Tough CR: Need explanation

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Tough CR: Need explanation

by tanvis1120 » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:49 am
In order to keep the competitive edge gained by our extensive research and innovative methods, information security must remain a high priority for our company. The information stored on our networks including everything from research data, to training materials, to company memos - could potentially be very valuable to competitors and foreign governments alike. All employees must work to protect company information, not only through passwords and data encryption, but also through the physical control of company assets, such as laptops.
If all of the above statements are true, which of the following statements can be most directly inferred?

A. Passwords are often inadequate forms of security, leading to the need for "physical control" over data storage objects such as laptops.
B. Employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow company employees.
C. Company information carries a high monetary value, making the network attractive to hackers.
D. The company is willing to go to great expense to protect its information.
E. Employees must attend classes to learn to use the latest security software.

I do not know the OA. It is different in different forums. According to me it should be B.

My reasoning:
In order to retain its competitive edge, the company is prioritizing the need of information security. The argument mentions different ways to protect the company's valuable data; this data can be potentially valuable (monetary respect) to its competitors.
In this open ended question, the correct answer should show the assumption/possibility how data can be leaked and hence, needs protection.
Option A is close. But it only restates the point, "physical control" already considered in the argument.
Option B pinpoints another aspect of information security which is not directly stated in the argument. Even if the employees physically protect the data in their laptops, it would be of no use if they discuss their research work with or disclose it to those who are not fellow employees of the company. (If the non employees are employees of the competitor, an important aspect of information security would be hampered anyway.)

Experts, please help me understand the underlying concept!

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by Kamal2014 » Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:54 pm
tanvis1120 wrote:In order to keep the competitive edge gained by our extensive research and innovative methods, information security must remain a high priority for our company. The information stored on our networks including everything from research data, to training materials, to company memos - could potentially be very valuable to competitors and foreign governments alike. All employees must work to protect company information, not only through passwords and data encryption, but also through the physical control of company assets, such as laptops.
If all of the above statements are true, which of the following statements can be most directly inferred?

A. Passwords are often inadequate forms of security, leading to the need for "physical control" over data storage objects such as laptops.
B. Employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow company employees.
C. Company information carries a high monetary value, making the network attractive to hackers.
D. The company is willing to go to great expense to protect its information.
E. Employees must attend classes to learn to use the latest security software.

I do not know the OA. It is different in different forums. According to me it should be B.

My reasoning:
In order to retain its competitive edge, the company is prioritizing the need of information security. The argument mentions different ways to protect the company's valuable data; this data can be potentially valuable (monetary respect) to its competitors.
In this open ended question, the correct answer should show the assumption/possibility how data can be leaked and hence, needs protection.
Option A is close. But it only restates the point, "physical control" already considered in the argument.
Option B pinpoints another aspect of information security which is not directly stated in the argument. Even if the employees physically protect the data in their laptops, it would be of no use if they discuss their research work with or disclose it to those who are not fellow employees of the company. (If the non employees are employees of the competitor, an important aspect of information security would be hampered anyway.)

Experts, please help me understand the underlying concept!
Hi I feel the OA is C. The options A and B are very specific and do noit address the general issue as a whole. The argument says that in order to maintain a competitive advantage over the competitors the information must be kept secure. This implies that the data on the networks carry a high monetary value making it an attractive target for hackers. Hence C is the OA

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by itzmyzone911 » Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:28 am
Hey tanvis1120,

It is a straight B as you have rightly pointed out.

A. Can be convincingly knocked out as nowhere is it stated that passwords are inadequate forms of security, THUS LEADING TO physical control. The passage just reinforces the idea further that employees must continue being responsible for protection of company data by NOT ONLY using passwords, BUT by employing "physical control" Tanvis1120, as you have pinted out, pl note that that this is nowhere a restatement of any part of the passage.
C. Even though, passage states that company information can be valuable, it is nowhere stated that it is valuable because of monetary value. Albeit, there is no mention of monetary terms in the passage. Information could be valuable in other terms..eg.some business deals or other confidential data that may or may not be useful to hackers.

I hope you are clear why D and E are wrong.

As far as B is concerned, it is a direct implication of the broad idea that the passage is trying to convey that information security must remain a high priority for all employees. The bare minimum that the employees can be expected to do is to keep all information to themselves as employees of the company and not share it outside.

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by binit » Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:43 pm
No expert seems to have replied to this post.
My take on this Qn:
(A) Directly follows from the Qn stem. It's true that passwords being inadequate the co. pressed up on the need of 'physical control', but still this seems to be an assumption and not an inference.
(B) The most compelling choice. The company being highly concerned about the security of data should not allow the employees to discuss information outside.
(C) It's not clear whether the research data has monetary value or not.
(D)&(E) Overreaching.
I took 1.36 min to solve. Experts pls suggest.

