Week 5: 01/03/2018

01/03/2018 

Lecture:

For today’s lecture we had focused on ‘Information Systems Crimes, Security & Controls’.  We had first watched a video on how easily phones can be hacked. This video had taught me a very big lesson as students we link our phone to any free WIFI hotspots. This is one of the biggest reason on phones can be hacked and it only takes 60 minutes. This had shocked me very much and alerted me to not link my phone to any hotspot that does not look legit.

Haider then explained that we need to be really careful as phones can be hacked through internet which is an extremely powerful hacking tool. He explained on how if a phone has no internet then it is safe. We should not trust any free WIFI hotspot as the hackers would only need 60 minutes to hack into your entire phone which can cause a lot damage as these days we keep everything on our phone. Haider then started to talk about the most common computer crimes. I had found this lecture really interested as through watching the first video I was very interested in the topic. The video was very powerful that it had captured all my attention to the presentation. I would advise Haider to keep putting a video before a lecture as this way students who are audio and visual learners would have the attention of the lecturer.

He then went into detail on computer viruses such as Malware: malicious software which would include viruses, worms and trojans. As understanding this was a little tricky, I really liked how Haider had also placed another video to watch so we were able to know the 10 most devastating computer viruses. This was very interesting as I realised that a lot of well-known companies were also a target to these horrific viruses.

Haider then went on explaining cyber threats as there are also other sorts of crime on the internet. A lot of people are very vulnerable on the internet as there is cyber bullying, cyber-terrorism, cyber war and many more. This had shocked me as there is a lot of crime done through the internet and nobody really isn’t very safe on the internet. Haider then started to talk about ways to reduce the risk approaches which would reduce the chances of you being venerable to the internet. He explained that there is also laws put in place that are against computer crime which is ‘Computer Fraud and abuse Act of 1989 and Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986’. This crime has also now attacked the phones. An android phone is more vulnerable as it is an open marketplace where is Apple is an IOS which means it is a lot safer. Overall this lecture was really interesting and engaging. I had enjoyed this lecture a lot more than my previous lecture.

Seminar:

Once coming in for the seminar, we had focused on excel activity. Although I have no experience using excel, Susie has taught me a lot of formulas that can be used at Excel. I find it a lot easier and interesting than my first week. This is because this was all new for me and it did get confusing but gradually week after week it is getting easier. Excel has been a life saver as I use excel for my modules such as Economics and Management and Information systems. Through excel I am able to make graphs and tables that represent data.

Teamwork:

This week within the lecture, Bilal Haider had told us that we need to start on our business and questions by this week. Though we are ahead, this week was not as productive as it could have been. Ponni did not attend the seminar session again this week which caused us to cancel our meeting for Thursday. We wanted to get everyone's idea of the possible problems and solution from the business. Mumtahin had told us on the group chat that she had more questions to ask the manager from 'games and gadgets'. We had decided to book another meeting by the this week for next week so this way if we have any questions we can ask the manager by next week. Although we have done a meeting with the manager, we needed more information and for that we decided to book another meeting. This way we would have more information which would give us an idea of the possible problems and solutions we can discuss for our assignment.

Veroica had explained to Mumtahin that she wanted to have a look at the questions that she wanted to ask the manager. She wanted to make sure that the information that would be obtained would be useful.  This week Susie also asked us about our group contribution. I had told her about the issue on some group members not attending meetings. She told me to send the voice note that we had taken during our first interview with the manager, I told her I already sent it but I doubt that they have listened to it. She told me that to let them know they need to attend the meetings or else they can be kicked out of the group due to no contribution. I let Ponni and Assanatu know on the group chat that they need to attend the meetings or else they would need to find a new group as it still is the first couple weeks. 

Suman Tanveer