but a high altitude weather balloon. Major Edwin Easley was ordered to shut down all roads to the crash site and to black out information about the crash field. The debris was removed from the small Roswell farm and transferred to Eighth Air Force Headquarters in Ft. Worth Texas, under the command of General Roger Ramey. According to some witnesses, Colonel Dubose in Houston received a classified phone call from a â€Å"very high† authority ordering him to devise a cover-up stor... ...documents were destroyed. Congressman Steve Schiff also had problems with the report. Important documents that could have illuminated what really happened in Roswell, we reported destroyed. Despite what these critics say about the report, many other UFO researchers concluded that project Mogul was the best explanation for what crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in July, 1947. Works Cited Jeffrey, Kent. "Roswell: The Whole Story." CUFOs. (2004): n. page. Web. . Malone, Guy. "Roswell UFO Crash." Alien Resistance.org. (2002): n. page. Web. . Rudiak, David. "Roswell Proof." (2001): n. page. Web . Dean, Richard. "Roswell, The Facts, Truths and Eyewitness Accounts." UFO Evidence. (2011): n. page. Web. .

Introduction To Poetry

Introduction To Poetry October 21, 2013 A relationship between two lovers is a bond that when broken, can be hard to get over. It's hard to undo feelings for someone whom youVe built so much trust and compassion with. It takes a strong person to forgive someone who has stopped loving you when you still love him or her. And even then, it takes a stronger person to see that ex-lover and be able to talk to them in a civil and friendly manner. Women tend to find it harder to do this than men due to the feelings and trust that they put into men, who are already viewed as Jerks that only care about them.Carolyn Kizer, author of â€Å"Bitch,† is Just like those women and shows anger toward her ex-lover. She shows her maturity and strength and doesn't allow him to spark a reaction that shows she wants him back. This is the first time that Kizer is meeting with her old lover in some time. It is clear that it has been a while because she says, ‘after all these years† (1). As the conversation continues, we see more reasons that it has been a number of years since they have seen each other.She starts off the greeting with a simple hello and then asks, â€Å"How are the children? They must be growing up† (9). This shows that they have been broken up long enough for him to have more than one child. Also, she says, â€Å"they must be growing up† (9), so they must be getting big and are more than a few years old. Another sign they haven't seen each other in a while is when she says, â€Å"It's nice to know you are doing so well† (28). This is something someone would only say if they haven't seen or heard from someone in some time, but is happy to have seen them.Kizer also knows he isn't hurting her anymore so there's no reason to be hostile toward him, but the bitch inside her doesn't feel the same way. The bitch inside her wants to call him out and yell at him because of the pain that he put her through, but she tries to quiet that bitc h and says, â€Å"don't start growling† (2). While still fighting the bitch inside her, she says, â€Å"nice to see you† (5), as the bitch begins to â€Å"bark hysterically' (6). The barking is her inner anger building, but she continues to fght it, asking herself â€Å"where are your manners† (8).She doesn't want the inner bitch to ruin a friendly conversation between her and her old companion. He says something nice to her after she asks about the children and she sees a familiar situation. Finally she has broken the anger barrier and her inner bitch â€Å"begins to whimper† (11) and Just wants to snuggle up with the man she used to love so much. â€Å"He isn't an enemy now' (7) realizes the bitch. There's no reason for her to live in the past and make herself feel worse anymore. They have both moved on, but she has to keep the bitch away from him saying â€Å"down, girl!Keep your distance† (13) or she'll have to punish her for trying to bring old feelings back to life. As â€Å"she slobbers and grovels,† (16) she subsides and takes control of her â€Å"basically loyal† (17) self. Obviously her self is supposed to be loyal to her. As her inner self tarts to sit on the sideline during the conversation, she begins to reminisce. She remembers how she would run toward his comfort whenever â€Å"she heard his step† (19). When he was too busy for her loving devotion, he would send â€Å"her to the c en† (22).Kizer didn't get the tull attection that sne wanted, and yet it was the â€Å"small careless kindnesses† (24) that she adored so much. The good days that he had or if he had a few drinks are the days that were more important to her than â€Å"the casual cruelties† (27). She enjoyed the times when they were nice to each other and cared for each other, although they seemed to be short in number. It's nice to know you are doing so well† (28), shows that she still cared for him li ke anyone would care for a friend.Kizer tells the bitch â€Å"he couldn't have taken you with him† (29), because he cared too much and was â€Å"too clumsy' (30) unlike his new wife and kids. She was too attached to him and was clingy, but now in his new life he has a wife and kids that love him but give him his space when he needs it. He has a new life where he is comfortable, happy and shares it with the ones he loves. As those few minutes of catching up comes to an end, she asks him to â€Å"Give [her} regards to [his] wife† (32). They begin to part as they say their goodbyes.Trying not to trip up and release any emotion, Kizer ends their conversation with â€Å"Nice to have seen you again† (34). It is tough for someone to tell an ex-lover to say hello, or give his or her regards to their wife. No one wants to see someone they used to love and share a life together with enjoying life with someone else. But not all relationships are meant to last. A true rela tionship will come in time, so it is better not to dwell on what could have been and look forward to what could be. So, Kizer's poem shows how we should be able to turn an old, close partner to a friend.

