Research Proposal Smart Government in Australia

Question: Discuss about the Research Proposal for Smart Government in Australia. Answer: Introduction: The Internet of things is defined as that particular system, consisting of interconnected computer devices, computer experts and digital and mechanical components (each provided with unique identifiers), that assists in the transmission of enterprise data over the wired networks. One of the most important characteristics of the internet of things is that the entire transmission process is conducted without any human interaction (Wortmann and Flchter 2015). This report provides an insight into the research study that would be conducted with the aim of revealing how the Internet of Things can be successfully utilized for the formation of smart government in Australia. Research Aim: The proposed research work, being discussed in this report, is aimed at revealing the manner in which the Internet of things can be utilized for developing a smart government system in Australia. It is a well known fact that the organizations that include information and communication system processes in their operational activities need to implement mechanisms for ensuring the security of the data stored in the systems. Thus, the research work being discussed in the report would also consider the identification of strategies that would be useful in avoiding attacks (specifically that of ransomware and attacks on the physical components of the ICT systems) that might be launched on the smart systems to be utilized by the government. Research Objectives: Researchers Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015) are of the opinion that identification of the research objectives facilitates the process of identifying the sub-divisions of the research domain that would be emphasized on. The primary objectives of the research work being discussed are: To identify the IOT techniques and procedures that can be utilized for running a smart government in Australia. To estimate the extent to which the inclusion of the IOT techniques would be effective for running a smart government in Australia. To identify the strategies and techniques that can be utilized for protecting the components of the smart systems from several cyber attacks, including ransomewares. Research Questions: According to researchers Silverman (2016)the formation of research questions helps in the identification of the particular area on which the research work should emphasize on. The researchers are also of the opinion that setting up the research questions also provides a structure to the entire study. The research study being discussed in this report would be aimed at finding the answers to the following questions: Which of the IOT techniques and procedures that can be utilized for running a smart government in Australia? To what extent the inclusion of the IOT techniques would be effective for running a smart government in Australia? Which specific strategies and technique can be utilized for protecting the components of the smart systems from several cyber attacks, including ransomewares? Background of the Topic: Researchers Gubbi et al. (2013) are of the opinion, that smart governance is basically the utilization of innovative strategies, technological tools, business policies and regulations for finding solutions to the different economical, operational and financial challenges that a business enterprise faces. According to Jimnez et al. (2014), smart governance policies essentially rely on information and communication systems for providing optimum solutions the business enterprises. Researchers Shujin and Mei (2015) are of the opinion that in the last couple of years, the growth of various internet based technologies have been boosted largely by the incorporation of the same in various private sectors. In fact, the authors have claimed that private banking, private healthcare and retail are some of those private sectors that have started taking the advantages of the Internet of Things in the most optimum manner. However, researcher Cid (2015) has pointed out the fact the government agencies are yet to utilize the advantages of such systems. Summary: The discussion made in the sections above indicate that the proposed research work would primarily be focused on the identification of the IOT tools and techniques that can be used for the running a smart government in Australia. The aim and objective of the research work has been documented in this chapter, besides setting the research questions. The consecutive sections of the report would emphasize on the reviewing existing literary works and discussing the methods to be utilized in conducting the research work. Chapter 2: Literature Review Introduction: Cybercrime is such a crime that involves a network as well as a computer. The Computer can have been utilized in a crime commission or it can also be the target (Britz 2012). Therefore, this particular section of the literature review mainly aims to illustrate and to provide the detailed overviews on the ransomware, Internet of Things, Physical Attack as well as Smart Government in the context of the topic of this study. Ransomware: Ransomware is referred to a computer malware that is capable of covertly installing as well as executing a crypto-virology attack on the computer of the victim (McGuire and Dowling 2013). This crypto-virology attack can affect it adversely as well as requires a random payment in terms of restoring it (Costin et al. 2013). The simple ransomware can lock the system in such a manner that is not hard for a person who has enough knowledge for displaying as well as reversing a message by requesting payment for unlocking it (Summers et al. 2014). The files of the victim can be encrypted by the more advanced malware by making them accessible as well as demands a rapid payment for decrypting them. Ransomware can also encrypt the entire hard drive or the Master File Table of the computer (Savage, Coogan and Lau 2015). Therefore, Ransomware is a DoS attack, which is the abbreviation of Denial-of-access attack, which prevents the users of computer from accessing the files, as it is intractable f or decrypting the files without the key of decryption (Stone 2015). This particular malware attacks are carried out typically by utilizing Trojan that has a payload, which is disguised as a justifiable file (Choi, Scott and LeClair 2016). Way of Spreading Ransomware The