The Pentagon (or U.S. Federal Government) recently awarded a colossal cloud computing
contract that might eventually be worth up to $9 billion dollars to 4 companies: Microsoft,
Google, Oracle, and Amazon. The Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, as it is called, is planned
to be used across all branches of service, for all levels of classified information, and all security
domains. This contract was awarded after a similar contract was awarded to Microsoft, but was
cancelled due to allegations of presidential meddling in the award process. The political issues
have nothing to do with our analyses, so steer clear of those. The new contract was awarded in
Dec 2022.
Now, here we are less than 3 months later… The U.S. Special Operations Command
(USSOCOM) recently leaked 3 TBs of sensitive internal emails via a misconfigured Microsoft
Azure cloud server. The misconfiguration allowed anyone to access this extensive trove of
emails with no uesr ID or password required. Not a hack – since no malicious actor was involved,
but a very unfortunate configuration error. In military parlance, it was a “friendly fire” attack.
Given that these types of issues occur far too frequently in both the government and corporate
sectors:
• Describe at least 3 policies ANY organization should use to ensure data in the cloud remains private and secure.
• Explain the purpose of each policy you describe.
• Support your arguments with at least 3 external sources total with at least 1
external source for every policy recommendation you make.
• Please describe each policy recommendation in a separate paragraph with a
minimum of 75 words (225 words total)
• Finally do you believe we should be using/storing data with national security
implications in the cloud?
o No external references required for this part, but explain your logic
o A couple of sentences is sufficient
• Provide a bibliography as well
Technical Requirements:
- Your post must include 3 paragraphs (75 words minimum per policy) and be at least 225 words
in total length - External references are required – a minimum of 3, but be sure to cite all references you use
Read the Case Study information and Watch the 2 videos below. As you watch the videos,
consider the cost of smart city technologies for residents vs. the benefits gained. How long is the
time period extimated to receive a positive Return on Investment (if ever)? Are the benefits
directly attributable to the citizens who foot the bill or are the benifits at a more macro level such
as a state, country, or the world? Using what you’ve learned, do the following:
A. Craft and support an argument either for or against community (a city) investments in
smart city technologies.
B. Additionally, identify the most useful smart technology from a citizen’s perspective
(from the case study only) and explain why it provides the best benefit to the taxpayer.
C. Identify the most useful smart technology from a government perspective (from the case
study only) and explain whether it provides any direct benefit to the taxpayer. Does the city
government’s interest justify expending funds on this technology considering the benefit to the
taxpayer?
Be sure to fully support your positions (in both parts A, B, & C) with at least 3 external sources
(total) – these sources can be used to support any of your three arguments, but the textbook is not
considered an external source.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vPH0cSI2doLinks to an external site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBYsSFbBeR4
Case:
A “smart city” is a city where the day-to-day processes and the infrastructure of the city are able
to provide real-time data to the city and its citizens, allowing them to better allocate resources
and plan for the future.
Smart cities can be identified using six dimensions: a smart economy, smart mobility, a smart
environment, smart people, smart living, and smart governance. Cities are “smart” when
investments in social capital and infrastructure coupled with wise management of natural
resources fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life.
Smart cities focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Wireless sensor
networks are one type of ICT. The goal of wireless sensor networks is to create a distributed
network of sensors which measure a host of parameters that allow city management to run their
city more efficiently. Ideally, ICTs will help increase local prosperity and competitiveness.
For example, citizens of smart cities can monitor pollution concentration on their specific street,
and trash cans can send signals when they are close to full. Vehicle traffic and street light usage
can be monitored to optimize city lights dynamically.
In smart cities, people have the tools to quickly and easily get the data they need to make smarter
choices about their energy consumption. All the data in the world is useless without information
systems than effectively communicate that data to users. Using IBM technologies, Dubuque was
able to determine how much water was saved by decreased consumption and leak detection, as
well as precise information about how much electricity individual appliances are consuming.
Users don’t see the back end infrastructure underlying these ICT technologies, which are
increasingly depending on the cloud. Using the cloud has made these technologies integrated
and, more importantly, cheap enough for cities like Dubuque to use to their fullest extent. They
also don’t see the sheer amount of data that they are generating, because IBM’s systems distill
that data into smaller chunks of relevant information that allows Dubuque’s citizens to live
smarter.
In Portland, IBM created a model that allows city leaders to simulate the impacts of changes to
various utilities. They collected ten years of data and built a model that supports the development
of new metrics and identifies drivers of change for the city’s strategic plan. Using this data,
Portland city officials hope to achieve a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and an
80 percent reduction by 2050.
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