Friday, March 20, 2020

To be loved or feared as a leader Essay Essay Example

To be loved or feared as a leader Essay Essay Example To be loved or feared as a leader Essay Paper To be loved or feared as a leader Essay Paper Essay Topic: Love in Excess Leaderships in Fieldss runing from military and political relations to concern and even instruction have been posed with the pick of transfusing love or fright among their several followings. Traits like heat and trustiness of a leader instill love among followings and fright of a leader originates largely from his strength and competency. Although there are legion other traits in a leader. heat and strength are the most influential. Harmonizing to psychological science. a major portion of other people’s perceptual experience about a individual is determined by these two dimensions of personality ( Cuddy. Kohut and Neffinger. 2013. p. 56 ) . The quandary of the pick between these two is inherently present in the nature of the two extremes i. e. either of the picks will do you fall at the opposing terminals of the human emotional spectrum. It is interesting to observe that the inquiry of taking between the two extremes is non a new one. Tracing this riddle back to the 16th century takes us to the Hagiographas of Machiavelli. His political doctrine in ‘The Prince’ acknowledges the best leaders to command both fright and love. Having said that. Machiavelli recognizes the opposite mutual opposition of the two emotions and maintains that since it is hard to unite both in one individual. it is better to be feared as a leader than to be loved ( Machiavelli. 2003. p. 53 ) . Today. about five hundred old ages subsequently. the Machiavellian construct of a feared leader is still rather strictly followed by leaders in Fieldss including concern. The issue that crops up here is the overemphasis on soft emotions like love in about every aspect of life as opposed to the usage of fright when it comes to leading. If worlds are managed better through fright. what is the topographic point of emotions like love. empathy and compassion in organisational kineticss and leading? Another facet that relates to this leading pick is the development of society over clip and the consequence of civilisation on human behaviour and manner of direction. For case. has the alteration from bossy to democratic societies and the alteration from perpendicular to horizontal manner of direction in organisations affected the mentality of people including the leaders and followings? From what I have observed while helping my male parent in political relations and supervising my household concern in Pakistan is that people are more antiphonal to a leader who demonstrates strength as opposed to a leader who shows heat. The first thing that came to my head was that this reaction is likely due to the fact that Pakistan is a underdeveloped state germinating into a enlightened society. I justified the fright theoretical account with retardation of the country and attributed it partially to cultural norms. But it was instead surprising to larn that this theoretical account is still practiced rather often in the developed universe every bit good. Taking the illustration of Texas Tech’s manager. Bobby Knight. who is widely respected for his leading. had adopted the same fright theoretical account. His abrasiveness dragged him into many contentions including the one where he allegedly choked a participant in pattern ( Snook. 2008. p. 18 ) . It can be argued that some Fieldss like organized athleticss. military or fabricating industry require such rigorous leading as keeping the concatenation of bid is of extreme importance. However. cognition industry has no such limitations but the same theoretical account has been applied there in assorted instances. I personally know a few successful concern proprietors in the US who rely on a stiff. strength based theoretical account to acquire the best out of their employees. On the flipside there are leaders who rely on trust and heat to pull out similar efficiency from their squads. Contrasting Bobby Knight’s illustration with Mike Kerzyzewski ( Coach K ) of Duke. we see that both of them commanded regard and following but their coaching attacks were pole apart. Coach K’s leading manner was based on unfastened communicating and compassion as opposed to Bobby Knight’s fierce attack ( Snook. 2008. p. 18 ) . Similarly. India’s reverent leader. Mahatma Gandhi is another illustration of commanding regard and following through love and heat. Furthermore. there’s the narrative of the General who went manner beyond the call of responsibility to personally cognize all of the officers developing under him ( Cohen. 2008. p. 149 ) . The General’s gesture was one of pure heat. This could be seen as an statement in favour of pertinence of the love theoretical account in any organisation regardless of its map and kineticss. Last. I would mention to the treatment in category where it was established that interpersonal accomplishments that come from emotional intelligence and emotional quotient are much of import for directors than proficient accomplishments that use academic intelligence and intelligence quotient. Based on the statements so far. it would be safe to state that leading can hold much more to make with heat and empathy than it is accredited for. And that the love theoretical account. like the fright theoretical account cuts across civilization. Fieldss and clip. There is ample grounds to back up both of the theoretical accounts of leading under assorted fortunes. What determines the effectivity of leaders is their ability to acquire an emotional response from followings. The response can be of fright or of love. Harmonizing to Gittell. Ledeen and Maccomby ( 2004. p. 15 ) . what matters is the determination devising. If the determinations taken by the leader are just. people will react to both heats and strength. But If the determination devising is arbitrary. people will discontinue to react to either emotion. However. experts differ in their sentiments about whether fright is more long lasting or love. Some feel that fright is more dependable as it has dread and penalty associated with it ( Gittell. Ledeen and Maccomby. 2004. p. 17 ) . While others believe that love and trust overpowers all other emotions ( Cuddy. Kohut and Neffinger. 2013. p. 56 ) . Since these are sentiments and we have seen both the attacks work in an every bit efficient mode. there is no manner to take one or the other. So. it boils down to a affair of penchant for me. Psychologists might hold farther insight into how the human head plants and receives certain stimulations to bring forth a response. It might do it easier to take one emotion but for the affair of this paper I found something else that might assist me make a decision. So. I’ll focal point on that. Toegel and Barsoux ( 2012. p. 75 ) believe that leading is personalized and that each leader has to calculate out his strengths and follow a method that suits him/her best. Psychology divides the human personality into five different classs. Toegel and Barsoux ( 2012 ) talk about pull offing your built-in psychological inclinations and aline them with one leading manner. If I apply it to the fright or love theoretical account under treatment. it would intend that it is better for the leader with an agreeable personality to seek and transfuse love among followings and an extravert to possibly utilize the fright theoretical account. However. this should be done carefully. The agreeable leader demands to do certain that he is non excessively considerate. This can be done by somewhat changing the built-in ‘need to be liked’ . The leader should larn to concentrate on equity instead than likeability ( Toegel and Barsoux. 