Computer Virus and Prentice Hall Essay Example for Free

Computer Virus and Prentice Hall Essay Reports of computer security failures appear frequently in the daily new. Cite a reported failure that exemplified one (or more) of the principles listed in the chapter: easiest penetration, adequate protection, effectiveness, weakest link. There has been a lot of reports of security breaches in the news, for example the Sony Playstation Network, RSA Lockheed Martin compromise, Hyundai and so on, these have been of recent and these all show how vulnerable we are to security threats out there on the world wide web which has very little to do with borders of the country or state. The Internet is a gateway of information all over the word where people are connected and providing and absorbing information. Many of the security restrictions that apply in a physical sense do not in the cyber world. I have picked the Sony Playstation Network (PSN) compromise as my topic of discussion to show the areas covered in chapter one that talk about penetration, protection, effectiveness, weakest link. A successful penetration into the PSN by the attacker, has compromised peoples credit card information, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers and more. The successful penetration was delivered disguised in the form of a purchase as stated by Sony Chief Information Officer Shinji Hajesima (Ogg, 2011). The systems were unable to detect the attack going through as it went through has a purchase transaction. This show lack of adequate protection, in the article it also mentions that the vulnerability that was exploited by the hacker was also known. This shows that it is absolutely important to make sure that the patches for known vulnerabilities are deployed and the systems are patched accordingly, though one may argue if the patching introduces other forms of vulnerability. The successful exploitation of the system led to the loss of personal details of up to 70 million (Schreier, 2011) customers, this information could be used for identity theft, credit card theft, and besides that the down time for customers who are using the system that they have paid for. The effectiveness of this attack is shown by the shutdown of the PSN for a number of days. This shows that the effectiveness of the protection on this system was lacking, the inability to pickup on the intrusion as it happened and thus showing us a weak link in the system security. The article shows us the combination of things that have come into play that have led to the successful compromise of the PSN network. Starting with the vulnerability that was known by Sony with the systems and left unattended, secondly the inability of the intrusion detection system to pick up the actual attack or the delivery of the malformed data that exploited the vulnerability to permit access to the attacker, lastly the storage of data in an unencrypted but hashed form which is reversible to obtain the credentials and personal details of the PSN users or customers.

Essay --

In 2006, Felipe Calderà ³n- former president of Mexico launched a joint operation with the United States in an effort to massively crackdown against drug trafficking and their organizations. According to the LA Times, upwards of forty thousand people have been killed in drug-related violence as of June 2011 since it’s meager beginnings in 2006. While the United States has supplied funding and labor in order to support Mexico in undertaking the war on drug trafficking, their primary focus has been more closely focused on increase border patrolling. For decades and decades drug trafficking organizations, henceforth known as cartels, have been using their strong and dangerous influence in order to transform Mexico’s tight-knit government and groups of citizens into a state of country-wide corruption that has ensured protection for cartels doing illegal practices. Since the time President Calderà ³n took his oath for office in 2006 with a pledge to eliminate these traffic king institutions, drug violence has rose quickly and it is moving extremely aggressively, but Calderà ³n and his administration worked quickly in order to promote laws that were part of a strategy made specific in order to handle the situation. This trafficking from Mexico to the United States is starting to become a major player in the role that drugs are playing in America. Mexico is one of the prime contributors of heroin to the U.S. market, and undoubtedly the largest foreign supplier of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Mexican production of all three of these drugs have increased alarmingly since 2005, proportionately with the total of all drugs seized at the border between both countries, according to a 2011 report from the U.S. Department of Justice. While ma... ...s number is growing as territories expand across the world and as the success of the drug trafficking means better money to many of the citizens the poverty-stricken Mexican towns who make the bare minimum (if that) wages. Usually those that are electing to participate in these trafficking jobs are young men with hardly any education, most are drop-outs that come from under privileged economic backgrounds with an average age of eighteen with higher social and monetary aspirations than they can satisfy by working legally and morally. Drug trafficking creates an annual revenue of four hundred billion, and in turn represents eight percent of the world's trade. With a problem so massive that it affects two continents and billions of people, it comes as no surprise that coming to a place of peace and understanding is one of the most difficult things about this situation. Essay -- In 2006, Felipe Calderà ³n- former president of Mexico launched a joint operation with the United States in an effort to massively crackdown against drug trafficking and their organizations. According to the LA Times, upwards of forty thousand people have been killed in drug-related violence as of June 2011 since it’s meager beginnings in 2006. While the United States has supplied funding and labor in order to support Mexico in undertaking the war on drug trafficking, their primary focus has been more closely focused on increase border patrolling. For decades and decades drug trafficking organizations, henceforth known as cartels, have been using their strong and dangerous influence in order to transform Mexico’s tight-knit government and groups of citizens into a state of country-wide corruption that has ensured protection for cartels doing illegal practices. Since the time President Calderà ³n took his oath for office in 2006 with a pledge to eliminate these traffic king institutions, drug violence has rose quickly and it is moving extremely aggressively, but Calderà ³n and his administration worked quickly in order to promote laws that were part of a strategy made specific in order to handle the situation. This trafficking from Mexico to the United States is starting to become a major player in the role that drugs are playing in America. Mexico is one of the prime contributors of heroin to the U.S. market, and undoubtedly the largest foreign supplier of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Mexican production of all three of these drugs have increased alarmingly since 2005, proportionately with the total of all drugs seized at the border between both countries, according to a 2011 report from the U.S. Department of Justice. While ma... ...s number is growing as territories expand across the world and as the success of the drug trafficking means better money to many of the citizens the poverty-stricken Mexican towns who make the bare minimum (if that) wages. Usually those that are electing to participate in these trafficking jobs are young men with hardly any education, most are drop-outs that come from under privileged economic backgrounds with an average age of eighteen with higher social and monetary aspirations than they can satisfy by working legally and morally. Drug trafficking creates an annual revenue of four hundred billion, and in turn represents eight percent of the world's trade. With a problem so massive that it affects two continents and billions of people, it comes as no surprise that coming to a place of peace and understanding is one of the most difficult things about this situation.

