1. Discuss the general technology trends for information technology?

Information technology which is also known as IT, is a dynamic discipline and fastest growing industry. As time move a lot of changes seen in this sector. All these changes were used to improve the way we perform our daily activities. Technology plays a vast role in society these days and has developed in such a way that it is hard for society to live without it. This is because of technology made day to day life easier, not only for individuals but also for big companies complete large amount of work daily. Allowing them to perform there work faster and easier. Now days information technology is the backbone of every industries and individuals. As requirement increases we need changes in technologies. Some of the general trends in information technology are as followa. Information security b. Cloud computing c. Wireless networking d. Digital forensic e. E-commerce f. Outsourcing g. Social media h. Mobile apps a. Information securityInformation security is the collection of technologies, standards, policies and management practices that are applied on information to keep it secure. In today's high technology environment, organizations are more and more dependent on their information systems. Peoples are concerned about the proper use of information, particularly personal data. The threats to information systems from criminals and attackers (i.e. hackers) are increasing. While the term information security describes the act of ensuring that data will not lost when critical issues arise. These issues include but are not limited to; natural disasters, computer/server malfunction, physical theft, or any other instance where data has the potential of being lost. Because of informations are stored on computers, information assurance is typically dealt with by IT security specialists. Governments, military, corporations, financial institutions, hospitals, and private businesses amass a great deal of confidential information about their employees, customers, products, research and financial status. Most of this information is now collected, processed and stored on electronic computers and transmitted across networks to other computers. While data is transmitted across the network CIA triangle (confidentiality, integrity and availability) is one of the core principles of information security. Confidentiality Integrity Availability Confidently describes the protection of data from unauthorized disclosure. like information of credit/debit card during the online shopping should be confidential. Integrity ensures that data received are exactly same as sent by an authorized entity. No modification, insertion, deletion placed in between the transmission. Availability insuring timely and reliable access to use of information. Means information must be available when it required. Cryptography plays an important role in the whole process of information security. Cryptography is a technique in which information is encrypted using key (symmetric/assymetric) and sent to the receiver. Receiver receives the information then decrypts it using key before use it. b. Cloud computing- Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. It is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet.

cloud computing presents some very interesting features that make it attractive to businesses, especially from a cost perspective. The cloud offers software along with computing infrastructure and platforms on an elastic, pay-per-use model. This affords companies the luxury of only paying for what they use. Technology behemoths such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are just three of the companies that are jumping on the bandwagon offering cloud services. Cloud services include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). All of these are delivered over the Internet. In the cloud, customers only pay for the resources they actually use, just like the way we pay for our water and electricity. IaaS

With IaaS, organizations outsource their hardware needs to a service provider. This would include everyday hardware needs such as servers, storage, and the like. The associated costs for running and maintaining the hardware are paid by the provider. PaaS Programmers develop their software to function in specific computing environments (operating system, services, etc.). PaaS gives developers the ability to rent the environment (hardware, operating systems, storage, servers, e tc.) on an as-needed basis. PaaS provides excellent flexibility in that the operating system can be modified or upgraded frequently. SaaS In the cloud, SaaS provides applications on demand to customers over the Internet. These applications are hosted and maintained by the service provider.

c.

Wireless networking- Wireless technology has helped to simplify networking by enabling multiple computer users to simultaneously share resources in a home or business without additional or intrusive wiring. These resources might include a broadband Internet connection, network printers, data files, and even streaming audio and video. This kind of resource sharing has become more prevalent as computer users have changed their habits from using single, standalone computers to working on networks with multiple computers, each with potentially different operating systems and varying peripheral hardware. Wireless networks utilize radio waves and/or microwaves to maintain communication channels between computers. Wireless networking is a more modern alternative to wired networking that relies on copper and/or fiber optic cabling between network devices.

d.

Digital forensic-

The application of computer science and investigative procedures for a legal purpose involving the analysis of digital evidence after proper search authority, chain of custody, validation with mathematics, use of validated tools, repeatability, reporting, and possible expert presentation. Now days information technology plays an important role in our day to day life. We are dependent upon it for our daily needs also. Similarly it gave a platform to criminals to perform their activity digitally. Now days digital equipments are using in criminal activity (i.e. credit card fraud etc.). Digital forensics encompasses much more than just laptop and desktop computers. Mobile devices, networks, and cloud systems are very much within the scope of the discipline. It also includes the analysis of imag es, videos, and audio (in both analog and digital format). The focus of this kind of analysis is generally authenticity, comparison, and enhancement.

Digital forensics can be used in a variety of settings, including criminal investigations, civil litigation, intelligence, and administrative matters. Criminal investigation Civil litigation Inetelligence Administrative matters E-commerce Ecommerce (or electric commerce) refers to the buying and selling of goods and services via electronic channels, primarily the Internet. It is a type of industry where buying and selling of product or service is conducted over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce(m-commerce), electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices social media, and telephones as well. f. Outsourcing The changes shown above all lead to a discussion on out sourcing, this is when people are made redundant in a company and the same job is available to someone else most likely to be from abroad because it reduces costs for large companies. Out sourcing has become popular especially in IT job roles because of technology changes. Due to these changes IT jobs in general can be done anywhere in the world at any time. With all the facilities shown above it has made it a lot more easier to be able to employ people abroad as they can now program, discuss, have meetings from where ever they are working. According to a business reference website out sourcing has many benefits and will increase in the future, the website says "advantages of outsourcing is that its cost savings, the staff levels, focus, morale, flexibility, knowledge and accountability", with all these benefits its hard for business to turn away from this opportunity. I personally feel that due to these changes in the future IT will be a lot more flexible and out sourcing will be a very popular route in many companies. g. Social mediait refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange

e.

information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Social media is a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro blogging, social networks (Facebook, twitter etc.), photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. Now days social networks like Facebook, twitters are used widely. It takes place in our day to day life. Maximum youths cant leave a single day without using Facebook. Even these networking sites also gives highly paid job to their employees to make it much better. h. Mobile apps- as smartphones becomes the part of our daily life, a new technology trend become popular. This is the trend of mobile apps. These apps are become more popular because these are able to solve our daily problems, can entertain us, can direct us regarding location etc. for example gps apps can inform us about our geographical locations and also guide us in finding shortest way while in traffic. So mobile apps become a new and very useful trend in our daily life.