"A much-needed service for society today. I hope this book reaches information managers in the organization now vulnerable to hacks that are stealing corporate information and even holding it hostage for ransom." - Ronald W. Hull, author, poet, and former professor and university administrator A comprehensive entity security program deploys information asset protection through stratified technological and non-technological controls. Controls are necessary for counteracting threats, opportunities, and vulnerabilities risks in a manner that reduces potential adverse effects to defined, acceptable levels. This book presents a methodological approach in the context of normative decision theory constructs and concepts with appropriate reference to standards and the respective guidelines. Normative decision theory attempts to establish a rational framework for choosing between alternative courses of action when the outcomes resulting from the selection are uncertain. Through the methodological application, decision theory techniques can provide objectives determination, interaction assessments, performance estimates, and organizational analysis. A normative model prescribes what should exist according to an assumption or rule.

Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming should be required reading for any serious student of the issue of climate change. Edited and introduced by iconoclastic climatologist Patrick J. Michaels, Shattered Consensus demonstrates the remarkable disparities between so-called consensus documents on global warming, such as the reports of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and climate reality. Shattered Consensus consists of nine expert essays on global warming, covering the earth's temperature history and disparities between what has been predicted about climate change and what has actually been observed. The reader will discover substantial disconnections and new information not generally discussed in mainstream reports about climate science. For example, the oft-quoted statement that recent years are the warmest of the last millennium is now in serious doubt. Temperature changes observed through the atmosphere (not just at the surface) are clearly different than what has been projected to occur. Disparities between observed precipitation and the simulations of computer models can be several hundred percent. Shattered Consensus will surely shatter commonly-held opinions about global warming and leave the reader with serious questions about whether or not policies to "fight" climate change are warranted at all.