2012. p. 88 ) . Similarly. the leader with an extravert personality should do certain that he/she is non excessively self-asserting or aggressive when taking up the fright theoretical account ( Toegel and Barsoux. 2012. p. 81 ) . Small accommodations can take attention of this issue every bit good. In add-on to alining the leading manner with their personality. leaders need to do certain that they analyze each state of affairs independently. I would take the autonomy of slackly using Peter Drucker’s advice approximately scheme to the pick between transfusing love or fright among employees. Drucker’s thought is non to establish scheme on a fixed expression. but to accommodate it harmonizing to the state of affairs ( Cohen. 2008. p. 203 ) . Leaderships should besides believe of the best manner a one leading manner would be good for them in one place at a certain house and another for a different place in a different house. For some people this might use from undertaking to project. But I tend to believe of it as a medium-term program. I say this because I feel that leading manner should non be every bit unstable as your pique. Otherwise. there is no point in taking up one manner or the other. In the concluding analysis about following a stance of strength or heat as a leader. I have reached the decision that neither of the two attacks is inherently more effectual than the other. There is grounds of effectivity of both methods over clip. regardless of cultural or geographical boundaries. The result of a peculiar attack would mostly vary from leader to leader and partially from state of affairs to state of affairs. However. certain steps like equity demand to be ensured no affair what attack is taken. The reply to why a apparently positive ( warm ) attack does non arouse a greater response as compared to a negative ( fear-inducing ) attack likely lies either in the individualism of worlds and the corporate diverseness in the personalities of different followings or in the mental make-up of worlds. MentionsCohen. W. A. ( 2008 ) . You must cognize your people to take them. In A category with Drucker: The lost lessons of the world’s greatest direction instructor ( pp. 147-159 ) . New York. New york: American Management Association. Cohen. W. A. ( 2008 ) . Base your scheme on the state of affairs. non on a expression. In A category with Drucker: The lost lessons of the world’s greatest direction instructor ( pp. 201-214 ) . New York. New york: American Management Association. Cuddy. A. J. C. . Kohut. M. . A ; Neffinger. J. ( 2013 ) . Connect. so lead. Harvard Business Review. 91 ( 7 ) . 54-61. Gittell. J. H. . Ledeen. M. A. . A ; Maccoby. M. ( 2004 ) . Leadership and the fright factor. MIT Sloan Management Review. 45 ( 2 ) . 14-18. Machiavelli. N. ( 2003 ) . Cruelty and compassion ; and whether it is better to be loved than feared. or the contrary. In G. Bull. A ; A. Grafton ( Translation ) . The Prince ( Reissue Ed. . pp. 53-55 ) . London. United kingdom: Penguin Classicss. Snook. S. A. ( 2008 ) . Love and fright and the modern foreman. Harvard Business Review. 86 ( 1 ) . 16-17. Toegel. G. A ; Barsoux. J-L. ( 2012 ) . How to go a better leader. MIT Sloan Management Review. 53 ( 3 ) . 75-92.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Sociology Paper Writing †Prompts and Tips

Sociology Paper Writing – Prompts and Tips Useful Tips on Writing a Good Sociology Paper Have you always been interested in people’s relations? Would you like to learn more about their interaction with society? In this case, you are probably good at writing amazing sociology papers. Sociology is a science that studies different aspects of our lives ranging from politics to religion and society. It highlights major conflicts between different types of social groups, displays individuals’ behavior and more. The science refers to actually every aspect of our lives from economy and psychology to commerce and other different fields. Although writing a sociology paper may seem to be rather easy, you need to follow several vital stages to provide an outstanding work that will result in higher marks. Just follow our useful writing tips to succeed during the course. Ways to Write a Decent Sociology Paper Unlike other types of the essay with a typical structure, this particular assignment requires more involvement, research, and discussion. Most students are familiar with baseline parts like introduction and conclusion. However, a brilliant sociology paper deals with something more than that. Introduction. There is nothing difficult about this part. Make sure you state the problem quite clear for the reader. A good idea is to include some common hypothesis and raise questions that are of great value for a chosen topic Once you are done with the introduction, you need to perform all your analytic skills. Choose as many literature sources as you can and do the research on the topic. There is nothing wrong in incorporating findings of other experts and scientists that have been already published. Methodology. At this stage, you will need to discuss methods and approaches that will help readers to solve and resolve problems arising in your paper. The clearer your methodology, the more validity your paper gets. Discussion. The stage is set the green flag drops. This is where you should start discussing your findings and providing outcomes. Using charts, graphs and other visual representations is certainly a good idea. Conduct surveys to highlight the main pros and cons of your particular theme. Details. At this stage, you need to stress all key points and provide the result of your work. Reference List. Make sure you indicate all sources in your reference list arranged on a separate page. If sociology paper writing still looks daunting, check our improved writing tips that will let you handle the task. Improved Sociology Writing Paper Tips Most students start facing difficulties at their first step when choosing the right topic for the paper. You can come across the list of topics while surfing the net for additional prompts or you can ask for professional writing assistance. If you handle the assignment yourself, here are the tips that may come in handy: Start with an outline and indicate all key points for the major paper; Use first paragraphs to state the problem and argument; Make sure you write a strong introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Those are the essential parts of your paper that will make a final impression on your readers; Keep an eye on your paper structure and make sure it meets all academic requirements. Feel free to browse for a sociology paper template on the web; Use real evidence only when it comes to building a strong argument and thesis statement. Include statistics and real-life data; Avoid using too many direct quotes. Paraphrasing them would be the best bet for the paper. Passive voice is hardly the best grammar construction for this type of academic paper; Amplified historical context will add validity to your paper. Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Sociology Paper Although the task seems to be rather clear especially considering the above-mentioned prompts, many students still fail to avoid common mistakes when writing a sociology paper. They typically include: Spreading too much when speaking for details that require narrowing; Failing in effort to follow all requirements provided by the instructor; Problems with writing style, grammar and punctuation; Irrelevant or out-of-date information; The lack of logical connection between paragraphs. We do hope our tips will come in handy whenever you are assigned to write a sociology paper. If you till face difficulties, you can buy papers online.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Naturalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Naturalism - Essay Example In theatre, it has come to mean a ‘natural’ depiction of characters, as if they are not actors on a stage but instead real people undertaking normal activities without a darkened theatre audience observing them. To understand how one term can apply to all of these genres, it is helpful to look at each one separately. Naturalism in art was perhaps given its greatest emphasis during the Italian Renaissance as artists began learning the mathematics and sciences of the ancient Greeks and Romans. â€Å"Henceforth, the surrounding world was to be represented as it appeared to the eye. To this end, a new basis to pictorial composition was given through the invention of linear perspective †¦ Depth was suggested by depicting the progressive decrease in the size of objects and figures as their distance from the observer increases – an illusion which in painting becomes truth. (Lemaitre & Lessing, 1993, p. 17). Raphael (1483-1520) also pushed the idea of naturalism with his focus on composition, balance and unity. â€Å"The movement of the body was now understood as an analogy for the animation of the spirit or the emotions; the external structure of a scene proclaimed its inner content. Everything in the picture was aimed at harmonious balance; each individual figure became an inseparable pa rt of the whole† (Toman, 1998). In literature, naturalism referred to an attempt to explore the base, or natural, causes of events, reactions and personality traits. This was a popular concept in the nineteenth century as writers began exploring the difference between realism and naturalism. â€Å"The main difference between Realism and Naturalism is that Realism seeks to simply explain things as they really appeared to be while Naturalism tries to explain scientifically the cause† (Realism and Naturalism, 2007). Emile Zola and Jack London are two well-known naturalist writers. While

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Business Plan for Creative Practitioners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business Plan for Creative Practitioners - Essay Example I will rely on a friend who has no background on film production mainly to help in carrying equipment and for moral support. The mission of the project is to create awareness on the realities of overseas education. The project will be aimed at helping me gain experience in film production. The project also is aimed at making a profit of 1000 AUD with the sale of at least 15 CDs. The project will be initiated with an initial capital of 500AUD. With the successful production of the short documentary, I hope to make strides toward making longer and more complex films which will probably draw bigger profits. Goals My project will be aimed at achieving a number of goals. The business hopes to produce and sell at least ten documentary CDs within the first month of production. Furthermore, the business hopes to make a profit of at least 1,000 AUD in profits from the first documentary production. The business also hopes to achieve an average growth rate of 10% per year in terms of sales and profits. The film industry in Australia is growing and more people need to tap and invest in it. The people need to be preoccupied with other projects that can be performed at the local level. Initiating a film production in towns like Melbourne and Canberra can be an opportunity in making a positive accrual to the film industry. For instance, the population in Melbourne has a record of high population of people attending schools. This documentary would be an opportunity to encourage on oversea learning. In addition to this, many people have not discovered their talents. With such projects, many of the people could be directed towards exploring their talents, which are not exposed. Another goal in establishing this project is to reach both old and young people in the Australian society. The Australian population could involve projects to generate improved production in the country. The film industry would record an escalating scale with an indulgence of both old and young. An eminen t advantage of the film industry is that, it does not have age brackets as a qualification (Branagan, 2012). Therefore, all people are legible to join in the production of films in Australia. Since the film production will be based in Melbourne, it will be an opportunity for the population in Melbourne to engage in participatory events. In addition to this, the initiation of the film making project in the area will be an avenue of improving the skills of the [population. The population is likely to amass quantitative experience that could be used in developing other films. Yet another goal of this project is to make an impact in the student perception. Melbourne has a large population of students that could be interested in films. This makes is a positive accrual as the students would appreciate a film that is produced in the vicinity. With a high demand for the films, the project will be a source of income (Kitchen and Proctor, 2001). This is an initial stage of making a documentar y that is 30 minutes long. The documentary will focus on overseas education and the life of students in oversea learning. Therefore, there will be a limited number of people involved in the production of the documentary to reduce the costs incurred in the initial stages. I am the sole founder of the project, working with one friend. Since this is an initial

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Penetration Testing Of General Hospital Information Technology Essay

Penetration Testing Of General Hospital Information Technology Essay Penetration testing PeT appendix B has always been an important first-step in any security life cycle. By doing penetration testing, the Hospitals IT team can obtain many invaluable information about the Hospitals newly developed security system. Basically the process of penetration testing will be involved with gathering information. Using these information to identity and then try to exploit the security vulnerabilities. 