FINALS ASSIGNMENTS (ITC-44 / Software Engineering)

Submission: Friday / 03-08-19)

Computerized / Arial Narrow / 11 pt / Single Spacing / 1x1 invisible margin /

Assignment #1 (Covers Chapters 9, 10, and 11)

1. Explain why problems with support software might mean that an organization has to replace its
legacy systems.
2. Do software engineers have a professional responsibility to produce code that can be
maintained and changed even if this is not explicitly requested by their employer?
3. Explain why legacy systems may be critical to the operation of a business.
4. Reliability and safety are related but distinct dependability attributes. Describe the most
important distinction between these attributes and explain why it is possible for a reliable
system to be unsafe and vice versa.

Assignment #2 (Covers Chapters 12, 13, 14, and 15)

1. Explain why there is a need for both preliminary security risk assessment and life-cycle security
risk assessment during the development of a system.
2. You are responsible for the design of a communications switch that has to provide 24/7
availability, but which is not safety-critical. Giving reasons for your answer, suggest an
architectural style that might be used for this system.
3. What is social engineering? Why is it difficult to protect against it in large organizations?
4. Assume you were part of a team that developed software for a chemical plant, which failed,
causing a serious pollution incident. Your boss is interviewed on television and states that the
validation process is comprehensive and that there are no faults in the software. She asserts
that the problems must be due to poor operational procedures. A newspaper approaches you
for your opinion. Discuss how you should handle such an interview.
Vila, Lorenz Christopher Freud M.
501G – ITC44

Assignment #1

1. Explain why problems with support software might mean that an organization has to replace its legacy
systems.
- New supports systems that are created cannot be read or understood by the legacy systems’ languages. It
may not operate properly if the legacy system is not replaced and the support software will not be of any use
so the program itself will be unusable.

2. Do software engineers have a professional responsibility to produce code that can be maintained and
changed even if this is not explicitly requested by their employer?
- Yes, because software engineers create a project or software for that company only so the company is
entitled to the software itself. It may depend on the contract itself but most companies put their own names
to the software created as a part of the job.
3. Explain why legacy systems may be critical to the operation of a business.
- Legacy systems is critical to the operation of business because they are outdated and may be the reason
for the program itself to malfunction, other support software aren’t capable of translating legacy codes and
might not be able to produce usable output.
4. Reliability and safety are related but distinct dependability attributes. Describe the most important distinction
between these attributes and explain why it is possible for a reliable system to be unsafe and vice versa.
- A reliable software may not be unsafe because its’ security may be easily compromised and render all the
output unusable due to its negligence. Some people may be able to change the output and therefore there
is human intervention so information will be different than what the original output will be.
- A safe system may not be reliable since anything can be compromised it’s just a matter of time when and
how it will be hacked.
Vila, Lorenz Christopher Freud M.
501G – ITC44

Assignment #2

1. Explain why there is a need for both preliminary security risk assessment and life-cycle security risk
assessment during the development of a system.
- Preliminary Risk assessment is needed in order to gain security DURING development of the system while
the life-cycle risk assessment is to assess whether the product needs update for security every time-cycle.
2. You are responsible for the design of a communications switch that has to provide 24/7 availability, but
which is not safety-critical. Giving reasons for your answer, suggest an architectural style that might be used
for this system.
- Multi-layered architecture style would be my preference since you can use any layer all the time while some
layers are being fixed and updated, it can’t be compromised since there are different security with every
layer.
3. What is social engineering? Why is it difficult to protect against it in large organizations?
- Social engineering is using people to protect ideas or information. Large organizations can put out huge
sums of money in order to get information that will be of use to them so other people are baited to give out
that information.
4. Assume you were part of a team that developed software for a chemical plant, which failed, causing a
serious pollution incident. Your boss is interviewed on television and states that the validation process is
comprehensive and that there are no faults in the software. She asserts that the problems must be due to
poor operational procedures. A newspaper approaches you for your opinion. Discuss how you should
handle such an interview.
- I would not give out any interview since any misleading words might create a lawsuit that will cost me and
my colleagues life and work.