Posted: June 6th, 2015

Information Assurance and Management Class

Information Assurance and Management Class

1. In developing an information assurance and security strategy for a large company, is a top-down approach better or is a bottom-up approach better? Justify your answer with examples. What if the company is a small company? How would your answer change then? Explain.

2.Mario owns a pawnshop in the Bronx. His pawnshop is 25 feet by 40 feet and has three doors, two doors opening up onto Fordham Road and one door opening up onto Grand Concourse. Last month, he bought the adjacent store, which is 20 feet by 40 feet. Right now, that new space is empty. Mario is wondering whether to break down the dividing wall and make one large store or have two stores side by side and with one connecting door in between the two stores.

Mario has six employees. Jose, his brother-in-law, is one of his employees. Jose was involved in some ‘bad things’ earlier. Now, upon his wife’s request, Mario has hired Jose.

Times are tough. People pawn gold, silver, and diamond jewelry, watches, artwork, computers and other electronics, baseball cards, coins, stamps, and other collectibles, music instruments, guns; in short, anything that is worth selling is pawned at Mario’s pawnshop for ready cash. People need cash!!

Sometimes, people pay Mario back his money and interest and get back their valuables. But most time, they do not show up. After 90 days, Mario can sell the merchandise. But he usually waits up to 180 days, just in case someone turns up to get back their ‘stuff.’

Along with the pawn business, Mario buys old gold, silver and diamond jewelry, watches, etc. That is big business these days. He pays his customers cash for their old and broken bangles, rings, and other jewelry.

At the same time, Mario also sells new and used gold, silver and diamond jewelry, watches, and other electronic items. If people cannot afford to buy right away, he has a ‘lay away’ plan for them. Although he usually pays cash to people, he accepts credit and debit cards for people buying his merchandise. He does not accept checks!!

Customers are continuously coming in and going out of the pawnshop making it a very busy place. All the goods are kept in glass shelves in the store or in a safe in a small backroom. All records of all the goods (pawned, sold and bought) are kept in the backroom. The backroom has one door opening into the store. There is one computer at the back of the store (not the backroom) which Mario uses to do some basic operations and simple surveillance on the store. He has one camera facing the Grand Concourse door and one camera facing the Fordham Road door. He has one camera facing a portion of the glass shelves. He purchased these cameras almost 6 years ago. He does not know much about computers.

A1. Mario needs your help in compiling an information asset baseline and conducting a risk assessment for his pawnshop. Help him do it.

A2. Create a tailored information assurance framework (the security infrastructure) for Mario. Include all relevant components. Draw diagrams as relevant.