Integrated Professional Skills in Digital Age - Collaboration Tools, Cloud Storage, Privacy and Security during Pandemic

This report discusses the importance of integrating digital skills in the digital age, covering collaboration tools, cloud storage, and privacy and security during pandemic. It includes a literature review and analysis of the benefits and challenges of these tools, as well as potential privacy and security threats businesses may face. The subject, course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

INTEGRATED
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
IN DIGITAL AGE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
2.1 Collaboration tools.................................................................................................................4
2.2 Cloud storage.........................................................................................................................5
3.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.............................................................................................7
3.1 Collaboration tools.................................................................................................................7
How did they help businesses during pandemic? Give examples:..............................................8
3.2 Privacy and security during pandemic:..................................................................................8
Identifying potential privacy and security threats businesses might had to face during
pandemic:.....................................................................................................................................8
What are the measures businesses can take to prevent or protect themselves from these
threats?.........................................................................................................................................9
3.3 Private vs Public internet.....................................................................................................10
Discuss the benefits and challenges of a private internet local to a specific country:...............10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Digital age refers as the historical period which is characterised by the frequent epochal
switch from traditional sector developed by industrial revolution to the economy that is based on
information technology (Matias, 2019). Integrating digital skills in digital age needed for the
progress of one and their institute, it means that person have the technical skills and capability to
construct new knowledge and information as per the 21 century skill. ICT information
communication technology refer as the elements which enables the modern computing. In
business ICT makes it more effective, productive and also allow to prompt respond to consumer
requirement (Min and et.al 2018). ICT platform helps the businesses during pandemic as it
provides the distributed services, virtual platforms for business meeting for maintaining the
physical distance. Main aspect of this report is to develop understanding in different digital tools,
following report will cover the literature review on collaboration tool, cloud storage, it will also
cover the analysis and discussion section where it will cover the privacy and security during
pandemic.
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MAIN BODY
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Collaboration tools
According to the view of Shyshkin and Marienko, (2020) collaboration tools can route the
work from the distributed pieces, different processes and supports the coordinate activities.
Collaboration tools are the software which is designed with the purpose of maximizing the
teamwork by proving the better centralised platform where the team members can easily or
openly shares their knowledge, ideas and documents to find the better solution for addressing the
business problem. some collaboration tools are Zoom, skype, google drive etc. Zoom is video
conferencing tool which allows to share screen, entire phone application, it is supported by any
type of interface whether it is windows or mac this tool is highly used during pandemic for
meeting purpose. Zoom is the cloud based technology and it is used for the webinars, meeting
recordings, business used it for the online business conversation. it is said that zoom offers many
benefits as by providing the better video conferencing experience by providing the live chat so
that meetings become more productive. However author Rhoads, Sierra and Toro, (2018) said
that because of the poor security in this tool lead to many cyber crime cases where, it also
delayed the consumer services which is the major drawback of the system.
Author Brown, Rizzuto and Singh, (2019)said that Skype is the free web communication tool
which let the peoples to do video conferencing, make calls and supports the prompt messages.
Skype is used for associating with people it helps in developing for both group conferencing and
one to one conversation, it is used in businesses for the communicating with their stakeholders
and to use it for their meeting purposes. Its advantages are it has easy interface which can be
easily used and also helps in saving the time and money which is mainly required in business
travel. On contrary with this author Yuan, Mohanty and Luther, (2021) said that skype offers the
little access to the emergency services also no such face to face interactions.
Author Li and et.al (2021)stated that google drive is the google workplace service which provide
the secure place to store the data and to access it from any location. It is the synchronization
services which is created by the Google. It is a cloud based storage and supported by any devices
from computer or mobile device to securely upload the files in the cloud storage and can easily
edited from any location. In businesses it is used for sharing and arranging the business

documents, facilitate the collaboration its benefits is it is easy to use. On the other hand, author
Xu, (2020) said that it has the security risk and heavily depends on the internet connectivity.
2.2 Cloud storage
As per the view of cloud storage Ameri and et.al (2018) refers to the cloud computing
model where the information is stored securely on remote system where it is managed and
backed up by the cloud computing provider. It is full of the free storage, it is cost effective and
scalable alternative for keeping the files on storage connectivity. It gives the elasticity where the
data storage can be increases if it requires to. Data which the user stores on it becomes the
responsibility of the third party which provides the cloud services.
