Create a report consisting of an advice package which offers Essay

Create a report consisting of an advice package which offers guidelines, advice and practicable recommendations for implementing and managing large databases - Essay Example Database technologies are evolving to address the issue of handling large databases. These technologies are dynamic, but the fundamental principles and skills remain the same. Many purveyors are addressing the need for databases that support huge amounts of data; usually in the petabyte range (> 1,000 terabytes) (Kavanagh, 2004). Information technology is dynamic; data is collected as hardware and software advance to handle bulky data. This makes it difficult to define what a large database entails. What is large today will be tiny in the next ten years. A large database can be defined as follows; Implementing and managing large databases has been a problem for most companies. Companies ought to examine and evaluate their database design, to identify the inherent inhibitors to a seamless database management system. The size of a database is influenced by the data volume, hardware, throughput, and software (Dittrich, 2001). Data volume is represented by table numbers, and/or the size of the data. A small database running on a constrained server will portray characteristics of a large database. Throughput is the measurement of usage levels. If a small database serves 9 million users simulataenously, it will be termed as a large database. The software used explains the database management system employed, as well as its implementation. The database is only good at the weakest point of the four factors. These weaknesses can be compensated in various ways: In deciding how to scale a large database, there is the scale-up and scale-out options. Scaling-up is not a preferable option in the modern day of database management systems. Large servers tend to have an adverse price to performance ratio, when compared to commodity machines. The performance for every dollar expended on high-end servers is usually low. The next best alternative would be to scale-out. Upgrading a

Hotel Chocolat's Strategic Choices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hotel Chocolat's Strategic Choices - Essay Example The company started as Choc Express and in 2003 rebramded to be the known Hotel Chocolat Company. The firm’s founders have the required knowledge and skills to run the business. For instance, Angus went through the Business Growth and Development course at Cranfield School of Management. Amazingly, today Hotel Chocolat Company operates in more than 33 locations in England with 70% of the customers trading from the firm’s website (Barrow & Molian, 2005). The following is a report on the major strategic options facing Hotel Chocolat Company as well as the potential future strategic position of the firm. The report also provides specific recommendations in respect to the Hotel Chocolat Company. The report achieves these objectives through three main parts; A, B, and C. Part A The major strategic options facing Hotel Chocolat As a company's business, Hotel Chocolat is faced with many options that can steer up expansion of the company and that of the market sales (Gelderman & Weele, 2002). I will discuss these options one after the other and give an explanation of the same on how they work, when should they be implemented. The result of this is that it is going to propel the company to a potential future strategic position. ... ducts in a unique way than their competitors and providing their customers with their need, wants and desire more effective than others (Bertoldi, Giachino & Marenco, 2012). This model works with the assumption that a customer accepts any product offered based on the apparent value for money. The model is based on the a number of perception of the product and service offered against a price tag such that the same product or service can offer different price depending how it is perceived by the customers. I recommend the strategic clock model because it combines a low price, low perceived benefit with focus given to a price sensitive market segment. However, there may be price sensitive customers with low purchasing power and who cannot afford to buy better quality products but most customers do not differentiate or value the difference in the goods offered. Also to build on the customer loyalty, the executive group of the Hotel Chocolat Company can introduce loyalty cards which will contain customers with the products of the Hotel Chocolat’s company only (LeBoeuf et al, 2011). This is achieved by offering frequent customers with loyalty cards and proving them with incentives and discounts when purchasing at any of the stores, outlets and supermarkets particularly selling products of the Hotel Chocolat’s company. Another option that the Hotel Chocolat Company can implement is production differentiation (Gelderman & Weele, 2002). This aims at offering benefits that is completely different from those of the competitors. Of course the Hotel Chocolat Company also faces competitions from other beverage companies which either acts as substitutes or complements to their products such as tea among others. Therefore, to achieve a competitive advantage than other companies,

