Yojimbo supplies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Yojimbo supplies - Essay Example d their associated products; a list of sales staff, their supervisors and their current associated order values; and a list of customers and their current live orders. For purchasing, the Yojimbo Supplies Ltd (Miss Phillipa Howey, The Purchasing Head) wants to store all the details of suppliers and setting up purchase orders along with a list of all the live orders and their associated products; a list of all live orders and their associated suppliers; and a list of all food products with a stock level near to minimum stock level (re-order level.). Customers: The receiving end of the Yojimbo Supplies Ltd are public and trade outlets, general shops and individual and business customers. At presently they places and receives order manually on paper and after implementation of Information system, they will be able to place and track their order online. Actors: The actors are the staffs (sales & purchasing) of the Yojimbo Supplies Ltd, and all types of customers who place order. Implementation of Information system will make tracking of sales-orders/purchase-orders easier for both staffs and customers. Because of this staff can efficiently do their job and customers can easily place and track their orders. Transformations: Two types of process; sale-order processing and purchase-order processing are performed at presently. At presently, customer place order, which is processed by sales staff and delivered. In addition, purchasing department raise purchase order and send it to supplier for receiving of orders at stock. World View: At presently, the Yojimbo Supplies Ltd has no information system for sales-order processing and purchasing. In addition, there is no suitable existing off-the-self software available in market that will suit the need of the Yojimbo Supplies Ltd. This analysis will be able to propose a suitable Information system that can suit the need of the Yojimbo Supplies Ltd. Owner: There are two types of process; sales and purchasing, which are

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare Essay ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a romantic comedy and one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays or stories. The main characters of this story are Oberon, Titania, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena. This story deals with marriage, family, elope and comedy. Hermia elopes with her lover Lysander to get married and Demetrius who loves Hermia follows them into while Helena, Hermia’s friend and Demetrius’ lover, follows Demetrius into the forest. Meanwhile, Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies in the forest, have an argument which causes tension between them. Is the forest a magical place? Yes, it is because all the characters in the forest reconcile. The story starts off with Egeus, father of Hermia, reporting to Theseus, King of Athens at that time, that his daughter refused to obey him when he commanded his daughter to marry Demetrius, a man of a noble Athenian family. There was a strict law in the city of Athens that if a daughter refused to marry the man her father had chosen, she would be put to death. Hermia had not loved Demetrius but she loved another Athenian, Lysander. She also didn’t want to marry him because her best friend, Helena, loved Demetrius and she wanted to stay loyal. Theseus could not alter the laws the rules of his country so he could only give Hermia four days to reconsider her decision or else she would be put to death. Lysander was informed about this and proposed to Hermia that they should elope to his aunt’s house outside of Athens, where the laws were not applied. Demetrius heard of this and thus, he followed them into the forest. Helena was afraid of losing Demetrius forever so therefore she followed him into the forest. Demetrius reproached Helena for following him but Helena tried to remind him of his former love and true faith to her. Demetrius, after saying many cruel things to Helena, abandoned her while Helena still raced after him. Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the Fairies respectively. They were having a disagreement when Titania refused to give Oberon a changeling boy. Titania dotes over this child which makes Oberon jealous. Oberon wants to make the boy part of his entourage. Titania refuses to give the boy up, hence the conflict. They lived in the magical forest. Oberon had a counsellor, Puck. Oberon observed the conflict between Demetrius and Helena. Oberon was always friendly to true lovers and felt sorry for Helena. He reported this to Puck  and commanded him to use a piece of the purple flower, which has a ‘love-juice’, and use it on Demetrius to make him fall in love with Helena. Oberon described him as wearing Athenian clothes. Puck found a man in Athenian clothes but it turned out be Lysander who was sleeping next to Hermia. Puck poured the love-juice into his eyes and the first person he saw he would fall in love with. The next morning, Helena would find Hermia and Lysander. When Lysander woke up, he saw Helena in front of him and immediately fell in love with her. Helena was confused and then she became angry with Lysander. She thought that he was pulling a sick prank on her. Oberon and Puck soon realized what happened. Oberon scolded Puck and Puck found Demetrius asleep. Puck applied the love-juice to his eyes and when Demetrius woke up, he first saw Helena and became in love with her. Ironically, what had first started out as Lysander and Demetrius chasing Hermia with Helena left behind, now had turned into Lysander and Demetrius chasing Helena with Hermia left behind. Helena outraged, thinking it was a prank, got herself into a war of words with Hermia. Oberon and Puck observed the chaos he caused and immediately attempted to fix it. Puck wearied them out by getting them lost and removed the charm from the eyes of Lysander with an antidote to reverse the effects and forget his new love for Helena. After, everything was back to normal Hermia was with Lysander and Helena was with Demetrius. Meanwhile, Oberon, longing for the changeling boy, had poured some love-juice on Titania to make her give it up. When Oberon had returned, he found a clown sleeping next to her. He put a donkey’s head on him and Titania fell in love with the clown. Oberon seized the chance and demanded the changeling boy which she unwillingly accepted. Soon, Oberon had poured some juices of another flower and had brought her back to her senses. She immediately loathed the sight of the monster. All the couples in this story reconciled. Egeus understood Demetrius not wanting to marry his daughter but Helena and Egeus accepted the marriage between Lysander and Hermia. The forest is truly a magical place because what had started as elope, disagreements and hatred turned out be union, harmony and love.

