IT and the Future of Society - ITEC600

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IT and the Future of Society

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................2
Future of Information Technology...............................................................3
Biggest Challenges relating to information technology...............................3
Solutions for challenges..............................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................10

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Introduction
With the advancements in technology, the challenges associated with
them have increased as well. Technological advancements have the
capability to influence the lives of people across the globe in both positive
and negative manner. It resulted in making their lives easier and enabling
them to communicate with others globally. However, the technology is
proliferating, and it poses many threats for individuals, organisations and
governments across the globe (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson, 2014). Due to
this fast development in technology field, it has become difficult for
parties to implement appropriate security policies to ensure that these
technologies did not negatively influence a large number of people. It has
become easier for cyber criminals to hack into the data of people and
organisations to collect their private data and violate their privacy.
New technological advancements have the potential to wipe out the entire
humankind that shows how significant and challenging it is for individuals
and organisations to ensure that they did not misuse the technological
advancements. The advancement in information technology poses
substantial threat to the privacy of information of individuals and
organisations which leads to challenges such as breach of privacy, identity
theft, blackmailing and others (Webb, Gibson and Forkosh-Baruch, 2013).
In this report, the biggest challenges which people, organisations and
governments face relating to information technology will be discussed.
Various solutions for addressing these issues will be included in the report
as well.

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Future of Information Technology
The future of information technology poses bigger challenges relating to
security. The lack of security guidelines resulted in negatively impacting
connectivity to public networks. If appropriate solutions are not
implemented to address this issue, then the risk relating to users’ privacy
will increase substantially. The biggest risk is not related to the machines
which are used in this field, instead, it is the people who operations in this
industry which will present challenges in the future. The technology
advances rapidly, and it influences people operating at all levels. The real
challenge is dealing with individuals and technologies to ensure that they
work best for the interest of people and organisations and assist in
achieving long-term goals. The technologies such as cloud computing,
artificial intelligence, and machine learning are developing rapidly, and
these technologies have the potential to change people’s lives completely
(Prajogo and Olhager, 2012).
These advancements have a significant influence on the information
technology industry as well. As the world develops, organisations will
continue to use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in
their respected industry (Webb, Gibson and Forkosh-Baruch, 2013). In the
future, trends such as platform architecture, social platforms, cloud
computing and data privacy will likely to influence the future of the
information technology. Thus, along with these advancements, the
challenges related to information technology will grow as well which will
adversely influence individuals, organisations and governments.
Biggest Challenges relating to information technology
Cloud computing
The cloud computing technology has the ability to connect a large number
of computers to a single network which enables them to share data
globally and provide its users a ubiquitous system. Thus, it raises many
challenges relating to information technology. The key challenges faced

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by organisations are making themselves cloud ready to ensure that they
are able to take full advantage of the cloud (Zissis and Lekkas, 2012).
Many corporations prefer to keep their data and other applications in-
house, and they prefer complete control over these information. But, the
cloud provides them easy access and cheaper storage cost which is
beneficial for organisations. Thus, corporations face challenges relating to
ensuring that they are prepared for taking advantage of cloud computing
technology. Moreover, they face challenges relating to ensuring that their
data is secured during that process and it not accessible to cyber
criminals.
Securing the data on the cloud is a key challenge for even large
multinational enterprises which have the resources to implement world-
class technology to protect their data. A good example was the case of
Apple Incorporation and the iCloud data leak scandal in 2014. The
company offers its cloud computing storage facilities to customers which
they can use to store their images, videos and music, and they are
accessible on their other devices as well. In 2014, a breach in the iCloud
occurred in which a hacker collected more than 500 private pictures of
celebrities and posted them online (Raven and Wilson, 2014). These
explicit images quickly circulated across the globe make it one of the
biggest data leak. It shows that the future of cloud computing is dark
without appropriate security measures which could result in adversely
affecting society.
Cyber security
Development in new technologies in the IT field leads to increasing the
challenge of cyber security for corporations worldwide. This is a key issue
faced by IT professional while developing business strategies to ensure
cyber security. With the popularity of social media websites, the risks
associated with cyber security has increased substantially. For instance,
Facebook was involved in a cyber-security scandal in which data of more
than 87 million users were collected and used by Cambridge Analytica to
support Donald Trump in 2016 US Presidential elections (Granville, 2018).

