CS625 Final Term Past Papers

Introduction to Software Safety Liability & Practice:

O We will explore areas of legal liability and mechanisms for regulating potentially hazardous activities as well as the factors which should be taken into account for safety related applications

Regulatory lssues: O Nowadays, computer-controlled systems are to be found in a wide range of diverse applications Such as:

Standards: CS625 Professional Practices

FINAL TERM (WEEK 9-16)

(vURANK)

Industry: Manufacturing systems, robots etc.

Medicine: Intensive care monitoring, radiotherapy etc.

Transport: Railway signaling systems, aircraft, space shuttle etc.

Military and defense applications

Certification and licensing: Use of appropriate standards is both a familiar and traditional technique for regulating hazardous activities and attempting to ensure the safety of a product

Certification requires that either the product or the practitioner conforms to some specified standard whereas licensing means that the product cannot go on the market at all, or the practitioner operate, unless the product is licensed or the practitioner in possession of the requisite license

Professional codes of practice:

Regulation by law: Professional and trade associations should devise codes of practice to govern their members

The law may exert a regulatory effect either directly or by requiring compliance with other forms of regulation such as standards and licensing because of fears of litigation if safety standards are breached Legal Liability:

System designers and software engineers may have legal responsibilities under statutes such as the Health and Safety

Product liability and the Consumer Protection Act 1987 Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and retailers are held responsible for any injuries products cause.

Regardless of any contractual limitations of liability, if a product or any of its component parts are defective its manufacturer may be liable for damage under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) or the common law of negligence Negligence The manufacturer or system designer has failed to take due care in the construction or design of the system, and this lack of care has resulted in failure leading to the injury

Competence, training and experience:

D Competence means "knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge"

O There is an understood assumption that all those engaged in the design and development of safety system software are competent to perform the necessary tasks O Factors such as training and relevant experience are also considered important traits fora competent software engineer

Factors affecting system safety: O Hazard analysis

O Requirements and specification

O System Reliability and safety

D Design

O Testing and debugging

O Safety integrity analysis and risk assessment ODocumentation

(END OF WEEK 9) Computer Misuse & Criminal Law:

The media and popular computing press abound with tales of multi-million pound computer frauds and of the dangers to commercial companies, governmental data banks, financial institutions and national security from the activities of computer hackers

Computing and criminal activity:

Modern business process is done through utilizing computer software and hardware, i.e. some form of computer system is used in it.

O There has been a sharp rise in the number of crimes involving computing; and the Internet has undoubtedly created new security risks

Categories of misuse: (WEEK # 10)

Under the study of the English criminal law, the Law Commission highlighted a number of categories of misuse of computers

O Computer fraud

OUnauthorized obtaining of information from a computer

Computer hacking Eavesdropping on a computer

Making unauthorized use of computers for personal benefit

O Unauthorized alteration or destruction of information stored on a computer

O Denying access to an authorized user

O The unauthorized removal of information stored on a computer