scholarly journals Distributed vulnerability assessment applied to measuring citizen cyber-health and securing online public services

2018 ◽  
Vol 325 ◽  
pp. 137-144
Author(s):  
Kálmán Hadarics ◽  
Ferenc Leitold ◽  
Anthony Arrott
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Cyber Security ◽  
Public Services ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
It Infrastructure ◽  
Cyber Threats ◽  
Distributed Approach

Since the introduction of personal computing over the Internet, cyber-security has developed primarily as commercial services providing protection to organizations and individuals as customers of paid services. However, since the introduction of cloud-services and smartphones over a decade ago, this development has been radically altered. Effective cyber-security can no longer be provided as simplistic protective walls around trusted zones of computing (for organizations: isolated private corporate networks with secure network gateways; for individuals: stand-alone personal computers protected by locally-running anti-virus applications). These approaches have always assumed that cyber-threats do not originate from inside trusted zones. Increasingly, cybersecurity is more effectively achieved through detecting and mitigating vulnerabilities discovered through coordinated assessment of malware threats, user behaviors, and IT infrastructure weaknesses. Unlike the traditional focus on malware threats alone, this integrated approach treats the IT infrastructure and user behavior of each individual and each organization department separately. This distributed approach makes no assumptions about the origins of cyber-threats. In this paper, we examine the implications of using this distributed approach in the public sector. Particular emphasis is placed on aspects where the traditional framework of cyber-security as a commercial service can be usefully abandoned and replaced by more effective public sector practices. The recent evolution of the Digital Divide in Central and Eastern Europe has not been a simple story of those with less opportunity and access (old, poor, less educated) being able close the gap by “catching up” with those of greater opportunity and access (young, wealthy, well educated). Rather, the closing of the Digital Divide has been achieved more through the adoption of very different digital activities provided through very differently organized services – activities and services that require very different public sector approaches to cyber-security. These include new approaches to measuring citizen cyber-health; making citizens savvier about their personal cybersecurity; and providing more secure online public services.

Policies and Strategies for Digital Inclusion

2017 ◽  
pp. 256-284
Author(s):  
Laura Alcaide Muñoz ◽  
Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar ◽  
Francisco José Alcaraz Quiles
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Access To Services ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Efficient Delivery ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
The Eu

E-government has enhanced the availability of government information, and expanding access to services, offering greater transparency and accountability for public administrations. However, previous research indicates that there are significant barriers for citizens, assuming major obstacles. In this sense, the EU and, in particular, the Spanish government has formulated policies and legal frameworks to introduce in the field of the provision of public sector services, in order to customize and to access these services. These initiatives seek to promote the development of networks and services, to improve the e-administration and the adoption of digital solutions for efficient delivery of public services, and to promote the inclusion and digital literacy. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to obtain a vision of government strategies adopted by Spanish regional governments to reduce the digital divide.

Cyber-Physical Security in Healthcare

2020 ◽  
pp. 63-87
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Mantzana ◽  
Eleni Darra ◽  
Ilias Gkotsis
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Hospital Services ◽  
Physical Security ◽  
Cyber Threats

The healthcare sector has been considered a part of critical infrastructure (CI) of society and has faced numerous physical-cyber threats that affect citizens' lives and habits, increase their fears, and influence hospital services provisions. The two most recent ransomware campaigns, WannaCry and Petya, have both managed to infect victims' systems by exploiting existing unpatched vulnerabilities. It is critical to develop an integrated approach in order to fight against combination of physical and cyber threats. In this chapter, key results of the SAFECARE project (H2020-GA787005), which aims is to provide solutions that will improve physical and cyber security, to prevent and detect complex attacks, to promote incident responses and mitigate impacts, will be presented. More specifically, healthcare critical asset vulnerabilities; cyber-physical threats that can affect them; architecture solutions, as well as, some indicative scenarios that will be validated during the project will be presented.

Policies and Strategies for Digital Inclusion

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Alcaide Muñoz ◽  
Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar ◽  
Francisco José Alcaraz-Quiles
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Access To Services ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Efficient Delivery ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
The Eu

E-government has enhanced the availability of government information, and expanding access to services, offering greater transparency and accountability for public administrations. However, previous research indicates that there are significant barriers for citizens, assuming major obstacles. In this sense, the EU and, in particular, the Spanish government has formulated policies and legal frameworks to introduce in the field of the provision of public sector services, in order to customize and to access these services. These initiatives seek to promote the development of networks and services, to improve the e-administration and the adoption of digital solutions for efficient delivery of public services, and to promote the inclusion and digital literacy. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to obtain a vision of government strategies adopted by Spanish regional governments to reduce the digital divide.