Islam Worksheet Essay Example for Free

Islam Worksheet Essay When studying Islam, it is important to understand the essential elements of the faith, how they are practiced, and the distinctions among the three branches: Shiite Islam, Sunni Islam, and Sufism. Write a 1- to 2-paragraph response for each of the following directives and note where there are differences among the three branches of Islam. 1. Explain the meaning of the name, Islam. Islam is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Quran, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God, and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of Hadith) of Muhammad, [ considered by them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim. 2. Explain the basic concepts of Islam. Is an unerringly monotheistic religion. It enjoins the existence of one God, his prophet Muhammad who is the Last Prophet in a long line of prophets sent throughout time and to every civilization, and the Quran as the Word of God revealed to Muhammad through the angel Jibrael. Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable and the purpose of life is to worship him and to adhere to his word, as laid down in the Quran, and in Sunnah , as closely as possible. They believe that Islam is the final, completed and universal version of a faith revealed too many prophets before; most notably Abraham, Moses and Jesus, but whose message has now been distorted. Describe the practices of Islam. They go to church in cathedral mosques (Jamia), in which sermons are preached and congregational prayers are offered up for the reigning Sultan every Friday. Besides these there are about one hundred and eighty Muslim oratories or chapels (Mesjà ®d), to many of which schools are attached. Prayers are also frequently said at the grated windows of the little shrines or tomb-houses of celebrated welys, or saints, which are numerous in Damascus. Men of the higher classes rarely go to the mosques except on Fridays, as they can command proper places for ceremonial ablution and prayer in their own houses; but to a Muslim of the lower ranks, a large mosque which is open every day from sunrise to sunset or later, is like a second home. 3. Describe the goals of Islam. The 4. Describe the view of authority in Islam. philosophy, and the arts in the Muslim world. Write a 1- to 2-paragraph response for each of the following questions. Provide examples to illustrate your thinking. 1. What is the legal ideal in Islamic law? How does the Qur’an inform and guide Muslims in attaining this ideal? 2. What is the relationship between philosophy and theology within Islam? Is it acceptable for Muslims to hold separate philosophical and theological beliefs? 3. What artistic themes are regularly expressed in Islamic art and architecture? How are these themes explored? How has the Qur’an influenced the development of art in the Islamic world?

