Sustainable Development of the ICT Sector

Sustainable Development of the ICT Sector Chapter 7:Conclusion In this last chapter of the dissertation motivation behind the research is discussed and the conclusion of the research is presented. The conclusion is presented by revisiting the research objectives set in first chapter of the dissertation and then, analysing the results obtained, in light of these objectives. As vulnerabilities, exploits and security in information and communication technology is a very vast topic and presenting various type of cyber attacks and their corresponding security measures is beyond the scope of this or any single research. So, the scope of the research study, as conducted by the researcher, is also discussed in this chapter. The chapter ends with the discussion regarding the further scope of the research which can be taken up to enhance the work presented in this research dissertation. 7.1 Research Objectives Revisited In chapter 1 of the research, objectives of the research were stated as follows: To study the sustainable development of ICT sector Analyze effect of penetration level on economy Dependency analysis of other sectors on ICT Growth analysis of vulnerabilities in ICT sector Model to control vulnerabilities and ensure sustainability This section discusses that how well these objectives have been achieved in the research. 7.1.1 Sustainable development of ICT The sustainable development of ICT has been defined in chapter 1 as, continuous and consistent development of information and communication technology to meet the needs of the current as well as future generations. Sustainable development has three facets as economic, social and environmental sustainability. In this research, only two facets of sustainability i.e. economic and social sustainability of ICT sector are studied. The economic sustainability of ICT means that the sector will continue to add substantial economic value globally in terms of GDP value addition and employment opportunities for people. The social sustainability means, continuous use of ICT to enable human development, improvement their living standards, and eliminate social evils such as poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition etc. An efficient use of ICT can facilitate the development of the citizens of the country by providing them much needed information, education to take correct decisions to enable growth. 7.1.2 Effect of penetration rate on economy The most evident value addition that ICT has brought in last three decades has been the positive economic impact that it has on the countries of the world. The counties which had embraced computers and internet in its inception phase are all developed countries today. In this research it has been proved beyond doubt that the economic development of a country is heavily dependent on ICT. Continuous and efficient use of ICT by countries has enabled them to add huge economic value to the GDP. The correlation between the GDP and internet penetration rate across the world has been found to a perfect positive correlation, which means that a country with higher penetration rate would largely have high per capita GDP. High degree of positive correlation between the use of ICT and economy of the country has been established in the research, so if the ICT sector keeps on growing at a constant rate it will generate more income and raise the living standards for the people of the world. Also after realizing this impact of ICT on economy most of the developing countries in the world have started implementing and encouraging use of ICT, and hence the growth in penetration rate of the internet in developing countries and regions of the world have been found to be higher hen there developed counterparts. 7.1.3 Dependence of other sectors on ICT ICT sector has a considerable share in GDP and employment of a country but this is only a partial contribution of its total effect. The actual affect of ICT is much larger as it adds value to all other sectors which contribute to the economy of the country. Hence ICT is adding value to economy in multiple ways. In this research the affect of ICT on other sectors of the economy such as banking and other financial institutions, retail, transportation and logistics, tourism and healthcare sector has been studied. Only the above mentioned five sectors have been studied in this research but ICT has similar influence on all other service sectors of the economy. According to the study in chapter 3 of this dissertation ICT has been found to the enabler for most of the product and process innovations in these other service sectors of the economy. Some of the innovative business models such as e-commerce and online reservations have been deployed in many organizations of the world and these contribution and movement of the traditional world to the virtual world will continue in future and thus lead to sustainable development of ICT. 7.1.4 Growth rate of ICT vulnerabilities The biggest hindrance to the sustainable development of ICT is the growth in vulnerabilities, exploits and cyber attacks. When a user is connected to the internet he also becomes susceptible to these cyber threats. These treats if exploited by a cyber miscreant may lead to more financial loss to an individual or organization then the perceived value addition of using ICT. This disposition of lack of trust is the main reason for sustainable development of ICT not being on the expected lines and its potential is not being fully utilized. To ensure its sustainable development the ICT sector has to constrain these constantly growing cyber threats. In chapter 4 of the research the consistence growth of vulnerabilities has been studied and it has been proved from a global perspective that vulnerabilities have been increasing at the compounded annual growth rate of around 30% annually. 