Networks Test

1- Give examples of situations in which the proxy server and the firewall would act. If the Internet is slow at a company that has several buildings, which of the two should you use and how?

2- What functions are performed by the operating system in a computer? Give examples of three devices that have different types of operating systems and explain why they would fit into that category.

3- What type of activity would justify having all ergonomic furniture and why?

4- "Passwords will soon become a thing of the past." Discuss.

5- A cinema company has inaugurated a new digital system where all movies are streamed digitally to their cinemas. They have a cinema in Unicenter where there are five movie rooms and they also have 6 computers for ticket purchase and printing.

They also have an office at headquarters, where there are 5 computers and two printers that deal with general administrative duties. There are other cinemas in different shopping centers in the city.

a) Explain the flow of information and critical components in the operation of this network.

b) Draw a diagram that shows graphically the network. How would the cinema be connected to headquarters?

6- How can members of a team that works mostly from home remain connected and productive? Give specific examples of software platforms and how they work.

7- A friend of yours calls you to say that the network at his firm is congested and runs very slowly. Why could this be? How can you try to fix it?

Please email your answers to itgs.sass@gmail.com Do not use a Google doc for this.

Data Security and Encryption

After learning about hacking and how it compromises data security, we will learn about the next step in protecting data, by means of encryption. The very ancient and often used in technique of cryptography involves scrambling messages in such a way that only the parties within the communication or, in our case, a computer algorithm and users know how to decode them effectively.
We will first learn the basics on cryptography from the Encryption Tutorial. Another simple source is What is Cryptography? at WiseGeek.

Then we will play around with some of the games at CryptoClub.

Assignment After studying some of the methods and algorithms for encryption, we need to understand how this is done in real life.

Suppose you are an IT security consultant, and one of your clients asks you to review for him the various options (free and paid) that exist for encrypting sensitive data in his hard drive. Answer the following questions:

- Identify at least one software for personal and one for professional use that are available for encrypting sensitive data.
- For each of them, write a detailed sequence of instructions as to how to effectively encrypt the data.

Working in pairs, answer the question in a Word file. This file must be sent to itgs.sass@gmail.com, in encrypted form, together with another file that explains how to decrypt it, and why you have chosen that particular software.

Your own E-Commerce Store

One of your friends owns a retail store (you choose what the store sells) and he asks you to help him set up his online store. You start a joint venture with your friend and start the online store. You will need to decide:

• -          Which products will be featured.
• -          How you will determine the stock level for each product (explain what factors you would take into account).
• -          How to communicate with potential clients in terms of marketing and advertising.
• -          How you will handle deliveries.
• -          Design a prototype of the e-store using Goodsie for a free 30 Day trial.

Create a blog entry that explains these decisions and include the link to your Goodsie store.

E-Commerce

Our next topic in the sequence is E-Commerce. We are all somewhat familiar and have some first-hand experience on E-Commerce, however, we need to analyze some of the technical and theoretical background related to its development and evolution.

We will watch a short course on e-business models.
We will start by watching three short video segments from VTC.com, a site dedicated to offer Computer Software Training.


Two web sites that provide general information on e-commerce are:

• Basic Guide to E-Commerce
• Risks of E-commerce.

ASSIGNMENTOur assignment for the day, to be covered in class, consists in answering the following multiple-choice questionnaire:

• Introduction to E-Commerce Multiple Choice Quiz

In pairs, research the answers to each question until you score all right answers.

Real Life Hacking

Whilst playing the game, you have learned several tools and techniques related to hacking that enabled you to gain access to computers, bank accounts, crack passwords, send spam, etc.

We want to understand how much of a threat that is in real life, that is, to compare what the game presents a s a simplified technique with the tools that hackers have access to in real life.

Your assignment consists in:

• List all the techniques for hacking that you learned in The Hacker Experience.



• For each of the techniques, find what software or other resources exist to implement that technique.



• Evaluate whether that particular hacking tool is possible, feasible or impossible.



• Write a final conclusion on the risk and threats associated with hacking.

Create a blog post that summarizes your conclusions and ideas. The assignment is due by the end of next lesson, and you can work in pairs.