Pheromones Essay examples -- essays research papers

Pheromones Do you often wonder what makes someone attracted to you or what makes you attracted to that other person? Sometimes you can look at the person and not even be attracted to their looks, but you feel compelled to talk to them or just contact them in any form. These urges could be induced by a compound group most commonly called "Pheromones." Pheromones{fair'-uh-mohn} (from the Greek pher, "to carry" and horman "to stimulate") are chemicals released by organisms into the environment, where they serve as signals or messages to alter behavior in other organisms of the same species. Pheromones are a class of compounds that insects and animals produce to attract members of their own species. These compounds are secreted by the body in very small amounts but are never-the-less effective in producing instinctive behavior when detected by the nose. In insects and animals, most sexual and social behavior is controlled by pheromones. Humans have used perfumes for thousands of years, but there is a basic difference between perfume and pheromones. Pheromones are produced by the body and usually do not smell at all pleasant, whereas perfumes are either synthesized or extracted from natural products and are employed because of their pleasant smell. Scientific research suggests that there are human pheromones for both the male a...

Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India ABSTRACT: I examine the role of Justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, I focus on the Goddess Justice and her relationship to the Great Mother as the divine creator and final judge of all reality. I begin by tracing out the historical parallels in the development of ancient Greek and Indian conceptions of Justice and end by working out their philosophical similarities. After giving an historical account of the earlier Greek matriarchal religions, I show how Justice becomes transformed from a living force, alive and divine, to a philosophical concept and, finally, to a mere social function within the polis. I focus on the pre-Socratic notion of Justice as a cosmological and ontological necessity, inherent not simply within human affairs, but within the structure of the universe itself, as Nature. Here, I draw out further comparative points between the ancient Greek and Indian conceptions by discussing the Vedic and early Buddhist notion of Justice as dharma/karma, as a living-ethical Force inherent in the structure and creation of the universe. I also examine how in the Eastern schools of Non-dualism, Maya is understood as the "Mother of all Life energy." In all of this, special attention is given to the nature of Justice as the embodiment of the Great Mother manifested as creative energy and as the discerner and judge of all Being. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the role of justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, my paper will focus on the relationship of justice to the Great Mother as the Divine Creatrix and final judge of all Reality. It is my thesis that there were really two notions of justice which began to emerge in the ancient world. The older view (the one that we have almost forgotten) was rooted in the early Goddess religions where Justice was seen as the avenging/mediating force of the Great Mother. The other view developed later in the dominant patriarchal Aryan culture of norms and laws, and provides the basis for our modern day conception of justice as an abstract principle. Before commenting on these various images of justice, it might be helpful to outline its emergence and subsequent transformations. The notion of justice as a dynamic, cosmic principle, alive and divine, and manifest in nature is part of the great mythical and historical heritage of both ancient Greece and India. Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India ABSTRACT: I examine the role of Justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, I focus on the Goddess Justice and her relationship to the Great Mother as the divine creator and final judge of all reality. I begin by tracing out the historical parallels in the development of ancient Greek and Indian conceptions of Justice and end by working out their philosophical similarities. After giving an historical account of the earlier Greek matriarchal religions, I show how Justice becomes transformed from a living force, alive and divine, to a philosophical concept and, finally, to a mere social function within the polis. I focus on the pre-Socratic notion of Justice as a cosmological and ontological necessity, inherent not simply within human affairs, but within the structure of the universe itself, as Nature. Here, I draw out further comparative points between the ancient Greek and Indian conceptions by discussing the Vedic and early Buddhist notion of Justice as dharma/karma, as a living-ethical Force inherent in the structure and creation of the universe. I also examine how in the Eastern schools of Non-dualism, Maya is understood as the "Mother of all Life energy." In all of this, special attention is given to the nature of Justice as the embodiment of the Great Mother manifested as creative energy and as the discerner and judge of all Being. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the role of justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, my paper will focus on the relationship of justice to the Great Mother as the Divine Creatrix and final judge of all Reality. It is my thesis that there were really two notions of justice which began to emerge in the ancient world. The older view (the one that we have almost forgotten) was rooted in the early Goddess religions where Justice was seen as the avenging/mediating force of the Great Mother. The other view developed later in the dominant patriarchal Aryan culture of norms and laws, and provides the basis for our modern day conception of justice as an abstract principle. Before commenting on these various images of justice, it might be helpful to outline its emergence and subsequent transformations. The notion of justice as a dynamic, cosmic principle, alive and divine, and manifest in nature is part of the great mythical and historical heritage of both ancient Greece and India.

