Course Project Part 4: The PowerPoint Presentation Guidelines For the last part of the project, make a PowerPoint presentation for the Final Project. Please include at least five references in the sli

Final Project: Implementing Data Masking the Coca-Cola Company

DeVry Keller Graduate School of Management

MIS

540

Dr. Evan Escobedo

June 23, 2019

Executive summary

            This paper elaborates on data masking as one of the techniques used by corporations to protect their data from access by malicious entities. The technique is described as attempts to obfuscate the data by applying a series of encryption processes so that one cannot easily decrypt the data unless they have special pass codes enabling them to do so. This process will be implemented by The Coca-Cola Company to prevent data insecurity that is a challenge in the online world we are living in. 

            To make sure that the implementation works, there must be a proper working project plan. The project plan outlines the various stakeholders for the project including; the project steering committee, project sponsor, project leader, and others with their roles clearly stated. There are qualities that must be possessed by the project manager for them to lead a successful project from beginning to end within the cost and time frame. A successful implementation of the data masking project by The Coca-Cola Company will help them in improving their decision making. Additionally, the implemented solution will lead to new business innovations. This is because, when the company’s information will be utterly protected, it will not be used by competing companies or other malicious individuals for their own gains (Dhar et al., 2005). As a result, The Coca-Cola Company will be able to use their private data for market analysis and hence come up with innovative ideas that have not been discovered by competitors in the market. This shows that data masking will indeed go a long way in ensuring The Coca-Cola Company gets greater advantage in the long run as far as competitiveness in the market is concerned. 

Introduction

            The purpose of this report is to show how our selected technology will be implemented effectively in our selected company so that it guarantees maximum success and becomes an effective tool for data security. As we already know, our selected company is The Coca-Cola Company and our selected technology is data masking which is mainly aimed at protecting the company’s data against malicious cyber security attempts.  Data masking is one of the effective technologies applied by large companies in the corporate world to help them protect their data. It usually comprises of processes meant to obfuscate data by hiding the data and modifying its content by a process that will create a series of decryption processes for one to get access to the data. The whole paper will be revolving around how the technology will be implemented by The Coca-Cola Company.

            The various parts that will make the paper include the overall project plan which mainly discusses elements such as the number of individuals who will be involved in the project implementation. These individuals will be identified briefly and their roles in the project outlined. Another section under this will elaborate on the skills that the project manager will need and the potential reasons that will lead to project failure. Going forward, the organizational background will be outlined. In this section, the company’s overview and its history are explained. Other sections that are succinctly explained include business problems and opportunities, overview in regard to the data masking technology, overview of the technology solution category that data masking falls to, alternative recommendations and solutions, performance measurement plan, and the organizational impact that the technology has  brought with it concluding with a summary of major findings.

Project plan

            For the project to be implemented in a successful manner, a clear project plan must be in place. Project planning helps in the identification of the major stakeholders in the project, outlining their specific role in ensuring the whole process becomes a success after the end of the speculated period. The project members that will be on board will be the project sponsor (in this case the Coca-Cola Company management), the project manager, project team members, project steering committee and the company’s executive team.

Project sponsor

            This is the projects financer and is tasked with the role of providing the necessary finances that will be required in the whole project process. In case of any shortages, they must be told in advance so that they can find means of processing channeling of finances to the project. However, the project sponsor must be careful not to waste resources just because they are needed by the project team.

Steering committee

            The steering committee makes sure that the whole process is running smoothly and ensure that the finances channeled to the project and the time allocated are being utilized in the right manner. Again, they are responsible for pointing out the major parts of concern during the project implementation so that corrections can be made prior.

Project manager

            The project manager oversees the project team and he or she assigns duties to each project member and follows to see that their role is being carried out in an effective manner. They are the leader in charge of the project implementation and must make sure that project deliverables are attained at the specified times.

Project team members

            Project team members involve a wide scope of individuals with different skills and knowledge from diverse specializations. This category will bring on board people such as the network administrator, data analyst, cyber security specialist and resource manager among other specialists. Their main tasks revolve around their expertise and they report directly to the project manager. 

