Bhushan Kapoor, Pramod Pandya and Joseph S. Sherif
This paper seeks to advance research and strategies that lead to a heightened awareness of the need to protect data from disclosure, to guarantee the authenticity of data and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to advance research and strategies that lead to a heightened awareness of the need to protect data from disclosure, to guarantee the authenticity of data and messages, and to protect systems from network‐based attacks.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper introduces the necessary mathematics of cryptography: integer and modular arithmetic, linear congruence, Euclidean and extended Euclidean algorithm, Fermat's theorem, and Elliptic curve.
Findings
The results indicate that encryption has expanded beyond confidentiality concerns to include techniques for message integrity checking, sender/receiver identity authentication, digital signatures, interactive proofs, and secure computation.
Practical implications
The results of this research show that all forms of e‐commerce activities such as online credit card processing, purchasing stocks, and banking data processing, if compromised, would lead to businesses losing billions of dollars in lost revenues as well as losing confidence in e‐commerce. In the last few years, it had been reported that organizations that store and maintain customers' private and confidential records were compromised on many occasions by hackers breaking into the data networks and stealing the records from the storage media.
Originality/value
This paper tackles one of the most critical problems of securing data networks. Security problems arise among other things to resource and workload sharing; complexity of interconnected networks; authentication of users; fast expandability of networks; threats to networks such as wiretapping and violations of the seven pillars of security: authentication, authorization, privacy, integrity, non‐repudiation, availability, and audit.
Details
Keywords
ThuyUyen H. Nguyen, Joseph S. Sherif and Michael Newby
Customer relationship management (CRM) is an information system that tracks customers' interactions with the firm and allows employees to instantly pull up information about the…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer relationship management (CRM) is an information system that tracks customers' interactions with the firm and allows employees to instantly pull up information about the customers such as past sales, service records, outstanding records and unresolved problem calls. This paper aims to put forward strategies for successful implementation of CRM and discusses barriers to CRM in e‐business and m‐business.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper combines narrative with argument and analysis.
Findings
CRM stores all information about its customers in a database and uses this data to coordinate sales, marketing, and customer service departments so as to work together smoothly to best serve their customers' needs.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates how CRM, if used properly, could enhance a company's ability to achieve the ultimate goal of retaining customers and gain strategic advantage over its competitors.
Details
Keywords
Janet Durgin and Joseph S. Sherif
This paper aims to advance research that accurately portrays the alarming rate at which spam is infiltrating and eroding the security of the internet.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to advance research that accurately portrays the alarming rate at which spam is infiltrating and eroding the security of the internet.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the political, legal and ethical controversy surrounding the spam dilemma as well as the high costs of spam to telecommunications bandwidth, QoS and e‐commerce effectiveness.
Findings
Spam problem is a technological epidemic that multiplies exponentially each day. A dynamic digital jam is in prospect.
Practical implications
Presents viable options for a quick resolve, and unveils the changing strategies that integrity‐driven marketers are facing in lieu of the raging battle.
Originality/value
Tackles one of the most pressing issues in the business world today.
Details
Keywords
Active repair time is that portion of down time during which the system is worked on to effect a repair. Repair time includes preparation time, diagnostic time, correction time…
Abstract
Active repair time is that portion of down time during which the system is worked on to effect a repair. Repair time includes preparation time, diagnostic time, correction time and final checkout time. Systems such as airborne communications transceivers, switching circuits and radar‐missile units usually suffer an initial high rate of wear and failure. Improvement in this area requires actions to reduce the frequency of failure and to increase ease of repair. This paper advances the first passage time distribution of Brownian motion as a repairability model. The paper fits the model to observed active repair time of radar systems, obtaining as a result estimates of the mean first passage time, drift and diffusion parameters of the associated Brownian motion. Hypothesizing the first passage time distribution of Brownian motion for active repair time data of radar systems, the Kolmogorov‐Smirnov test shows that the model is accepted and can be chosen as the parent population.
Details
Keywords
Janet K. Durgin and Joseph S. Sherif
This paper aims to advance research that portrays the semantic web as the future web where computer software agents can carry out sophisticated tasks for users.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to advance research that portrays the semantic web as the future web where computer software agents can carry out sophisticated tasks for users.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the major factors that affect the performance and reliability of information services for the web, namely the distribution of information, which has resulted from the globalization of information systems, the heterogeneity of information sources and the sources' instability caused by autonomous evolution.
Findings
Man stands at the threshold of being able to create the semantic web, in terms of declaratively representing objects that are already human‐readable on the web. The next step is to make it the dynamic semantic web by encoding procedures in web material as first‐class objects.
