Data analytics assignment analysing the ethical challenges of Microsoft

Question

Task: Write about two benefits of AutoFair 2.0 for the legal systems and two benefits for the individuals/defendants. Discuss each benefit in the context of eJudge. Apply the 5 Vs model for big data and discuss what Volume, Veracity, Velocity, and Variety mean to the legal system. Write a data analytics assignmenton the topic: Managing the Ethical Challenges of Data-Driven Projects (e.g., Transparency, Expandability, Bias).

Answer

Part 1 of the data analytics assignment: A case study
Response to the media
From the given case study in the data analytics assignment, it is found that Autofair 2.0 is an effective approach for Jason to prepare responses for the media in order to address the claims. In the context of legal systems, there are the following benefits of AutoFair 2.0 mentioned in the data analytics assignment:

• Autofair 2.0 has the potential to deliver data analytic facilities by which eJudge can analyze and review the collected responses and data from the journalists to extract reliable information. Using AutoFair 2.0, eJudge can identify utmost precision through decision creation and helps journalists to receive proper and effective responses.
• Autofair 2.0 is capable to deliver an intelligent system that can be implemented by eJudge over employment programs in order to obtain effective decisions and focus on the challenges and issues faced by journalists. Moreover, using AutoFair 2.0, eJudge can achieve decision-making skills and create effective business plans and strategies.
There are the following benefits of AutoFair 2.0 for individuals mentioned in the data analytics assignment:

• AutoFair 2.0 is capable to provide confidence to individuals for claiming innocence based on previous and recent histories. Using such benefits, it is easy for individuals to receive proper updates and real-time information about claims and evidence.

• Autofair 2.0 has the potential to enable defendants to process strong and effective claims with the gathered data from public resources. Using such benefits, individuals are capable to perform analytical activities over collected data and create effective decisions to support arguments.

Discuss 5 Vs model for big data in the data analytics assignment
Volume: In the context of the legal system, volume mainly contains larger datasets available on the internet and public resources, legal documents, and case files. Using such volume, AutoFair is capable to perform big data analytics activities and extract reliable and suitable information to claim arguments and gain effective evidence.

Veracity:In terms of the legal system mentioned in the data analytics assignment, veracity is capable to deliver accuracy for the larger datasets collected from the internet and public sources whereas AutoFair 2.0 is capable to gather effective and accurate information from the obtained datasets.

Velocity: Velocity is beneficial to obtain the speed at which data is retrieved from internet sources and helpful for big data analytics to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness in regards to the legal systems and decision-making.

Variety: In the context of legal systems addressed in the data analytics assignment, variety is used for various kinds of cases listed under the documents and public sources where AutoFair 2.0 is capable to review data as per the identified variations.

Part 2: Managing the Ethical Challenges of Data-Driven Projects (e.g., Transparency, Expandability, Bias)

Abstract
Business communities are now dependent on technologies and communication networks that help to communicatewithconsumers and teams easily and perform business operations in less time. Big data is a kind of technique used for analyzing and evaluating the obtained data from communication and internet networks. Companies are accessing data-driven approaches for extracting information and creating decisions to improve business performance (Ang, et al., 2020). However, big data analytics is less secure and private due to which companies can suffer from ethical and legal concerns. This data analytics assignmentresearch reviewed ethical challenges associated with data-driven projects and also analyzed a real cyber-incident targeted Microsoft organization. It is found in the data analytics assignmentthat big data analytics requires proper security controls and risk assessment plans to increase the transparency and privacy of the database systems. Companies should implement GDPR principles, NIST security, encryption, and firewall filters to increase confidentiality and transparency.

Research backgroundin the data analytics assignment
In this modern generation, business communities are shifting from manual operations to automation and digital systems to increase performance and manage business problems effectively. Big data analytics is a kind of analytical technique that is capable to analyze and evaluate collected data from clients and internet sources. Today, it is found in this data analytics assignmentthat more than 80% of companies are collecting data from internet networks that include structured and unstructured data where big data analytics helps to analyze and extract effective information and perform data-driven activities (Braunack, et al., 2020). However, cyber-criminals are capable to target big data analytics and connected networks by which companies can suffer from ethical and legal concerns easily. Through big data analytics, cyber-criminals can enter into the database systems and access the collected data and increasing data breaches and ethical concerns in the workplace.