common way through which this kind malware spreads is through the emails. A user typically receives a spam email that can be looked genuine (Moon and Chang 2016). The message prompts the users for downloading an attachment at the time of opening the email as well as the attachment can contain malware (Kim and Kim 2015). This malware can affect the computer by taking an advantage of the vulnerability of the network. The home networks as well as the public networks are few of the most vulnerable (Kirda 2015). The ransomware can finally infect the system while the user of that particular computer visits a compromised website (Xia et al. 2012). Such websites with high risks incorporate those along with the pornography as well as gaming. Categorization of Ransomware Ransomware is taken place in two general forms such as the non-encrypting as well as encrypting ransomware (Savage, Coogan and Lau 2015). There are few variations of ransomware within those two general forms of ransomware. These are as follows: MBR Ransomware MBR is the abbreviation of the Master Root Record. It is one of the worst kinds of this type of malware (Stone 2015). It can easily affect the boot process, preventing the attempts effectively at the removal in addition to the locking out the user from the system. File encrypting ransomware This particular categorization of ransomware comes loaded with the algorithms of encryption (Choi, Scott and LeClair 2016). These algorithms can encrypt the data of the users system by making unusable as well as inaccessible (Moon and Chang 2016). A ransom note towards the user wants payment for decrypting the files (Savage, Coogan and Lau 2015). Scareware Such a ransomware works to scare the computer users in terms of paying money in order to unlock the system (Kim and Kim 2015). The common technique is for locking the system as well as for displaying a message by advising that the user has committed a cybercrime involving child pornography or fraud (Kirda 2015). This message asserts to be from the authority of the enforcement of law like FBI. This message also needs the users for paying a specific sum of money online (Choi, Scott and LeClair 2016). SMS Ransomware This non-encrypting ransomware, which was initially popular in Russia, locks the computer system (Stone 2015). Therefore, it shows a message by requiring the user send a premium message for receiving a code, which is unlocked. Internet of Things: The Internet of Things is the network of the buildings, vehicles, physical devices as well as the other items, which are embedded with the network connectivity, actuators, sensors, software and electronics that can make enable these objects for collecting and exchanging data (Xia et al. 2012). The Global Standards Initiative on Internet of Things is defined as the Information Societys infrastructure (Wortmann and Flchter 2015). The Internet of Things permits the objects to be controlled as well as sensed remotely over the existing infrastructure of the network, by implementing the scopes for more direct association of the physical world into the systems, which are based on computers (Gubbi et al. 2013). The Internet of Things also results in the improvement in the economic benefits, accuracy as well as efficiency (Perera et al., 2014). While the Internet of Things is augmented with the actuators as well as sensors, the technology becomes an instance of the more generalized cyber-phys ical systems class that also encompasses the technologies like the smart cities, intelligent transportation, smart homes as well as the smart grids (Miorandi et al. 2012). Application of Internet of Things Media the internet of things can make a scope for analyzing, collecting as well as measuring an ever-enhancing variance in the behavioral statistics (Xia et al. 2012). This datas cross-correlation could revolutionize the targeted marketing of the services as well as products. Data is the major device interconnectivity conjunction from the media perspective whilst being important in permitting more accuracy in making target (Wortmann and Flchter 2015). Thus, the Internet of things can transform the companies, media as well as governments by opening up a new era of the competitiveness and economic development (Miorandi et al. 2012). Environmental monitoring the applications in regards to the environmental monitoring of the Internet of things utilize typically the sensors for assisting in the environmental protection by monitoring water quality, soil or atmospheric conditions (Perera et al., 2014). These applications can also incorporate the areas such as monitoring the wildlife movements and their habitats. Infrastructure Management Controlling as well as monitoring operations of the rural as well as urban infrastructures like the on- and offshore-wind-farms and railway tracks is the major application of the Internet of Things (Xia et al. 2012). Manufacturing Network management and control of situation and asset management and manufacturing equipment bring the Internet of Things within the realm on the smart manufacturing and industrial applications as well (Wortmann and Flchter 2015). Energy Management Integration of the actuation and sensing systems connected to the internet is likely for optimizing the energy consumption as a whole (Turner et al. 2014). It can be expected that the Internet of Things devices would be integrated into all sorts of the devices of consuming energy as well as be capable of communicating with the utility supply organization in terms of effectively balancing the energy usage and power generation. Home and Building Automation The Internet of things devices can assist the integration of the information procession,, control as well as communications over several systems of transportation (Miorandi et al. 2012). The IoT application extends to all of the contexts of the systems of transportation. Physical Attack: The physical attack in the cyber security is nothing but a significant crime, which is mainly taken place with the help of the physical attempt to create vulnerabilities to the computer security. Therefore, a particular surface is also required in order to create a physical attack to the data in computer system of a specific user (Rid and Buchanan 2015). The surface of the physical attack is the totality of the vulnerabilities in the security for the users data in a given computer system those are present to an attacker in the similar location as the target. The