Common Errors in PC & There Solution
21 hours ago
WISH YOU A HAPPY AND SECURE YEAR 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Quote of the day
Quote of the day
If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they had never tried a new thing in their life.
Albert Einstein
New IT Term of the day
New IT Term of the day
stealth virus
A computer virus that actively hides itself from antivirus software by either masking the size of the file that it hides in or temporarily removing itself from the infected file and placing a copy of itself in another location on the drive, replacing the infected file with an uninfected one that it has stored on the hard drive.
Social Networks Are Risky Business
RISKY : Social Networks Are Risky Business
By Richard Stiennon
December 17, 2008
www.cioupdate.com/insights/article.php/3791926
Why does it seem that most IT departments are woefully un-prepared for IT innovation? Why are they usually viewed as the detractors and inhibitors of technology rather than the innovators and enablers? My own analysis is that the IT department is saddled with processes based on project management that do not allow for innovation.
The typical process calls for annual plans, budgets, needs assessment, and staff assignments with the requisite meetings, status reports, and tracking metrics. Look at the technologies that have made their way into the enterprise with none of these management overlays: the Internet, email, Instant Messaging, WiFi, Blackberrys and now iPhones. When you look at that list you have to ask, “Just what did the IT department bring to the party?”
If your organization is like most, the IT department is tasked with cleaning up after the fact. The most urgent need is usually security. All of these technologies have introduced dire security threats but the benefits from them are tremendous. Most businesses today cannot even function without email. Part of my job is to help enterprises think about these new technologies and attempt to secure them before they get deployed. This is so the painful implementation of policies and security after the fact does not detract from the technology’s benefit. In that light, I am writing today about social networking.
Social networking is simply people using technology to work together, share information, and communicate. A big part of it is the discovery and exploration of people and information that should be linked. Tools that contribute to successful social networking include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Sharepoint, blogs, and hundreds of applications and spin off websites that support these. And like the other consumer technologies mentioned here, you will be just as successful at blocking the use of social networks as you were at blocking email or the Internet.
Lack of Password Control
Social networks, so called web 2.0 sites in particular, have become the masters of quick and easy signup. The norm has become to ask users for a unique name, password, and email address. To avoid excessive spamming of the groups a confirmation email is sent. Digg, Reddit, De.licio.us, are like this, making it easy for users to be anonymous. Some sites, Twitter in particular, fail to even ask for a useable email address. These sites are the most vulnerable to abuse. One aspect of social networks that is deleterious to good security behavior is the tendency for new applications built off of existing ones to ask for your passwords. It is very common for a new social site to request Google, MSN, and Yahoo! passwords so that your contact list can be harvested to recruit more members.
During the November elections a site was launched in India to take an impromptu vote from Twitter users. It required you to enter your Twitter ID and password so they could keep track of unique votes. After I blogged about the obvious risk of giving your password to a third party, the authors assured me they had no malicious intent.
Over 20,000 people voted, giving up their IDs and passwords to an unknown site. The risk of losing control over a Twitter account is exacerbated by the fact that most people re-use passwords at multiple sites. In other words, a lost account at Twitter could quickly lead to loss of control to Gmail, Yahoo! or even their corporate access. Does the CEO of Zappos, a prolific and famous Twitter-er, use a strong password for his Twitter account? Does he use a different password than his remote access credentials? I don’t know but I’d bet I’m not the only one wondering.
Chinese spy fears on broadband frontrunner
ESPIONAGE : Chinese spy fears on broadband frontrunner
Cameron Stewart
December 18, 2008
The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24816607-601,00.html
National security concerns about Chinese espionage could threaten the new frontrunner for Australia's $15 billion publicly backed national broadband network.
Security agencies will closely examine the bid lodged by Singtel Optus, which is believed to propose the involvement of Chinese telecommunications equipment-maker Huawei Technologies to help build its network. Huawei was the subject of a US congressional investigation on national security grounds this year after legislators expressed concern about its links to the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus. The concerns led Huawei to withdraw from its joint $US2.2billion ($3.3billion) bid to buy a stake in US internet router and networking giant 3Com.