7.1.5 Model to enable sustainable growth of ICT In the final chapters of the research dissertation a specific example of security threat in wireless sensor networks of the future has been studied. The scenario of wireless sensor network has been taken because it is the most commonly implemented wireless ad-hoc network today, and is going to be used extensively in all smart city and Internet of Things projects in future. With these projects in focus the miscreants are likely to use the existing attacks in novel forms to attack them to disturb the functioning of these interconnected and autonomous networks. Sybil attack, which is a serious threat to ad-hoc networks, has been chosen in this research study as it, not only compromises the functioning of sensor network, but also enables and facilitate many other attacks in sensor networks. For example Sybil identities once generated in the network can lead to Black hole attacks, blackmailing attacks, denial of service attacks etc. So the motivation behind this research choice was that if this one attack can be controlled it would lead to reduction in other types of attacks as well. Before suggesting a model to prevent Sybil attacks in wireless sensor networks, the real world data was captured and analysed to establish the existence of these attack in real world. After considerable Sybil attack signatures were identified in the captured data a trust based model for WSN has been suggested in which a server agent or base station is entrusted with the responsibility of authorizing the wireless nodes before participating in the network operations. Using this admission control mechanism the Sybil nodes can be totally prevented in the network and thus lead to more predictable and reliable delivery of data across the network. As discussed in the previous chapter the effectiveness of the proposed model has been defended using the simulation results of the existing and the proposed system. 7.2 Scope of research study As the types of network and their corresponding vulnerabilities are numerous and can’t be studied in a single research. The Sybil attack which is a particularly harmful attack in wireless sensor network has been studied and protection model for the same has been proposed. As discussed in previous section, wireless sensor networks were selected as they are considered as future of ad-hoc networks and Sybil attack was selected because of its capability to facilitate additional attacks in sensor networks. By no means has the researcher wanted to state that other types of network and attacks are not important, in fact as if today, other types of wired and wireless networks are more frequently implemented and warrant considerable research to enable sustainable development of ICT, but WSN are definitely going to be the future of networks and will play an even more important role in times to come in sustainable development of ICT. The scope of a global study is also sometimes restricted by the availability of data for all parameters of study in the global scenario. In this research most of the data used has been global but in case of sectoral study the consistent secondary data for the whole world was not available so the data from European Union has been used to analyse the dependency of other service sectors of the economy on ICT and has been generalised in a global scenario. 7.3 Recommendation for Further Study This research study has a specific focus on Sybil attacks in WSN but there are many other type of attacks and networks which are equally important in sustainable development of ICT. This section of the chapter recommends some further research topics in the area of sustainable ICT development in general and protection against Sybil and other attacks in other type of networks. 7.3.1 Sybil attack in other Categories of WANET In this research Sybil attacks have been studied in context of wireless sensor networks which is one category of wireless ad-hoc network but there are other categories of WANET such as mobile ad-hoc network and vehicular ad-hoc network which are also affected by Sybil attacks and a security model can be developed for protecting these types of networks. The model suggested in this research for WSN cannot be directly applied to the MANET or VANET as centralization is less feasible because of high mobility rate and absence of central command and control centre in form of base station in these networks. In WSN the nodes may or may not be mobile and even when mobility is there it is slow and infrequent, for example in a smart city garbage collection system, a bin would act as a node, but it will move only once or twice during a day, in a wireless sensor network enabled smart home all devices such as television, refrigerator, washing machine and smart phone are connected but the relative movement is infrequent. In case of MANET and VANET the situation is completely different as vehicles will constantly move and same vehicles may never become neighbours again so developing a trust based solution is not possible in such networks and a different model is required for protection. 7.3.2 Other attacks in WANET In this research Sybil attack has been studied but there are many other attacks which also seriously compromise the efficiency of wireless ad-hoc networks. For example denial of service attack can take various forms in different kind of networks and its modus operandi and corresponding defences are different in various kinds of networks. Other attacks which are targeted at WANET and discussed in chapter 5 of this research can be studied and suggestive models can be proposed to defend the WANET from these attacks. Various routing attacks are particularly very annoying in WANET as they negatively affect the routing in an ad-hoc network and lead to packets loss. These routing attacks can be a further topic of research to enable sustainable development of ICT. 7.3.3 New design paradigm for WANET In computational and interconnection theory of computers, security has never been of prime concern. All the effort of a software company is in making the software do the task it is supposed to do and do it as efficiently as possible. In this performance focused approach security is often neglected. When such software is launched in market it carries many vulnerabilities that are exploited by the attackers to compromise the computational system and cause loss to the organization or individuals. In recent years, after realizing the disastrous capability of these output focused programming techniques now the software designers and developer are moving on to more security centric approaches of software development. Similarly, if security is inbuilt in the design of the networks, they will be more immune to the attacks. So, this new design paradigm being used by software development industry can be implemented network design as well. 7.4 Summary In the summary of the conclusion of the research it can be stated that the wireless ad-hoc network being the future of computer networks will be attacked continuously in future. The existing attacks in new forms and new zero day attacks will constantly be discovered by the cyber attackers and it will never be easy for the system administrators to defend their system. The new defence mechanisms will have to be developed to protect our information architecture and ensure the sustainable development of ICT.