Practical implications
Semantic web technology will work with extensible mark‐up language, which will enable electronic commerce by: defining languages that provide support in defining, mapping, and exchanging product data; functioning from the development of standard ontology that will cover various business areas; and utilizing efficient translation services that will require areas of standard ontology.
Originality/value
The paper tackles one of the most pressing issues of the creation of programs that collect web content, process the information and exchange the results with other programs from diverse sources.
Details
Keywords
Joseph S. Sherif and David P. Gilliam
The growth of Inter‐ and intranets and the sharing of software have led to a rise in the transmission of viruses, especially among the PC and MAC platforms. However, maintaining…
Abstract
The growth of Inter‐ and intranets and the sharing of software have led to a rise in the transmission of viruses, especially among the PC and MAC platforms. However, maintaining virus protection software and pattern updates for any large organization is a monumental problem, especially when the organization supports multiple platforms and operating systems. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and other National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Centers have had problems maintaining current virus protection software and pattern files, and so NASA asked the JPL Network and Computer Security (NCS) Group to lead an effort to search for a comprehensive solution. This paper puts forward a study, analysis and recommendations concerning anti‐virus software solutions, problems encountered and their resolutions. One of the key issues was finding a single‐source anti‐virus software solution. Selection and deployment of single‐source anti‐virus software were successful. The lessons learned in the deployment of a software product site‐wide may benefit other organizations facing a similar situation.
Details
Keywords
Joseph S. Sherif, Rod Ayers and Tommy G. Dearmond
Organizations more often than not lack comprehensive security policies and are not adequately prepared to protect their systems against intrusions. This paper puts forward a…
Abstract
Organizations more often than not lack comprehensive security policies and are not adequately prepared to protect their systems against intrusions. This paper puts forward a review of state of the art and state of the applicability of intrusion detection systems and models. The paper also presents a classification of literature pertaining to intrusion detection.
Details
Keywords
William Lau, Pramod Pandya and Joseph S. Sherif
Corporations with multiple national and international sites rely on telecommunication services such as public switched telephone network (PSTN) to deal with their customers and…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporations with multiple national and international sites rely on telecommunication services such as public switched telephone network (PSTN) to deal with their customers and with vendors. Over the last few years, the cost of using PSTN for telecommunication has increased, thus adding considerable cost to business. The infrastructure of the internet is well placed now, and the continued growth of information technologies have made it cost effective to route voice calls over the internet, known as voice over internet protocol (VoIP). The purpose of this paper is to advance research, strategies and a predictive decision model that analyzes the cost of routing voice‐based traffic either via VoIP network or PSTN. This predictive decision model is based on the beta‐binomial distribution, and it computes the cost differential in tariff with respect to choice of routing the voice traffic between the VoIP network and the PSTN.
Design/methodology/approach
A call supported by the PSTN involves the establishment of an end‐to‐end circuit that is maintained for the duration of the call. A call supported by VoIP technology, by contrast, involves the transmission of many individual packets over an IP network. The cost of a VoIP call thus depends in part on the number and size of the packets that must be transmitted, i.e. the bandwidth required.
Findings
Great savings are realized when optimal number of calls would be routed through CCS vendors, as determined by the VoIP allocation model. The available bandwidth on the internet is capable of supporting VoIP at much cheaper rate than the expensive PSTN. Business could still buy into PSTN service if they require secured telecommunication services.
Originality/value
The paper tackles one of the most critical problems of minimizing the burden and costs of telecommunications by PSTN and VoIP.
Details
Keywords
Joseph S. Sherif and Rod Ayers
This paper is part II of a previous article of the same title: Intrusion detection. Part II is concerned with intrusion threats, attacks, defense, models, methods and systems.
Abstract
This paper is part II of a previous article of the same title: Intrusion detection. Part II is concerned with intrusion threats, attacks, defense, models, methods and systems.
Details
Keywords
Introduces the relationship marketing paradigm as a means of analysing the purchaser‐provider relationship within the NHS internal market. This focus is justified in the context…
Abstract
Introduces the relationship marketing paradigm as a means of analysing the purchaser‐provider relationship within the NHS internal market. This focus is justified in the context of the limitations of orthodox economic analysis. The research evidence is based upon a national survey of all NHS trust hospitals in England. The survey consisted of key questions relating to the process of relationship building strategies employed by NHS hospital trusts. In particular, emphasis was given to non‐price competitive behaviour, i.e. the extent to which health care contracts were augmented or customised by providers. An empirical analysis is presented, identifying those factors driving such non‐price competitive behaviour, based upon a LOGIT model. The results suggest the hypotheses tested are consistent with the evidence from our survey. Finally, the model is used to make some tentative predictions regarding the future of the purchaser‐provider relationship within the reformed NHS.