Advanced Network Topics, Management, And Security

Project Background

STP Limited, the kitchen cabinet makers have four factories at Wollongong, Sydney, Bathurst and Lithgow and they sell cupboards and drawer fronts to the customers. STP limited has planned to update the existing information system in their premises and they have planned to conduct the business activities with the aid of stock control system, with the aid of accounting system. They have also planned to revolutionize the information system with the customer management system and the website management system. The report has been made focusing on the adaptation of the information system and the associated with the privacy and security of the system. The investigation has been made and the various aspects of the project like the scope of the project, the project requirements, the expectations related to the project. Certain issues have been raised like unskilled workforce, inaccuracy related to stock control, the inefficient product manufacturing and lacking workforce and productivity as a whole. The organizations also have the very little learned workforce and very little technical staff to serve the business requirements. STP Limited requires the more technical staffs and they should be educated with the technical details so that they can contribute to the business needs and can enrich the business activities.

The project scope involves the installation and configuration of database system at the locations Wollongong, Sydney, Bathurst and Lithgow. The Internet connectivity through ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) was connected with the aid of modem and with the aid of switch and it involves the wireless technology concepts, this helps the staff to gets connected to via BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). The aforesaid project has been developed keeping in mind so that the project can go well with the mentioned four locations. The project also focuses on the plans so that the employees of the enterprise can have the requisite knowledge to enhance their business operations. Currently, they have one technical staff. The part-time technology has been given to handle the website and all the associated web services.

The project goal involves catering the tools to the management team and the internal staff of STP Limited to embellish the business activities and makes work relatively easy for the customer and the clients’ base of the enterprise. The goal of the project is to provide the enterprise with the skilled technical so that they can help. The project is also focused on the required network equipment that can increase the productivity of the customer and clients focused applications. The project’s goal is to enhance the relationship of the enterprise with the customers and the clients with the implementation of a CRM system along with development and improvement of the website to support the enterprise’s products.

There are certain risks as well as benefits while adopting a new technology in the enterprise. That is why the management team must analyse the strength, weakness, challenges and the threats. Now, as I am the information systems manager of STP it is my duty to make the SWOT analysis of the company’s business process and will address the benefits that the information system has to offer the STP. The strength of the information system to STP Limited is it has a large customer base, the cloud computing can serve them well, moreover, they have the dedicated employees who are willing to learn. The weakness is that the employees are not technically skills and there are vulnerabilities related to insider threats. There are multiple opportunities for STP Limited and they are communicating with customers with the aid of advanced cloud-based information system, the integration of information system and the empowerment of workforce. The threats that are related are sensitive information leaks as their security framework is relatively weak now.

Project enhancing the future growth of STP

STP Limited has implied the information system in their premises and they have got some benefits till now. The information security must be managed to by applying various strategies and the strategies can be internal as well as external (Ciampa 2015). The internal layer must be implied in the layers which involve the establishment of regulations and the policies, people and the products they made in their premises.

The information system at STP Limited highly relies upon the Internet so marinating certain strategies, policies and procedures will help them to conduct the business operations (Ciampa 2015). The rules regarding the security policy aspects help to provide security and that can help to carry out the business operations securely and safely (Queensland Government 2016).  The policies can help to store, access data and store data.

STP Limited is dependent on the Internet to carry out the business activities and he secure WAN can be able to provide them with the secured service from the vulnerable threats like malware and virus. The BigPond Network has the capability to cater the secured network by implementing the security feature that can diminish the side effects of security breaches (Telstra 2016). The ISP has the capability so that the payment system can be conducted in the most secure way.

The wireless networking is comparatively risky; the employees of the organisations connect to the devices like laptops via wireless mediums. The intruders can take the advantage of the weak network connectivity can gain entry into the system and can steal the vital information of the database (Gupta & Hammond 2005). The attacks related to WLAN attacks can be rooted out by appropriate configuration of the employees and the training programs related to employees.

BYOD risks can enhance the financial risks, the devices are shared among the users and this can disclose the sensitive information of the system. The other types of concerns that are associated with are the malicious activities associated with the software and the with the operating system (Ciampa 2015). BYOD should be implemented ineffective way to safeguard the operations safely with any breaches.

The new hardware has a lot to offer to STP Limited. The new hardware can be helpful to manage the company assets; it can help to adopt the latest information technology innovation and thus can help STP to prepare the strategies, procedures and the policies to progress further (Batenburg et al 2015). The infrastructure will assist the staff to diminish the disruption within, diminish the production issue.

The software is advancing day by day and is getting revolutionized. It may happen that the software applications may not comply with the outdated hardware existing within the organization. The security breaches can occur even when the applications are downloaded from the sites which are not verified and are not trustworthy. Those files run in the background and are vulnerable (Crawford et al 2005). Thus antivirus software must be installed and hardware must be brand new to get the best outcome. The end users have the required scope to evaluate the risks and based on that the management team can take the best decision that can assist in taking the best decision for the business (Haring ND).

Project Scope

STP Limited needs forward planning and they must save money to purchase the latest hardware for the business activity. The members of the enterprise must communicate with each other and must communicate with each other and must make a better strategy to enhance the business. They should recognize the suppliers and should understand the requisites of the business via the asset register, they should choose the hardware for the enterprise’s betterment.

