Final Blog Entry

Well the end has come finally and this is the end to another course with UMUC. This has been a fun and informational course. I truly enjoyed the mini-projects and discussion provided by Dr Pang. Great use of current technologies which we face today and I believe this has provided me with a more complete view of these technologies. I would recommend this course and instructor to others and they truly will enjoy the outline Dr Pang provides. I wish the best of luck to everyone in the future and hope to see you all in another course at UMUC.

Week 12 Reflection

This is the final week of course work and the end to the semester. This week we had to create a social networking site and discuss what we thought was most beneficial to us during the semester. I find it hard to complete projects like the social networking site, because I do everything in my power to avoid sites like this, because I don't like wasting my time on them. However, I see the point on evaluating these type of sites to become familiar with this technology and the possible security vulnerabilities of them.

Week 11 Reflection

This was final exam week and I believe the exam was a great overall encompassing test. I appreciate the questions which I had to truly think on what would be the best for an organization for network security. Wish the best to all other students and truly looking forward to the end of the tunnel.

Week 10 Reflection

This week was dedicated to finish up our group projects. This was somewhat a pain due to not very much communication from other group members. It seemed we had to rush at the end of the week to quickly put something together for submittal. I wished we starting meeting as a group earlier in the semester and not procrastinating to the end. However, I believe we did a good job and just glad this week is over. I don't care much for group projects due to the dependancy on others.

Week 9 Reflection

Week 9 focused on Security and Ethics. This is an area I take personally due to my job profession. I focus on aiding network security and to help in the protection of data and information on networks. It was interesting to read more on user privacy. This has been a point of contention in various court decisions on if a user has an expectation of privacy on a company or government network. This is something for the lawyers to battle over and hopefully a more concrete decision is made and not a back and forth mentality. Overall, enjoyed this week and look forward to the end of the semester.

Week 8 Reflection

Week 8 was a week of reading and learning more about the Systems Development Life Cycle. This is a process I have had first hand experience on with the development of a investigative database. Upper management made it a point to ensure all users were part of the development and hand valuable input for the final product. It was interesting to see all of the intricate steps involved with the development of new systems or processes. Look forward to future discussions and topics.

Week 7 Reflection

Week 7 focused on Decision Support Systems. I enjoyed this topic, because I view this as a force multiplier and a concept than can enhance our analytical processes and decisions. I have personally worked and requested for these type of systems discussed. I review network logs and always need something to aid in the analytical processing and decision making of future decisions regarding network security. This is a hot topic in network traffic analysis and how to better review data and find the needle in the haystack, when a network has possible security issues.

Week 6 Reflection

This was midterm week and glad it is over. I found the midterm to not be too bad and I was expecting more, but am glad with what was given. However, I found it a little difficult to discuss some of the questions, in great length and fealt that I was rambling on about the same thing at times in order to try and meet the required length. I am glad I did well and hopefully the final is similar.

Week 5 Reflection

This week was a thorough reading and discussion on e-commerce. This is a fast growing industry and one that will continue to profit and grow. However, it was not always so profitable and can still be that way without proper planning and being customer focused. The mini-project this week was challenging at first to try and come up with an idea, but after some time thinking of some imagitive ideas, I was able to come up with an idea, I believe could be used in the future. Another great week of class and preparing myself for next week. Hopefully, I won't have to use my brain too much, since I had to think of a unique e-business.

Week 4 Relection

This was a week of reading more on networking and dealt with how data is transferred via telecommunications either wired or wireless. In addition, we read more on the media used to transmit the data, either ethernet or fiber optic wires. Finally, this week's mini-project was my least favorite and a site I find wasteful of people's time. Twitter is a site where I believe is someone who does not have any time or friends and needs to be aware of what others are doing. There are better ways to communicate with people and what happened to be open-minded and meeting and talking with someone in person. However, with today's generation, this is the way which is preferred. To those who like to use Twitter, have fun and I will be out doing better things in life.

Week 3 Reflection

Week 3 was focused on data resource management and when into the various types of databases and the challenges and we face with ensure security of them. In addition, we analyzed a database named Zillow and had to do a review of the site and state what security issues or threats to the site which hosts the database. There will always be some type of security issue with databases and the data which it contains. We must ensure we do everything necessary to secure them and also at the same time provide easy access to users. I find it interesting and beneficial with the mini-projects and I look forward to the next one.

Week 2 Reflection

This was an interesting week of coming up with some cool ideas, which we may all see in the future. I would have to say that we have some creative minds in this class and it was neat to see the various ideas for the mini-project. Overall the week culminated with an overview of computer hardware and software. A good review and should have been a refresher to most folks in the class. Look forward to what is next and what mini-projects we have coming our way.

Week 1 Reflection

This week we learned the basics of information systems and how they can be compared to examples of the past. I learned how different types of companies via the case studies and other reading, had to cope and utilize their information systems to the fullest in order to succeed. Chapter 2 really went into this when talking about competion with Information Technology. However, I learned that it takes more than just simply employing information technology, but also takes a keen business sense on how every decision a CIO makes can either make or break a company.

Hello

Hello Everyone,

First of all, welcome to my blog. I am active duty in the Air Force and currently am stationed in Germany. I am a cyber crime investigator with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and have experience with computer forensics as well as conducting computer operations. This is my first class for my master's program since starting up last year. Unfortunately I had to deploy and had to put off taking classes. I am married with two children ages 10 and 12. I look forward to learning from everyone and hope that I can be of assistance to everyone as well. FYI, some people say I look like Jimmy Neutron, so I will see what others may have to say.