Blogs such as this one are used for many reasons such as:
1) voicing opinions
2)updating people on new events
3)giving expert advice to those who need it
Blogs, however, can be used for the very same uses within an organization.
For example, When I worked at Google inc. in the summer of 2007 their marketing department chief of North America had a blog that he updated DAILY. Why you might ask? Because the advertising market is ever changing, and in order to keep people updated on any major change in stategy he would post it on his blog (which everyone it was relevant to checked daily). This avoided him needed to send out tons of e-mails and put the onus on the employees to be up to date. Another example of this is the IT department giving updates on how to use certain new applications and get the most out of the tools you have, again, this reduces the work load on IT people because a lot of question they are normally asked multiple times are out there in the open and help prevent them from repeating themselves.
There are some drawbacks to blogs in an organization. You have to rely on employees to check the blog, if they dont they may be wasting time trying to figure things out on their own, this risk would normally be eliminated by MANDATORY training seminars . Blogs have the potential to spread tons of useful information accross organizations, especially tacit knowledge, which can be more easily passed from one division of the organization to another more easily with the use of blogs. All in all having each department setting up a blog could help make each employee more aware of how their actions are affecting the organization as a whole.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Drawbacks of Biometric Devices
Photo to the left: An iris scanning, voice recognition
template, and fingerprint template.
Although biometrics do have many advatages (listed in the previous post), they also have some drawbacks. Currently Iris scans, the most secure form of biometric security, is hard to use. This is because people often blink during the scan and the fact that eyelashes can often get in the way of the scanner. Fingerprint scanners, the most commonly used biometric devices are susceptible to higher rejection rates if someone has used, for example, moisturizing lotion before passing their finger on the scanner or has excessive dirt buildup on their hands. Face recognition devices are probably the hardest to use, this is because the face changes with age (as some of us already know!), not only that but hair can get in the way and makeup can throw the scanner off. This means the face scanner might have to update its templates constantly which can take time and be constly. Voice recognition is another good alternative but it is also the easiest to crack.
Not all the disadvantages of biometric devices are physical, some people feel left out for example when fingerprint scanners are used to gain access to an area and they are excluded, this is part of the psychological problem with biometric devices that some people have. To some, being forced to use these devices seems unecessary and almost an invasion of privacy. Biometrics can also cost a company time if they are not maintained well, Biometric devices need to be calibrated and updated on at least a monthly basis, as a result they are more costly than traditional security methods.
Sources:
-http://www.buildings.com/articles/detail.aspx?contentID=4938
-http://www.cacsecurity.com/biometrics.asp
-http://www.school-for-champions.com/security/biometrics.htm
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The Biometric Advantage
Photo to the right: The biometric equivalent of a punch
cardmachine. Hourly wage employees scan in and out
with fingerprint recognition.
There are many advantages for organization that use biometrics for security purposes and even more numerous are the potential advantages. Current advantages include easily being able to restrict access to certain areas by fitting them with a biometric reader such as an Iris scan which has no false acceptances. Some organizations have fingerprint readers to access any area of the building, the advantage is being able to track employee movement on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis, this in turn helps to know how your employees are allocating their time. Biometrics can also be used in tandem with tradition security measures such as numerical passcodes to ensure complete protection against false access. With biometric's having false acceptance rates of .0001% and false rejection rates under 1% the odds are that the organization will actually save employees time by implementing a biometric system since the odds they will misenter or forget a passcode once a day are relatively high. Potential advatages of using biometric devices also include saving money in the long run. For example, some employees admit to punching out for their friends at work so they can leave earlier, this causes a drop in productivity. with biometrics, if the person leaves early there is no way around him getting paid less, thus the productivity does not change.
Every organization stands to benefit form this type of advantage and organizations that have highly restricted areas holding expensive items or important data can ill afford not to have some biometric security in place along with traditional measures.
-http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=14
cardmachine. Hourly wage employees scan in and out
with fingerprint recognition.
There are many advantages for organization that use biometrics for security purposes and even more numerous are the potential advantages. Current advantages include easily being able to restrict access to certain areas by fitting them with a biometric reader such as an Iris scan which has no false acceptances. Some organizations have fingerprint readers to access any area of the building, the advantage is being able to track employee movement on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis, this in turn helps to know how your employees are allocating their time. Biometrics can also be used in tandem with tradition security measures such as numerical passcodes to ensure complete protection against false access. With biometric's having false acceptance rates of .0001% and false rejection rates under 1% the odds are that the organization will actually save employees time by implementing a biometric system since the odds they will misenter or forget a passcode once a day are relatively high. Potential advatages of using biometric devices also include saving money in the long run. For example, some employees admit to punching out for their friends at work so they can leave earlier, this causes a drop in productivity. with biometrics, if the person leaves early there is no way around him getting paid less, thus the productivity does not change.
Every organization stands to benefit form this type of advantage and organizations that have highly restricted areas holding expensive items or important data can ill afford not to have some biometric security in place along with traditional measures.
Sources:
-http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://img.engadget.com/common/images/0400742317562618.JPG%3F0.9007260510063201&imgrefurl=http://www.byz.org/~rbanks/movableType/webLog/trends/archives/cat_604_windows_corp.html&usg=__4eNXcZeVIdocBAdHQXi7nlP26AM=&h=200&w=129&sz=8&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=waNFF2wCZ_yOSM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=67&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbiometrics%2Bat%2Bwork%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den
-http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=14
Sunday, November 16, 2008
What Biometric Devices Will Replace
To the left is a home security system pad with added biometric security in the form of a fingerprint scanner. Photo on the right is of a Fingerprint scanner for a laptop, some laptops now have fingerprint Scanners built into the frame for additional convenience.Biometric devices have the potential to be used in tandem with or replace conventional security measures in both commercial and business settings. Perhaps you have a home security system where you need to enter a numerical code everytime you want to arm or disarm the system, or maybe you have a desktop or laptop computer 94% of canadians over the age of 8 and have a password in order to keep unauthorized people (such as a little brother or sister) from using it. Well with biometric devices not only do you not have to worry about forgetting your password, you don't need to worry about people being able to crack or guess your password.
You can click the above link to check out prices on some biometric devices if you are looking for added security on your laptop.
Sources:
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
What are Biometric Devices?
Biometric devices are technologies used to automatically identify a person based on one or more of their physical attributes such as fingerprint, iris scan, facial scan. They are primarily used for security clearance purposes as a means of preventing people from accesing certain data or areas in organizations. The origins of biometrics can be traced back as early as 14th century China where fingerprinting was used to keep track of criminals.Above photo: Fingerprint reader made by Kauri Security.
Used by employees to gain access to systems data.
For Biometic Deviced to be effective they need to have seven characteristics :
1)Universality: Every person must have the characteristics this biometric device measures.
2)Uniqueness: The characteristic must not be the same on any two people, such as a fingerprint.
3)Permanence: The characteristic should not change with time, such as Iris
4)Collectibility: The characteristic must be easy to measure and collect.
5)Performance: Results must be extremely accurate even under different environmental condiotions.
6)Acceptability: The method of data collection by the device must be accepted by the public, it cannot violate any rights.
7)Circumvention: The technology implemented should be difficult to fraud.
*The above seven characteristics are according to www.globalsecurity.org
Sources:
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=10
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/systems/biometrics.htm
http://www.techpg.com/services/kauri/security_new.htm
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