1/ Why do we need to perform penetration testing: Penetration testing is one of the oldest and effective method to evaluate the security of a computer system. Nowadays many organizations are using penetration testing in order to discover and fix security weakness before the get exposed. And for General Hospital after the process of creating a new security system, it is important that we do penetration testing, not only to find out about any potential vulnerability, but also to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new system, these are just a few points on why General Hospital should do penetration testing: The main purpose still for greater understanding of the current security system and finding any gap in security. This help the Hospitals IT team to have proper action plans to minimize the threat of attack or misuse. The penetration test will be documented carefully (more information on this bellow), and these well documented results will help the managers in making a strong business case to the Hospital board, explaining, justifying all the budget had been use for creating this new security system. Security is not a one-time solution, its actually a long process of maintaining and upgrading along the way, as new threads are being discovered. This pen-test maybe the first that SGH have, but itll definitely not be the last. By doing a proper pen-test, the result will act as a good foundation for future testing. 2/ Quality of the test: Like any big project, before we actually committed to complete the task, we have to have a very clear picture of the final product as well as the strategy, and every steps of the way, committing without planning is one way to ensure to achieve failure (more information on planning in the next part). As we go on later in this document, well see that the Hospital will cooperate with a security partner in order to carry the testing, the more reason for two party to sit down and agreed on the standard quality of this test. So, what makes a good penetration testing? Scope of the test: defying a clear scope, that will be most suitable for the Hospital that will be the first and most important task, for a good scope will help to prevent wasting of resource at the same time able to cover every potential vulnerability (the scope defying will be in the next section, the planning stage). Reliable partner : after the planning, sketch out a good strategy, its the security partner job to implement, launch the test, thats why we have to chose a skilled and experienced partner, the one who know what they are doing, in the fourth section, we will chose a partner that: Legally capable. Technically capable Can abide the non disclosure agreement, and this is especially important, for we a hospital, working with highly sensitive information. Choosing correct and adequate series of test, this depends heavily on the scope that we decide on. Also the executing of the test must follow strict methodology, every test must be planned carefully, followed the plan, and the well documented. This is very important because if we treat the test just like a guessing game, to see where the weaknesses are, its very likely that we are going to miss something, and that alone make the purpose of doing penetration testing completely voided. Result oriented: the only thing we care for its the result of the test, thats why the results should be well documented, the team should pay attention also to make the result understandable, so that the Hospital board can easily understand the problems, the consultant of the security partner company should also be ready to present and explain the results. With that set of quality in mind, we are going to proceed to the planning and further steps accordingly. However, because we are not going to actually perform the test, so we are only going through: planning, defying scope, chose a strategy, choosing the tests, and lastly defying methodology and standard for these series of test, we are going to explain what do we chose and why, as for the definition and how to execute please refer to the appendix. II/ The planning stage: In this part, we will cover the planning, defying scope, that lead to a strategy plant, which will be the back bone guide line for any further tests to follow. The security priorities of different target are different, for a service net work it is important to have a high stability, availability, or in case of an e-business network, it requires high authenticity. However none of that can be apply to SGH, for a hospital the utmost priority are confidentiality, data integrity, we are dealing with patients data here, there is no point in taking the Hippocratic Oath to keep the patients information confidential while on the other hand slacking off In putting effort to protect those information. Not only that we are dealing with much higher stake game here, which involve humans lives. This is no longer just protecting data for data mean money. When I were young, I remember a movie where a patient with a broken jaw put back together by metallic platting, years latter he has cancer, and his doctor without knowing about the platting still send him to the MRI machine (highly magnetic), and lead to his gruesome death. All of which cause by lack of de ntal documentation in his medical history. So in a nut shell, SGH highest priority is data Integrity and confidentiality, but in the mean time we still have to do minimum checking on every other aspect, leave out nothing. The second as part of SGH network system is the personnel, which in this case are doctors and nurses mostly. They are among the most highly trained employees, however not in IT. Nowadays almost every hospital in Singapore has been completely digitalized, dealing with database instead of paper files, also with many medical devices are being monitored by computer programs. The combination of high tech with unexperienced user leads to a very high chance of application misuse, data input wrongly. That put application security testing (appendix B application security testing) priority a bit higher than normal. So as a conclusion for the strategy of this penetration test: we are going to do a penetration test follow Blind Testing strategy (Bind testing strategy Appendix B) to stimulate the action like a real hacking attempt by hacker to obtain confidential data, or to modify, deleteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc. In the same time we will combine with certain Internal testing (Internal testing strategy), mostly focus on application security, misuse..etc, and of course a few basic test again common threat however we are not going to deep in that. After decided on a plan and testing strategy, the next step will be vulnerability assessment III Vulnerability assessment (VA): Why should we do VA (VA appendix B)? In fact there are some confusion between VA and pen-test, sometime people lable them as the same. Pen-test mostly consis of VA, but then take one step futher, find out the weak spot then attack it. So basically before we do pen-test, the first step would be VA. For the detail of how to do VA please refer to VA Appendix A . But basically we are going to series of techniques that can be considered as research before attack. Passive research: learn as much as we can about SGH, from out site point of view. Open source monitoring: utilizes Internet meta-searches focus on specific keywords, or sensitive information to see if there are any leaking. Network mapping and OS fingerprinting: from out side view, figuring out the structure of the network, even able to draw out a network diagram from the information gatherd through different tools Spoofing: trick the targeted computer in side the Hospital, sending out packets pretending that they are from trusted source. Network sniffing: capture data as it travel in and out the network, especially we have the different site between Clinics and Hospital, this can be a good check to see if our VPN is working properly. Trojan attack: and yes the traditional, butter and bread