Fast Food and Obesity Essay

In today’s society, fast food has become a large part of many American’s lives. With the rising numbers of obese people, it is hard not to draw a correlation between the increase in fast food and obesity. Most obese people don’t want to be obese and wish they could lose weight, yet they continue to struggle with their fast food intake and obesity. This is due to the advertising done on the consumers, the highly addictive food itself, and most importantly, how advertising and addiction combine with children to form habits that are kept once they become adults. These factors are the reasons that fast food restaurants are to blame for the rising obesity and health risks across America. The government needs to step in and place restrictions on these fast food restaurants so they will stop taking advantage of people’s weaknesses. So with that said, I actually disagree with Weintraub’s point. And that is why I believe that the fast food industry is at blame for this issue. Before we go into detail about how fast food companies are to blame for people over eating their food, it first must be proven that fast food is indeed the main problem causing today’s obesity in America. It is known to many people how the number of fast food restaurants in America has increased tremendously over the past several decades, but it is difficult to calculate by how much due to the lack of certain data. Also, it is difficult whether or not to categorize certain restaurants as fast food. Although, a good way to get a feel on the growth of the fast food industry is to take a look at McDonald’s, which has been America’s most popular fast food chain for decades. In 1968 McDonald’s open its 1,000th American restaurant. This number has increased to 13,800 restaurants in 2011, which really shows how much more fast food people are consuming compared to the past. Consider the increase of almost fourteen times in the number of McDonald’s restaurants, with the number of obese adults between the ages of 20 and 74 over a similar time period. From 1960-62 to 2005-06 the number of obese Americans almost tripled from 13.4% to 35.1%. These two extreme upward trends might make a convincing case that the extra fast food intake has caused the rise in obesity rates, and it may very well be a good indication, but it is far from  proof. Too many things have changed over the years, from the way the average American exercises, to the types of other food that people are consuming. Now that it has been established that fast food is the main cause behind the rising obesity numbers in America, it is time to dig deeper and show how exactly these fast food chains are at fault for this issue. A common topic when talking about people overeating fast food is addiction. When numbers are brought up about obesity and how often people visit fast food restaurants, people tend to ignore it and are categorized as fat people who are too lazy to cook their own food or break the habit of visiting fast food restaurants. However, people don’t realize the true addictive power that food can have on someone, especially fast food. While people try to use their willpower to stay away from fast food restaurants, they often fail due to the countless TV, radio, billboard, and online advertisements that draw them back in. Fast food advertising has been increasing over the years. In 2009, the American fast food industry spent over $4.2 billion on advertising. That might seem like an illogical amount of money to spend on advertising, but it lead to over $140 billion in sales, so these fast food restaurants must know what they’re doing. It is obvious that this tremendous advertising is leading to greater sales, otherwise these restaurant’s marketing teams would not be spending so much. As profit-seeking corporations, fast food restaurants cannot be blamed for wanting to advertise as much as they do, but that doesn’t mean that their advertising isn’t a huge problem in our society. Advertising clearly leads to greater consumption of fast food which leads to obesity and other health risks. Although fast food advertising as a whole is a huge issue, the far greater concern is the way children are targeted in today’s advertisements. In a 2007 report done by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, they found that the average child in America views 15 television commercials per day. This isn’t necessarily a problem as long as these commercial are composed of mostly healthy foods. This is such a huge problem due to children being more easily manipulated by food advertising. Their experiment discovered that children who viewed food advertisements ate 45%  more food than children who viewed non-food advertisements. Add all this up, and it comes to no surprise that in the last 30 years, the number of overweight and at risk children has more than tripled to 34%. It is clear that changes need to be made regarding fast food advertising, particularly involving children. Change needs to come soon as children will soon develop habits of high fast food consumption, which has our society pointed towards an unhealthy future. Efforts have been made in order to cause change, but it clearly hasn’t been enough. This is why the government needs to step in and regulate how much these restaurants are allowed to advertise. Not only does the government need to regulate the volume of advertisements, but more importantly they need to stop the fast food restaurants from targeting certain demographics. For example, not allowing advertisements on children’s television shows will decrease the wanting of food as often. As for what they are allowed to advertise, there definitely needs to be an emphasis placed on healthy food choices. Over the past decade, fast food restaurants have been offering more and healthier food choices or alternatives on their menus. These alternatives are most often salads, but also include grilled chicken sandwiches amongst other items. These so called â€Å"healthy alternatives† appear to be healthy, which is what the fast food restaurants are most concerned about. However, these alternatives are not always as healthy as they seem. With every passing moment, the over-popularity of fast food becomes more of a difficulty as it causes obesity numbers to skyrocket across the nation. Normally, the choices should ultimately lie in the hands of the people to choose healthier lifestyles, and decreases their reliance on fast food. However, in this instance, due to the validity of fast food addiction, along with too much advertising, and the cheap menu alternatives offered, people have been unable to make a change, and continue to head in the wrong direction. But until Americans take measures to mend the problems fast food has created, it’ll take some time for us to become a healthier nation.