surface of the physical attack to the computer system is exploitable across the threats like the social engineering intruders as well as ploys as well as rogue employees posing as the service employees especially in the public enterprises. As per the physical attack, the external threats incorporate the retrieval of the password from carelessly discarded passwords as well as hardware on the physical break-ins as well as the sticky notes. On the other hand, the physical access in terms of creating security vulnerabilities is a very direct surface of attack. An intruder can download or steal the details from the entire drive as well as extract the data those are in target at the later time, perhaps overcome the encryption with the potential CPUs or the GPCPU or the computing of General Purpose CPUs (Rid and Buchanan 2015). An physical attacker can only damage the equipments physically if the objective is merely for blocking the access or interrupting operations. The best approach to reduce the physical attack incorporate the enforcement of the secure authentication, by zeroing the hard drives before throwing out the old hard drives as well as refraining from leaving the details those are exploitable like the password reminders of sticky notes in the physical environment (Miorandi et al. 2012). Smart government: The smart government can be demonstrated as the capability off the government of the countries all over the world for understanding the unstated as well as stated requirements of the customers, visitors, residents or citizens; designing solutions for addressing those requirements and delivering the solution in an effective manner (Chourabi et al. 2012). The design of a set of processes of business as well as the underlying capabilities of Information Technology that can make enable the information for seemingly flowing across the government programs and agencies for becoming intuitive in order to provide high quality citizen services over all the activity domains and government programs. Transcending from the Open to the Smart Government for better serving the citizens The smart government maturity model should focus upon few major factors. These are as follows: The participation of thee citizens in the governmental business The enterprises are needed for engaging the public for enhancing decisions through the widely dispersed knowledge as well as enhance the public participation in government (Kirda 2015). Transparency of information in government the enterprises are needed for using technology for putting details regarding the decisions of the agency as well as agency operations online and in forums present to the public. Collaboration over the government entities for delivering better services of citizen Enterprises are needed for utilizing the innovative systems, methods and innovative tools for cooperating over all of the government levels as well as engaging the public in their government work. Smart City The Smart city is the vision of the urban development in terms of integrating several solution of ICT as well as Internet of things in a secured manner for managing the assets of the city. The city assets incorporate but are not limited to the information systems of the local departments such as schools, law management, waste management, water supply networks, power plants, hospitals, transportation systems, libraries as well as other systems (Wortmann and Flchter 2015). The smart government plays a significant role in order to develop smart cities. The objective of constructing smart city for the smart government is or improving quality of life by utilizing urban technology as well as informatics for improving the efficiency of the services and meeting the needs of the residents. Summary: This literature review section has portrayed the negative effects or the threats came from the ransomware attack as well as the physical attacks on the network security and the computer security in the context of the cyber crime. On the other hand, this section has also highlighted on the effectiveness and the application of the Internet of things over the computer and network security in order to reduce cyber crime. Furthermore, this discussion has also shed light on the activities of the smart government in order to develop smart cities in terms of mitigate the risks associated with the cyber security. Chapter 3: Research Methodology Introduction: This chapter is aimed at shedding some light on those approaches and techniques that have been utilized in conducting this particular research work. Researchers () are of the opinion that the utilization of suitable research methods would facilitate the process of understanding whether Internet of Things can be utilized to assist the formation of Smart Government in Australia. This is because the process of outlining the appropriate techniques and procedures to be used in conducting the study is dictated by the chosen methodology, thus setting the directions in which the research work would be conducted. The following sections of the chapter provide a detailed discussion on the research techniques to be utilized in conducting the research study being described in this report. Method Outline: Research Philosophy: Researcher Flick (2015) is of the opinion that the following research philosophies are utilized in conducting scientific studies: Positivism: is that particular research philosophy that helps in revealing hidden information through the application of logical deductions. Interpretivism: helps in the process of identifying those complex relationships that exist in the domain of business management. Realism: Researcher Smith (2015)is of the opinion that realism is essentially a combination of both positivism and intepretivism, thus incorporating the characteristic features of both the philosophies. Post Positivism: Researchers Panneerselvam (2014) consider post positivism as an amendment over positivism: this particular research philosophy not only includes the characteristics of positivism but also takes in consideration the very fact that the results of any research study depends in the background and experience of the researcher conducting the study. The post positivism research methodology was utilized in conducting this particular research work. The utilization of realism and interpretivism would not have been useful at meeting the objectives of this research work, while positivism would have not considered the scope of conducting