BEZPEČNOSŤ INFORMAČNÝCH TECHNOLÓGIÍ A PRÍPRAVA MANAŽÉROV TURIZMU A HOTELIERSTVA
Július ALCAUER
Résumé: The contribution deals with a change of approach to the knowledge
presentation and delivery in teaching informatics to tourism and hotel industry managers. The new approach is demonstrated by the tasks related to new security risks in the field of the Internet banking. The crucial idea of the contribution is the methodology of future managers preparation emphasizing their independence and ability to adapt to dangers in the field of IT security more efficiently.
Key words: manager, tourism and hotel industry, education, IT security risks. Introduction
Extreme dynamism of the present times make us change stereotypes. During the preparation of managers for tourism and hotel industry management, it is important to take into consideration that this is a group of managers whose workplace is different from that of the managers who dispose of offices equipped with computers and computer programs as well as the assistance of technologists of the firm, where they work. When guiding groups of tourists and in critical situations at airports, a notebook and a wireless Internet access are not always the best solution. Therefore we suggest that a part of their preparation is focused on searching for information about the risks in the field of computers security independently.
According to Peter Weber working for Hewlett-Packard: “ Information technologies (IT) have become a phenomenon which enables a different business control. IT are not a critical part of a business only in large establishments like, for example, banks. Basically, IT have become critical for a business even in medium firms and to a high degree also in small companies. Here we have in mind such issues as security, control and the importance of information systems in a successful business running.” (1)
Security Risks in the Field of Informatics and Education of Managers for Tourism and Hotel Industry
The requirements of prosperity and financial profit of the firm are connected with the security of its information systems. The storage management and the entire security of computers at the firm cannot be an exclusive responsibility of the technical staff. Networks security requires the reliability of all components. A standard level of information security is required of all employees. This cannot be only the matter of the technical department.
Do we consider this task when preparing students of management specialized in tourism and hotel industry management? There is relatively little time devoted to the
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topic of computers security in a common syllabus of lectures at universities. The textbooks often present the list of individual kinds of danger and the rules that have to be respected. It often happens that students are given much information, or the preparation is concentrated on mastering selected kinds of software. A classical school praxis like this is certainly rightful, but we think that it should not take all time scope. At least a minimum space should be devoted to the preparation for independent knowledge acquiring about dangers that have not been supposed yet. It can be highly important in the future to lead students to independent searching for information about the problem and to teach them how to evaluate this information critically. It would be very suitable to create a habit of a regular supplying informatics news, including monitoring of portals related to computers or blogs like “what problem is being discussed now, what computer virus is going to endanger us” when speaking about computer networks danger. Taking into account the needs of practice, we recommend to focus on independence, independent searching for information and problems solution. We expect that similarly to traffic information about dangers on the roads, which is available when driving a car, it will be suitable to follow the www sites, for example the site www.eset.sk of the antivirus program producer NOD presenting Virus info - a small column informing us about current dangers. Viruses represent only a small part of the problem. The future will bring new dangers, the documents format used in the programs of the office type will be changed. Considering a number of technologies that in the past were presented as secure and comparing them to how computers security is set today, we are certain to expect a similar scenario in the future.
The Internet Sources Exploitation – a Practical Experiment Applied to the Education of Managers in Tourism and Hotel Industry
One of the possibilities of solving the situation is the utilization of the Internet Sources Exploitation method (ISE) during the students preparation including minimalist conceptions by J.M. Caroll. Based on this suggestion, the passive forms of the preparation are reduced and the students solve tasks of a practical value.
