The Security of Online Personal Finance Software
As the lives of the average American becomes more and more digitally based, online security has become a bigger and bigger issue. For many years, there were constantly stories of identity theft and hackers breaking into credit card company databases. The tales of people losing their life savings or companies surrendering millions of pieces of customer information scared many people into being hesitant about what they put into cyberspace. And for the most part, this has been good advice. There’s obviously no reason to be cavalier with one’s information. As technology has improved, online personal finance software has become more and more popular which has advanced to where it is now able to pay bills, analyze spending habits, and assess taxes. These features are very attractive, especially to people who’ve had a hard time budgeting on their own. But these people are often concerned about security, so its important to consider all of the features of online personal finance software to see if it makes sense from a security perspective.
Online personal finance software features the ability to automatically pay all bills each month on a specified date. This is one of the best features of online personal finance software, but it is one that scares a lot of people. People must submit their checking account information as well as the account numbers for whatever bills they would like to automatically pay. One of the reasons it is safe is because generally the information is stored on the person’s computer, not on the software company’s site, and is then used to pay the bills. Since many banks have offered this feature for years, a lot of people are comfortable with it.
Tax information is also a pretty private matter to most people. Online personal finance software can automatically sift through tax returns and analyze where deductions were missed and the best strategies to use. In some cases, the software can link to the checking account with the auto bill pay feature to deduct the amount of tax owed and transfer it to the IRS. This seems incredibly handy, especially to people with very complex taxes, but having all of that information in one central location seems frightening to some people. It really shouldn’t, especially because most people use a tax preparer and the information is kept at their office anyway. In the case of the online personal finance software, at least it’s kept on the person’s own computer. As a feature to assist with budgeting and other aspects of economic life, online personal finance software has been extremely helpful to many people. There are still concerns about how safe data is. Generally, as long as a person is smart and doesn’t give away their passwords and has good anti-virus software, everything should be incredibly secure. As people warm up to the reality of life in this century, more people are becoming accepting of having online personal finance software help with their financial well-being.
Jeff Nelson
a little networking project?
Introduction
You are the Network Manager at a major finance company. The company operates from a
single Head Office and employs two classes of sales staff who work from their homes.
Recently, the Management has set aside a budget to equip its sales force with a mixture of
portable notebook PCs and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) so that staff can provide
appropriate advice to customers and also create suitable quotes for the company’s products.
As part of this development the sales staff will need to communicate electronically with head
office.
Senior Sales Staff
These members of the sales force will be supplied with a suitable Notebook PC and portable
printer so that they can deliver the company’s message via a PowerPoint presentation,
compile and print suitable quotations for insurance products, check a central database for
available products, perform queries on existing customer records, send and receive e-mail,
and complete sales orders online.
Normal Sales Staff
These staff members will be supplied with a suitable PDA which will allow them to perform
the following tasks; check a central database for available products, perform queries on
existing customer records, send and receive e-mail, and upload completed sales orders.
Note that the key function for both types of user is the ability to communicate with the
company’s central system and therefore the establishment of an appropriate secure data
communications method is of paramount importance.
However, before this can be achieved the expenditure has to be fully justified and a project
plan has to be produced to cover the expected work involved in the implementation of the
new system.
Aims
To produce a feasibility report outlining the case for the provision of a remote working
system within the company and to develop a comprehensive project plan for its
implementation. These two documents will form the basis of a presentation to the
management in order to convince them that the proposed solution is justifiable and practical.
In addition, you are required to produce a brief report detailing the role of Network Manager
in the proposed project.
This assignment has been designed to ensure that you are familiar with the various aspects of
designing, planning, and implementing such a system of remote working within an
organisation.
Page 3
International Diploma in Computer Studies
Networking
Networking
December 2003
HW
05/06/03
Final
NCC Education 2003
Task 1
Produce a report which outlines the benefits of implementing a remote working system for
the company. In your report you should:
• list the potential requirements of the basic scenario outlined in the Introduction
• explain the advantages and possible disadvantages of implementing a remote
working system within the company
• make estimates of the various costs of implementing a remote working system – remember
that, as well as the initial costs of buying the equipment, there will be costs associated
with security, support and maintenance, for example. (There may well be other costs and
benefits that you identify.)
Task 2
Produce a comprehensive project plan for the implementation of a remote working system
within the company. This should include the following:
• a brief overview of current data communication technologies which may be employed
including both wired and wireless solutions (detail both hardware and software required)
• a design for a suitable communications network using an appropriate topology for the
requirements of the company
• a list of the hardware and software required for the company’s remote working system,
• a schedule for the installation of cabling, communications links, hardware, network
operating system and associated applications software.
Task 3
Write a brief report detailing the various rights and responsibilities for your role as the
Network Manager in charge of the mobile communications project
A couple of questions back at you.
1) do I get the job it I answer satisfactorily?
2) do I pas my msce ?
Note – I am not doing a 3 page essay for you.
edit> make that a 30 page thesis
References :
Omg is this guy for real?
This would even be classed as a project at work. Not really something that ANYONE will answer for free on yahoo lol.
References :
Hey there,
Little? I guess the Earth is little relative to the Sun.
As an MCSE 2003 and MCITP Enterprise, CCNP, and a bunch of other certifications, I charge $180 per hour. I take visa, MC, AmerE, and of course cash also works.
This company wouldn’t be Contoso or Fabrikam would it. (Inside joke for MCSE people)
Seriously, nice try in trying to find someone to either do your work for you, or get something done for free for yourself.
Or, depending on the location, I make $80K+ /year with some really nice benefits. I’ll be willing to send you my resume. 🙂
Tom
References :