Design and Implementation of Network Activity Monitoring System (A Case Study of Anambra State Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS)
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
This project targets discovering what should be done to improve the existing system, monitoring the daily activities of every user in a network and using it to provide evidence of frauds or crimes committed using computer technology which some people refer to as digital crime; that is crime committed using a computer system.
The objective of this work is to develop a system that should be able to;
- Monitor the daily activities of every user in a network in real time
- Detect active users.
- Provide accurate evidence on corporate fraud when investigation is being carried out in an
- Has good memory management for efficient carrying out of activities
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
COMPUTER NETWORK
A computer network can be defined as a grouping or interconnection of different computer on a single platform for information exchange among various nodes (clients) or independent functioning computers or workstations (Agbasi, 2012). In a technology context, network is usually short for “computer network” or “data network” and implies that computers are the things sharing the meaningful information. At a conceptual level, all data networks consist of nodes, which refer to any computer or digital device using the network and links, the physical connections that carry messages between nodes (Zhirkov, 2004).
Computer networks can also be said to be a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information. Where at least one process in one device is able to send/receive data to/from at least one process residing in a remote device, then the two devices are said to be in a network.Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics such as the medium used to transport the data, communications protocol used, and topology, their roles and responsibilities and geographical area.
MEDIUM USED TO TRANSPORT DATA
Transmission media is a medium through which data can be transmitted over a long distances. The speed or rate at which data is transmitted over a communication channel is denoted by a parameter called bandwidth. The various transmission media are two wire open lines, twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fibres, and all the transmission media listed above uses guided media. It isalso possible to transmit information into free space, using a high frequency electromagnetic wave. Electromagnetic waves in the frequency range of 500MHz and above are known as microwaves. Some of the unguided transmission media (wireless) are Geo-stationary satellites, light-of-sight microwave, radio waves and infrared.
PROTOCOLS
Communications protocols define the rules and data formats for exchanging information in a computer network, and provide the basis for network programming. Well-known communications protocols are Ethernet, a hardware and link layer standard that is ubiquitous in local area networks, and the internet protocol suite, which defines a set of protocols for internetworking, i.e. for data communication between multiple networks, as well as host-to-host data transfer, and application-specific data transmission formats.
TOPOLOGY
Topology is geometrical arrangements of nodes. Nodesrefer to various computer resources and communication devices. The following are different classes of network based on the topological structure.
Bus network: In a bus network, all nodes are connected to a single communication channel called bus. It is also referred as a time-shared bus.
Star network: In a start network, each node is connected by means of a dedicated point-to-point channel to a central node called server that act as a switch.
Ring network: Nodes in a ring network are connected in the form of a closed loop.
Mesh network: In a mesh network, each pair of nodes is connected by means of an exclusive point-to-point link.
Tree network: A tree network is another form of a bus. Several nodes are connected into a hierarchical form.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
System analysis is the study of a system, with the view to determine the bottlenecks and desired end product and establish the most efficient method of
obtaining this end (American Heritage Dictionary, 2003). It is the analysis of the requirements of a task, and expression of these tasks in a form that enables a computer to perform the task. System analysis also refers to the process through which an existing system is examined with the intent of improving it, or creating a new system, through better procedures and methods (Schach, 1996).
METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
Before the design of the proposed system, the basic problems and weaknesses confronting the present system were identified and defined in other to get the needed requirements of the proposed input/output specifications in line with what the automated proposed system would achieve.
The method used in data collection during the course of finding the feasibility of the new system includes;
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
OVERVIEW OF THE DESIGN
The major objective of this research work is to design and implement a network activity monitoring system which will monitor the daily real time activities of every client system on a local area network.
The network activity monitoring software designed uses screen capturing in taking its activity logs, and these capturing consumes less memory, which makes the software memory efficient and the system able to contain as much logs a possible depending on the working hour without affecting other operations been carried out on the network.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
SUMMARY
The topic of this work was reviewed in chapter one with the view of solving the problems encountered in the Ministry of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Anambra state. During the course of the research, the present system was analysed in other to detect the bottlenecks using Structured System Analysis and Design Methodology. Object oriented analysis and design methodology was found sufficient and efficient in the design of the proposed system.
REVIEW OF ACHIEVEMENTS
The activity monitoring system was tested and found to achieve the following: It monitored the daily activities of the clients.
Has a great impact on memory management of the server. Detected active users.
Provided accurate evidence on corporate fraud when investigation is being carried out in an organization with regards to date and time.
Captured and saved screen shots of every user’s daily activities.
SUGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
The developed system can be integrated to monitor micro-programs that can run within the system without actually displaying on the computer screen, or another activity monitoring system that can make use of other means of monitoring the activities on the network apart from screen-capturing can be developed so as to enable monitoring not only the activities that can be displayed on the computer screen but also the ones that can run within the system without actually displaying it on the computer screen.
AREAS OF APPLICATION
The activity monitoring system can be applied in so many areas where there is need to monitor the clients in a network. Financial institution, private and public sector and so on can benefit from using the software, but with further enhancement it can be used in global organization like the internet service providers, bank etc.
CONCLUSION
Today, computing system which consists of a broad range of processors, communication network and information repositories are vital to the operations of many sectors in our society, from financial and manufacturing to education and health care.
Network activity monitoring system is a desktop based application, developed to assist organization and institution in monitoring the activities running in their network domain to decrease financial fraud, improve the staff productivity and improve confidentiality of data.
With activity monitoring system as a powerful tool for monitoring activities and hidden data in activity logs, all data and files can be capture and kept securely over the server without tipping of attackers.
The view of this work has shown that monitoring the activities on a network system is efficient because there may not be room for any lapses in delay time in identifying what might have probably gone wrong assuming a problem arises. However implementation of the proposed system will improve the company’s performance in relation to accessing the activity logs. With the necessity of information flow in a network, putting a monitoring mechanism (wired or wireless) in place will go a long way in checkmating hacker authentications into networks.
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