Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the security issues an organisation operating in the “new” online environment is exposed to through Web 2.0 applications, with specific focus on unauthorised access (encompassing hackers). The study aims to recommend possible safeguards to mitigate these incremental risks to an acceptable level.

An extensive literature review was performed to obtain an understanding of the technologies driving Web 2.0 applications. Thereafter, the technologies were mapped against Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CobiT) and Trust Service Principles and Criteria and associated control objectives relating to security risks, specifically to hacker risks. These objectives were used to identify relevant risks and formulate appropriate internal control measures.

The findings show that every organisation, technology and application is unique and the safeguards depend on the nature of the organisation, information at stake, degree of vulnerability and risks. A comprehensive security program, including a multi‐layer technological, as well as an administrative component, should be implemented. User training on acceptable practices should also be conducted.

Obtaining an understanding of Web 2.0 and Web 2.0 security is important, as Web 2.0 is a new, poorly understood technology and with the growing mobility of users, the potential surface area of attack increases and should be managed. The paper will help organisations, information repository managers, information technology (IT) professionals, librarians and internal and external auditors to understand the “new” risks relating to unauthorised access, which previously did not exist in an on‐line environment, and will assist the development of a framework to limit the most significant risks.

The purpose of this paper was to develop a comprehensive best practices checklist that can be used by governing bodies to identify and evaluate an enterprise’s risk exposure around cognitive systems (CSs) and formulate mitigating internal controls that can address these risks.

COBIT 5 was scrutinised to identify the processes which are necessary for the effective governance of CSs. The applicable processes were used to identify significant risks relating to cognitive computing (CC), as well as to develop a best practices control checklist.

The research output developed was a best practices checklist and executive summary that would assist enterprises in evaluating their CC risk exposure and assess the adequacy of existing controls. The first checklist highlights the incremental risk exposure which needs to be addressed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the cognitive computing control structure, a best practices checklist was developed that can be used by internal auditors and risk and audit committees. An executive summary was developed to highlight the key focus areas that governing bodies need to consider.

The checklist provides a tool to assess the enterprises’ risk exposure, evaluate the existing CC control mechanisms and identify areas that require management attention.

The checklists and executive summary developed provides enterprises with a comprehensive checklist that can be used, while at the same time allowing them to discharge their responsibility in terms of King IV.

The purpose of this study is to define Web 3.0 and discuss the underlying technologies, identify new opportunities and highlight potential challenges that are associated with the evolution to Web 3.0 technologies.

A non-empirical study reviewing papers published in accredited research journals, articles and whitepapers and websites was conducted. To add scientific rigour to a literature review, a four-stage approach, as suggested by Sylvester et al. (2011), was used.

The World Wide Web (henceforth referred to as the Web) is recognised as the fastest growing publication medium of all time. To stay competitive, it is crucial to stay up to date with technological trends. The Web matures in its own unique way. From the static informative characteristics of Web 1.0, it progressed into the interactive experience Web 2.0 provides. The next phase of Web evolution, Web 3.0, is already in progress. Web 3.0 entails an integrated Web experience where the machine will be able to understand and catalogue data in a manner similar to humans. This will facilitate a world wide data warehouse where any format of data can be shared and understood by any device over any network. The evolution of the Web will bring forth new opportunities and challenges. Opportunities identified can mainly be characterised as the autonomous integration of data and services which increase the pre-existing capabilities of Web services, as well as the creation of new functionalities. The challenges mainly concern unauthorised access and manipulation of data, autonomous initiation of actions and the development of harmful scripts and languages.

The findings will assist data managers to identify future opportunities while considering negative impacts and understanding the underlying technologies associated with the structure and storage of electronic information. The research will assist anyone in the data and information management industry to identify opportunities and mitigate risk.

Many organisations were caught off guard by the evolution of the Web to Web 2.0. Organisations, and in particular anyone in the data and information management industry, need to be ready and acquire knowledge about the opportunities and challenges arising from Web 3.0 technologies.

The aim of this study was threefold: to examine companies' e-mail handling performance, to ascertain whether companies' view corporate websites and respond to e-mail requests as mutually exclusive or complementary, and finally to gauge the strategic importance of retail investors.

The findings are based on an analysis of the corporate websites and e-mail handling performance of the 77 smallest companies listed on a South African stock exchange. A “mystery investor” approach was employed to measure companies' e-mail handling performance in terms of responsiveness, timeliness and relevance of responses. A disclosure score was calculated for each company based on a content analysis of corporate websites.

The opportunity for improvement exists, as evidenced in the fact that only 53% of companies responded to an e-mail request from a retail investor. The results suggest that corporate websites and the e-mail functionality are not used in isolation but as complementary. Although the results suggest that companies neglect retail investors, companies that provided a dedicated investor relations (IR) contact address prioritised both their corporate websites aimed to a wide range of stakeholders, as well as responding to an e-mail request received from a retail investor.

This study contributes to research on the association between one-way and two-way communication channels, aimed at retail investors. It is the first study to explore these relationships using data from the smallest companies listed on the stock exchange of an emerging economy.