Zero-Day Vulnerability Attack

Zero-Day Vulnerability Attack As Forensics Expert discuss the process involve in investigating Zero-Day Vulnerability attack Introduction The Internet became essential in this 21st generation and people can’t live without Internet. As the growth of the use of Internet, new technologies are also invented to support our life. However this new technologies may also exploit to the vulnerability attack. One of the vulnerability attack is zero-day attack (0day). A zero-day attack is an attack that exploits a previously unknown vulnerability in a computer application, one that developers have not had time to address and patch.( Wikipedia, (2014)) The zero-day threat can be undetectable and unknown for most of the antivirus software and it is keep increasing in new form which try to hide itself. The incident handlers have to fight against this threat which may include both corporate and home users and security vendors. Once they found or discovered the new threat, they have to respond to it. In order to investigate and have better understanding to zero-day attack, research and pratices are carrying out. Different security researchers have different opinion and ways to handle the zero-day threat. Most of the incident response program will usually implemented using a aphased methodology. This is because by using phased methodology will allow the lifecycle of incident response to be break down into seperate managable components. However, there are two popular methodology which one is from SANS Institute and one from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Both the phased methodology are useful for handling incidents when zero-day exploits. The benefits of both the phased incident response plan and corresponding measures are they can detect and identify zero-day threat efficiently. 1. Phased Methodology 1.1 SANS Institute phased methodology SANS Institute phased methodology consist of six phases which include 1) Preparation 2) Identification 3) Containment 4) Eradication 5) Recovery 6) Lessons Learned (Murray,2007) 1.2 NIST phased methodology NIST version phased methodology consist of four phases which include 1) Preparation 2) Detection and Analysis 3) Containment, Eradication and Recovery 4) Post-Incident Activity (Scarfone, Grance, Masone, 2008) Both of the phased methodology have the similarity. However, the incident response team (IRT) may need to modify the methodology so that it can specifically to handle zero-day attack. From IRT, the phases that have most impact to zero-day incident response will be preparation, identification or analysis and containment. This three important phases is essential when handling incident response to zero-day attack. 1.3 Incident Response Team Methodology In order to deal with the zero-day threats, IRT have a methodology to perform proactively and reactively. The proactive will be focus to external threat when zero-day is known but haven’t any impacted to the organization. The reactive will be focus on how to response to the actual zero-day incident. This methodology consist of a cycle of three phases which are : 1) Monitor 2) Analyze 3) Mitigate The monitor phase refer to monitor the public resources which is still ongoing. This is to identify the zero-day threats. The analyze phase refer to analyze of the threats exploited which conduct in a lab environment. This purpose is to identify the potential threat that may impact to the organization. In mitigate phase, the information that gathered from analysis will be build and implement inside the mitigation mechanisms. 2. Three important phases 2.1 Preparation The two primary objective of preparation is to ensure incident response team (IRT) and sufficient controls to mitigate security incidents. (Scarfone,Grance,Masone,2008) First of all, IRT need to monitor on the Internet at all times to ensure the security. IRT should be able to react immediately to ensure the risk is mitigated. IRT need adequate controls to prevent and detect any possible attack. Besides that, this can be divided into two types of response which is external response and internal response. 2.1.1 External Response External response can include analyzing external advisories. This can help to gather the information about zero-day attack through 5W1H (what,where,when,why,who,how). How does zero-day works and exploits? What is the target is? When is the exploitation? Where zero-day exploited? Who get impacted by zero-day? Why zero-day attack such platform? The following methodology is for external response. 2.1.1.1 Build an Incident Response Lab IRT can have a lab environment which consist of system that can simulate the role of attacker and victim. The lab should also include machine that have tools, interpreters and compilers in order to provide different types of source code files that related with zero-day. However, the victim machines should in exactly the same condition within that organization include operating system used. 2.1.1.2 Monitoring to Public Resources Monitoring what happen to the Internet is one of the essential component in our daily life. IRT needs to be constantly monitoring and keeping an eye on new trends of attacks, public internet resources and any other security vulnerabilities. One of the well-known resources for notification is the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) (http://isc.sans.org). The ISC monitors different types of public resources which included the logs from devices that used by businness and home users. 2.1.1.3 Analyze the Threat Once a zero-day is found, IRT should able to reproduce it in lab environment to find out the impact level of it. This consist of few steps need to carry out. The first step is to review the targeted software or application, operating system or version of it. After that, all the settings and platform are set up so that it is applicable to the environment. The last step is to monitor the system and it should run a sniffer to capture all the packets. Once completed, the exploit is launched to attack the target. After the attack succesful, IRT can start to investigate and identify the threats include the ports use, payload size and others. 