Magaly Perez

What are the benefits and risks of out-sourcing?

The benefits of out-sourcing:
– Fast assistance
– Expertise in that particular subject
– Cheaper (less employees, hardware, space, etc.)
– Focuses on competencies

The risk of out-sourcing:
-Risk sharing
-Substandard Security Protocols
-Out-sourced company’s objects align with c…[Read more]

HELPPPPP…………………….I’m on the verge of finishing my Tech 3 challenge and when creating the last VM I can’t even create the last one because Azure is stating, ” This subscription is at capacity for Total Regional Cores on this location. This subscriptions is using all 10 Total Regional Cores available”.

4. How important is it for people responsible for general I/T controls (e.g. Network, workstation, Server and data base security to know about how the ERP system works? What is one (1) specific thing they should know?

I believe that it is very important for the people whose responsibility is to generate the general I/T controls to know how ERP…[Read more]

2. As we continue to learn about business processes and ERP systems we often discuss financial or account related terms and concepts. How much finance and accounting knowledge should IT personnel supporting business applications know and learn? Explain
As stated in my response to question 1, I think learning is key and detrimental to a…[Read more]

1. As we’ve seen in the P2P and OTC Processes many different often non-financial business functions are involved with ERP system transactions that post to accounting records. If you are responsible for Finance / Accounting controls for your company how would you manage the risks coming from these non-Financial function jobs?

If I were r…[Read more]

The main purpose of physical bits is to allow collaboration between physical and IT security to ensure support to the enterprise risk management. By conjoining these two security environments bridges the security gaps within the two security realms by establishing and strengthening the organization against security threats.
However, some risk may…[Read more]

The article I read was called, “Remote switch-on enlists Mac webcams as spies”, which is very concerning taking voyeurism to a whole new level via technology. The article explains the use of new malware that has enabled attacks via webcam. The results of some of these attacks have led to theft of personal information as well as the ability to use…[Read more]

Yes, smaller companies are most definitely easier targets due their lack of resources whether it be their knowledge, size and etc. I don’t think that they don’t care about cyber security but they might not have a big enough budget to allocate towards it. However, from a business stand point I would hope that they would know the ever inc…[Read more]

Yes, segregation of duties plays a crucial role within the order to cash process. It is necessary for companies to make sure oversight isn’t given to people whom have interest in other sections of the company that intersect. It is sort of creating the “perfect storm” environment where fraud could occur and run rampant without notice. I think some…[Read more]

Great addition, I didn’t even think of the general ledger right away. The finance dept. indeed focuses on the collection process as a whole and depends on it as a functionally of their dept. They are in charge of the balancing out the ledger and making sure what is due is paid. As for the sales, like you stated they are concerned with generating r…[Read more]

Sean,

I agree with your concern area. I think this part of the OTC is very eerie and unsettling. Segregation of duties is a crucial internal control anticipated to minimize the occurrence of errors or fraud by ensuring that no employee has the ability to both perpetrate and conceal errors or fraud. Yet many companies fail to acknowledge its…[Read more]

4.You’ve now seen the entire Order to Cash (OTC) Process. If you were responsible for the controls of this process – what would keep you up at night (e.g. be your area of most concern)? Explain

Upon learning the entire Order to Cash (OTC) Process, the part of the process that concerns me the most is segregation of duties. Within the OTC Pro…[Read more]

2. Who in an organization should care more about the collections process – Finance or Sales? Explain

The Finance organization should care more about the collections process. The collection process entails many invoices and usually those being overdue invoices. Within this process the Finance Dept. has the ability to resolve payment issues a…[Read more]

1.Assume you’re an outside organization with goal to cause negative things to happen to an organization’s Order to Cash (OTC) process. Where would you attack it? Explain Why and How

I would attack the Warehouse Operations; the reasoning behind this attack would be based on targeting the supply chain. The supply chain handles, distributes, man…[Read more]

Yeah, I agree Sean. In theory, every company would implement precautionary measures like the Navy. But in some instances the equipment is most definitely worth this extra measure that is for sure. Once again, thanks for the insight and idea of such a control.

Valid point Alex,

Not sure if you read my reply to Ian. It most definitely coincides with your point. Some VPN service providers are not worth your trust. Some diligently log your connection times, dates, IP addresses, keep track of how long you’re connected, and some even keep an eye on the types of traffic that you send through their networks…[Read more]

Hey Ian,

Great point. I didn’t think about it in that regard.
However. while studying abroad everyone was raving about VPN so they could stream Netflix and their shows back home. I was reluctant to use it because, I knew you had to go through 3rd party websites to hid your VPN.

Not sure, if you have heard of HOLA.org however, after a few…[Read more]

Thanks Alex,

Yeah there are a few advantages of using the OSI reference model :

• It operates and works independently of the operating system
• It enables the inter networking between the organizations
• It has a client-server architecture

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/83845.html

This article explains Apple’s latest issued patch which, revealed the iOS zero-day vulnerability. The spyware called Trident implanted appears to be NSO’s Pegasus product which is a highly advanced tool that makes use of zero-day flaws. This flaw of obfuscation, encryption and kernel-level e…[Read more]

Hi Joseph, Thanks for input, I didn’t do it abroad but a few of others did, just thought of it as a good example.