Swimming :: essays research papers

Swimming Learning something new can be a scary experience. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was learn how to swim. I was always afraid of the water, but I decided that swimming was an important skill that I should learn. I also thought it would be good exercise and help me to become physically stronger. What I didn't realize was that learning to swim would also make me a more confident person. New situations always make me a bit nervous, and my first swimming lesson was no exception. After I changed into my bathing suit in the locker room, I stood timidly by the side of the pool waiting for the teacher and other students to show up. After a couple of minutes the teacher came over. She smiled and introduced herself, and two more students joined us. Although they were both older than me, they didn't seem to be embarrassed about not knowing how to swim. I began to feel more at ease. We got into the pool, and the teacher had us put on brightly colored water wings to help us stay afloat. One of the other students, May, had already taken the beginning class once before, so she took a kickboard and went splashing off by herself. The other student, Jerry, and I were told to hold on to the side of the pool and shown how to kick for the breaststroke. One by one, the teacher had us hold on to a kickboard while she pulled it through the water and we kicked. Pretty soon Jerry was off doing this by himself, traveling at a fast clip across the short end of the pool. Things were not quite that easy for me, but the teacher was very patient. After a few more weeks, when I seemed to have caught on with my legs, she taught me the arm strokes. Now I had two things to concentrate on, my arms and my legs. I felt hopelessly uncoordinated. Sooner than I imagined, however, things began to feel "right" and I was able to swim! It was a wonderful free feeling - like flying, maybe - to be able to shoot across the water. Learning to swim was not easy for me, but in the end my persistence paid off.

Discursive essay (1): a balanced argument Essay

Text-messaging is an important advance in communication – or is it? With a partner, discuss three reasons you think text messaging represents an important advance in communication and three reasons why it does not. Order them 1-3 according to their importance. b Read the model essay and see if the writer has mentioned some or all of your arguments. Does the writer put her main argument first in both paragraphs? c Look at the three introductory paragraphs below and choose which one you think is best for the essay. Compare with a partner, and discuss why you think it is the best, and why the other two are less suitable. Then do the same with the conduding paragraphs. Introductory paragraphs 1 Since the first SMS was sent in 1992, text messaging has become one of the most popular forms of communication, especially among the younger generation, with billions of messages being sent every year. But has this technology really improved interpersonal communication? 2 Text messaging clearly has important advantages and disadvantages. In this essay, I am first going to analyse the advantages of SMS technology and then I will outline some important disadvantages before finally drawing my conclusions. 3 Can you imagine life without sending and receiving SMSs? Almost certainly not, as this cheap and convenient technology has become such a vital tool for organizing our social lives and communicating instantly with our friends and family. How did we manage before it was invented? Concluding paragraphs 1 In conclusion, text messaging has important advantages and disadvantages, but on the whole, I believe that it has improved our lives in a significant way. 2 In my view, text messaging has improved communication considerably and it is highly useful, for example, if you are trying to contact someone in a very noisy place, such as a club, where it would be impossible to hear a phone call. In conclusion, it is a very vital piece of technology. Being able to send short, written messages via mobile phone has clearly advanced communication in certain respects. The greatest benefit of texting is that it allows us to communicate instantly with other people wherever they are, but without interrupting them in the way that a phone call would, and allowing them to reply whenever it is convenient for them to do so. In addition, sending a text, for example to arrange where to meet someone, is a quick, concise, and efficient way of communicating, as people normally only include the vital information. Finally, text messaging is a very cheap form of communication, which is a particular advantage for young people or for people who are travelling, when mobile phone conversations can be prohibitively expensive.