In accordance to the Xue and et.al., (2019), cloud storage is the system which stores data over
the internet with the help of utilizing cloud computing providers who are capable enough to
manage and operates the data storage along with other types of services. It is delivered on the
basis of demand with the help of utilizing just-in-time capacity along with costs. This also
eliminate buying and management of data storage structure. It is highly beneficial for the
companies such as it is highly cost saver as physical storage can be expensive for the company,
with the using of cloud storage the employees are able to easily access the data, it also provides
facility to recover the information after long time as well, it also automatically sync with the
updated data and make updated records in the most successful manner along with take care of
security as well as privacy perspective.
However, on the other hand Yang and et.al., (2018) highlights some disadvantages as
well which includes that it always requires internet connection to store or even update the data,
support is not considerable if company uses any kind of free versions, sometimes hamper the
security aspects as well etc. In terms of suitability it is the correct choice for testing and
application development. It provides services with no capital costs or low operational costs and
help every type of company to move further. The applications of cloud storage includes online
data storage, big data analysis, social network platform, etc.
According to Kollolu, (2020) cloud computing refers to on demand delivery of IT
resources over the internet with the amount of payment that is being required by them for
offering services. Instead of purchasing, personal and keeping physical data centres as well as
servers through which one can access technology services which includes computing power,
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databases, storage on the requirement basis from any cloud provider. This has been utilized by
every type of organizations whether it is small or big industry, all are utilized the cloud
computing facility for a broad variety of use cases which involves data backups, email, virtual
desktops, software development, data testing, consumer facing web applications, etc. Different
types of companies use it for their personal betterment in their own operations and gain benefits
from these services. Rashid and Chaturvedi, (2019) states that there are certain advantages as
well which has been observed by the companies after consuming the same such as:
 Agility: The cloud is bale to provide easy accessibility to wide range of technologies so
that the companies are able to innovate things in better and rapid manner that others
might have still imagined. The enterprises can quickly spin their resources which
involves storage, database, to internet of things, machine learning, and various other
similar kind of things.
 Cost saving: With the help of cloud, the companies are able to trade fixed expenses for
variable expenses and only pay for IT. Through this, it has been evaluated that variable
expenses are much lower than the companies would have to pay without using the same.
On the other hand, Chenthara and et.al., (2019) discusses certain disadvantages of cloud
computing as well which includes that the personal data of the company might have to face loss
or theft, data leakage, account or services hijacking, denial of service attacks, technology
vulnerabilities, etc. The suitability of cloud computing also illustrated that the application is
extremely appropriate in order to run into the cloud environment. This also indicated the
compatibility of this specific application as with most of the cloud environments the application
is able to provide varied open standards as well as best practices within every kind of industry.
Thus, in general there are three major types of cloud computing which includes Infrastructure as
a Service, Software as a Service and Platform as a Service.
In context of privacy and security, Ogonji, Okeyo and Wafula, (2020) illustrated that
privacy is the type of thing which is related to having control over the personal information along
with the ways within which it has been discussed or used. Personal information is generally the
confidential things and data about the company. Moreover, the security refers to the ways within
which the data or the information about the company has been protected. It is an important
aspect because privacy about the data and knowledge of the things related to the companies

provide power in order to choose thoughts as well as feelings along with the person with whom
the management wants to share the information with or even make it confidential as well. This is
the major and foremost way to protects the data that the companies do not want to share in
public. In addition to this, the security also plays their vital role as appropriate and reliable
workspace security is highly significant to any establishment because they have the power to
reduces compensation, liabilities, insurance as well as other important expenses that the
companies are required to pay to their stakeholders. Thus, in overall context, it has been analysed
that nothing is highly important than keeping the data or information secure or protected in order
to prevent the overall identity of the establishment.
According to (author) during the Covid-19 pandemic condition, the companies have to
face huge problems related to data protection and thus faces huge issues such as:
1. Security threats: Irrespective of adopting various kinds of time-consuming and anti
phishing training sessions, they have to face certain issues that are related to data threat or
security measures. For instance, a small city in the north east recently suffered a single
sphere phishing incident that costs to them around half million dollars for the attackers.
2. Insider threats: It includes a small team of people trying their best to protect systems
from hacking and any kind of breaches might have also mingled with outsiders such as
third party contractors with having potential access of data. Thus, such conditions
requires appropriate communication regarding the notion that nay kind of mischief will
be punished or actions will be taken to ensure good behaviour and discouraging bad
behaviour.