The IT asset identification is not only helpful for the accountants but also helpful for the IT services. The asset register can assist in knowing the hardware which needs to be replaced for the good of the company (Batenburg 2015). The hardware which must be replaced with the new one and the new hardware which can provide must be addressed and recognized, so this is the IT asset register. STP Limited must be careful while choosing the hardware.

The information system via installation and configuration of the cloud-based apps MYOB, TradeGecko and Salesforce can get the edge by which they can embellish their business activities (Ciampa 2015). The data backup, succession planning are the three topics that will be discussed in the later sections so these subsections will cater STP Limited the better overview how the cloud applications can prosper their business growth.

STP Limited has planned to adopt the cloud technology, the cloud-based SaaS apps that can help the enterprise to store the files of the enterprise as backups, thus STP Limited can use the cloud backups whenever required, this can help to gain the competitive edge they require. They can process the data stored in the cloud and can even store the modified files as a backup (Ciampa 2015). This can reduce the cost of the cost of the enterprise as they do not have to buy the server to store the files as a backup and there is also less chance of virus attack because of the cloud vendor advanced technology.

The cloud-based applications can even help to overcome the challenges associated with the physical security issues, the physical issues depicted here are network failures, road blockages and flood and power outages. The cloud vendor will store the data for the enterprise so they do not have to face heavy consequences, their devices can get damaged but the data will remain will safe (Greitzer & Hohimer 2011). The cloud technology can protect from the insider threats as well.

It may happen any employee of the company can get injured, can suffer from severe illness., even the member can resign from the job or may get died, whatever may be the reason the organization must be ready to face the consequences. They have to prepare a suitable successor for the job role (Ciampa 2015). The successor must have the required knowledge and the expertise to understand the business requirements and should be ready to take necessary actions that can assist the team to take the correct decision.

The website of STP Limited must be developed in such a way so that the customers can view all the products available. The cupboard, the drawer fronts having different colours, different textures, and different styles must be showcased and the data must be stored in the cloud and along with that, the data must be modified whenever required. The stock availability must be kept updated all the time (George 2013). Once any products get ordered shipped they must update the cloud database so that the customers and the employees across the four STP Limited factories can know the availability of stock.

Project goal

The technology adoption can give rise to various concerns from various kinds of threats, risks and the privacy issues and thus STP Limited must be responsive and should adopt the security model that can embellish the growth of the company (Gupta & Hammond 2005). All these security aspects can be well handled by the risk mitigation, risk avoidance and the risk transference.

The security policies must be implemented to protect and secure the assets and can cater a general outline that can embellish the business growth. The security policies can act as a tool to develop a culture that can benefit the organization to securely conduct business activities. The employees must have the sound knowledge of the security procedures so that they can discover the security breaches and can take actions immediately (Ciampa 2015). The privilege, the incident management and the change management will assist and support the security policies so that the security inside the organization can be ensured.

The risk model must identify the three aspects that can prove to be effective to STP Limited. The risk model addresses the possible risks that must be identified and detected, again, the risks prevention techniques must be applied to mitigate the risks associated within and lastly the corrective measures that can help to rectify the solution (Bandyopadhyay et al 2011). Lastly, the employees of STP must be learned and they should have the desired knowledge to handle the threat scenario and data breaches efficiently.

The information integration technology can serve the purpose really well. Via the SaaS model and the PaaS model, greater benefits can be gained. PaaS involves the independent software vendors that have the capability to build and execute applications. In this scenario, Slaesforce.com provides the SaaS functionality to STP Limited like the agile effective advanced cloud solutions and the advanced security solutions (Chang, Dillon & Wu 2010). However, there still remains the risk of data breaches, the security issues, the interoperability issues have been highlighted and the employees and the management team must make a service level agreement to grant the required and the desired service.

Conclusions 

It can be concluded from the above discourse that the security control measures can aid the adoption of information system in STP Limited. The security breaches have been highlighted throughout the report. The risks related to wireless LAN and the BYOD devices have been showcased. The possible solutions to mitigate those risks have been discussed as well in the report as well. The three aspects – policies, people and the products can effectively root out the security breaches. Till now, any successful implementation has been planned by which the company can move forward or move ahead, the report will help STP Limited to know what measures should be taken to flourish the business operations.

1. STP Limited must implement policies and procedures properly in their premises to carry out the business activities smoothly.
2. They should conduct the business activities via secured network; they should wait until the secured network concepts are applied like rogue discovery tools and the portal access points.
3. The asset register must be well maintained. STP Limited should be careful about the risk management procedures.
4. They must keep back up of the necessary financial data file and the customers’ data files safely and securely in their premises.
5. The employees must be trained so that they can deliver the best services and the training ca also to recognize the threats beforehand.
6. The stock control must be strengthened by the information technology assistance. The website must be developed in such a way that the website will showcase all the cupboard and drawer fronts products at a glance, once a customer order a product, they must proactively update the website, in this way both the customers and STP Limited can know the availability of products across the four locations.

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