Starbuck’s FDI

1. Initially Starbucks expanded internationally by licensing its format to foreign operators. It soon became disenchanted with this strategy. Why? When Starbucks started its international expansion in Japan, it initially decided to license. As it is known licensing is â€Å"the method of foreign operation whereby a firm in one country agrees to permit a company in another country to use the manufacturing, processing, trademark, know-how or some other skill provided by the licensor†[1]. Advantages of licensing are obvious: it is less expensive, less risky as the risk is held by licensee and it ensures additional profitability with less initial investment. However, licensing has disadvantages and for Starbucks the main disadvantages of licensing in Japan are: †¢ This strategy did not give Starbucks the control needed to ensure that the licensees closely followed Starbucks’ successful formula. Starbucks successful formula† refers to its basic strategy: To sell the company’s own premium roasted coffee, along with freshly brewed espresso-style beverages, a variety of pastries, coffee accessories, teas, and other products, in a tastefully designed coffeehouse setting and also providing superior customer service[2]. Starbucks found it necessary to successfully replicate the look, feel, and experience of an American Starbucks that is why Starbucks transferred American employees to the Japanese stores to help train workers in the Starbucks way. With licensing Starbucks had limited control of expansion rate. Simultaneously with entering the market in Japan, in US Starbucks developed new cold beverage (Frappuchino) with Pepsi, signed contract with Dreyer’s for making ice cream. However, the expansion rate in Japan was not controlled under licensing agreement as could be done in US and the realization of new products was slow in Japan. 2. Why do you think Starbucks has now elected to expand internationally primarily through local joint ventures, to whom it licenses its format, as opposed using to a pure licensing strategy? Joint venture is â€Å"an enterprise in which two or more investors share ownership and control over property rights and operation†[3]. In short, the advantages of joint venture are: the company can be more informed about the situation in the market and how the consumers respond to the products; the fixed costs for new product entrance are shared with the company; synergy effect can be achieved. The main disadvantages of joint ventures are that more capital investment is needed versus licensing; the financial losses and risks are higher compared to licensing; a potential conflict between partners exists. By using joint ventures Starbucks managed to share the cost and risks of developing its foreign markets with the licensee and at the same time to have higher control over the operations of the licensee. Another reason for expanding through local joint ventures was that Starbucks had access to local knowledge through the partner and can measure the process of product adaptation. Pure licensing did not give enough power to Starbucks to control which helped Starbucks to sustain competitive advantage. The pure licensing limits the important information about market situation in the country. 3. What are the advantages of a joint-venture entry mode for Starbucks over entering through wholly owned subsidiaries? On occasion, Starbucks has chosen a wholly owned subsidiary to control its foreign expansion (e. g. , in Britain and Thailand). Why? Entering a new market is always risky and is accompanied with huge costs. Using joint venture model allows Starbucks to have controls over those risks by sharing them with a local company. The advantages of joint ventures, if compared with the wholly owned subsidiaries, are the opportunities to share the costs and risks associated with entering and developing in the market, having access to greater resources as well as getting acquainted with the local market, its culture, characteristics with the help of the local partner’s experience and knowledge. An advantage of Joint venture is also the opportunity to widen economic scope fast; building reputation is often difficult, time consuming and expensive. At a joint venture, Starbucks has the opportunity to widen its economic scope without spending too much money and waiting for a long time[4]. With the Joint venture model, the local company also has incentives and motivations for the total joined success and growth. It would be much lengthier, difficult and expensive process in case of entering through wholly owned subsidiary. One more advantage of joint venture is still having large measure of control over the situation, even though the control is more limited if compared with a wholly owned subsidiary, however it gives the opportunity to have sufficient control over the local situation. A joint venture example of Starbucks is entering into a joint venture with a Swiss company, Bon Appetit Group, the largest food service company in Switzerland. The disadvantages of joint venture are the following: it takes time to build the right partnership relationship with another business, especially when the objectives of the two partners are not entirely agreed and communicated[5], or there are differences in cultural and management styles. Also control and decision making are sometimes compromised in joint ventures. Since there is an agreement that divides which one will take over a particular operation, the other may not be satisfied with how the things are worked out with another. This leads to another disadvantage of a joint venture. There would be no communication or agreement issues in case of wholly owned subsidiaries. Another disadvantage is that the profit generated in the local market is shared. There are several cases when Starbucks preferred a wholly owned subsidiary in the process of its foreign expansions. There were different reasons for making such decisions. One reason was if the country had appropriate operations up for sale. Such example was in Britain, when Starbucks acquired an existing coffee chain that was modeled after Starbucks. An American couple, originally from Seattle, had started Seattle Coffee with the intention of establishing a Starbucks like chain in Britain. The chain was already successful; some of the risks that would normally be associated with introducing a new concept to a foreign market were eliminated. The other reason of choosing a wholly owned subsidiary model would be if control was very important in the country of expansion or if the country didn’t have an appropriate joint venture partners which have prerequisites acceptable by Starbucks. In case of Thailand, Starbucks chose to shift to a wholly owned operation, after the jointed venture with Coffee Partners, a local Thai company, didn’t manage to raise capital from Thai banks for further pre-agreed expansion of Starbucks in Thailand. Thus by acquiring Coffee Partners, Starbucks had a goal to have more control over the expansion strategy in Thailand. 4. Which theory of FDI best explains the international expansion strategy adopted by Starbucks? Starbucks followed Internalization theory, which suggests that when licensing is difficult, foreign direct investment is appropriate. The theory was developed by Buckley and Casson, in 1976 and then by Hennart, in 1982 and Casson, in 1983. Initially, the theory was launched by Coase in 1937 in a national context and Hymer in 1976 in an international context. In his Doctoral Dissertation, Hymer identified two major determinants of FDI. One was the removal of competition. The other was the advantages which some firms possess in a particular activity (Hymer, 1976). [6] Advantages of Foreign Direct Investment are †¢ A firm will favor FDI over exporting as an entry strategy when transportation costs or trade barriers make exporting unattractive A firm will favor FDI over licensing when it wishes to maintain control over its technological know-how, or over its operations and business strategy, or when the firm’s capabilities are simply not amenable to licensing[7] This theory fits Starbucks wants to maintain product quality and brand identity in all countries it has internationally expanded, to be perceived in the same way in all cultures, and preserve taste preferences, work habits and ways of doing business all over the world.

