Topic 9
The need for ongoing training and retraining by Andrew Leung
What are the issues associated with this subject?
The main issues associated with this subject the ever increasing amount of viruses, trojans, bugs and all sorts of computer problems that come up when the user is in use of the computer. These problems are forever increasing and evolving in a sense that they progress and get worse every time it happens again. That is why there is the need for constant training and retraining of computer technicians and assistants to help solve these problems. Computer engineers also try to solve these problems by trying to make non-faulty and highly protected systems that cannot be attacked or damaged by viruses and trojans.
Who are the stakeholders?
The stakeholders of this issue are the users of the systems that are constantly being attacked by the creators of the trojans and viruses or the random bugs and computer problems. The users are the people who potentially loose all their information on their system through these problems that may arise. With these problems that could occur on certain systems, they might not occur on another system resulting in a higher popularity of the system that does not seem to have as many problems. As shown in the following graphs, when problems arise in one system, (Figure 1) the demand drops for that system. Then if the same types of problems don’t arise in another system, (Figure 2) the demand for that system goes up.
What solutions can overcome the problem?
Solutions for overcoming this problem with trojans, viruses, bugs and computer problems would be the training and retraining of new ways to solve the problems. This training and retraining goes towards computer technicians and assistants who help users through the problem of their computer. Computer engineers on the other hand are trained and retrained to create systems that make the existing problems not to be able to arise from the start. With the nullification of these problems demand for the system goes up gradually.
Evaluate the impact locally and globally.
All computer users are affected by these problems presented above. These users are mostly the people in industrialized countries where the person is capable of owning their own computer or system. On the local scale it could possibly be one problem that arises within the network of a workgroup. A problem could arise in one system which could possibly be passed on to the other systems that are connected to the system with the problem resulting in all local computers to be harmed. On a global scale, the problems usually arise through the passing on of trojans and viruses through the internet from one source which is usually unknown.
Who is responsible?
The people that are responsible for trojans and viruses are crackers or “dark-side hackers”. Crackers are people who are malicious and criminal hackers. These crackers are people who exploit their computing genius for private gain. Unlike crackers, hackers are highly skilled computer programmers who make programs and software’s that help other users that are not as experienced in computers. Hackers also can make already designed software’s and programs work beyond their normal limits.
Nobody can be accounted for creating bugs and technical computer problems because the computer engineers, who had created the system, would have run tests that passed the tests of their standards and therefore did not know of the bugs or problems that could arise when a user experiences the problems. That is the reason for the engineers to train and retrain to find ways to fix and prevent these bugs and problems from ever arising again in newer systems.
All in all the training and retraining of computer technicians and assistants are done to help technicians and assistants help the users of the systems that are experiencing problems with their computer being it trojans to a simple bug on the system. The training and retraining of computer engineers is to give them the information of what new problems there are and what they can do to prevent the new threat or problem. Then when the new systems are made, it makes it harder and harder for crackers to exploit the newer more sophisticated system.
posted by Robert Martens @ 1/09/2006 09:15:00 PM
This post has been removed by the blog administrator.
November 21, 2006 7:21 PM
I liked how you explained about the virus's and the trojans that occur in the world today. Your essay was well written and was easy to follow.
November 21, 2006 7:43 PM
I think you forgot to mention the fact that technology is constantly evolving, and someone who is a computer genius today may not be one in twenty years if he doesn't learn to use new systems.
November 27, 2006 7:26 PM
tommy's right. the computer industry evolves at an unprecedentent way. This is why being protected now does not mean you will remain protected tomorrow.
November 28, 2006 7:37 PM
This issue really affect us, that is people who are going on to university and studying computers and computer engineering. As the world moves into a more technologically advanced age, the knowledge we learn may become obsolete.
December 03, 2006 1:35 AM