3.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Collaboration tools
Collaboration tools in today’s age plays an significant role or during the covid all
businesses and other systems like education all relies on these platforms as these tools provides
the distributed services and reduces the physical distance. Zoom collaboration tool is one of the
popular tool which is used during the pandemic because of its effective services, it is the reliable
tool that provides the platform which supports the communication requirement, it includes the
meetings, chat, phones, online events. It has helped out the business to do their business
meetings, it allows to adapt the approach of new working and allow to conduct the meeting over
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this platform. Organisations used it because it have the simple interface and cost efficient. Skype
collaboration tool which supports the prompt messaging, calls, video conferencing. With this
businesses can easily do audio and video calling from the multiple devices. Calling services in it
are relatively of the good quality s compared to the other collaborative tools. Thus with this
businesses can easily discuss their projects with their employees.
How did they help businesses during pandemic? Give examples:
Collaboration tools were most beneficial during pandemic because work from home was
one of the most common term allowing business to manage their work by employee from home
or any safer place. When each employee were sent to their home, businesses was ready to use
collaboration tools allowing them to ensure they connected with each other and complete their
work same way as they complete in the workplace, these are certain example of collaboration
tools and their importance during pandemic, these are:
Effective and easy communication: When business aim to use collaboration tools for example
Zoom meeting or Zoom video calling, then employee felt effective even during pandemic.
Communication become easy when Zoom was introduce in the workplace, each employee stay
connect with business, team and other department of the business (Gray and et.al., 2020).
Communication with these tools become so easy because quality provided by the Zoom is more
than enough and have greater role in the business stability.
Conferencing: Skype is one of the most common term when it comes to conferencing, these are
used by the business to perform important meeting with high video resolution clarity allowing
employee to become effective in the home. During pandemic, conferencing was important
because company have to share important information with the help of conferencing that is only
possible if Skype is used by every employee as collaboration tool in the process.
3.2 Privacy and security during pandemic:
Identifying potential privacy and security threats businesses might had to face during pandemic:
Every business organization want security as they carry some of the most valuable
information, during pandemic, cyber security played an important role because each employee
was working from home and are connected with business (EU, 2020). Cyber attackers know the

advantage of pandemic were cyber network are used by the business to share confidential
information, even with high security, cyber attackers are good enough to get all important data.
During pandemic, business have to face certain privacy and security threat, these are”
Corporate Account Takeover: CATO is one of the biggest privacy and security threat faced by
business during pandemic, cyber attacker with the help of hacking and continuous cyber attack,
try to enter in business owned user credentials. These credential carry detailed information about
user, business and account balance, cyber attackers can easy take away all amount if they hacked
into corporate account of the business. When an attacker find out that security at user account is
not strong then they attack in continuous manner that even roadblock software and security
system become unable to manage these attack, in the end, these attacker access into account and
transfer all money to somewhere else.
Distribute Denial of Service: DDoS is one of the most common type of security threat faced by
business organization during pandemic, this simply means attacker try to enter into computer
system and attack every weak part including website as well, multiple compromised computer
are been target that carry every confidential and important information about the company and
user (Johnson and et.al., 2016). If attack able to enter one of the search engine then they might
hack and delete corporate website and might take away information about consumer saved on the
computer and internal system.
What are the measures businesses can take to prevent or protect themselves from these threats?
Privacy and security threat are faced by every business organization during pandemic
because they do not have enough knowledge about cyber security. Cyber threat may include:
Spam and phishing control measure: This is common but dangerous type of cyber attack that
impact processing of the company, continuous spam massage is threat to business which they
have faced during pandemic, spam massage are full of virus and malware that can slow down
computer speed and bring weakness to internal system of the computer allowing attacker to enter
easily and gain access to every confidential information (Abu and et.al., 2018). Business can take
measure to prevent and protect themselves from spam message, they simply have to contact
cyber security help provided by the government where they can share information about spam
message, later national cyber security will take immediate action to stop spam message on
private number.
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Extra security measure: It becomes important for business to have extra security in every form,
they need to add more security software allowing them to ensure that compile with security
process. Extra security means they have to add government approved anti locking system, these
systems immediately stop entering of any unauthorized source and keep system safe from any
kind of attack. There are many security anti software that are basic but help in preventing attacks
from cyber attacker.
3.3 Private vs Public internet
Discuss the benefits and challenges of a private internet local to a specific country:
Every country have their own private local internet connection which they can use in
times of emergency, these private internet are also strong and safe enough to handle cyber attack.