Skills required by the project manager

            In order to carry out the project from start to end successfully within the time frame and the cost allocated, a project manager must possess a number of skills. First, the project manager must possess excellent communication skills because through this they will be able to control the project team effectively as well as report project details concisely to the executive team and the project steering committee. Second, the project manager must have good team management skills because through this they will be able to lead the team well and ensure that there are no conflicts among the various project teams. Third, they must possess the essential skill of personal organization. If the project manager themselves is organized, it becomes easy to organize and manage all project team members. Finally, they must possess the overall skill of excellent leadership. A good leader can guarantee project success because of the various skills that are embedded in them.

Reasons that could lead to project failure

            In the course of the project, all the stakeholders must be careful to ensure that the project becomes a success. There are various reasons that lead to project failure. First, the project can fail if there is inadequate cooperation among the various project team members. Cooperation among the various stakeholders is essential for the purpose of information sharing as far as the project process is concerned. Second, the project can fail if the project steering committee does not make sure that project team members follow the outlined formal methods and procedures. If the project activities are just carried out any which way with no direction, the project may fail in the process. Third, the project may fail if one or several of the key project stakeholders leave in the middle of project implementation. Fourth, the project may fail due to ineffective leadership from the top management stakeholders. Poor leadership can be in terms of poor personnel management or poor resource management among other issues (Saleh & Hu, 2016).

Planned work that might be outsourced

            During the project implementation, there are various services that may need to be outsourced. For the Coca-Cola Company, the planned service that we will outsource will be data storage facilities from companies that provide cloud storage services. We will outsource data storage facilities to Oracle cloud servers.

            Throughout the project implementation, we will make sue of the waterfall system development methodology. It is a stepwise methodology that involves finishing one stage of the project completely before going to the subsequent stage. In the data masking project, The Coca-Cola Company, waterfall methodology will be applied in dividing the processes of the project such as data finding, situation assessment, masking implementation, among others into processes that should be completed sequentially. This methodology was selected because of its simple sequential manner that ensures that prior processes are succinctly addressed before the proceeding ones are started.

Coca-Cola Company organizational background

            The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered here in the United States in the city of Atlanta, Georgia but incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. The company deals in the manufacture and sale of concentrate for a carbonated beverage that has its content sweetened by mixing it with other ingredients. The company widely known thanks to its flagship product Coca-Cola that came to be in 1886 when it was invented by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta. In 1889, the company was bought by Asa Griggs Candler for a total of $2,300 and who incorporated the company in 1892 in Atlanta. The Coca-Cola Company history indicates that the product, Coca-Cola, was first sold as a medicinal tonic by the original founder before it was advanced and sold as a carbonated beverage drink. The name of the product was derived by the two constituent elements that made it (coca leaves and kola nuts).

Business problems for Coca-Cola Company

            Security of data is one of the major problems that individuals and corporations face in the modern technological era. Just like any other company in the contemporary technological world, Coca-Cola faces challenges in protecting the company’s and client data from unauthorized access and manipulation by malicious persons. In this informational era, attempts by cyber criminals to get access to company data has been on a constant rise and this is the reason behind Coca-Cola’s effort to protect its data. This was after the company experienced a massive breach in its databases leading to their client’s information being accessed by unauthorized individuals. As a result of the security breach, the company experienced a drop in its stock in the last quarter of the financial year and in the process suffered massive losses that amounted to millions. The main problem that lies ahead for Coca-Cola is to carry out a successful project on data masking so that they can guarantee the security of the company’s data against unauthorized access.

Overview of technology solution category

            The Coca-Cola Company succeed in its attempt to protect the company’s data if it can successfully integrate several data-securing technologies. An example of data protection technology that the company can apply is data masking which is an advanced way through which a company can protect its data by using a 12-digit passcode that has data masked on it. A malicious individual will be forced to enter the 12-digit passcode for them to have access into the data for any purpose. This protects the company’s data from unauthorized access either internally or externally by individuals who are not authorized. The other method that the company can apply is data encryption to ensure that data through their communication channels or over the shared internet cannot be tapped by unauthorized personnel. Again, the company can make use of resilient database facilities, like outsourcing the services of cloud data storage facilities provided by recognized companies like Oracle or Microsoft (Chen & Zhao, 2012).