Pros and Cons of Minimum Wage

Pros 1. Reduced poverty The minimum wage can improve the living standard of low-income workers, which ultimately reduce poverty. According to the International Labor Office (2005), reducing poverty and working poverty requires both productivity growth and employment creation. The World Development Report 2004-05 also stated that there is strong empirical evidence that creating decent employment opportunities is the best way to take people out of poverty. As a result, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor can be narrowed.The Keynesian argument for minimum wages – this suggests that lower-income workers have a high propensity to consume, and that with the extra disposable income from minimum wage, they will spend a high portion the sum which will be injected back into the circular flow of income. In regions and localities where average incomes are low, a higher minimum pay rate can boost total demand for goods and services and create a positive multiplier effect – but much depends on the effect of a pay floor on how many people remain in work. . Reduced government spending on social welfare Since workers are being paid more per hour, their increased purchasing power enable them to meet pay for their basic needs on their own, without relying on government â€Å"top-up† welfare benefits. Therefore, this can greatly reduce the government expenditure on the social welfare, and the spending can be used in other ways, such as education and medication. Cons 1. Reduced employment of the less-skilled workersImplementation of minimum wage can reduce the employment of the less-skilled workers (Neumark & Wascher, 2008). According to The Wall Street Journal (2009), Economists for the Federal Reserve reviewed over 100 academic studies on the impact of the minimum wage and found overwhelming evidence that lower skilled and young workers have increased rates of unemployment when there is a higher minimum wage. These workers are laid off as their emplo yer finds that the employee’s labor is not worth the required age, but additionally employers are filling these jobs with higher skilled labor (Garfield, 1996). Additionally, many others pointed out the importance of the entry level jobs and observed that the loss of these jobs would have a negative impact on the development of a good work ethic in young workers (Irvin, 2009). 2. Shift the cost to consumers The increase in the minimum wage has caused many of these small businesses to raise their prices just to cover costs (Messerli, 2009).As labour is a factor of production, an increase in the average cost of labour will push up the unit cost of products. With the persistent increase in the general price level, there will be at a risk of inflation. 3. Difficult for small businesses to survive in the market Some small businesses may find it difficult to survive in the economy because they cannot afford to pay the minimum wage stipulated by the law. It obstructs their chances o f growth and thereby hampers the economic growth in the larger context.Though some of these companies would charge higher to the consumers, consumers may eventually decide that the high prices cannot be justified and the small business is forced to close (Messerli, 2009). 4. Shadow labour markets may develop Due to the surplus of labour, more people are willing to work at the minimum price than employers are willing to hire, and it is likely that workers will try to sell their services at illegally low prices. These workers are often, especially in America, illegal immigrants who are hired in favour of tax paying citizens.This will cause a decrease in tax revenue as more workers are not reporting their incomes, and an increase in the amount of unemployment benefits the government will have to pay out. The minimum wage benefits those who are employed at it and disadvantages those who loose out on potential employment because of employers hiring from a shadow labour market. The effect of minimum wages on unemployment will depend on the elasticity of demand for labour. If the demand for labour is inelastic, the introduction f minimum wages will only increase unemployment a little. Job losses may simply be due to the increase in labour cost which would result in a lower demand for labour. **** 5. Distortion to the free market Minimum wages are a barrier to the free market. If the minimum wage is set above the market clearing price, it will result in rising unemployment. Some firms will judge the opportunity cost of hiring an extra employee too high and this may prevent some workers from finding jobs who otherwise would normally find it.In a totally free market, they may be willing to accept lower wages. However, even if the artificial barrier were not present, the action of trade unions would greatly limit the wage reduction that workers would tolerate. Rather than have the entirety of the workers in a union take a pay cut, it is more likely that some will be fire d and the rest will continue work at the same wage rate. This means that even in a free market, the offer of lower wages can result in unemployment due to the effect of sticky wages.Equally, in some cases, when wages drop too low, people are willing to forgo employment. This is because the benefits of being employed are hardly greater than the unemployment benefits they would receive otherwise. This is known as the unemployment trap and its result is that even in a free market, if the equilibrium price is too low, unemployment will rise. For the two aforementioned reasons it is impossible to say that the imposition of a minimum wage will definitely cause higher unemployment than if wages were left to the invisible hand of the free market.Reference: Garfield, R. , (1996). â€Å"The Case Against a Higher Minimum Wage†. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://www. house. gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/against/against. htm International Labour Office (2005). World employment report 2 004-05: employment, productivity and poverty reduction. , p. p. 31. Irvin, M. , (2009). â€Å"Minimum Wage Increase Pleases Workers, But Employers Not So Happy†. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://blog. al. com/live/2009/07/minimum_wage_increase_pleases. html Messerli, J. (2009). â€Å"Should the Minimum Wage be Abolished (i. e. Reduced to $0. 00)? †. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://www. balancedpolitics. org/minimum_wage. htm Neumark, David (Editor); Wascher, William L. (Editor). Minimum Wages. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2008. p. 104-105, 189-190, 258-259. The Wall Street Journal, (2009, October). â€Å"The Young and the Jobless†, The Wall Street Journal, at A12. Retrieved March 12, 2012, from http://online. wsj. com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574402820278669840. html