Optus emerged this week as the surprise frontrunner for the national broadband network tender when the Government excluded Telstra from the tender process after its bid failed to meet some of the project's stated requirements.
Huawei, the shadowy company based in Shenzen and founded by former People's Liberation Army officer and Communist Party member Ren Zhengfei, has triggered debate in the US, Britain and India about whether it is a legitimate international telecom player or a company bent on doing Beijing's bidding.
Intelligence agency concerns about Chinese cyber-espionage prompted India to scrap a planned $US60 million Huawei investment in its telco in 2005.
Britain granted the company a $US140 million contract in that same year to build part of British Telecom's 21st Century Network.
Many mainstream global telecommunications companies, including Singtel Optus, already have close links with Huawei. Optus last month gave the Government its 900-page bid for the new national broadband network, which is understood to propose Huawei as one of several vendors to set up the network.
A spokeswoman for Optus confirmed the company had been working with Huawei as part of trials for the network, but would neither confirm nor deny Huawei was part of last month's final bid.
"We are not releasing the names of any potential vendors we may be working with on NBN," she said. "Huawei is a significant vendor partner of Optus and we are working with them in our test lab."
A spokesman for Huawei Australia did not return The Australian's calls but the company, the largest networking and telecommunications equipment supplier in China, has previously denied links with the Chinese Government or with the PLA.
The national security statement released by Kevin Rudd this month warned of the growing danger of cyber-espionage by foreign countries, saying Australia would take new measures to protect against hackers. The federal Government has said it will investigate the national security implications of the remaining bids from Optus, Acacia and Axia.
"The Attorney-General's Department will co-ordinate an assessment of the national security implications of the proposals in consultation with national security and law enforcement agencies," the Government's Request for Proposals states.
An eight-person expert panel is assessing the bids and will recommend a winner late next month.
However, a study by global think tank the Rand Corporation states: "Huawei maintains deep ties with the Chinese military, which serves as a multi-faceted role as an important customer, as well as Huawei's political patron and research and development partner."
The conservative US think tank the Heritage Foundation claimed in a paper this year that the PLA had direct access to Huawei's training and technology infrastructure.
Huawei set up a regional head office in Sydney in June 2004. Its Australian division employs 100 staff and reported a 66.5 per cent rise in revenue to $70 million last year.
It is a key vendor in constructing Optus's 3G mobile network in rural areas, and is supplying hardware to Queensland electricity utility Powerlink for a network launch.
Cyber crimes record 50 percent jump in India
STATISTICS : Cyber crimes record 50 percent jump in India
The Hindu
December 18, 2008
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200812181111.htm
New Delhi (IANS): With India being home to the fourth highest number of internet users in the world, cyber crimes under the the Information Technology (IT) Act recorded a whopping 50 percent jump in 2007 over the previous year. What's more, the majority of offenders were under 30 years of age.
Cyber crimes have emerged as a new class of crimes, rapidly increasing due to extensive use of the internet and IT enabled services.
The maximum cyber crime cases, about 46 percent, were related to incidents of cyber pornography, followed by hacking. In over 60 percent of these cases, offenders were between 18 and 30, according to the "Crime in 2007" report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).
Cyber crimes are punishable under two categories - the IT Act 2000 and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The report says that 217 cases of cyber crime were registered under the IT Act in 2007 compared to 142 in 2006 - an increase of 50 percent.
Under the IPC too, 339 cases were recorded in 2007 compared to 311 cases in 2006.
"Seventeen out of 35 mega cities have reported nearly 300 cases of cyber crimes under both categories, thereby recording an increase of 32.6 percent in a year," the report says.
The report indicates that cyber crimes are no longer limited to metro cities.
"Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest incidence of cyber crimes under IPC sections, thus accounting for 87.8 percent of the total crimes in the country," the report says.
Cyber crimes range from tampering with computer documents, hacking and cyber pornography to false electronic evidence, unauthorised access to protected computer documents and breach of confidentiality.
Delhi Police have now trained 100 of its officers in handling cyber crime and placed them in its Economic Offences Wing.
"There is an increase in cyber crimes and our cyber crime cell is looking into the complaints. Our special team officers are working with IT experts to keep a tab on it," Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat told IANS.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