            With the collection of data protection technologies, Coca-Cola can be sure that the data insecurity issue has been done away with and hence dedicate its resources that were meant for data security to other critical components of the company daily operations. Based on their problem, I believe the above-mentioned data protection techniques can help the company achieve a long-lasting solution ensuring that the company’s stock can be maintained at its previous status.

            Data masking ensures business innovation is attained by the companies that practice it. Information Technology (IT) leaders know that data is the essential element that enables the creation of data-driven applications giving the company a better competitive advantage. This is the reason behind the heavy investments aimed at protecting the corporation’s data. Each day, the security of data across its channels within and from the organization to the outside world, is always protected to ensure that its privacy and security is not compromised.

            Protection of client data against unnecessary intrusion from unauthorized individuals is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for any company. The Coca-Cola Company can demonstrate CSR with the implementation of data masking technology that is aimed at protecting the company’s and client data. CSR can be demonstrated by having the company encourage the efforts of innovative individuals in the society who may have brilliant ideas on how the protection of client and company data can be done effectively through data masking or any other data protection techniques.

Alternative solutions and recommendations

            The solutions to data security beside data masking (encryption) include data erasure and copy data management (backups). All the methods are aimed at protecting the company’s data from loss or access by unauthorized persons. The data security technology that I recommend being used by The Coca-Cola Company is data erasure. This is an effective software-based method that is used to overwrite data in hard disks and other digital media and hence destroying the data located in these devices. The method is accomplishing a simple procedure where binary numbers (zeros and ones) are used to replace data in all the sectors of the electronic device. Data erasure is done by a number of products but in our case, we are only going to touch on two products. The products are Blancco Drive Eraser and WipeDrive

Blancco Drive Eraser

            Blancco Data Eraser provides a certified data erasure process that has helped organizations get rid of data in their storage devices. The technology works regardless of the underlying technology the client company is using in a cost effective, reliable, secure and environmentally friendly way. This ensures that the company data is permanently erased from the servers, desktops, laptops and drives and this makes it hard for malicious person to get access to it and use it in a manner that could affect the company in terms of revenue creation and most of all its public reputation.

            When performing data erasure with Blancco, each erasure is accompanied by a tamper-proof Certificate of Erasure to show that indeed the erasure is certified and verified, and it is complying with the local, national and international regulations of data protection.

Technical specifications for Blancco Drive Eraser

·         Remote or local erasure of data through the Blancco Management Console

·         Fast and simultaneous erasure of data from multiple drives

·         RAID dismantling and access of underlying physical drives directly

·         SSD detection and Secure erasure of data with the SSD method that is patented

·         Automating unlocking after detection of freeze locked drives

·         Compliance with the wide list of global erasure standards including NIST, HMG/CESG and DoD among others.

·         Support for commands for internal erasure including the common erasure using cryptographic technology, etc.

There are several benefits that a company derives when erasing data using Blancco’s Disk Erasure Software: they are;

·         Solid-state drive (SSD) erasure that is patented (Patent No. 9286231).

·         Erasure of the data permanently from SSDS and HDDs simultaneously.

·         Automation of the hard drive erasure process to get rid of the BIOS freeze locks.

·         Deployment that is local and remote

·         Identifies false positives when carrying out internal processes of data erasure

·         Provision of a digitally signed Certificate of Erasure that puts the company at par with auditing and compliance.

·         Automatic detection, notification and erasing of areas that were hidden (DCO, HPA) as well as sectors that were remapped.

·         Compliance with the state, federal and international regulations and guidelines of data privacy and security. 

WipeDrive

            WipeDrive is also one of the best globally used hard drive wiping software. The technology ensures that an individual’s or organization’s data is completely erased and unrecoverable by even the most sophisticated technologies available. WipeDrive uses military-grade technology for wiping data that is able to overwrite the existing data in a drive a number of times using the Department of Defense (DoD) approved patterns of wiping making sure that the data cannot be recovered by any means available.