the boisphere essays

the boisphere essays The biosphere is part of the earth in which life exists. It is 20 km thick from the bottom of the ocean to the lower atmosphere. It consists of three layers: the lithosphere, which is the land on the surface of the earth; the hydrosphere, which comprises of the water on the earth as well as water vapor in the air; and the atmosphere, which is made up of the air that surrounds the earth. The living organisms in the biosphere interact and affect each other in many ways. This is called a biotic factor. Similarly, there are nons of abiotic factors are air, temperature, water, soil, light, and minerals. In a biosphere, organisms live in special groupings. For instance, a population consists of all individuals of a species living in a general area. A community is a population located in a certain area living among different species. An ecosystem is yet a larger conglomeration of a population, a community, and abiotic factors. Ecosystems can be aquatic or terrestrial. The earth's aquatic ecosystem makes up about 75% of the earth's surface. This aquatic environment is divided into marine and freshwater environments. The earth's terrestrial ecosystem is mainly made up of forests and deserts, which make up for 25% of the earth's surface. The role or function of an organism in a community is that organism's niche. An organism's niche is an area picked by that organism based on physical factors such as temperature, light, oxygen and carbon dioxide content and biological factors such as food, competition for resources and predators. This niche provides the organism a place to live in. A habitat remains consistent with an organism's niche as well as provides the organism with a place to reproduce. In this case, organisms may have the same habitat, but different niches. ...

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 Cost Justification and Benefits

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 Cost Justification and Benefits Free Online Research Papers Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 Cost Justification and Benefits Information Technology Essays The problem with today’s authentication is the ability to electronically prove and provide confidence in a person’s identity. Authentication focuses on confirming an individual’s identity based on reliable credentials. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD) was created to solve this problem and provide better identity management security at federal agencies. The HSPD 12 directive requires the development and agency implementation of a mandatory, government-wide standard for secure and reliable forms of identification for Federal employees and contractors. This directive signed by President Bush in August 2004 established an official federal government policy for the issuance of a common identity verification standard. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how agencies justify the costs involved in complying with the HSPD 12 mandate, what benefits agencies expect in return for their investment, and the risks associated with identity management. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) determined that secure and reliable forms of identification need to be both physical and logical for entry into federal buildings and technology data centers. NIST decided the standard would include the use of smart cards with embedded biometric fingerprints, and public key infrastructure (PKI) that links an individual to a specified public key for electronic signing (See Appendix A). NIST created the Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 201 (FIPS 201) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV). According to NIST, the FIPS 201 includes two parts called PIV I and PIV II, and states the following (See Appendix B): The requirements in PIV I support the control objectives and security requirements described in FIPS 201, including the standard background investigation required for all Federal employees and long-term contractors. The standards in PIV II support the technical interoperability requirements described in HSPD-12. PIV II specifies standards for implementing identity credentials on integrated circuit cards (i.e., smart cards) for use in a Federal system. FIPS 201 requires agencies to: 1. Establish roles to facilitate identity proofing, information capture and storage, and card issuance and maintenance. 2. Develop and implement a physical security and information security infrastructure to support these new credentials. 