Architecture of Combined e-Learning Environment and Investigation of Secure Access and Privacy Protection

Abstract

The contemporary digital world based on network communications, globalization and information sharing outlines new important targets in the area of privacy and personal data protection which reflect to applied principles of secure access to proposed information structures. In this reason the aim of secure access to all resources of an e-learning environment is very important and adequate technological and organizational measures for authentication, authorization and protection of personal data must be applied. Strong security procedures should be proposed to protect user's profiles, designed after successful registration and all personal information collected by educational processes. The goal of this article is to present an idea to combine traditional e-learning technologies with new opportunities that give mobile applications, cloud services and social computing. These technologies can endanger data security since they make possible remote access to resources, sharing information between participants by network communications. In order to avoid data vulnerabilities users must be identified and authenticated before, i.e. to be allowed to access information resources otherwise integrity and confidentiality of e-learning system could be destroyed. In order to propose solution basic principles of information security and privacy protection in e-learning processes are discussed in this article. As a result, an organizational scheme of a system for information security and privacy is proposed. Based on these principles a graph formalization of access to the system resources is made and architecture for combined (heterogenic) e-learning architecture with secure access to the resources is designed. Analytical investigation based on designed Markov chain has been carried out and several statistical assessments delivered by Develve software are discussed.