Portfolio 4

The difficulties I often face in writing in my engineering classes are always associated with the planning and organisation phase. Quite frequently during the initial planning stage, I will have the tendency to drift off the main question while I jolt down the sudden influx of ideas in my mind. As a result, the time taken for the basics of my report to be ready will be much longer. In addition, I will often have problems linking the various ideas that were jolted down together. Therefore, the ideas would often be presented in a disorganised state and the writing would not have a smooth flow.
To resolve these difficulties, I will always try to take note of the question’s main point. For example, in one question there might be two or more key portions which are needed to be address. By first taking note of each key portion to be address, I will then proceed to work on each of these main portions individually. Through this way, first the tendency to drift from the question will be lesser as I will always be working with reference to one main point. Secondly, by working on each main portion of the question individually, the task of linking the ideas to ensure the smoothness of report’s flow will definitely be much easier as lesser organisation is required in this case as compared to the case where all the ideas are jolted down without any coordination between them.
For continual improvement, the best way is to get more exposure of such situations and get more practice on them. To better plan and organise the ideas, I will try to work more efficiently by dividing the question into more possible sub-sections so that the organisation are already better and that coordination between ideas are also easier.

Summary: Secure Cyberspace

To date, cyberspace security remains as a complicated issue for engineers to address. This particular aspect of security is important because electronic systems and communications have become essential portions for many sectors of the world which is evident in transportations, work sectors, resources and even in our routine schedule. Therefore damages done to any of these networks will have undesired effect not only on individuals, but also the entire community. Even so, there had been consistent attacks on cyber-security in terms of stealing confidential information and viruses affecting business activities online.Frequently in the past, security was done by “defending” entry points to computer networks. However this was proved ineffective as such defense can be and are often breached. The instability of these systems could contribute to cyber-attacks too which explains the situation where solutions are lacking for these problems. Therefore, better procedures are required from engineering to enhance cyber-securities such as authentications and verifications. Some of the issues which engineering needs to address includes coming up with better software and enhancing the protection for online data flowing between destinations so as to ensure that the data could not be tampered with in any situation. For these possible enhancements, technologies for monitoring, detections, preventions, repair and recovery must also be available with. Engineers will also have to understand that cyber-security works with protection of the whole system instead of specific portions and that it had to be done on all fronts. In addition, security system must be user-friendly and this could be achieved by understanding how people use their computer so that best solutions can be developed. Lastly, understanding the mentality of cyber-attackers, re-evaluations of existing laws and political support will also assist in the complicated task of ultimate cyberspace protection achievement.

National Academy of Engineering. (n.d). Secure Cyberspace. Retrieved October 3, 2008, from http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9136.aspx