by The Open University
Available in 39 free installments
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Section 2 explained that information is an important asset to an organisation. In this section you will study, in some detail, the characteristics of information assets that make them valuable, and so worth protecting.
In recent years, a combination of computerised processing systems and electronic communication technologies has made possible new forms of working and trading based on the electronic exchange of information. Such activity is called e-business or e-commerce. Two new, but already familiar, models of organisations working together electronically in this way are the following.
Business-to-business (b2b) commerce, in which businesses work closely together, using the internet, to trade information, services and/or products. Examples include financial management and Web-server management.
Business-to-customer (b2c) commerce, in which the internet is used to connect a business directly to the customer without the need for premises such as shops or warehouses. Examples include many small software firms, the book retailer Amazon and economy airlines.
Despite their names, these models apply to not-for-profit as well as for-profit organisations. For example, the Open University makes use of the b2c model.
The OASIS Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) protocol is a directory service that enables organisations and applications to find and use Web services over the internet. The supporting website (http://uddi.xml.org) has an interesting collection of white papers on the technologies involved and their use.
Of course, the electronic exchange of information takes place within individual organisations as well as between them, typically reducing communication delays. For example, separate business units within a company use email to transfer documents almost instantly, whereas in the past they had to rely on a comparatively slow internal mail system. Highly efficient intraorganisational workflows are now possible through electronic communication.
However, these new forms of communication and commerce also present new dangers since they make an organisation's information assets subject to new threats. Access to vital assets may no longer be restricted to those who have a key for the lock of the door that protects a building. Electronic communication may make the whole world your market place; but there is a danger that it will also make the whole world your premises.
In this section we shall examine the characteristics of information assets that make them worth protecting. We shall also discuss the concepts of shareability, scarcity, confidentiality, integrity and availability in relation to these assets.
Original Copyright © 2007 The Open University. Now made available within the Creative Commons framework under the CC Attribution – Non-commercial licence (see http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/).