What to Do if Your Laptop is Stolen in College

College is difficult enough without having to worry about things like computer theft. But if the unthinkable happens and someone does walk off with your computer, an already-busy college life can suddenly get a lot more difficult. So just what are your options? Find an Immediate, Short-term Solution Its not like a computer theft ever really happens at a good time, and yet a stolen laptop does seem to occur during the worst parts of the semester. Consequently, dont make things even more challenging for yourself by not setting up some kind of alternative solution as soon as possible. Ask if you can borrow your friends laptop for a little while; see where the nearest computer lab is (as well as what hours its open); check with campus offices, like the IT department, to see if they have any loaner laptops for students whove lost their computers or had them stolen. Let Your Professors and TAs Know If you have a major assignment, midterm, or exam coming up, zip a quick email to your professor (or, better yet, talk to them in person). Keep the drama to a minimum; youre just letting them know, not using the opportunity to present excuses. It takes less than a minute to send an email saying I just wanted to let you know my laptop was stolen yesterday. While Im working to find another solution, I did want to let you know that Im doing my best to stay on schedule with assignments and other computer-based work. Even if you dont end up needing an extension, its smart to be proactive in a situation where you might need a little help. Talk to the Campus or City Police If someone ran off with your laptop, they obviously took something of high value. Even if you think you have a 0% chance of getting your computer back, its still important to file some kind of report. You might need to show something to your professor, for example, to demonstrate that you really did lose all of your work 2 days before your final paper was due. If you or your parents file an insurance claim, you might also need proof of the theft; a police report can help substantiate your loss. Additionally, if your laptop is eventually found, having something official on file can help you get it back. Let the Staff Know If your laptop disappeared in a place like your residence hall, the campus coffee shop, or the library, let the staff know. You might feel like a dummy for leaving your computer unattended while you went to the bathroom or raided the vending machine, but you still should alert the staff. If your laptop was stolen off campus, let the staff of the store or facility know as well. Look Into Replacement Options True, youll probably need a new laptop of some sort. But before rushing out to buy one, see if the theft is covered under any kind of insurance policy. Did you purchase renters insurance, for example, when you moved into your off-campus apartment? Or does your parents homeowners policy cover theft in your residence hall? A few quick phone calls can possibly save you a lot of cash, so make the effort to investigate any insurance coverage you might have but didnt think about until now. Figure Out What Data Went Missing You might be so focused on losing things for your classes -- like your midterm papers and research -- that you forget about everything else on your machine. Identity theft, however, may be a major threat for you now. Did you have any banking information saved? What about automatic logins for things like email accounts, social networks, and online stores? If theres even the slightest hint that someone might have access to your personal data, call your bank(s) right away and place a fraud alert on your credit report. Find Another Long-term Solution Unfortunately, getting another laptop right away might not be a realistic option for you, logistically or financially. If youre now stuck without your own computer, spend some time trying to find a reasonable long-term solution. (Note: Always planning on borrowing your roommates computer will get really tricky really quickly.) Check out the computer labs on your campus; make sure you know their hours and plan in advance. See if and how you can reserve a computer in the library. Check with your campus IT department to see if they offer loaner machines or if, by chance, they have an old machine you can rent or borrow for the rest of the semester. Although theres nothing like having your old laptop back, with a little creative work you can find a solution that can carry you through.