When to use WipeDrive

·         Any situation where one wants to completely erase data from their storage facilities including the operating system, data and programs

·         When one needs to sell or donate their computer, WipeDrive can be of great help in completely and safely wiping the persons data

·         When a computer is virus infected WipeDrive can help remove the viruses, malware and other computer infections

·         When one wants to re-use their computer for another person or purpose, the technology will help in erasing data, programs and the operating system so that the person can start over again

Before one can chose to use WipeDrive to carry out data erasure from their computers, they are advised to note that there is no way they can recover the data after the erasure process has been completed. As a result, they are advised to back up any data that they feel they may want in the future or else they will have to lose it forever.

Comparing the two products; Blancco and WipeDrive, in terms of their similarities and differences, it is apparent that the two products have more similarities than differences. Both products guarantee a certified erasure reporting. Again, they all have the basic feature of RAID dismantling and access of underlying physical drives directly. Most importantly is that both products comply with state, federal and global standards including NIST, HMG/CESG and DoD among others. Their major difference lies on the fact that Blancco is the most comprehensive and trusted software tool for erasing data available in the market.

If asked to choose between the above two data erasure software products, Blancco would be the preferable choice. The features that it has will be a better solution that can be applied by an individual or a corporate organization in its data erasure needs.

Performance Measurement plan

After implementation of the data masking technology to ensure security of client and company data from unauthorized access and manipulation, it is also important to understand how the solution is performing to achieve its desired outcomes. An elaborate plan of how the success of the solution is measured must be developed by a company. For Coca-Cola, this is the plan that will be utilized to measure the performance of the strategy in protecting client data.

• Step 1: Involve the important stakeholders to the company to take their views concerning the state of data security

• Step 2: bring other stakeholders to get their views too

• Step 3: Compare the success of the company in terms of data security in relation to the past

• Step 4: Contrast the company with other companies based on data security

As already hinted by the performance measurement plan, the data for measuring the success of the solution will be mainly from the company stakeholders. The data therefore will be collected using methods such as interview, questionnaires, and observation among other methods.

The metrics that we will use as the Key Performance Indicators to measure the success of the data masking solution will be Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and the difference in the MTBF. The above KPIs are selected because of their applicability especially in detecting the mean of failures in the solution and hence determining if it is good or bad.

Organizational Impact of the solution

            It is with no doubt that the intended solution in data protection will have an impact for Coca-Cola. The integration of the technology will call for change in organizational structure, especially in the IT department. Specialists who have skills in data masking will have to be added to the IT team and their presence will be dully felt in the whole organization.

            Another impact that will be brought by the technology is improvement and support of decision making in the whole organization. With the company’s information protected against malicious persons, the company can be sure that its information asset can be fully utilized in making critical decisions that affect the business in a positive manner. Protected company information helps the company make decisions that ensures their continued competitiveness in the market. In the recent data-driven decision making, company’s data remain one of the corporate assets that should be guarded by any means. A method of data protection such as data masking that Coca-Cola would implement will help secure this corporate asset that will help them make critical decisions concerning the business, decisions that ensure they continue being one of the largest global companies

In addition to data protection, business intelligence (BI) can be of help in support or improve decision making by the management of Coca-Cola. Through BI, the company can collect market information and do analysis on it to aid on its important decisions.

Summary

            Data security is a critical aspect for any corporation that wants to survive in a competitive business environment. There are various data protection tools including data masking, back up plans and data erasure that a company can use when trying to protect its data from unauthorized access and manipulation. Data masking is what Coca-Cola will be implementing to help curb the increased threat posed on its client data. To make sure that the project becomes a success, it is important for the stakeholders to be known and their roles in the project understood. Again, a project manager must possess a given set of qualities including leadership skills for them to steer a successful project. Protecting company’s data aids in supporting or improving the overall decision making by the company management team.

References

Chen, D., & Zhao, H. (2012, March). Data security and privacy protection issues in cloud computing. In 2012 International Conference on Computer Science and Electronics Engineering(Vol. 1, pp. 647-651). IEEE.

Dhar, T., Chavas, J. P., Cotterill, R. W., & Gould, B. W. (2005). An Econometric Analysis of Brand‐Level Strategic Pricing Between Coca‐Cola Company and PepsiCo. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 14(4), 905-931.

Saleh H. G A., & Hu, W. (2016). Dark side of leadership impact on project failure: towards a model. Innovation and management.