Utilizing the HCCC Library databases Westlaw, LexisNexis, Gale Virtual Library research a current case involving one of the types of “Computer Crimes”
Imagine visiting overseas, where you win the local lottery and can buy any foreign car you wish and will pay full retail price using the local currency, payable in three months. You have determined that you have enough cash at your bank in New York City, which pays 0.35 percent interest per month, compounding monthly, to pay for the car. There are two ways to pay for your car: Keep the funds at your bank in the United States and buy a forward contract to pay for the car. Buy a certain currency amount spot today and invest the amount in the foreign bank for three months so that the maturity value becomes equal to the price of the car. Analyze the two alternatives presented and make a recommendation on purchasing the car. How could this purchase opportunity be considered arbitrage? Be sure to provide calculations for your recommendation showing the best alternative. What are the advantages of the alternative that you have selected?
Outline how you would implement capital budgeting in your cosmetic company. Prepare an example of a decision that you would make using either the IRR or Payback method of analysis. Why would you use this for your cosmetic business?
Dividend policy review:
a. Provide an overview of Netflix’s dividend policy of the last 5 years (2015 until 2019). When and why did Netflix:
i. pay a cash dividend?
ii. perform a share repurchase?
iii. perform a stock split?
iv. perform a reverse stock split?
b. Can you find any evidence for the presence of a clientele effect? What would even
constitute evidence in this case?
c. Does Netflix engage in a so-called “high dividend policy”? Why or why not? Which
evidence do you find?
d. Do you see any evidence that Netflix acts upon shareholder pressure? Which evidence
can you present?
2.) Risk review:
a. Calculate Netflix’s CAPM beta coefficient and provide an interpretation
b. Compare Netflix’s CAPM efficient to the beta of its main competitor and explain in
detail:
i. how you calculated Netflix’s beta,
ii. which input parameters you used,
iii. the data of which period you processed (Hint: you need not stick to 5 years here!),
and
iv. how you selected the main competitor (Note: you need not calculate the beta of the
main competitor as well – you may look it up)
v. Which of the 2 firms is the riskier investment in your opinion? Why?
3.) Portfolio theory:
Imagine a portfolio consisting of any full percentage (0% – 100%) of Netflix stock (NFLX) and any full percentage of fellow NASDAQ listed firm Wynn Resorts (WYNN). This means you could have a “portfolio” consisting only of Netflix stocks, only of Wynn Resort stocks or any mix in between.
a. Calculate and interpret the average returns of Netflix and Wynn Resort stocks individually using stock price data from the last 5 years.
b. Calculate and interpret the standard deviations of Netflix and Wynn Resort stocks returns
individually using stock price data from the last 5 years.
c. Plot all possible portfolios resulting from the combinations of the stocks of Netflix and
Wynn Resorts in a risk-return diagram. Indicate the minimum variance portfolio (MV), the
opportunity set (a.k.a. the feasible set), the efficient frontier as well as the inefficient
frontier (a.k.a. the “idiot curve”).
d. Imagine you could only use stock price data from the last 4 months (starting November
2019). How and why would your risk-return diagram change?
The Next Wave of Mobile Banking Threats Is Already Here
Mobile banking threats have been recently making an impact, both at the regional as well as
global levels. EventBot, the newly identified Android banking trojan, can be considered as a
forward leap in the evolution of mobile banking trojans. EventBot abuses Android’s
accessibility feature to access and steal valuable user information and system information. It
can also intercept SMS messages and bypass two-factor authentication mechanisms. But that
is not the only capability that makes it unique. It targets more than 200 different financial
applications like PayPal, Coinbase, Barclays, Santander UK, HSBC UK and many more., that
are commonly used in countries like the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France,
Germany, Ireland, India, Austria, Australia, and Poland.
EventBot developers seem to be actively involved in its development, as there were four
different versions identified, each version bringing in new functionalities and obfuscation
techniques. This makes researchers believe that EventBot could become the next big mobile
threat. Besides the global threats like EventBot, a large number of mobile threats have been
recently observed, that are actively targeting financial institutions within a specific region.
In April 2020, the Mandrake Spyware was observed targeting Mobile banking users in
Australia, targeting Android-based applications from financial organizations like ANZ
Australia, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank of Melbourne Mobile Banking, Bank of
SA, Australian Super, and PayPal. In March 2020, an Android banking Trojan dubbed Geost
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was found targeting Russian banks, with the victim count at over 800,000 users. In February
2020, the infamous Ginp Banker Trojan was observed targeting users in Spain. It was equipped
with a highly unconventional function of inserting fake text messages into the Inbox of a
regular SMS app, along with the capability to intercept and send SMS to bypass One-TimePassword OTP based authentication.In order to prevent it, avoid downloading apps unknown
source and download apps only from the official app stores like Google Play. Pay attention to
permissions requested by apps, genuine apps should not be asking for access to SMS. Users
should also use a genuine anti-malware solution for mobile, and also keep an eye on the
changes in their devices, such as the decreased performance or battery life, which may indicate
malicious behaviour.
– taken from Cyware Social (May, 2020)
Question 1
Based on the article above, discuss in detail the potential repercussion of the attack towards ecommerce customer worldwide