3. Establish processes to support the implementation of a PIV program. (GSA, 2005a) The notion behind these standards is to provide enhanced security at Federal facilities and information systems. Cost Justifications: One way an agency can justify the cost of identity management is the fact that it enhances security by safeguarding access to buildings, secure areas, and electronic systems. Conventional authentication can be easily forged, stolen or altered to gain unauthorized access. This type of security breach can lead to identity theft that has the potential to cost individuals and agencies large financial losses. The Federal Trade Commission in 2004 conducted 4,057 interviews with individuals who incurred losses associated with identification theft and estimated the costs to them. The loss estimates were compiled from the data gathered from the interviews and was said to cost nearly $10,200 per incident and $33 billion total for agencies, businesses and financial institutions. The frequency of these incidents indicates a growing problem of theft and loss. Examples of compromised records include 1.4 million credit card numbers from DSW Shoe Warehouse, 200,000 client files from Ameritrade, reco rds for 30,000 students and staff at George Mason University, 59,000 student records at a California University, Bank of America tapes with information on 1.2 million government employees, University of California laptop stolen with 100,000 identities, 280,000 possible victims at LexisNexis, 145,000 social security numbers at ChoicePoint, (FTC, 2003) and most recently the social security numbers of 26.5 million veterans. The use of smart cards developed pursuant to the NIST PIV II standard would provide enhanced security authentication. What a smart card offers is a plastic device about the size of a credit card that contains an embedded hardware computer chip that is separate from the computer. (See Appendix C). If a compromised computer is infected, the smartcard itself would not be affected. Smart cards operate in their own separate space, which make them less susceptible to being compromised, thus making them a more robust method for authentication as well. A second way government agencies can justify the cost associated with smart cards is that they provide the hardening of logical security. This could prevent thieves from unauthorized access and help address the concerns associated with identity theft. The unique advantage that smart cards have over traditional cards with simpler technologies like magnetic stripes or bar codes is that they can exchange data with other systems and process information. (See Appendix D). Older card versions were static and could not exchange data. By securely exchanging information, a smart card can help authenticate the identity of the individual possessing the card in a far more thorough way than is possible with traditional identification cards. A smart card’s processing power also allows it to exchange and update many other kinds of information with a variety of external systems, which can facilitate applications such as financial transactions or other services that involve electronic record- keeping. (GSA, 2005b) This enhanced security reduces the risk of identity theft and financial losses. A third way government agencies could justify the costs associated with smart cards would be through enhanced security for remote authentication. (See Appendix E) Most agencies have developed systems to allow remote access even though it provides an alternative method for non employees to gain access. Normally, controlled computer environments like those found at federal agencies, banks, financial institutions and physical stores have security measures in place to stop malicious behaviors. This is not always the case when people work at home using their own computers. These computers are usually directly connected to the internet and are outside controlled settings. Because of this, the potential risks are significant when data is left unprotected. Using PKI public key cryptography can help solve the problem with unprotected data. This encryption technology stores a person’s digital certificate and has the ability to thwart thefts by safeguarding identities. Many agencies have looked at smart cards and the PKI model to include key management. When a certificate is created, there is a multistage process involved. Typically, for authentication and digital signature key pairs, the keys are generated locally on the smart card. The private key never leaves the smart card, while the public key is exported for inclusion in a certificate request. There are four key components for PKI to be successful: 1. Registration/Enrollment: To create a digital certificate, PKI systems require a secure process for verifying the persons identity. PKI products supported multiple methods of making sure that applicants for certificates were legitimate and actually were who they were claiming to be. The same secure registration process is needed for granting access to customer identity information. 2. Repository: PKI required both a trustable public repository for public keys and a secure repository for backup of private keys. Protecting stored identity information requires a secure repository, as well. 3. Revocation: For digital certificates to be meaningful, a process was needed to inform those relying on certificates that a certificate had expired, had been revoked or was, for whatever reason, no longer valid. Revoking access to customer identity information when that access no longer has business justification is a critical requirement. 4. Reliability: PKI systems included mechanisms for archiving and backing up encryption keys, had guidelines for protecting the PKI infrastructure, and had auditable mechanisms (defined in certification practice statements) for defining the security processes that would be employed to maintain the trust of the entire PKI. Systems that handle sensitive identity information should have standard formats for documenting similar assurances. (Pescatore, 2005a) Using the public key infrastructure (PKI) components described above has the ability to save government agencies time and money by mitigating the risks associated with identity theft. (See Appendix F) The recent incident involving the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that compromised the identities of up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses provides plenty of justification of the cost for better identity management security. Gartner research evaluated costs related to identity thefts similar to the ones being publicly announced. They estimated that data breaches will cost companies 50 percent more than data protection will. Gartner states the following: A company with at least 100,000 accounts to protect can spend, in the first