There are the following ethical challenges associated with big data analytics mentioned in the data analytics assignment:
Transparency issue
Big data analytics is now commonly used by companies to control and manage data accessibility and analysis-related problems. Business communities collect data from consumers and perform analytical activities through big data tools where companies can access and review for their data analytics assignmentsuch data from any location. Favaretto, et al., (2020) identified that big data analytics is beneficial for companies but it also increases transparency-related challenges due to which personal details of consumers and companies can be accessed by cyber-criminals. Due to less transparency, big data analytics can increase ethical challenges with the collected datasets and such data can be used for performing unethical activities as per the data analytics assignment. Garattini, et al., (2019) agreed and stated that lesser transparency in the data-driven approach can increase ethical and legal problems for the companies due to which trust between employees and clients can be affected negatively.

Security and privacy issues dealt in the data analytics assignment
Securing data is one of the major challenges mentioned in the data analytics assignmentwhich is linked with data-driven analytics as cyber-criminals are capable to perform cyber-crimes and target web servers that increase the chances of hacking easily. Hamilton, et al., (2020) reported that securing data from cyber-criminals requires proper security plans and controls but big data analytics is linked with less secured programs due to which hackers can perform criminal activities and pose data breach incidents. Various cyber-criminals as per the finding in the data analytics assignmenttarget big data and data-driven programs used by companies to access database systems and the personal details of consumers. Househ, et al., (2019) agreed and reported that cyber-criminals develop malicious codes and perform unauthorized activities over database systems and big data servers to gain login credentials and perform criminal activities easily. Numerous cyber-crimes are associated with big data analytics including ransomware, malware, phishing, MITM attack, and many more that enables hackers to pose cyber-attacks and access personal details and affect the database systems of the companies.

Expandability and Biasing issues in the data analytics assignment
Expendability is another problem mentioned in the data analytics assignmentwhich is associated with data-driven analytics because big data is less capable of expanding the datasets gathered from internet networks. More than 70% of the companies are accessing data-driven projects but also face challenges related to expendability and biasing. Manrique, et al., (2020) stated that big data analytics requires proper knowledge and IT infrastructure to perform data-driven and analytical activities, and expanding data-driven approaches requires advanced techniques and tools. In terms of biasing mentioned in thedata analytics assignment, data-driven analytics is less effective as it enables hackers to perform cyber-incidents due to which personal details can be hacked easily. It is important for companies to control and manage such challenges while accessing data-driven and big data analytics to deal with ethical, legal, and transparency issues.

Microsoft data breach incident
Microsoft is a leading organization delivering IT services to companies and users and enables companies to perform business operations effectively. Microsoft provides database systems to companies and users where personal data can be stored and collected data can be analyzed for data analytics assignmentthrough analytical activities. Microsoft has implemented big data analysis and data-driven approaches to analyze larger datasets for creating decisions and extracting reliable information. However, in 2021, Microsoft suffered from ethical and data breach incidents where hackers targeted database systems and data-driven programs. Lacroix, et al., (2019) reported in the data analytics assignmentthat cyber-criminals are capable to develop malicious and hacking programs by which hackers can perform criminal activities and impose data breach incidents. Ethical and security challenges posed by the hackers over the database and servers of Microsoft enabled them to gain the personal details of the consumers and reduce the confidentiality and transparency of the collected datasets. It is found in thedata analytics assignmentthat250 million Microsoft consumers suffered from data breaches and ethical concerns where hackers targeted database systems and gained login credentials. In this manner, the hackers performed ransomware attack which is capable to provide login credentials for the database system and encrypt the collected networks and servers to reduce accessibility and transparency (Martin, et al., 2020).

The developed security programs and approaches for database systems as per the data analytics assignmentwere less effective and reliable due to which hackers were capable to affect privacy and gaining personal details. Due to this cyber-incident, Microsoft has suffered from a data breach, ethical and legal concerns, and performance and sales were also affected negatively. Moreover, Customer information from 2005 to December 2019 was among the data that was made public. Conversations between Microsoft support agents and customers were recorded in the customer service and support logs that were exposed. Even though some customer email addresses, IP addresses, geographic locations, and other data were exposed, the majority of personally identifiable information was redacted (Mittelstadt, et al., 2019). Through this cyber-incident mentioned in thedata analytics assignment, hackers were capable to gain the personal details of customers including email addresses, IP addresses, support agents, case numbers, and internal notes marked as private which affected the marketed values of Microsoft negatively. In order to deal with such cyber-attack, Microsoft has developed risk assessment plans and identifiedthe security risks associated with the database systems and within 24 hours, database systems were secured. Moreover, cyber-security teams changed web servers and disconnected networks from the database systems to deal with hacking and criminal activities (Mullins, et al., 2021). Furthermore, Microsoft has changed the entire IT infrastructure and connected it with encryption and SSL programs to ensure that collected data from customers should be protected from cyber-criminals.