In order to prove the new approach, we worked with a group of 35 students of the 3rd year of study, the study branch 3.3.15 – Management, study programme – Management, specialization – Management of Tourism and Hotel Industry, and we used the following procedure. First of all, we presented several articles published in the magazine PC WORLD Security to motivate students. Emphasis was put on the older topics, for example dangerous wireless networks, new forms of attacks, the necessity of an Update for Windows XP, Service Pack, dangerous Internet Banking, Phishing, Pharming. Students were offered some Internet addresses with stimulating blogs. For instance, http://blogy.etrend.sk is the address where Jaroslav Matyáš’s experience named “ How I (nearly) became a victim of a cyber crime “can be found. Especially the article subtitle” People can be terribly naive. And I am not an exception.” engaged the students’ attention. (2)
The following step was the principal part of the ISE method. In cooperation with students, we selected notions and the students’ task was to find out and send by e-mail 5 references to www sites related to this topic. This stage was the key bone of the stimulating procedure and even less active students were interested in it. The students’
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task was to find out as much as possible about the notions Phishing, Pharming and the risks connected with the mentioned notions.
The seminar then continued dealing with the topics relating to other fields of informatics. The following seminar was aimed at the analysis of the references found on the Internet and the discussion on the quality of the Internet material. We especially appreciated the effort of those students who found the most original www sites and who did not content themselves with the material found through GOOGLE.
The final stage consisted in the proposal of several topics including the issue of security. They serve as a source of topics when writing short seminar papers at the end of semester. Topics cover various areas and the choice is made according to the students’ interest. The assessment at the end of semester included also a short test in which the students’ task was to explain the meaning of Pharming, Phishing and to write down how they would present the topic at the staff meeting at their own firm.
The entire topic was not very time consuming – it took only a small part of two seminars and the knowledge reinforcement was on a substantially higher level than with a classical lecture on this topic. The competence level has not been statistically evaluated. We try to simulate practice as well as the forgetting factor. In order to verify these procedures, the students’ knowledge is tested after 3 - 6 months, usually in the following semester. (3)
Conclusion
Let us notice how computers are utilized in most of the firms. Security is almost exclusively the matter of technical workers who are responsible for computers. There is a lack of a systematic explanation that a computer system is like a tower block which is open to anybody if just one tenant does not lock the main door. Overburdened managers use computers like the knowledge acquired at driving schools – we have learnt something and the roads do not change often, but from time to time a new traffic sign or a type of a vehicle appear. It is a very simplified comparison, but a part of drivers has got used to listening to the traffic news about the new dangers on the roads. And the Internet network is much more dangerous than any motorway or a road tunnel.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, a German scientist and satirist, remarked about the education “ Knowledge of many people is similar to how we know the riddle whose solution we read or we were told by somebody and this is the worst cognitive method which should be used by people as little as possible”. The author of the statement died in 1799.
Literature
(1) KAHANEC, I. Weber: IT je už kritické aj pre malé firmy [online]. 1 s. [cit. 2007- 16-06]. Available on <http://pocitace.sme.sk/c/3348706/Weber-IT-je-uz-kriticke- aj-pre-male-firmy.html >.
(2) MATYÁŠ, J. Ako som sa (takmer) stal obeťou kyber kriminality [online]. 1 s. [cit. 2007-03-04]. Available on <http://blogy.etrend.sk/95716/jaroslav-matyas/ako-som- sa-takmer-stal-obetou-kyber-kriminality >.
(3) ALCNAUER, J. Grafické súbory a samostatné osvojovanie poznatkov (EIZ)
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Knowledge Acquisition (EIZ) of Tourism and Hotel Management Pre-
professionals.) In: XXV. mezinárodní kolokvium o řízení osvojovacího
procesu : sborník abstraktů a elektronických verzí recenzovaných příspěvků na CD- ROMu [CD-ROM]. Brno : UO, 2007. ISBN 978-80-7231-228-3.
Oponent
Doc. Ing. Štefan Kireta, CSc. (Kat. turizmu a hotel. manažmentu, FM PU v Prešove)
Contact address
PaedDr. Július Alcnauer
Katedra kvantit. metód a manažérskej informatiky Fakulta manažmentu PU Konštantínova 16 080 01 Prešov Slovenská republika Tel.: 00421 7711945
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