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This paper presents a qualitative study of penetration testing, the practice of attacking information systems to find security vulnerabilities and fixing them. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether and to what extent penetration testing can reveal various socio-organisational factors of information security in organisations. In doing so, the paper innovates theory by using Routine Activity Theory together with phenomenology of information systems concepts.

The articulation of Routine Activity Theory and phenomenology emerged inductively from the data analysis. The data consists of 24 qualitative interviews conducted with penetration testers, analysed with thematic analysis.

The starting assumption is that penetration testers are akin to offenders in a crime situation, dealing with targets and the absence of capable guardians. A key finding is that penetration testers described their targets as an installed base, highlighting how vulnerabilities, which make a target suitable, often emerge from properties of the existing built digital environments. This includes systems that are forgotten or lack ongoing maintenance. Moreover, penetration testers highlighted that although the testing is often predicated on planned methodologies, often they resort to serendipitous practices such as improvisation.

This paper contributes to theory, showing how Routine Activity Theory and phenomenological concepts can work together in the study of socio-organisational factors of information security. This contribution stems from considering that much research on information security focuses on the internal actions of organisations. The study of penetration testing as a proxy of real attacks allows novel insights into socio-organisational factors of information security in organisations.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been provided with the statutory authority to demand the attendance of suspects at its offices and also to demand that information is supplied, irrespective of whether or not the suspect has been charged with a criminal offence. It has been held that the provisions of Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) do protect the defendant from self‐incrimination, and the UK government has been successfully challenged at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) over these issues. The powers conferred on the SFO remain in place, but these must now be viewed in the context of the Human Rights Act 1998, which became law in the UK in October 2000; unless the powers of the SFO are reviewed by Parliament, it would seem to be the courts who will take responsibility in the UK for ensuring that the rights of suspects are upheld.

The transnational criminal certainly feels comfort faced with almost limitless option buttons, when surfing the ‘global cyber candy shop’ from the comfort of his cyber cafe armchair. The physical marketplace is rapidly transforming itself into a global electronic arena, where the multicultural consumer and its market‐driven society merge and execute limitless electronic transactions at the touch of a trader's dealing screen, electronic transfers, credit and debit cards, smart cards, and so on. These are just some of the mediums which are now exploited by the money launderer without leaving paper/audit trails for law enforcement agencies and compliance communities. Advances in communications, information systems and cyber electronic innovations increasingly dispel the myth that crime stops at the border.

The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed on 2nd October 1997. Under Title IV the provisions of the Treaty on European Union are considerably modified and issues relating to freedom of movement, security and justice are subject to considerable new developments. One MP has questioned exactly what these new provisions amount to ‘… a 3,000 mile service for a car from hell’ or is it ‘… a fundamental reconstruction of the Union?’ It is arguably closer to the latter, as the proposals form the basis of a provision which provides the basis for an enlarged community.

Ensuring the validity of individual responses to psychometric tests is important in a wide range of psychology practice and research. This study compares a number of methods for detecting test faking on a measure not designed with explicit validity checks. A total of 270 students took part in two related studies, one using a standard ‘pencil and paper’ test presentation and the other a computer‐based presentation. Techniques such as responses to specific test items and speed of responding may be useful for assessing the validity of responses. The implications are that such procedures may offer methods for identifying faked responding in a range of psychometric instruments where previously this has not been possible.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and assess an organizational intervention consisting of psychological first aid (PFA) and Open Space Technology (OST), and its impact on individual resilience and perceived organization support.

The study used a non-experimental, pre-test and post-test design. Measures of employee post-trauma, resilience and organizational support were measured before and after the PFA intervention.

Paired sample t-tests revealed significant pre/post-increases in individual resilience and perceived organization support. Correlational analysis revealed that resilience was associated with perceived organization support. Evaluations revealed that participants found the small group sharing, information about coping and the open space problem-solving activities particularly worthwhile.

A limitation of the study was the lack of a randomized control group in the design. Future research may utilize more robust designs such as experimental and longitudinal studies to evaluate impact.

This study indicates how the use of an organization-based intervention can be adopted for employees who undergo an emergency in their workplace. The combination of PFA and OST was found to be valuable in improving individual resilience and perceived organization support. In addition, OST can better facilitate problem-solving performance in intact groups, as it enhances collective interaction and community efficacy among survivors.

The study contributes to the dearth of knowledge on the use of PFA when used in an intact organization as part of its crisis intervention.

To best challenge students’ thinking, researchers and educators must locate or create innovative ways to spark enthusiasm and facilitate criticality. This paper investigates how middle school students analyzed various primary and secondary historical documents to construct original political cartoons. Students articulated newly generated understandings about the complex historical event within these original political cartoons. Students then examined and discussed peers’ original political cartoons. This approach was novel because the research literature indicated students rarely are asked to construct original political cartoons to express opinions and understandings. Political cartoons mostly are used as tools for interpretation and usually only with gifted and older students. This approach was successful because of the positive impact that original political cartooning had on students’ engagement, interpretational skills, criticality, expressivity, and the class’s discussions. The original political cartoons served as engaging teaching and learning tools that enabled students to see history’s complex and unsettled nature.

The recent development of higher education in Africa has been spurred, in part, through a variety of cross-border higher education (CBHE) initiatives. However, this is not a new trend and this chapter traces the development of CBHE activities in Africa from the early 1900s through the current era. While the earliest forms of CBHE were largely fostered through Western nations providing advice and validation to institutions in Africa, the types of CBHE engagements are much more varied, including collaborations among African nations. The chapter also explores the push by some African nations to become educational hubs, the variability of CBHE policies across nations, and the shift of collaboration from the global north to south.

Robert Hauser has been named President of Electro Materials Corporation of America (EMCA). He replaces George Lane who will remain as a consultant to EMCA. Mr Hauser has been director of corporate new ventures for EMCA parent company, Rohm and Haas Company. His duties have been assumed by Allan Levantin, Vice President for corporate development of Rohm and Haas. Mr Levantin retains his title.

Ubiquitous access to digital technologies is becoming an integral part of our business, home, and leisure environments, yet despite a quarter century of educational technology initiatives, ubiquitous computing remains conspicuously absent from our schools. In this chapter, we argue that simply putting more computers in schools will not solve the problem, but rather that teaching, learning, and technology integration need to be reconceptualized within a ubiquitous computing framework before the full educational possibilities inherent in digital technologies can be realized. Using examples from our laboratory classroom, we discuss how teaching needs to be reconceived more as “conducting” than “instructing”; how learning needs to become more the responsibility of the student, and located with her in an expanded space and time that extends beyond the classroom; and how technology integration needs to be understood not as an add-on, device-driven enterprise, but one motivated by teaching and learning needs and in which multiple technology choices are readily available to teachers and students both within and beyond the classroom.