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by Amrabdelnaby » Sat Dec 19, 2015 11:00 am
O also think B is the right answer.
I asked myself must it be true that employees dont talk about their work to anyone outside, and the answer was yes. so i chose B based on this.
binit wrote:No expert seems to have replied to this post.
My take on this Qn:
(A) Directly follows from the Qn stem. It's true that passwords being inadequate the co. pressed up on the need of 'physical control', but still this seems to be an assumption and not an inference.
(B) The most compelling choice. The company being highly concerned about the security of data should not allow the employees to discuss information outside.
(C) It's not clear whether the research data has monetary value or not.
(D)&(E) Overreaching.
I took 1.36 min to solve. Experts pls suggest.

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by MartyMurray » Sat Dec 19, 2015 9:51 pm
In order to keep the competitive edge gained by our extensive research and innovative methods, information security must remain a high priority for our company. The information stored on our networks including everything from research data, to training materials, to company memos - could potentially be very valuable to competitors and foreign governments alike. All employees must work to protect company information, not only through passwords and data encryption, but also through the physical control of company assets, such as laptops.

If all of the above statements are true, which of the following statements can be most directly inferred?

This question is not the greatest, but what can be learned from it is valuable. The key lesson here is to NOT run with a story that is not clearly and directly supported by the prompt.

A. Passwords are often inadequate forms of security, leading to the need for "physical control" over data storage objects such as laptops.

This follows from the prompt. If passwords were adequate, there would be no need for "physical control of company assets".

I realize that one could argue that the discussion of physical control could be somehow referring to non password protected objects, but the truth is that generally people do use passwords on laptops when those laptops hold information that people feel is at risk of be stolen, and further none of the other answer choices comes close to being supported by the prompt.


B. Employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow company employees.

I have seen this called the OA, but it cannot be inferred from the passage. Even if you felt that somehow the prompt indicates that employees would not be allowed to discuss certain things with just anyone, are you convinced that the employees are not allowed to discuss their research with customers? with members of partner companies? Beyond that, the truth is that there is nothing that clearly and directly supports this answer.

The only security measures discussed in the prompt are the use of passwords, encryption, and physical control. So, the only way to support the conclusion that employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow employees is to make up a story that goes beyond what can be clearly and directly inferred from what the prompt says.


C. Company information carries a high monetary value, making the network attractive to hackers.

The easiest way to eliminate this answer is by realizing that from the passage we can't really tell what is attractive to hackers and what is not. Maybe hackers have no interest in the type of information being discussed in the prompt.

D. The company is willing to go to great expense to protect its information.

Expense is not discussed, and actually using passwords and physical control costs little to nothing.

E. Employees must attend classes to learn to use the latest security software.

Clearly, in order to support this you would have to go well beyond what is said in the prompt.

So whether it's the OA or not, the correct answer is A.
Marty Murray
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by Amrabdelnaby » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:31 am
After giving it a second thought I totally agree with you.
the passage didn't even mention anything about talking. they mentioned passwords and stressed on physical control; hence passwords are insufficient, or else they wouldn't have stressed on physical control.

A is definitely the right answer

Cheers Marty :)
Marty Murray wrote:In order to keep the competitive edge gained by our extensive research and innovative methods, information security must remain a high priority for our company. The information stored on our networks including everything from research data, to training materials, to company memos - could potentially be very valuable to competitors and foreign governments alike. All employees must work to protect company information, not only through passwords and data encryption, but also through the physical control of company assets, such as laptops.

If all of the above statements are true, which of the following statements can be most directly inferred?

This question is not the greatest, but what can be learned from it is valuable. The key lesson here is to NOT run with a story that is not clearly and directly supported by the prompt.

A. Passwords are often inadequate forms of security, leading to the need for "physical control" over data storage objects such as laptops.

This follows from the prompt. If passwords were adequate, there would be no need for "physical control of company assets".

I realize that one could argue that the discussion of physical control could be somehow referring to non password protected objects, but the truth is that generally people do use passwords on laptops when those laptops hold information that people feel is at risk of be stolen, and further none of the other answer choices comes close to being supported by the prompt.


B. Employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow company employees.

I have seen this called the OA, but it cannot be inferred from the passage. Even if you felt that somehow the prompt indicates that employees would not be allowed to discuss certain things with just anyone, are you convinced that the employees are not allowed to discuss their research with customers? with members of partner companies? Beyond that, the truth is that there is nothing that clearly and directly supports this answer.

The only security measures discussed in the prompt are the use of passwords, encryption, and physical control. So, the only way to support the conclusion that employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow employees is to make up a story that goes beyond what can be clearly and directly inferred from what the prompt says.


C. Company information carries a high monetary value, making the network attractive to hackers.

The easiest way to eliminate this answer is by realizing that from the passage we can't really tell what is attractive to hackers and what is not. Maybe hackers have no interest in the type of information being discussed in the prompt.

D. The company is willing to go to great expense to protect its information.

Expense is not discussed, and actually using passwords and physical control costs little to nothing.

E. Employees must attend classes to learn to use the latest security software.

Clearly, in order to support this you would have to go well beyond what is said in the prompt.

So whether it's the OA or not, the correct answer is A.