year, as little as $6 per customer account for just data encryption or as much as $16 per customer account for data encryption, host-based intrusion prevention and strong security audits combined. These unit costs will be reduced drastically if these strategies are applied to protecting millions of customer accounts. This compares with an expenditure of at least $90 per customer account when data is compromised or exposed during a breach. Likewise, these costs may escalate dramatically if proposed legislation mandating fines up to $11,000 per exposed and damaged customer account is imposed. (Pescatore, 2005b) According to Gartner research, nearly all data theft attacks could have been prevented if the sensitive data was encrypted and the encryption keys were properly protected. For large environments such as government agencies with over 100,000 records to safeguard, Gartner estimates the costs associated with equipment, integration and maintenance to be about $6 per person in the first year. The estimates of using PKI encryption would decrease each year and cost approximately $1 per account per year in recurring costs. Gartner research’s evaluations show there are significant losses associated with not protecting data. Their cost estimates for data encryption show a cost savings in comparison, and should help agencies decide whether to move forward with this technology. Benefits: One of the benefits of this technology is the ability to consolidate personal identity requirements. Consolidating logical and physical security controls into a single, card connected system has the potential to save money and reduce security costs by 40 to 60 percent over traditional approaches, while enabling an agency to control a greater percentage of its access points. A single system eliminates the costs of installing and wiring traditional access points. It also reduces the considerable expense of traditional architectures and system for access control at remote locations. These savings would allow agencies to expand the number of locations and systems that are electronically secured. Agencies can also benefit from using a single interface to control both wired and card-connected access points. This would allow administrators to manage a large number of users and locations more efficiently. Each smart card credential securely carries the roles and privileges of the individual from wired to standalone access points, creating a card-connected environment. The benefit is realized when the cardholders become an extension of the physical access network, and their cards carry information to and from the readers. By following this model, security is increased significantly at a fraction of the normal cost. For example, if an employee leaves the agency, rather than replace door locks and wiring (at a cost of $5,000 each, as well as time delays), the card permissions can be immediately revoked and the employee can no longer access the facility or information networks. (Electronic Government: Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing New Federal Employee Identification Sta ndard: GAO-06-178, 2006) A second benefit of this technology is electronic authentication. This provides simpler access to multiple agency applications through the re-use of credentials and established identities. Using a single central credential permits access to multiple systems without having to key in multiple passwords. An example of an industry leader providing easier access to multiple systems is UBS, a global financial company headquartered in Switzerland. They accomplished identity authentication by the successful implementation of PKI. This company implemented the use of digital certificates that linked their employees to a specified public key for electronic signing. They used the PKI security architecture as a method to address efficient and secure authentication. UBS concluded that the processes and technology that had worked in a centralized environment were no longer effective in a decentralized one. Major concerns were increased inefficiency, rising costs and the reduced ability to control r isk. Their problems included the following: 1. The network of open production systems could be reached from anywhere, putting critical data at significant risk. 2. Existing applications were not designed to function within such an environment. User authentication by plain old passwords was increasingly seen as providing an unacceptably low level of protection against illegitimate access in such an environment. 3. The bank had almost half a million different passwords in use: The average user had to remember at least 15 passwords, making it inevitable that many users would write down their passwords. Additionally, significant help desk resources were devoted to resetting forgotten passwords. (Noakes-Fry, 2005b) The technologies and processes that were in place prior to moving towards PKI could not eliminate or reduce the three problems indicated above. The company predicted the problems would only worsen as the network continued to grow. UBS decided it needed to change in order to provide a strong, reliable, and human-accessible user authentication to information resources. Identity authentication objectives at UBS were defined by a single sign-on process. This allowed each user to only remember a single PIN and authenticate once per login session to access all systems. The company used smart cards that permitted user access to the computer and authentication to additional systems. The public-key infrastructure (PKI) was the key component to support stronger user authentication and identity management in the environment. Cost savings were realized because UBS was able to reduce the number of help desk calls for password support. According to UBS, many hours were spent each retrieving or resetting users passwords which resulted in the loss of productivity. Since implementing single sign on the company has increased security, improved functionality and reduced help desk expenses. A third benefit of this technology is the ability to move away