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The number of cyber-attacks is increasing rapidly which resulted in
creating new challenges for IT professionals in the industry. One of the
key issues is identity theft which is growing faster than ever. In 2016, the
number of cases relating to identity theft increased significantly in the
United States in which over 15.4 million users reported that their identity
had been stolen online (Sullivan, 2017). These cases show the challenges
relating to cyber security faced by individuals and organisations in the IT
industry.
Talent retention
The IT industry is growing rapidly, and so does the demand for talented
engineers. As per the study of the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the
demand for IT jobs will increase by 15 percent between 2012 and 2022
which is faster than compared to 11 percent average for other
occupations (BLS, 2013). In order to retain talented staff members,
corporations are forced to pay huge salary packages to their employees.
For instance, Google announced that it is raising the salaries of its
employees to compete with other rivals such as Facebook. Moreover,
there is a key issue of talent deficiency in the IT industry which is creating
challenges for corporations. These companies hire employees from all
across the globe, but they are not able to fulfil their talent demand which
slows the growth of the companies. Organisations are also encouraged to
balance the gender ratio while giving growth opportunities to employees.
Copyright Infringement
The advancement in information technology has made it easy for
individuals to access any information which they want at any given time.
The number of music sharing networks, photo bookmarking sites and free
movies websites has increased which all users from all over the world to
stream any content directly to their devices. Free music, movies and other
files downloading sites are launching each day which made it difficult for
the government to govern these sites and put a stop on them (Sitdikova
et al., 2015). Due to these websites, original work of authors is sold for

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free which creates challenges for the artist and the company.
Organisations are facing significant loss due to these sites which have
created challenges for their business. These websites easily infringe the
copyright laws, and it is difficult for the government to put a stop on these
websites. It has become easier for users to access this content with the
popularity of smartphone, tables, laptops, smart television and other
devices which directly connects to the internet (Piotrowicz and
Cuthbertson, 2014). Thus, it issues present various challenges for people
and corporations operating across the globe to ensure that they are able
to protect their copyrights.
Solutions for challenges
As the risks relating to IT increases worldwide, the importance of finding
new solutions to address these threats increased as well. IT professionals
and corporations are continuously struggling to find new solutions which
enable to address the issuing relating to IT in the future. Following are
different solutions for above mentioned challenges which adversely affect
individuals, organisations and governments worldwide.
Encryption
The advancement in IT has made it easier for people to transfer and share
data with each other on a global stage. Technologies such as cloud
computing provide users ubiquitous access to data which they can access
from anywhere in the world. This ease of access has created the challenge
for IT which can be solved through proper encryption methods. The
technique of encryption is simple, and it is used by corporations across
the globe. In this technique, the data is converted into a secret code while
transferring between two devices which can only be accessed by the party
who has the secret key to unlock the data (Arora, Parashar and
Transforming, 2013). This makes it difficult for cyber criminals to gain
unauthorised access to the data even if they collect it during the
transmission stage when the data is most vulnerable. Encryption can be
used to ensure that files in the cloud are not accessible by anyone but the

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owner of such content. By encrypting their data, artists and corporations
can ensure that their copyrights are not infringed online through free
download websites (Singh, 2013). This technique should be improved to
ensure that it is capable of protecting data in cloud computing technology
which will assist in addressing IT-related challenges.
Firewalls
A firewall is referred to a network of security system which is designed in
order to prevent cyber criminals to gain unauthorised access to or from a
private network. The firewall technology can be implemented for both
hardware and software products. By further developing this technology,
companies can ensure that cyber criminals are not able to hack into their
servers to gain unauthorised access to their confidential data (Hayajneh et
al., 2013). It will improve cyber security which will reduce the risk of
leaking of private data of individuals online. It will reduce the number of
identity theft, and people will be able to secure their identity online.
Awareness
One of the major reason due to which the privacy of individuals is
breached online is because they are not aware of the actions which they
can tool to ensure their privacy. Governments and organisations should
increase awareness regarding cyber security measures which can be
taken by users to ensure that their data is protected from unauthorised
access (Jing et al., 2014). They can aware them to change their passwords
on a regular basis and using strong password. The use of two-step
verifications and setting up security questions are some ways through
which users can protect their data online.
Training and education
In order to meet the demand for talented employees, corporations should
start giving training and education facilities to employees so that they can
develop their skills and knowledge. Organisations can provide educational
facilities to individuals to improve their knowledge regarding IT subjects

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which will assist them in fulfilling the demand for talented employees
(Burbules, 2018). It will also assist corporations in easily retain talented
employees in their organisations.

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Conclusion
Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that the future of IT
brings many advancements and challenges for individuals, organisations
and governments. These challenges affect the privacy of individuals
online and make it easier for cyber criminals to collect confidential data
from companies. The popularity of cloud computing technology brings
new challenges by making it easier for hackers to gain unauthorised
access to the data of individuals and corporations. The importance of
cyber security has increased as the number of cyber-attacks increased.
The demand of talented employees has increased in the industry along
with infringement of copyrights. To address these issues, various
strategies can be implemented by IT professionals. Firstly, encryption of
data should be mandatory which would protect it from unauthorised
access while using cloud computing technology and social media sites.
Organisations can protect their data by using firewalls and awareness
regarding online security should be increased between individuals so that
they are able to protect their privacy online. Training and education
facilities should be given to existing and new candidates to meet the
demand of talented employees in the industry.

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References
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cloud computing using encryption algorithms. International journal of
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BLS. (2013) Occupational employment projections to 2022. [Online]
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Granville, K. (2018) Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: What You Need to
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