Trojan attack, Even though its basic, but because its so popular, itll be a mistake to think that our fire wall can do all the job, when Trojans combine with social engineering can be devastating. Brute force attack: this can be optional as we mention before the availability of the network may not be our highest priority, however if the resource allow, we can still do it, as a better safe than sorry. Vulnerability scanning: finally we can use automated tools to scan the whole database looking for potential vulnerability (the how, and what tool can be found in VA appendix A) After all those test, its very likely that we may able to discover a few holes in our security system. However in order to make sure that in all those vulnerabilities weve just discover none are false positive we will go to the next step is exploit testing, meaning actually attack to see if any got through. IV penetration testing, different types of test: Exploit testing (exploit testing appendix B) normally is the final stage in the whole process of penetration testing. There are many type of test, each with different level of commitment. We have to chose which test, and how far do we want to push. This decision is based on two aspects. One is the predefined scope that everybody agreed on earlier, we will conduct the test accordingly to that scope, to the strategy. The second is based on the result of VA, attack on every potential vulnerability that weve just found. In this scenario, because we have not actually performed the test, so we are going to chose based on the scope only. 1/ Database Integrity: As we discussed in the previous section, the integrity and confidentiality of SGH database is our highest priority. The fact that in the process of VA, we have done many test and checking, sniffing, mapping, Trojan, brute force, those are not only VA testing but actually a part of testing the confidentiality and integrity level of the data base also. Thats the fine line between VA and penetration testing as many of the assessment can actually be consider as exploitive. In the same manner in this stage of exploitive testing there still are test that could be done that may very well have been a part of VA like: War dialling: (war dialling appendix B): by calling a wide range number of telephone inside SGH, we may catch a modem, remote access devices, and maintenance connection that may leave an open on the hospital network. Why do we even consider this method? The fact that nowadays not only user, but even IT staff have very high ignorance when considering the phone network, while in fact they are the very primate assess point that possible for hacker to exploit, you dont actually need to be ignorance, just careless is enough, like leaving an open modem on a critical node of the network is enough to create an opening. There are many tools we can use for war dialling: ToneLoc from Minor Threat and Mucho Maas, or its alternative ModemScan , they both can be use for Microsoft window platform. TeleSweep for Microsoft also, and its free. For Macintosh use Assault Dialer. Unix try PAWS, THC-SCAN NG, Telescan, IWAR (intelligent war dialler), or ShokDial (from: http://www.tech-faq.com). 2/ Social engineering testing: Social engineering test (appendix B SE) is part of the blind strategy testing. The environment we are working on is SGH, where most of the employee dont have in-depth training in IT, an other point is the helpful nature, answering question is kind of comes with the job description, all in one word: gullible nurses. For any cunning hacker, this is a big fat moving target for social engineering attack. For that reason, basic training in social attack is required, in the same time several test can be conduct, mainly in two forms: Non face-to-face: the test can be done over mail, or phone, pretending to be somebody who have authority, or who needs help to tricks the user to use account, password, or giving out sensitive information. Face-to-face: this is a more advance kind of social engineering, by posting as an employee of authorized personnel , gaining physical access to restricted areas getting information, from intercepting mail to dumpster divingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc Social engineering maybe no as technical as other test, but it has equal importance if not more, for the fact that there are actually no fool proof method to prevent social engineering attack other than out smart the attacker, which Is ironically we dont usually put the smartest people of the organization to the reception desk , the only thing we can do is to raise the level of awareness of the employee (there are books on this matter like: the art of deception, the art of intrusion both by Mitnick Simon ) . 3/ Application security testing: The second point from the scope as we discussed earlier is Application security: there are a series of test for application security (technical detail on appendix A AppT): Code view, Authorization testing, Input validation, cookie security, Lockout testing, there are also some test for the functionality of the application as well like: input validation, Transaction testingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc For why we need application testing we have discussed above, but then again, do we really need to do all those test? Yes, we do. The objective of doing so many test on Application alone is to fully evaluate the control we have over our application (medical application, network applicationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). The focus of those test still focus mainly on protecting the confidentiality and integrity of information, how to authenticate user, and also on the using of cookies (appendix B cookies) 4/ other test: There are some other test like: denial of service testing, resource..etc but as we mention above, these are not compulsory, not that they are not important, but there are higher priority test that need to be done. But since these are common attack and easy to carry out, its recommended that if the resources allow, we should go ahead and perform the tests, even at basic level. (the detail of the test can be found at DoS testing appendix A). V Other detail of a penetration test: 1/ methodology and standards: Methodology actually is a very important factor of a penetration test. A test that acts without a formal methodology has no real meaning, just poking around. But on the other hand, methodology should only acts as a framework, a discipline guideline to follow, we should not restrict the tester rather than let him/her fully explore his/her intuitions, while acting accordingly to the guideline. There are several methodology and standards, as for their technical detail, please refer to appendix A Metho 2/ Security partner: The reason why we needs to pay money for a third party to perform the test for us is : Un unbiased point of view: like a beta tester, sometime the programmer, or in this case the SGH IT team, cannot see ones own mistake clearly, so we need to hire trained professional to look for us. Highly experienced and highly trained: for the member of the IT team, some may have done a penetration test before, some may not. But for a company that specialize in penetration testing. They have done it hundreds of time, even done it for some big organization, thats why with the experience and the training, its more likely that they can discover things that the IT team