from paper signatures and towards public key digital signatures. This move has the potential to reduce the amount of time normally spent processing paperwork and transform business electronically. Moving away from paper records and towards electronic forms supports the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA). This act recommended that federal agencies establish electronic forms to provide immediate feedback from data submitted online. It stated that forms should be electronically fill-able, file-able, and signable, and a model of user friendliness and efficiency. Signed records can be stored and retained for the purposes of retrieving them for later use, either as part of a related business process or a legal proceeding. Some records may be retained for decades. This move was successful in the case of a student loan company with a portfolio of more than $2 billion that implemented an online application process for consolidation loans using digital signatures. According to Gartner research, the company met its goal of having electronically fill-able applications in place before the huge wave of applications began arriving in June. These electronic applications were signable with digital signatures and received immediate acceptance from borrowers. Gartner noted that the company experienced a significant reduction in cost and reduction in turnaround time for each application: It previously cost $12 to send an application via FedEx (and including a prepaid FedEx envelope cost another $12), but it now costs $1.35 to send. Under the old system, the company received 35 percent of the applications back with signatures; 65 percent of electronic applications are returned with digital signatures. Using previous delivery methods, it took 10 days to get the application back; with digitally signed electronic applications, turnaround is one day. (Noakes-Fry, 2005a) Risks: There are several risks involved with implementing HSPD 12. These risks include the cost and the looming October 2006 deadline for agencies to meet compliance. Cost is always a big concern at federal agencies, and implementation can be prohibitively expensive for any one agency to bear all of the expenses. Many federal agencies and contractors are already stretched for funding and resources. HSPD-12 is an initiative that requires interoperability between complex federal government systems, the reevaluation of business processes, and unprecedented collaboration between IT, human resources, and physical security staffs. Looking at the requirements for PIV card use, the implementation includes digital certificates, the PIV Cards, printing, middleware software, IDMS, a card management system (CMS), and an OCSP capability. These costs were estimated using models identified by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): Larger departments estimate that the first year costs per person are between $90 – 110. It is anticipating that out years costs at larger departments will decrease to approximately $60 for initial year based on deployments exceeding 500,000 users. It is anticipated in time these cost will decrease even further. (GSA, 2005a) The recommendation from OMB states smaller agencies need to align themselves with larger federal agencies to lower the total costs of ownership. Moreover, there are a number of costly infrastructure components and processes that an agency may be required to purchase. This would include the expenses associated with physical access control systems that can link multiple agency locations together. These costs may exceed the amount agencies can afford and can absorb by themselves. The concern arises if a single agency were to out source the entire implementation to commercial vendors with its current employees and contractors. If this were to occur, OMB says the costs per person could easily exceed $200. The guidance from OMB proposes waiting until the larger agencies such as the Department of Defense implement smart card use. This way smaller agencies can align themselves with other large volume agencies to take advantage of volume discounts. The United States Government Accounting Office published key findings in the February 2006 report entitled, â€Å"Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing New Federal Employee Identification Standard.† This report provided guidance about smart card technology planning and budgeting activities. There were several concerns raised in the report with regards to the smart card technology. The concerns involved the time frame for effective planning, information gathering about risk, and cost benefit information. The GAO noted the following: As part of the annual federal budget formulation process, agencies are required to submit their budget requests 1 year in advance of the time they expect to spend the funds. In addition, in the case of major IT investments, which could include new smart-card based credentialing systems, OMB requires agencies to prepare and submit formal businesses cases, which are used to demonstrate that agencies have adequately defined the proposed cost, schedule, and performance goals for the proposed investments. In order for agencies to prepare business cases for future funding requests, they need to conduct detailed analyses such as a cost benefit analysis, a risk analysis, and an assessment of the security and privacy implications of the investment. However, agencies have lacked the information necessary to conduct such reviews. For example, agencies have not had reliable information about product costs and cost elements, which are necessary for cost-benefit analyses. In addition, without FIPS 201 compliant products available for review, agencies have been unable to adequately conduct risk analyses of the technology. Most importantly, the lack of FIPS 201 compliant products has inhibited planning for addressing the investment’s security and privacy issues. (Electronic Government: Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing New Federal Employee Identification Standard: GAO-06-178, 2006) The GAO did provide