Essay about Commentary on Book Two of Herodotus Histories...

Introduction This paper will offer a commentary on Herodotus’ Histories 2.129-135. Book Two of Histories concerns itself with Egypt; specifically chapters 99-182 detail rulers of Egypt both legendary and actual. Book Two is distinct from the other books in Histories as it is in this book that we predominantly experience Herodotus as an investigator. More precisely it is in Book Two that Herodotus treats first person experience not as direct evidence but as a method of assessing the accounts of others. Chapters 129-135 provide us with the tale of King Mycerinus as recounted by whom Herodotus refers to in 2.127 as simply ‘ÆGYPTIOI’. These Egyptians are referred to at various points in Book Two and at times appear to refer to what might†¦show more content†¦This portrait of Mycerinus as a kind ruler is an interesting one and appears again in Diodorus Siculus’ Library of History. However, despite his stated low opinion of Herodotus’ earl ier work, Diodorus’ account of Egypt undoubtedly has Herodotean threads running through it and for this reason alone cannot be used to support the story of Mycerinus presented in Herodotus’ Histories. Alan B. Lloyd has suggested that the view of Mycerinus as a benign ruler may have come about due to the relatively small size of his pyramid in contrast to those of Chephren and Cheops. This argument is given further credence when it is considered that one of the theories proposed for the reduction in size of Mycerinus’ pyramid was that the Pharaoh began to devote more resources to the construction of temples. However, Herodotus’ tale of Mycerinus can just as easily be read, albeit in an unusual way, as an example of the dangers of hubris. This tale also contains some of the motifs and anti-motifs of tyrants as described in the speech of Otanes at 3.80. The conventions in Otanes’ speech appear frequently when Herodotus talks about despotic rulers i n Histories. This theory of a hubristic Mycerinus character formed as part of a tyrannical tradition in Histories will be dealt with later in this paper. 2.130 At the end of 2.129 Herodotus