2.1.1.4 Mitigation Once the threat is been analyzed, IRT should gather all the information and start to mitigate. All the ports that was used, can be checked and filtered through firewall to ensure that it is blocked. 2.1.2 Internal Response For the internal response, the following methodology is used. 2.1.2.1 Monitoring Internal Log The log monitoring is an essential factors in secure network. All the information should recorded in log in order to trace back and secure the network. On eo f an open source platform is Alien Vault’s Open Source Security Information Management (OSSIM) (http://www.ossim.net). 2.1.2.2 Monitoring Suspicious Network Activity As most of the malicious are try to hide itself and traverse through the network, network activity logs is crucial. The network analyser should look for the malware propagation, command of communication and the network traffic. There are different types of tools that can be used to improve netowrk security systems such as Ourmon (http://ourmon.sourceforge.net/), Bothunter (http://www.bothunter.net/), Honeynet (http://www.honeynet.org/) and others. 2.1.2.3 Monitoring Host Activity In order to improve the monitoring, monitoring an individual systems can be also crucial to identify zero-day. This is because it attacks can be unnoticed, so host monitoring is important for indentification and detection. Some of the tools can used to identify anomalous activity such as Tripwire (http://www.tripwire.com), OSSEC (http://www.ossec.net) and others. 2.1.2.4 Malware Analysis and Collection In order to collect the malware and respond to it, some of the tools is needed to capture it. The IRT should ensure that they have the ability to capture and analyze malware. One of the best way to capture malware is using honeypots. Honeypots are used to identify new types of attack, track hackers and collect the malware. There are some tools that can be used as honeypots such as Honeyd (http://www.honeyd.org/). 2.1.2.5 Application Whitelisting Application whitelisting is popular used recently. It permits all known and safe production applications to run and install, but block all unkown applications. This will prevent any remote code execution. One of the benefit by using application whitelisting is it only allowed known trusted applications to run. On the other hand, the limitation could be malware injected itself into the whitelisting process memory. 2.2 Detection and Analaysis In order to detect and analyse, the following methodology is used. 2.2.1 Identify The IRT needs to identify the potential signs of compromise, gather events and investigate it. After gathered the information, it should analyzed and mitigated. The potential signs oof compromise may include strange log entries or network activities or any others anomalous activity. Besides that, end users are also can be indicators of suspicious activity. They may click suspect links, surf social netowrking sites and respond to phishing emails. 2.2.2 Correlate After all the information is identified and gathered, correlate events to investigate the source of the suspicious activity. All the connections should be identified in the netowrk logs and determine where is the source come from. One of the tools is Sysinternals (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545021) used to gather system information which included incident response tools (Helix). 2.2.3 Analyze After the process is identified, it is going to analyze it. IRT should analyse all the suspicious process include the processes that hidden in Explorer.exe. As most of the times malicious are try to hide itself, IRT needs some trusted tools to identify and analysis all the processes. One of the tools that is useful to dump a process without killing it is Microsoft’s User Mode Process Dumper.( http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4060) 2.2.4 Mitigate Once the processes is identified, in order to protect the mechanism, IRT should prevent it from executing. IRT should identified the child process launched, DLLs, and any related user information. One of the tools is CurrProcess by NirSoft (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/cprocess.html). This useful tools will show all the process information which include name, priority level, process id and memory usage. 2.3 Containment The purpose of the containment phase is to prevent any further spread of the threats or incident. Once the incident is been detected and analyzed, action should be taken in order to prevent any further damaging make by the threats. 2.3.1 Network Level Containment In network level, the best way is to block on network devices. While IRT identified the particular was zero-day, other systems may get infected too. It is important that to implement containment across the network. This is to prevent any incident from propagation from one system to another. 2.3.2 Host Level Containment In host level containment, the information gathered previously in detection and analysis phase can be used. First of all, IRT should kill all the running processes which related to the incident analyzed. After that, firewalls should be configured to disallow any incident traffic. In addition, anti-virus programs need to allow for custom anti-virus signatures to be created. This helps to detect and eliminate the new form of malicious. 3. Conclusion Zero-day threats are a big challenge to all the incident response teams (IRT). As long as there is a software vulnerability been exploited, IRT need to fix it immediately for secure purpose. IRT need to approach different types of methodology in order to prevent, analysis and mitigate the zero-day threat. However, by having all these of methodology, IRT can conduct the incident response to zero-day threat much more easier. References : Wikipedia, (2014). Zero-day attack. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-day_attack Scarfone,K.,Grance,T.,Masone,K. (2008,March). Computer Securit Incident Handling Guide. Retrieved March 1,2011, from NIST Special Publications (800 Series): http//csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-61-rev1/SP800-61rev1.pdf Kliarsky, A. (2011,June). Responding to Zero Day Threats. [online] Available at : http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/incident/responding-zero-day-threats-33709