cannot. Certified result: a Certified penetration testing company will have to satisfies certain level of standards (refer to appendix A Metho). If a test done by a Certified party, it can become a potential strong legal argument for future conflicts (for example: Insurance conflicts). With all those reason weve decided to hire a security partner to perform the test for us. In Singapore there are many company that have the certification and standards to perform such test, most trustworthy must be: Cisco IBM (with the express penetration testing service) Obtechs Certified penetration testing specialist 3/ Risks in doing penetration testing: While doing penetration testing, there are certain risks that we should consider and be careful for: Risk of exposure: there are many sensitive data in the hospital, sometime these data can be expose during a pen-test it can be unintentionally or intentionally, we have to have strong agreement of the conditions and responsibility of the security partner. Time delay: Pen-test take time, and for Hospital environment we cannot simply lock down our data base for testing, thats why a strict time-frame. For the size of our Hospital system, the testing should not take more than a month. VI Conclusion: As we all know security is continuum, no absolute. Through the penetration tests we should be able to not only find out there are flaws in the security system, but we have to go further to understand the process failures that lead to those flaws. Through the test, we can see that even a brand new developed security system can have many vulnerability, its a reminder to us so that we never have a false sense of security!. Appendix A: 1/ VA (Vulnerability assessment): As documented by SANS, Vulnerabilities are the gateways by which threats are manifested. In other words, a system compromise can occur through a weakness found in a system. A vulnerability assessment is a search for these weaknesses/exposures in order to apply a patch or fix to prevent a compromise. How do these weaknesses occur? There are two points to consider:  · This newly developed security system for SGH were born with it, means while underdeveloping by mistake the developing team creat the weakness.  · Many vulnerabilities occur as a result of misconfigurations by system administrators. Misuse by user, all can lead to the result of making a hole in the security system. There are many ways to search for vulnerability, however in our scenario, it is best to do it as a out side hacker would do it, before attacking a system, the hacker also have to perform a vulnerability assessment test on the system, only different would be we are going to do it on full scale, not only from outside looking in but also from the insider view. There are however certain number of technique that could effectively point out the weaknesses if the system have one. Passive research: As the name suggests, a passive research is a method used to gather as much information about an organizations systems configuration from public domain sources such as: o DNS (domain name service) o RIPE (Rà ©seaux IP Europà ©ens) o USENET (newsgroups) o ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers) Passive research is generally performed at the beginning of an external penetration test. Open source monitoring: This service is an associated technique that utilizes Internet meta-searches (multiple searches of Web sites, newswires, newsgroups and other sources) targeted on keyword that are important to the organization. The data is collected and discoveries are highlighted to the organization. This helps identify whether organizations confidential information has been leaked or whether an electronic conversation involving them has taken place. This enables an organization to take necessary measures to ensure confidentiality and integrity. Network mapping and OS fingerprinting: Visualization of network configuration is an important part of penetration testing. Network mapping is used to create a picture of the configuration of the network being tested. A network diagram can be created which infers the logical locations and IP addresses of routers, firewalls, Web servers and other border devices. Additionally, this examination can assist in identifying or fingerprinting operating systems. A combination of results from passive research and tools such as ping, traceroute and nmap, can help create a reasonably accurate network map. An extension of network mapping is Port Scanning. This technique is aimed at identifying the type of services available on the target machine. The scan result reveals important information such as function of a computer (whether it is a Web server, mail server etc) as well as revealing ports that may be serious security risks such as telnet. Port scans should include number of individual tests, including: o TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) scan o Connect scan o SYN (or half open) scan o RST (or Xmas-tree) scan o UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) scans. Tools such as nmap can perform this type of scan. o Dynamic ports used by RPC (Remote Procedure Call) should be scanned using tool such as RPCinfo. Spoofing: Spoofing involves creation of TCP/IP packets using somebody elses Internet addresses and then sending the same to the targeted computer making it believe that it came from a trusted source. It is the act of using one machine to impersonate another. Routers use the destination IP address in order to forward packets through the Internet, but ignore the source IP address. The destination machine only uses that source IP address when it responds back to the source. This technique is used in internal and external penetration testing to access computers that have been instructed to only reply to specific computers. This can result in sensitive information be released to unauthorised systems. IP spoofing is also an integral part of many network attacks that do not need to see responses (blind spoofing). Network sniffing: Sniffing is technique used to capture data as it travels across a network. Sniffing is an important information gathering technique that enables capturing of specific information, such as passwords and also an entire conversation between specific computers, if required. To perform sniffing, the network card of computer needs to be put in promiscuous mode, so that it captures all data being sent across the network. Sniffing is extensively used in internal testing where the sniffer or the computer in promiscuous mode is directly attached to the network enabling capturing of a great deal of information. Sniffing can be performed by a number of commercial tools such as Ethereal, Network Associates SnifferPro and Network Instruments Observer. Trojan attack: Trojans are malicious programs that are typically sent into network as e-mail attachments or transferred via IM chat rooms. These programs run in stealth mode and get installed on the client computer without the users knowledge. Once installed, they can open remote control channels to attackers or capture information. A penetration test aims at attempting to send specially prepared Trojans into a network. Brute force attack: A brute force attack involves trying a huge number of alphanumeric combinations and exhaustive trial and error methods in order find legitimate authentication credentials. The objective behind this time consuming exercise is to