Post #6 – Network Security

  

Ensuring information security and systems is of utmost importance for individuals and companies. For people, this encompasses personal data such as social security numbers, banking information, and confidential correspondence. It includes consumer data, intellectual property, and financial information for corporations. Effective security protocols mitigate the risk of illegal entry, data breaches, and cyber-attacks, averting substantial financial and reputational harm. This post aims to analyze the many attacks that can be carried out through ping commands, explore how computer systems can be susceptible to phishing and password hacking, and suggest recommendations for safeguarding a computer system against such threats.

Post #5 – Computers in the Workplace

 IT, or information technology, is the flavoring agent of the contemporary world. IT is a major player in manufacturing, healthcare, banking, education, and even that quaint little coffee shop down the street. I have worked in the mortgage industry for more than a decade. Computers improve client satisfaction, accuracy, and efficiency in the mortgage business. Computers simplify the loan origination process by automating data entry, document classification, and verification. This expedites processing times and lowers manual mistake rates. Automated underwriting systems that evaluate borrower data to produce underwriting conclusions include Freddie Mac's Loan Product Advisor and Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter. As a result, lenders can evaluate credit risk more rapidly and precisely. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms analyze trends and spot anomalies in data to aid with compliance reviews and fraud detection.  

New technologies are constantly changing the mortgage sector. Computer-savvy workers can adjust to these changes faster, preserving competitiveness and productivity. Computer literacy makes workers more precise, productive, and customer-focused—essential in the fast-paced, heavily regulated mortgage sector.

Because of developments in computer hardware, operating systems, and networking, the mortgage industry is expected to undergo a substantial upheaval in the coming ten years. In the mortgage sector, technological innovations will save expenses, streamline procedures, and improve the whole client experience.

Post #4 – Traveling Through a Network

 I read a few articles explaining the purpose of the ping and traceroute commands after finishing them. From my experience and the articles, I determined that the ping command measures the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer and helps determine whether the target host is reachable by sending an echo request packet and waiting for an echo reply. Sending brief information packets to a particular IP address and recording the packets' route to get there is known as a traceroute. It plots a packet's path from your computer to the target host.

I ping-tested each website, and they all successfully received the same amount of packets. There is a range of round-trip timeframes for each website. According to a comparison of the three websites, Japan had the longest round-trip time to receive echo replies. Given that the data packets have to travel farther, this implies that there are more considerable physical distances between my computer and the website's server. Using the ping and traceroute commands can be helpful in troubleshooting connections. To determine whether the issue is with the website or your connection, you can use the ping command to the website address if you are having trouble accessing it. The traceroute command can determine the exact location in the network where packets are being lost or experiencing delays.

Network congestion or security settings are two potential causes of a timeout or return error answer, according to research and conversations with a coworker knowledgeable about ping requests and traceroute instructions. Timeouts can occur from dropped packets due to network congestion. Both the ping and traceroute commands employ packets, which might be blocked by network or host security settings. 

Below are screenshots of the ping and traceroute commands of google.com.

Ping Command of Google. 

Traceroute Command for Goggle 

 

Post #3 – Documenting a Day

  

The typewriter was a popular document-creation tool before computers and word-processing software became widely available. The ability to generate Word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases for the storage, organization, and presentation of data is made possible by the development of computers and computer software, which has led to the availability of several applications. This post will examine and compare the functions of the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications. The Microsoft suite will be the application under discussion in this post. It will also examine the advantages and disadvantages of each application and which application would be most appropriate for documenting one's daily tasks.

Post #2 – Web/Mobile App Critique

Post #1 Programming Language

  

       The ability of programming languages to link human ideas and machine execution makes them essential. They let us convert our concepts into a language that computers can comprehend and utilize. Over time, programming languages have seen tremendous evolution. Many different languages are available today, each with unique advantages and applications. One can obtain expertise in many programming languages using the Scratch website to create a program. Along with covering additional programming languages, this post will also explain why Python, a high-level language, was the easiest to use and comprehend.

    For novices in particular, Scratch program creation is widely regarded as simple and straightforward. Scratch is a free programming language created by MIT that supports computational thinking and problem-solving abilities, creative teaching and learning, self-expression and collaboration, and equity in computing, according to the website's About Scratch page. With its easy-to-use visual interface, Scratch is a coding language that even novice programmers may use to create digital games, animations, and stories (Scratch.edu, n.d.). Use the following link to access Scratch. https://scratch.mit.edu/

From experience creating a program below using Scratch (see link below), novices can quickly grasp programming ideas without writing code thanks to Scratch's drag-and-drop interface. Scratch offers a practical method of learning the principles of coding. Despite Scratch's simplicity, there can be challenges. Blocks in Scratch's distinctive interface stand in for several programming ideas. It can take some time to learn how to use these blocks successfully. One can access tutorials and other instructional resources on the Scratch website to learn how to utilize the blocks successfully. These tutorials aim to provide a step-by-step introduction to the fundamentals of Scratch. Computational thinking and programming skills can be enhanced by creating a Scratch program. A great place to start learning programming fundamentals is Scratch, which may also serve as a springboard for more complex coding languages and ideas. Please see the link below for a program created in Scratch.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1036625868