Sometimes emergency situation in the country push government to use these private internet
network (Huang, Siegel and Madnick, 2018). For example; recently Russia have used their own
private internet local connection allowing them to access almost every internet process, during
Russia and Ukraine conflict, these terms were common, there are certain benefit and challenges,
these are:
Benefit:
 Private internet local connection are safer because it remains directly under control of
government, here high tech security is been provided to user because their data is store in
government related local network.
 Completely safe to use because this remains under government supervision, cyber attack
are not possible because government agency keep eye on every movement, user can
access and enjoy the benefit of private network and access to outer world as well.
Challenges:
 Private internet local connection provided by the government are slow and complex
because they are not been used for certain years, sometimes these network become costly
because government have right to change pricing accordingly.
 Private internet local connection are weak enough to manage international cyber attack, if
any enemy country planned to attack these government run private network then they can
easily steal confidential and private information about the user and access important
security area as well.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that possessing a ICT skill in new digital age plays an
significant role. One must have the technical knowledge to achieve success in their work. above
report has discussed the benefit of collaboration tools for the businesses, as during time
collaboration tools are highly utilised for reducing the physical distance. Above have illustrated
the literature review which covers the arguments of the authors over different collaboration tools,
cloud storage, cloud computing, privacy and security along with their advantages and
disadvantages. It further highlighted the discussion over the two collaboration tools which are
zoom and skype and also illustrated the privacy and security during the pandemic and lastly
concluded with the discussion of the private and public internet with their comparison.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Abu and et.al., 2018. Cyber threat intelligence–issue and challenges. Indonesian Journal of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 10(1), pp.371-379.
Ameri, M.H. and et.al 2018. A key-policy attribute-based temporary keyword search scheme for
secure cloud storage. IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, 8(3), pp.660-671.
Brown, M.E., Rizzuto, T. and Singh, P., 2019. Strategic compatibility, collaboration and
collective impact for community change. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal.
Chenthara, S. and et.al., 2019. Security and privacy-preserving challenges of e-health solutions
in cloud computing. IEEE access, 7, pp.74361-74382.
EU, W.A., 2020. Cyber threat intelligence.
Gray and et.al., 2020. Expanding qualitative research interviewing strategies: Zoom video
communications. The Qualitative Report, 25(5), pp.1292-1301.
Huang, K., Siegel, M. and Madnick, S., 2018. Systematically understanding the cyber attack
business: A survey. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 51(4), pp.1-36.
Johnson and et.al., 2016. Guide to cyber threat information sharing. NIST special
publication, 800(150).
Kollolu, R., 2020. Infrastructural Constraints of Cloud Computing. International Journal of
Management, Technology and Engineering, 10, pp.255-260.
Li, Q. and et.al 2021, July. Design and Implementation of a Voice Interactive Tool to Facilitate
Web Collaboration. In 2021 IEEE 45th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications
Conference (COMPSAC) (pp. 1182-1187). IEEE.
Matias, A., 2019. Design for collective action: A digital tool for network governance and
collaboration.
Min, M. and et.al 2018. Defense against advanced persistent threats in dynamic cloud storage: A
colonel blotto game approach. IEEE Internet of Things Journal. 5(6). pp.4250-4261.

Ogonji, M.M., Okeyo, G. and Wafula, J.M., 2020. A survey on privacy and security of Internet
of Things. Computer Science Review, 38, p.100312.
Rashid, A. and Chaturvedi, A., 2019. Cloud computing characteristics and services: a brief
review. International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering, 7(2), pp.421-426.
Rhoads, M., Sierra, H. and Toro, J.T.M., 2018. Collaboration Tools. Igniting Your Teaching
with Educational Technology.
Shyshkina, M.P. and Marienko, M.V., 2020. Augmented reality as a tool for open science
platform by research collaboration in virtual teams. arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.07687.
Xu, J., 2020, December. Research and Applications of Classroom Group Collaboration in the
Design Thinking Online Tool. In 2020 IEEE 6th International Conference on Computer
and Communications (ICCC) (pp. 2135-2140). IEEE.
Xue, Y. and et.al., 2019. An attribute-based controlled collaborative access control scheme for
public cloud storage. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 14(11),
pp.2927-2942.
Yang, Y. and et.al., 2018. Efficient traceable authorization search system for secure cloud
storage. IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, 8(3), pp.819-832.
Yuan, L., Mohanty, V. and Luther, K., 2021, October. SleuthTalk: Identifying Historical Photos
with Intelligent Shortlists, Private Collaboration, and Structured Feedback. In Companion
Publication of the 2021 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and
Social Computing (pp. 226-231).
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