gain access to the target system. Brute force attacks can overload a system and can possibly stop it from responding to legitimate requests. Additionally, if account lockout is being used, brute force attacks may close the account to legitimate users. Vulnerability scanning/analysis: Vulnerability scanning/analysis is an exhaustive examination of targeted areas of an organizations network infrastructure aimed at determining their current state. The targets range from a single system or only critical systems to scanning the entire network. It is usually performed using automated tools that test for a multitude of potential weaknesses in a system against a database of known vulnerabilities and report potential security holes. And although they dont actively prevent attacks, many scanners provide additional tools to help fix found vulnerabilities. Some of the commonly used vulnerability scanners include: the open-source Nessus Projects Nessus, ISS Internet Scanner, GFI Softwares GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner, eEye Digital Securitys Retina Network Security Scanner, the BindView RMS vulnerability-management solutions and Network Associates CyberCop. 2/ application testing ( AppT ) For the purpose of application testing there are several test that can be done: * Code review: Code reviews involve analysing all the application-based code to ensure that it does not contain any sensitive information that an intruder might use to exploit an application. For example: Publicly available application code may include test comments, names or clear text passwords that will give an intruder a great deal of information about the application. * Authorization testing: Involves testing the systems responsible for the initiation and maintenance of user sessions. This will require testing: o Input validation of login fields bad characters or overlong inputs can produce unpredictable results; o Cookie security cookies can be stolen and legitimate sessions can be used by an unauthorised individual; and o Lockout testing testing the timeout and intrusion lockout parameters set in the application, to ensure legitimate sessions cannot be hijacked. This is performed to discover whether the login system can be forced into permitting unauthorised access. The testing will also reveal whether the system is susceptible to denial of service attacks using the same techniques. * Functionality testing: This involves testing the systems responsible for the applications functionality as presented to a user. This will require testing: o Input validation bad characters, specific URLs or overlong inputs can produce unpredictable results; and o Transaction testing ensuring that the application performs to specification and does not permit the user to abuse the system. 3/ DoS testing: Denial of service testing involves attempting to exploit specific weaknesses on a system by exhausting the targets resources that will cause it to stop responding to legitimate requests. This testing can be performed using automated tools or manually. The different types of DoS can be broadly classified into software exploits and flooding attacks. Decisions regarding the extent of Denial of Service testing to be incorporated into a penetration testing exercise depend on the relative importance of ongoing, continued availability of the information systems and related processing activities. Denial of service can take a number of formats; those that are important to test for are listed below: * Resource overload these attacks intend to overload the resources (i.e. memory) of a target so that it no longer responds. * Flood attacks this involves sending a large amount of network requests with the intention of overloading the target. This can be performed via: ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol), known as smurf attacks UDP (User Datagram Protocol), known as fraggle attacks * Half open SYN attack this involves partially opening numerous TCP connections on the target, so that legitimate connections could not be started. * Out-of-band attacks these attempt to crash targets by breaking IP header standards: o Oversized packets (ping of death) the packet header indicates that there is more data in the packet than there actually is. o Fragmentation (teardrop attack) sends overlapping fragmented packets (pieces of packets) which are under length. o IP source address spoofing (land attack) causes a computer to create a TCP connection to itself. o Malformed UDP packet header (UDP bomb) UDP headers indicate an incorrect length. 4/ Methodology and standards (Metho): The Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM) by Pete Herzog has become a de-facto methodology for performing penetration testing and obtaining security metrics. According to Pete Herzog, The primary goal of the OSSTMM is to provide transparency. It provides transparency of those who have inadequate security configurations and policies. It provides transparency of those who perform inadequate security and penetration tests. It provides transparency of the unscrupulous security vendors vying to sponge up every last cent of their preys already meager security budget; those who would side-step business values with over-hyped threats of legal compliancy, cyber-terrorism, and hackers. The OSSTMM covers the whole process of risk assessment involved in a penetration test, from initial requirements analysis to report generation. The six areas of testing methodology covered are: * Information security * Process security * Internet technology security * Communications security * Wireless security * Physical security The OSSTMM focuses on the technical details of exactly which items need to be tested, what to do before, during, and after a security test, and how to measure the results. New tests for international best practices, laws, regulations, and ethical concerns are regularly added and updated. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) discusses penetration testing in Special Publication 800-42, Guideline on Network Security Testing. NISTs methodology is less comprehensive than the OSSTMM however it is more likely to be accepted by regulatory agencies. Standards in penetration testing Lets take a look at some of the standards and guidelines available: Standards for Information Systems Auditing (ISACA): ISACA was established in 1967 and has become a pace-setting global organization for information governance, control, security and audit professionals. Its IS auditing and IS control standards are followed by practitioners worldwide and its research pinpoints professional issues challenging its constituents. CISA, the Certified Information Systems Auditor is ISACAs cornerstone certification. CHECK: The CESG IT Health Check scheme was instigated to ensure that sensitive government networks and those constituting the GSI (Government Secure Intranet) and CNI (Critical National Infrastructure) were secured and tested to a consistent high level. The methodology aims to identify known vulnerabilities in IT systems and networks which may compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of information held on that IT system. CHECK consultants are only required when the assessment for HMG or related parties, and meets the requirements above. In the absence of other standards, CHECK became the de-facto standard for penetration tests and penetration testing in the UK. Companies belonging to CHECK must have employees that are security cleared and have passed the CESG Hacking Assault Course. However, open source methodologies such as the following are providing viable and comprehensive alternatives, without UK Government association. OSSTMM: The aim of The Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual is to se

