Environmental Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental Analysis - Essay Example These have been analyzed in the following paragraphs: The Business Dictionary.com, (accessed on 16th June, 2008,) defines remote environment as "Ecological, political, social, and technological factors or forces that affect a form's decision making abilities and freedom, but are beyond its control or influence." With reference to the University of Phoenix, the remote environment would include the ecological, political, social and technological factors that would influence the University's decision-making abilities. The University of Phoenix is committed to the cause of the environment. It already has an agenda set to ensure that its students learn about and respect the environment. "Go Green" is an initiative taken by the University to familiarize the students with environment issues. In future, not only would the University have to sustain its efforts in this direction, but it would also have to scale them up. A change in the political leadership of the country would lead to changes in the way the University is governed. Compliance to new and changed rules and regulations for Universities might be necessary. The grants/subsidies given by the government for various courses (if any) might be subject to change with a change in the political situation in the country. A definite shift in people's income levels and social standing might have a direct influence on the number of students enrolling in a particular course. There might be more number of people enrolling for advanced courses over the next ten years as compared to the enrollment in basic courses. With advances in technology and global connectivity, students might prefer more online courses as compared to classroom courses. The University would be required to take into consideration the changes in technology being brought about everyday. The teachers and lecturers would have to be trained in the latest trends in research and referencing. While online classes might become popular in the next ten years, the University would have to scout for collaborators in the local regions/classes where practical classes could be conducted. Industry Environment According to the website of University of Phoenix, (accessed on 16thJune, 2008) "The mission of University of Phoenix is to provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the productivity of their organizations, and provide leadership and service to their communities." As in any other industry, when there is a shift in the needs/tastes of the students, there will be a need to change the content of the courses at the University. The knowledge and skill sets required to achieve professional goals generally undergo a periodic change. What is relevant today will be obsolete in a few years. Thus, the University needs to research the market, identify the latest trends and major shifts in education and adapt their courses accordingly. Operating Environments Operating environment in a University's context could refer to the way libraries and reference materials are used. It could also mean how the way the courses are conducted: ie. online or classroom. With advances in technology and connectivity getting simpler everyday, there will certainly be a huge demand for online courses in the near future. The way teaching is carried out might

Internet Firewall Security Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Internet Firewall Security - Term Paper Example Considering all these cons, one must ensure that a good firewall is in place to keep the hackers at an arm’s length, keeping them at bay is an arduous task. This paper will shed light upon internet firewall security and how a good firewall can protect a person from malware, Trojan horses and other undesirable viruses. Firewall Basics: â€Å"The term "fire wall" originally meant, and still means, a fireproof wall intended to prevent the spread of fire from one room or area of a building to another. The Internet is a volatile and unsafe environment when viewed from a computer-security perspective, therefore "firewall" is an excellent metaphor for network security.† (What is a firewall?) Firewall is not something general, it means several specific things and it is supposed to do several important things to ensure that a user is safeguarded against attacks. Packet filtering is perhaps the most important job of a regular firewall. All the internet activities like downloads, chats and so on are done in packets, and these packets contain information. Firewall must ensure that these packets are either allowed or disallowed based on the source of the internet protocol address known as the IP address. The destination port of these packets is also very important, the firewall is supposed to allow or disallow these packets purely on the basis of their destination port. Firewall must follow a protocol and allow or disallow packets or information based on the set protocol. This method of packet filtering is highly effective against malware and other dangerous attacks but this is not a foolproof plan. All traffic can be blocked by a firewall which does not make much sense; it should allow certain packets which are safe for the user to receive. It has its weaknesses like it becomes very difficult for a basic firewall to detect spoofing which means the information contained in the packets is falsified. Allowed packets may contain a bug which can retrieve a passwor d and cause unwanted actions, a basic firewall is vulnerable to these dangers. Circuit relay is another type of firewall which provides enhanced security, application level gateway is perhaps the most advanced of all and provides even better security. Static Packet Filtering: â€Å"Static packet filtering is a firewall and routing capability that provides network packet filtering based only on packet information in the current packet and administrator rules.† (Statistic Packet Filtering) Static packet filtering is based on the following important things: The administrator defines rules. The allowed ports and IP addresses are set by the administrator and only the allowed ports are allowed to send and receive packets. The transport layer contents, the network and the packet contents are all determined by the administrator. Better level of security is provided by the dynamic packet filtering. Static packet filtering does not look at the contents closely, on the contrary dynamic packet filtering screens contents very closely, previous connection states are also considered by dynamic packet filtering which static packet filtering fails to do. The packet headers are very important under static packet filtering, the information stored in the headers determines whether packets should be allowed or dropped. These headers are compared against the control policy which is set by the administrator. Below is an illustration which presents the same concept very comprehensively. (Static Packet