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Foundations of Information Systems

Application Questions

Foundations of Information SystemsApplication Questions
1 .
On December 23, 2021, the accounts of more than three million users of the U.S.-based FlexBooker appointment scheduling service were stolen and being traded on hacker forums. Customers were businesses needing to schedule appointments. This ranged from professionals like accountants and lawyers to service providers like hairdressers and dentists to owners of facilities like gyms and repair shops. Do some research on whether FlexBooker was following the best data security practices? Did it have well-defined user roles for who could access its data?
2 .
In January 2020, Microsoft acknowledged that a customer support database containing anonymized user analytics had been accidentally exposed online. The data breach involved email addresses, IP addresses, and other details stored in the company’s customer support case analytics database. The exposed database contained over 250 million Microsoft customer records spanning fourteen years, without any password protection. Microsoft attributed the server exposure to misconfigured Azure (a cloud platform with data-related services) security rules implemented on December 5, 2019. Upon discovering the issue, Microsoft quickly addressed the configuration problem to prevent unauthorized access. How do you think this incident impacted clients of Azure, and what could they have done differently? Do some additional research to back up your answer.
3 .
Imagine you are working on information technology strategy for a small local café in competition with a large fast-food chain like McDonald’s. If the small café wants to introduce a fancy new mobile app for customization of orders to improve customer experience, how would you evaluate the value and feasibility of this information technology investment?
4 .
Imagine you are an information system consultant, and you have been given a report from an organization’s business analysts that indicates that investments in information systems are projected not to affect the company’s efficiency or productivity and not to impact its revenue. Would you recommend that the organization proceed with such investments? Why or why not?
5 .
Access the Clean Eatz website. Prepare a list of all the services the company provides. Identify its digital business model and describe the information technology strategy implemented.
6 .
Access the The Knot website. Identify its digital business model and describe the information technology strategy implemented.
7 .
Enter the Alibaba.com website. Identify its digital business model and describe the information technology strategy implemented. How can such a site help a person who is making a purchase?
8 .
Your IS team is debating which of two images for your website’s home page are more likely to appeal to website visitors. What process do you recommend to help the team make this decision and why?
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