Friday, January 17, 2020

Advantage and Disadvantage Democracy Essay

I went to Shannon Vile for a special holiday. I stayed there for two days. In the last day of my trip, I went to the beach again. The view of the sea was extremely beautiful. I walked alone along the beach to absorb the fresh air from the sea. The beach was absolutely beautiful and had a lot of brilliant people on the beach. Some people played volleyball and some people walked along the beach like me. When I reached a small coffee shop, I felt thirsty.In the coffee shop had a lot of people, but among them had a beautiful lady who wore a red hat and black glasses. She sat alone and watched a photo. When I came next to her, I found that the person on the photo was me. I wondered why she got my photo. At first, I thought that she was my friend. When I saw her face, I knew clearly that she was not my friend. I asked her why she got this photo. She said that she got it when she walked along the street and it was on her way, so she picked it up. She was very friendly. We had a conversation for hours.She had many things in common with me. We had fun together and she said that it was a hilarious that she has never met before. We felt delighted and enjoyed our talking in the beautiful beach. Since then, she became my best friend and we have good relationship with each other until present time. Experience of Being Alone In the Forest Last month, I had a Journey to the forest. I went there alone and I brought some foods with me. To reach the middle of the forest took about two hours. I felt extremely exhausted. When I reached the middle of the forest, I decided to have a top.The landscape In the forest was wonderful and there were many big trees. I had lunch alone in the forest and I took a nap for ten minutes after the lunch time. After taking a nap, I read a book. The title of the book was â€Å"Watch Out of the BeÐ’Â «. When I read this book, I knew some strategies to protect myself from the bears. I came into the forest because I wanted to have a brilliant experi ence of being alone in the forest. I was reading and eating at the same time. While I was reading, I heard a strange sound behind me. I looked around but I did not see anything.I only saw the big trees surround me. I continued my reading for five minutes. I heard the strange sound again. Immediately, I turned back and I saw a big bear behind me. It seemed like a cruel bear. I felt nervous and I did not know how to do. The big bear wanted to attack me, but I tried my best to escape from this bad situation. I ran and screamed without turning back to find the safety place that the bear could not find. After that I knew that I had left my leather bag and everything there. So after this event, I have

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Advanced Word Formation Charts for ESL Learners - A

Word formation is one of the keys to success for advanced level ESL learners. Advanced level English exams such as the TOEFL, First Certificate CAE and Proficiency use word formation as one of the key testing elements. These word formation charts provide the concept noun, personal noun, adjective and verb forms of key vocabulary listed in alphabetical order. Word Forms Concept noun Personal noun Adjective Verb absenteeismThe rate of absenteeism is rising in middle and high schools. absenteeWell send the absentees notes from the meeting. absent-mindedThe absent-minded professor wandered into the wrong classroom. to be absentUnfortunately, Ill be absent from class on Friday. accountingCan you take care of the accounting on this project? accountantIll need to ask my accountant for advice on this business deal. accountableDo you think we should hold everyone accountable for their mistakes? accountI think we should open a new bank account. accusationThe lawyer rebuffed the accusation and stated his case. accuser / accusedThe accuser should always try to understand the motivations of the accused. accusingHes an accusing figure in the company and needs to go! accuseDo you really want to accuse him of bribery? achievementThe victory was an amazing achievement. achieverAchievers tend to be outgoing people who dont mind making mistakes. achievedHis achieved status at the company was due to his work ethic. achieveShes achieved many things in very long career. addictionDrug addiction is a huge problem for many people around the world. addictThe addict struggled with drug abuse for many years. addictive/addictedYoull find that many addictive drugs are opiates. to become addictedA number of students have become addicted to so called study drugs administrationThe administration has made many mistakes over the past eight years. administratorThe head administrator will take your questions. administrativeAll administrative tasks are taken care of by human resources. administrateWe should use a third party to administrate our accounts. admirationShe showed a lot of admiration for her help. admirerHave you ever had a secret admirer? admired / admiringThe admiring young man stood and gazed. admireI enjoy going to the museum to admire fine art. advertisementThe advertisement was very entertaining. advertiserWe need to find an advertiser to help pay for expenses. advertisedThe advertised medicine didnt work as expected. advertiseHave you ever advertised your products online? adviceI think you should take his advice. adviserIm going to see my adviser next week on campus. advisoryThe advisory committee decided to postpone the decision. adviseWhat would you advise me to do? aggravationIve certainly had my fair share of aggravation. aggressorThe aggressor was caught and thrown into jail. aggravatingShe has an aggravating backache. aggravateI aggravated my brother with my remarks about his wife. agitationI felt a lot of agitation when I heard the news. agitatorThe agitator was taken to jail by the police. agitatedThe agitated citizen screamed at the reporter. agitateBe careful to not agitate the situation with your remarks. analysisThe analysis of the situation is very interesting. analystThe analyst was very expensive, but necessary for our case. analyticalHe cast an analytical eye on the situation. analyseDo you think you could analyse the evidence? antagonismShe felt his antagonism was misplaced. antagonistThe antagonist made a convincing case against the hero. antagonisticHer antagonistic attitude got her into trouble at work. antagonizeYoull be sorry if you antagonize them. arbitrationThe arbitration went on for three weeks. arbitratorThe arbitrator in the case made a decision. arbitraryI think he made an arbitrary decision that be ignored. arbitrateThe judge will arbitrate the case. assassinationThe assassination stunned the nation. assassinThe assassin was caught within three days. assassinatedThe country wept over the assassinated president. assassinateMost people could not assassinate anyone. authorizationI gave him complete authorization on the project. authorityHes an authority in his field. authoritarian / authoritativeHer authoritarian approach scared the students. authorizeCan you authorize this request?