Proposed solutionsfor the incident addressed in the data analytics assignment
After reviewing the selected case for the data analytics assignment, it is found that big data analytics and data-driven projects are less capable to deal with ethical and cyber-security attacks due to which personal details can be hacked easily. In order to address such problems, it is recommended that businesses should develop effective security plans and focus on transparency while accessing big data analytics. Moreover, management should develop a risk assessment plan due to their capability to identify and evaluate the security risks and factors increasing ethical concerns in data-driven projects. NIST security framework mentioned in the data analytics assignmentshould be implemented that helps to develop an effective ethical approach where identifications and analysis of security risks can be done in a reliable manner and deal with the cyber-incidents and transparency can be done significantly.

Regan, et al., (2019) suggested that companies need to focus on confidentiality while accessing big data analytics and need to implement authentication systems. A two-factor authentication is an effective approach as per the data analytics assignmentthat should be implemented by companies for data-driven projects to ensure that confidentiality can be maintained and accessibility of the databases can be secured from hackers. From the above case study, it is found that Microsoft has implemented less effective security programs due to which hacker was capable to enter into the database systems and gaining personal data easily. The collected data from the security challenges and issues can be used for creating effective decisions regarding data privacy, transparency, and confidentiality. In this data analytics assignment, big data analytics can be applied that can helps to identify the factors affecting security and privacy and make effective decisions regarding cyber-security plans and strategies.

In the future generation, the rate of cyber-attack will be increased rapidly as companies will be dependent on data-driven and analytic approaches where hackers will perform criminal activities. However, as per the data analytics assignmentthe future will be capable to develop effective security and ethical programs and policies that will enable the companies to control and manage identified challenges and will improve the transparency of the collected datasets. Someh, et al., (2019) agreed and stated that future generations will be able to focus on data security and ethical concerns effectively and cyber-security programs will be improved that will helps companies to deal with cyber-security incidents and ethical concerns. Moreover, governments will develop effective cyber-security laws and data protection plans that will enable the companies to securely perform data-driven and big data analytic activities. Major two factors are identified from the data analytics assignmentincluding a lack of security controls and improper awareness about cyber-security due to which hackers were capable to perform cyber-attacks. It is important for the management to develop and implement effective cyber-security controls while accessing data-driven and analytical tools to secure database systems.

There are numerous security solutionsavailable to deal with the identified challenges mentioned in the data analytics assignmentthat should be implemented including a risk management plan, GDPR security principles, encryption programs, and firewall filters. Using a risk management plan management can identify risk factors increasing ethical concerns. GDPR principles are effective to ensure that database systems are protected from hackers and transparency should be improved by which companies can improve security and confidentiality levels. Encryption is an effective program that should be implemented over database and communication systems to deal with hacking problems. Venable, et al., (2021) agreed and stated that AES encryption is more effective in that enables the companies to encrypt the collected data into codes using private keys to ensure that data should be secured from hackers. Moreover, firewall filters mentioned in the data analytics assignmentare effective that should be implemented over web servers and networks to manage unwanted signals and traffic posed by hackers and increase transparency and confidentiality of the data-driven and communication approaches.

Conclusion
From the above findings in thedata analytics assignment, it may be summarized that big data is an effective approach for companies to analyze larger and more complex data but it is important for businesses to focus on ethical and transparency-related concerns. This research identified security and privacy concerns related to big data-based data-driven projects and increased knowledge in the field of big data analytics. It is found that cyber-criminals are capable to develop hacking programs and perform cyber-attacks over database systems where big data analytics are less capable to identify and manage security risks due to which personal data can be hacked easily. Microsoft has already suffered from the cyber-incident due to less secured databases and data-driven projects and hackers gained accessibility to database systems. Cyber-criminals develop malicious codes and perform unauthorized activities over database systems and big data servers to gain login credentials and perform criminal activities easily. It is important for companies to control and manage such challenges while accessing data-driven and big data analytics to deal with ethical, legal, and transparency issues. Ethical and security challenges posed by the hackers over the database and servers of Microsoft enabled them to gain the personal details of the consumers. AS per the findings in the data analytics assignmentthe developed security programs and approaches for database systems were less effective and reliable due to which hackers were capable to affect privacy. Microsoft has developed risk assessment plans and identified the security risks associated with the database systems.

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