Paths of Glory, by Stanley Kubrick Essay -- Papers Film Cinematography

Paths of Glory, by Stanley Kubrick The movie Paths of Glory, directed by Stanley Kubrick, dealt with the harsh conditions in the trenches during WWI. In the movie several fighters were persecuted for pulling back during an impossible attack. The movie tactfully questioned the authority of superior officers. The way the hierarchy in the army is depicted in the film made me question the integrity of the unit. I was perplexed by the concept that one person could have so much power over another. The movie diplomatically handled the plot by showing different aspects of an officer’s life. One of the aspects of the movie which brought to life the emotional trauma of the war was the use of music and instruments. The very beginning of the movie was filled with the use of drums. This symbolized the terror and complexity of the subject matter. It did this through the deep and vibrant sounds; the deep sounds depicted the feelings of the soldiers as they were confused as to what to do in the situation they faced. They had to move b...

The Splendid Little War :: essays papers

The Splendid Little War February 15th, 1898, all is quiet in Havana Harbor. The crew of the USS Maine is sound asleep less a few solitary watchmen. The brackish sea air and the calm ocean breeze are soothing and peaceful. This would hardly suggest the terror about to erupt on this â€Å"peaceful† visit to the Spanish-controlled Cuban harbor. At 9:45PM, a violent explosion rips the Maine apart sending it plummeting down to the muddy sea floor and killing nearly all of her crew. All of the Spanish boats in the harbor rushed to the aid of the American vessel and its survivors: the commander, Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, and a few lucky crewmembers. Even though Captain Sigsbee, a favorite of the Naval Department, urged President McKinley not to react in an aggressive manner toward Spain, the media, namely New York newspaper editors Pulitzer and Hearst, already inflating current issues relating to the Cuban revolution, spin the incident out of control. The American public goes mad with suspicion of Spanish fowl play and the sinking of the USS Maine serves as the immediate catalyst to the Spanish-American war. This â€Å"Splendid Little War† is deeply rooted in Spain’s rule over Cuba as a colony infringing upon American interests in Cuban agriculture and goods. The first episodes of war-like acts between the U.S. and Spain began with the explosion of the USS Maine in 1898. After the catastrophe, many attempts to solve the mystery behind the explosion and withhold peace took place, including the ambassadors of England, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Russia, and the Pope appealing to president McKinley for peace. Despite numerous efforts against it, McKinley asks congress for war April 11, 1898 and U.S. troops mobilized on April 16. The Teller amendment passes through Congress stating that the U.S. would not annex Cuba. Congress declares Cuba independent on April 19. Shortly after the United States Navy blockades Cuba the first Spanish ship was taken. By April 25, both Spain and the U.S. declare war. The Spanish-American War was an extremely quick war, highlighted in history by Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders in the battle of San Juan Hill. Spain was completely stomped. On the way to capture the Philippine Islands, Spain’s most worthwhile colony U.S. Naval forces also capture Guam. Closer to home, the U.

Media and Body Image

â€Å"Media and Body Image† The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an organization led by Ingrid Newkirk, fghts for the rights of animals all over the world. According to PETA (n. d. ), its main goal is to give â€Å"attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry'. However in the year 2009, the animal rights organization produced a billboard campaign that went beyond its mission statement. It can be said that PETA's billboard campaign is npleasant to most people.It is evident in the campaign that it depicted an oversized woman wearing a swimsuit, with the caption: â€Å"Save the Whales; Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian†. Literally thinking, there is no connection between saving whales, and going vegetarian to lose weight. Clearly, PETA through the campaign is attempting to draw the co nnection between the ad's target market and the whales that need to be saved. Is there certainty that PETA intended to create an offensive billboard campaign for people who are overweight? According to PETA's writer, Liz Graffeo 2009), she and her team specifically launched the advertisement for the residents of Jacksonville.She added that the reason why PETA launched the advertisement is to help people of Jacksonville, â€Å"lose the blubber†, by becoming vegetarians. The real reason why PETA launched an advertisement is to persuade people to live a healthy lifestyle and not to promote whales' wellbeing. In my opinion, as an animal rights organization, PETA does not have the right to compare fat people to whales. PETA has to realize that those people who showcase their bodies in different swimsuits are confident enough about their size. The human being should never be depicted as endangered like whales.To add, the poster is not only disrespectful to the obese but to the huma n race as a whole. If PETA wants to create an advertisement beyond its mission statement, it should be sensitive enough to the target audience of its campaign. Reference List PETA (n. d). Our Mission Statement. Retrieved from http://www. peta. org/about/ default. aspx Liz Graffeo. (2009, Aug 8). Lose the blubber: Go Vegetarian [Article]. Retrieved from http://www. peta. org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2009/08/17/10se-the- blubber-go-vegetarian. aspx Media and Body Image By vmsl