three recommendations that would be helpful in addressing the concerns and enable agencies to move forward with the HSPD 12 mandate. The report discussed the following key activities regarding the compliance standard and recommended the following three actions: 1. Provide specific deadlines by which agencies implementing transitional smart card systems are to meet the â€Å"end-point† specification, thus allowing for interoperability of smart card systems across the federal government; 2. Provide guidance to agencies on assessing risks associated with the variation in the reliability and accuracy among biometric products, so that they can select vendors that best meet the needs of their agencies while maintaining interoperability with other agencies, and 3. Clarify the extent to which agencies should make risk-based assessments regarding the applicability of FIPS 201 to specific types of facilities, individuals, and information systems, such as small offices, foreign nationals, and volunteers. The updated guidance should (1) include criteria that agencies can use to determine precisely what circumstances call for risk-based assessments and (2) specify how agencies are to carry out such risk assessments. (Electronic Government: Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing New Federal Employee Identification Standard: GAO-06-178, 2006) Conclusion: With little more information than a social security number, an identity can be stolen. As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) points out â€Å"Social Security numbers play a pivotal role in identity theft. Identity thieves use the Social Security number as a key to access the financial benefits available to their victims.† (FTC, 2003) Identity theft is growing rapidly and has become a serious threat. It is easy to open fraudulent lines of credit in the name of some unsuspecting victim. The FTC statistics for 2004 indicate that credit card fraud (28%) was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by phone or utilities fraud (19%), bank fraud (18%), and employment fraud (13%). Other significant categories of identity theft reported by victims were government documents/benefits fraud and loan fraud. (FTC, 2003) Congress is considering several measures to prevent the crimes identified by the FTC and among them is the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2005. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced the bill. He wanted the measure to require a review of federal sentencing guidelines to allow a maximum penalty to be imposed on identity thieves and impose financial penalties on data brokers for allowing data breaches to occur. The bill also outlines procedures for data brokers and consumers to follow to correct incorrect information contained in personal records, and increases criminal penalties for computer fraud involving personal data, unauthorized access to personal information. It also makes it a crime to intentionally conceal a security breach involving personal data. (Moye, 2006) The HSPD 12 implementation requires Federal agencies to make investments for secure and reliable forms of identification. HSPD 12 was formed to resolve problems associated with identity management and provide enhanced security at federal agencies. Government agencies will be asked to justify the costs involved in complying with the HSPD 12 mandate and understand what benefits it can expect in return for their investment along with the associated risks. Moving forward with the mandate will involve both logical and physical changes. These changes will most likely include costly infrastructure components and smart card readers for computers logging onto the network. Additionally, desktop computers will need to be equipped with smart card readers for logging onto the network and for accessing network resources. Moreover, the badging process will require additional physical security for buildings and secure areas. The conventional method of proving your identity will need to change to accommodate the enhanced public key infrastructure (PKI) components. Authentication to agency resources will involve the combination of biometrics, digital certificates, and passwords for single sign on capabilities. The technology has the ability to provide simpler access to multiple agency applications through the re-use of credentials and established identities. It also allows each user to only remember a single PIN and authenticate once per login session to access all systems. This will provide a relatively high level of security because it relies on multiple layers of specific information prior to authentication. The benefit to the user results in eliminating the need for multiple cards, remembering multiple PINs and login information. Like insurance, the real value can be measured against the cost and impact of the bad things that could happen if you do not protect yourself. Electronic Government: Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing New Federal Employee Identification Standard: GAO-06-178. (2006). GAO Reports, 1. FTC. (2003). STATEMENT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WAYNE ABERNATHY ON THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSIONS IDENTITY THEFT SURVEY REPORT, FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database. GSA. (2005a). Federal Identity Management Handbook: GSA. GSA. (2005b). GOVERNMENT SMART CARD HANDBOOK: GSA. Moye, S. (2006). Congress Assesses Data Security Proposals. Information Management Journal, 40(1), 20-22. Noakes-Fry, K. (2005a). Case Study: Loan Company Uses E-Signatures to Cut Costs and Save Time. Gartner Research(G00129945). Noakes-Fry, K. (2005b). Case Study: UBS Manages IDs with PKI-Based Smart Cards to increase Security and Reduce Costs. Gartner Research(G00130280). Pescatore, J. (2005a). Apply the Lessons of Public-Key Infrastructure to Protecting Customer Information. Gartner Research(G00126768). Pescatore, J. (2005b). Data Protection is Less Costly than Data Breaches. Gartner Research, G00130911. 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