Experts Paint Grim Picture of Infosec Readiness

Article Link:

http://www.govinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=3442

By: Tana Piotrowski

Summary:

-          The government and military don’t have good enough protection when using their computers and keeping from hackers getting into their system.

-          They believe the threats to information systems are evolving and growing.

-          They believe that it is because of their information systems and the way they share their information between groups.

-          They can never get ahead and don’t have a big enough department to deal with the ever changing technological advances that the hackers are involved in.

Effects on business:

                This article is a very important article to U.S society.  Since there is a lot of important documentation in the government and military systems it is imperative that it be kept secure.  It is somewhat surprising that they don’t have extreme measures to help keep all this documentation safe.  They claim that their department is too small to keep up with the everyday changes to the hacker’s ability to get into the systems.  This would affect business greatly, even internationally.  If there is a hacker in another country that can get into the systems and military files it means that they can find out way too much about the country.  They will find out information about the president, military practices, and other private information that can give them a huge advantage over the U.S.  Take the example of a hacker in a foreign country getting into the systems and reading files.  They can find out who the country trades with, how much we pay for certain imports, what our budgets our and our profits.  With that information they can get huge advantages on other countries by lowering their trading prices lower than the U.S, by stopping trading with countries that they believe are charging too much.  Doing this would not only be an effect on U.S business but international, which is HUGE.  That being said, the government and military obviously need to come up with a better team that can ensure documentation stays safe.

System Integration Improves Corporate Campus

By: Valentine George

Article link:

http://www.csemag.com/home/single-article/system-integration-improves-corporate-campus/3b196e132c.html

Report:

The headline of this article tells the reader that how system integration is essential for business and how it helps to improve it.

This article states that Johnson Controls Inc wanted to renovate and expand their two buildings. Before renovating Johnson Controls Inc took some input from customers and project managers. They gave the project team some key insights into the technologies that would provide the best financial investment while having the least impact on the environment. The two newly renovated buildings have a cafeteria, meeting rooms, and a fitness center; and a new four-level parking structure for more than 400 vehicles, including space for plug-in hybrids. By choosing to go green Johnson Controls Inc has almost doubled in size, overall energy usage has been reduced by 21%, and the annual greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by more than 857,200 lbs of carbon dioxide.

The article further focuses on efficient planning, an energy foundation management, renewable technologies, lighting controls and work environment on how these factors of system integrations have a direct impact on the employees who go to these buildings to work. A good example of system integration is, when an employee arrives at his or her desk in the morning, a motion sensor detects the employee’s presence and delivers a signal to turn on nearby task and overhead lighting and HVAC systems. As the sun rises outside and natural light enters the building, the artificial lights are dimmed. If the sun begins to shine too intensely inside the building, the system automatically lowers the window shades. If the employee leaves his or her desk, the motion detector will turn off the lights and HVAC system, as they are not needed.

The Article concludes with Johnson Controls Inc demonstrating that how these energy-related technologies and systems integration continue to be the key components in technology innovation and sustainability.