Resource Allocation in Cloud using Multi Bidding Model with User Centric Behavior Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1008-1019
Author(s):  
N. Vijayaraj ◽  
T. Senthil Murugan
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Behavior Analysis ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Online Auction ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Efficient Resource ◽  
User Centric ◽  
Cloud Resources

Background: Number of resource allocation and bidding schemes had been enormously arrived for on demand supply scheme of cloud services. But accessing and presenting the Cloud services depending on the reputation would not produce fair result in cloud computing. Since the cloud users not only looking for the efficient services but in major they look towards the cost. So here there is a way of introducing the bidding option system that includes efficient user centric behavior analysis model to render the cloud services and resource allocation with low cost. Objective: The allocation of resources is not flexible and dynamic for the users in the recent days. This gave me the key idea and generated as a problem statement for my proposed work. Methods: An online auction framework that ensures multi bidding mechanism which utilizes user centric behavioral analysis to produce the efficient and reliable usage of cloud resources according to the user choice. Results: we implement Efficient Resource Allocation using Multi Bidding Model with User Centric Behavior Analysis. Thus the algorithm is implemented and system is designed in such a way to provide better allocation of cloud resources which ensures bidding and user behavior. Conclusion: Thus the algorithm Efficient Resource Allocation using Multi Bidding Model with User Centric Behavior Analysis is implemented & system is designed in such a way to provide better allocation of cloud resources which ensures bidding, user behavior. The user bid data is trained accordingly such that to produce efficient resource utilization. Further the work can be taken towards data analytics and prediction of user behavior while allocating the cloud resources.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

‘We're Here to Make Money; We're Here to Do Business’: Privatisation and Questions for Trade Unions

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-259
Author(s):  
Ruth Barton ◽  
Peter Fairbrother
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Short Period ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
State Monopoly ◽  
Two Sectors

Australia has been one of the world's leading proponents of privatisation. One of the key arguments about privatisation is that it would end the inefficient state monopoly of public services and reduce the power of public sector trade unions. Within a relatively short period of the privatisation of the energy and transport sectors in Victoria Australia, there was a reconsolidation of ownership which raised new challenges for the trade unions. After this phase, the main trade unions in these two sectors took steps to meet these new circumstances to renew and rebuild their structures and strengthen their capacity to challenge the new private oligopolies. Thus, paradoxically some unions were able to open up space to renew and rebuild in the post–privatisation world.

scholarly journals Public private partnership as a last resort for traditional public procurement

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktorija Bojovic
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Public Private Partnership ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private Partnership ◽  
The Public ◽  
Management Culture ◽  
Complex Projects

This paper discusses recent changes in the way public services are delivered A marked increase in the cooperation between the public and private sector in the realization of complex projects, mostly concerning development of infrastructure, is the main characteristic of present-day developing economies. The creation of new, innovative agreements is driven by the limitation of public funds and an ever-growing demand for an increase in the quality of public services. Looking upon the western economies experience alternatives to the traditional public sector procurement are identified in the public/private partnership. The public/private partnership can be seen as one component in the rearrangement of the public sector with a management culture that focuses on the citizen or customer. Also included in this are accountability for results, investigation of a wide variety of alternative service delivery mechanisms, and competition between public and private bodies for contracts to deliver services consistent with cost recovery and the achievement of value for money. The partnership can be realized through an array of models and in this paper priority is given to the DBFO (design-build-finance-operate) model, due to its importance in implementation. The DBFO model is considered to be a synonym for the public/private partnership, as it is the most suitable for complex projects and gains the most benefits.

scholarly journals Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

2016 ◽  
pp. 448-465
Author(s):  
Ana Kovacevic ◽  
Dragana Nikolic
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Cyber Security ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Cyber Attacks ◽  
Cyber Attack ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Infrastructure Systems ◽  
Cyber Threats ◽  
Scada Systems ◽  
Insight Into

We are facing the expansion of cyber incidents, and they are becoming more severe. This results in the necessity to improve security, especially in the vulnerable field of critical infrastructure. One of the problems in the security of critical infrastructures is the level of awareness related to the effect of cyberattacks. The threat to critical infrastructure is real, so it is necessary to be aware of it and anticipate, predict, and prepare against a cyber attack. The main reason for the escalation of cyberattacks in the field of Critical Infrastructure (CI) may be that most control systems used for CI do not utilise propriety protocols and software anymore; they instead utilise standard solutions. As a result, critical infrastructure systems are more than ever before becoming vulnerable and exposed to cyber threats. It is important to get an insight into what attack types occur, as this may help direct cyber security efforts. In this chapter, the authors present vulnerabilities of SCADA systems against cyber attack, analyse and classify existing cyber attacks, and give future directions to achieve better security of SCADA systems.

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