Good Essay About Cis 375 Week 3 Discussion 1: Virtual Communications.

The Hug Shirt uses Bluetooth technology to communicate and can replicate the strength of the hug, heart beat warmth and skin warmth there is no supporting evidence to show that the virtual hug is at the very least comparable to an actual hug. While it is a nice idea to break the digital-physical divide, the virtual hug lacks emotion, and its reactions are mainly choreographed based on the user’s actions. The sensation is noted by most users to resemble an actual hug, but the lack of an emotional factor which is the basis of human communication and relationships means that the overall user experience and acceptance rate is minimal. In essence, regardless of how real the sensation is, the user still knows in their mind that they are interacting with a machine, and this ruins the whole experience.
The animated help assistant (Clippy) in earlier versions of Microsoft Office was quite intrusive and annoying in the sense that the animated character popped up at all times offering to help the user solve their PC troubles. However, Clippy did not deliver on the assistance promise prompting users to it off. Clippy did not deliver the help required and was thus could not be believed. The fact that one had to keep turning off the intrusive assistant also means that Clippy was not maintainable either. The poor functionality, design and the intrusiveness of the Office help assistant made the overall user experience poor at the very least. Chatbots rely on artificial intelligence engines and have some sort of learning. While they are not really perfect either, chatbots like ALICE (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity) and ELIZA can hold a meaningful conversation with users by responding to questions as asked using natural language processing which helps deliver a near human chat experience.

CIS 375 Week 2 Discussion 2: Behavioral Change.

The Reactable is an interactive musical instrument that has evolved into a research project of its own since it is altering the way traditional music was created and edited. The Reactable now belongs to a class of musical instruments known as tangible interactive music score editors where technology meets art. In the time we live in, the Retractable is showing far better superiority and user acceptance. In fact, the Retractable was originally designed as a tangible device but is now being used as an application on touch-based mobile devices such as tablets where users move virtual pucks across the screen. It is also evident that the Reactable has a real chance of competing with traditional composing using pencil and music sheets since it is highly interactive, delivers the desired functionality, and most of all it combines technology and art. The evidence is available everywhere from YouTube videos, scientific research, and even application developers. So when we compare music composers using the Reactable and others using pencils and music sheets, it really depends on the context since some composers prefer traditional artistic methods, and others go for modern technology based methods. In this regard, both methods of composing are bound to coexist just like actual wooden guitars have coexisted with electronic guitars, and electronic keyboards with pianos and the like.
There are several ways of making a website or ATM machine accessible to persons with audio-visual and physical disabilities. Online accessibility can be ensured by using web pages that have an invisible skip navigation links and users of screen readers can use the link to access the main content of a page. On the other hand, web pages that have invisible accessibility help links that directly link to Talking ATM locators can be used. In the ATM machines, several actions can be taken such as using Talking ATMS that have voice instructions, and ensuring physical access by meeting the minimum reach and height requirements for disabled persons. Other innovative solutions include braille embossed ATM cards, free earphones for the blind to use with ATMs, and the use of screen magnifiers at ATM terminals.

SEC 420 Week 3 Discussion: Viruses and Antivirus Utilities:

The Melissa worm that first appeared in 1999 is the most famous and extensive computer malware known to date on the basis of its speed of infection and the ability to replicate itself and shut down entire computer networks. The Melissa worm was spread as a word document file attached to an email address apparently from a known source. This is because the Melissa worm looked up at least 50 contacts on a user’s contact list upon infecting them and then sent itself to the new contacts. In this case, one would receive an email presumably from a trusted source and get infected. At the time, email virus scanning was not well advanced, so it was hard to detect the attached virus. The Melissa worm was not really infectious and only had a small message with links to pornography sites and this benign nature helped it bypass security controls. Its main impact was that each email generated 50 new emails thus overloading email servers all over the world which led to huge losses in terms of wasted work hours and crashed systems. The Melissa worm spread could have been avoided by using network firewalls to filter executable content in email, and if such content bypasses the firewall, then it should be treated as suspect and quarantined. On the other hand, if systems at the time had strict digital signature verification mechanisms, rogue executable files could not have been propagated so easily.
The antivirus of choice would be the AVG Internet Security 2015 antivirus to protect personal systems. First of all, the AVG antivirus is lightweight and does not hog system resources unlike other antivirus software such as Kaspersky and Norton, which run many processes in the background. This feature is important since the antivirus will always be running in the background, and it needs to be fast, and the system needs to be fast as well. AVG antivirus has a rich feature set which includes a file antivirus, email scanner, interactive firewall and PC tuning (speed up) tools. The antivirus also has a feature known as AVG Data Safe for storing confidential files under password protection. The antivirus is highly interactive which means the user is informed when the firewall needs permission to allow connection or the actions to perform when a threat is detected since some are false positives and could lead to the deletion of important files that are mistaken as malware. The antivirus also has browser plug-ins to prevent attacks via internet browsers and email messages.

SEC 435 Week 3 Discussion: Penetration Test Methods and Legal Consideration of Penetration Testing.

Announced penetration testing involves compromising system security with the full cooperation of the IT staff. Announced testing checks for security vulnerabilities and gives the testers an overview of the whole IT infrastructure. Unannounced testing is where the tester compromises security networks under permission from top management, but the IT staff has no knowledge of the planned testing. This penetration testing method is more powerful and effective since the IT staff is unprepared just like in a real attack. This helps measure their response, agility and also apply penetration testing techniques such as social engineering. In fact, if employees are made aware that penetration testing is being done, there will be some form of preparation which is not seen daily and thus not ideal in case future surprise attacks happen.
For a small day care business the relevant penetration testing methods to include social engineering to assess the security awareness of the employees on security policies as well as security issues they ignore. The second test involves testing applications and systems for flaws, bugs, and malware. This can be done by scanning for malware using antivirus programs, and checking for malware propagators such as peer-to-peer file sharing software which are quite insecure. Finally, physical penetration testing could be done using manual methods and automated tools to run exploits on network passwords, file servers, wireless routers, and workstations. Since the daycare company is found in the downtown area, physical security is an issue thus the tester would also require to run exploits on the security card authentication system.