further studies in the very same domain. However, since posposivitism considers the possibility of the outcomes of a study being affected by several environmental factors, the use of the same is justified. Research Approach: Researchers Neuman and Robson (2012) have identified the most widely used research approaches utilized in scientific research works as: Inductive approach is utilized when the research domain being studied is comparatively new and thus much information is not available so as to provide guidance for the new study. Figure: Research Approach (Source: Neuman and Robson 2012, pp-46 ) On the other hand, the deductive approach is utilized in conducting studies in domain that have been much researched on. The information available from the findings of the previously conducted studies can thus be utilized for the development of new theories. The research work being discussed in this report has been conducted utilizing the deductive approach. Several research studies have already been conducted on the domain of Internet of Things and the findings of these studies would be utilized for identifying the techniques using which the IOT can support the activities of Smart Governance. Thus, the selection of the approach is justified. Research Design: Researcher Pickard (2012)has made detailed discussion on the manner scientific research studies are designed. According to them, the utilization of the appropriate research design ( from those enlisted below) helps in the identification of the strategies that would be utilized for collecting and analyzing research data. Figure: Research designs (Source: Pickard 2012, pp-192) The exploratory research design facilitates the process of considering several theories and data required to conduct a research study. The explanatory research design, on the other hand, facilitates the process of identifying the causes behind the occurrence of specific incidents and their consecutive effect. Descriptive research works are conducted so as to gain detailed information regarding the topic being researched on. The research work being discussed in this report would utilize the exploratory research design, as the consideration of existing theories and concepts would be required for finding the strategies using which the IOT can be utilized to facilitate smart governance in Australia. Data Collection Procedure: Researchers Dumay and Cai (2015) are of the opinion that the collection of relevant data or information is essential for any conducting research work. The following sections of the report provide an insight into the methods and processes that would be utilized for collecting data required to conduct the study under consideration. Types of data sources: Primary and Secondary According to Neuman and Robson (2012) the different sources from which data utilized in a research study can be collected belong to the following categories: Primary sources of data: Those sources of data, that allow the collection of raw information, are considered as primary data sources. Researcher Smith (2015) point out the fact that the raw data collected from these sources require to be clarified and analyzed appropriately, so as to be utilized in any research study. Secondary sources of data: According to Lang et al. (2013), the data collected from secondary sources (like that of existing research articles, text books, journals etc) help in gaining insight into the topics being researched on, besides providing data sets that can be utilized for analytical activities. The research work being discussed in this report would utilize data collected from both primary and secondary sources of data. Experts in the domain of Information Technology would be interviewed so as collect updated information regarding Internet of Things and a review of several technical articles and literary works would be utilized to gain information regarding the various aspects of this technology and its use in running smart governance. Beside this, surveys would be conducted so as to collect information regarding the same. Data Analysis procedure: Qualitative and Quantitative Researchers Dumay and Cai (2015) consider the narrative form of information collected from primary and secondary data sources to be qualitative in nature and the statistical data available from survey to be quantitative. It has already been mentioned that both surveys and interviews would be utilized for collecting data, along with the consideration of existing literary articles. Thus, it can be said that both qualitative and quantitative data would be used in this research work. Ethical Considerations: According to Miller et al. (2012) adherence to the following ethical concepts would guarantee the standardization of the research work: Application of data: The data collected from various sources should be utilized only for the purpose of conducting the research work and not for any commercial purpose. Involvement of the respondents: No external influence would be conducted on the respondents participating in the surveys. Besides this, it is essential for maintaining the anonymity of the participants, such that their identities are not revealed in public. Chapter 4: Conclusion In the light of the discussion made in the sections above, it can be said that the proposed research work would be aimed at the identification of the IOT technologies and strategies that can be utilized in running a smart government in Australia. However, the research methods described in the report indicate that the following shortcomings would be associated with the study: The research study would utilize data collected from both primary and secondary sources so as to conduct the process of analysis. However, the validation of the data available from the secondary sources of data is near about impossible. The entire research work has to be completed within a time period of 6 moths thus imposing severe time constraint on the entire research work. Besides this, the research work has been allocated with limited budgetary resources, which might also affect the success of the study. Reference List Britz, M.T., 2012.Computer Forensics and Cyber Crime: An Introduction, 2/E. Pearson Education India. Choi, K.S., Scott, T.M. and LeClair, D.P., 2016. Ransomware against Police: Diagnosis of Risk Factors via Application of Cyber-Routine Activities Theory.International Journal of Forensic Science Pathology. 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