Wednesday, July 08, 2009
KYPS : HELPS AVOID BEING VULNERABLE!!
Monday, July 06, 2009
AMD : The Launch of ISTANBUL
Saturday, July 04, 2009
USB DHAMAAAL!!!
- Works w/ Soft Drinks, Coffee, Tea, and More
- High Efficiency - Works in Just a Few Minutes after Plugging into USB Port
- Draws Power Directly from USB Interface
- Plug and Play (No Driver Required)
- On Board Button to Switch from Warm to Chill
- Weight : 440 gm
- USB Cable length : 1.1 m
Friday, July 03, 2009
Check your ANTIVIRUS'es Loyalty : EICAR Way
2. Now this was able to provide me a real cool trick that of testing the reliability of the antivirus being run. I tested the same on two computers. One with a antivirus loaded and the other one badly infected. I will now share the cream instead of minting words.
3. It is just a matter of simple cut & paste.Just do the following steps and the matter of how reliable your antivirus is will be taken care of.
5. That’s it!!!!!So simple.So my infected computer was able to save the same and the F - secured one caught the moment I tried saving it and deleted it too!!!!!!!!Screen shot in set
6. Thanks EICAR and http://www.technotips24x7.co.cc/
Sunday, June 28, 2009
UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION PROJECT : UID
1. We all know how the launch of PAN Cards and Voter ID Cards in the initial period say about 7-8 years or may be slimly earlier created discombobulation amongst the aam janta. Photos clicked, Data base created and then all got inter amalgamated and I got somebody else's pan card with a different pic and altogether different address with the age of my grandfather endorsed in BOLD.The thing and the vision seems to have ameliorated today.
2. Now on top of this Sarkaar plans to make a Unique Identity Card.Since the sarkaar never wanted to take a chance this time ,the onus of the culmination of the project has been given to INFOSYS and the over all coordinator is none other then Mr Nandan Nilekani,the co chairman of infosys.
3. The UID (Unique Identity) project is one of the most aspirational projects of the UPA government. The UID programme will provide an identity card to every citizen to establish citizenship and address security concerns.
8. This proposal that took almost a decade to become a project. And now the government is reportedly looking at a three-year term to complete the entire programme. I am slightly positive about this deadline being met as the project is in the hands of INFOSYS.
9. Info from http://infotech.indiatimes.com and http://www.ciol.com
Saturday, June 27, 2009
NOW CHIP IN BATHING SOAP!!!!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Are you secure at your friendly neighbourhood CYBER CAFE ?
2. PORTABLE WEB BROWSER : A portable web browser as the name suggests would be able to allow you to take bookmarks and passwords with you while not writing any information on the host computer. This allows to bypass key loggers who would be expecting that all that you type would be logged in one separate file unknown to the user. So this feature of the portable browser would allow you to access your accounts without typing and thus preventing from leaking your crucial info. But at the same time you have to be aware that PENDRIVE would be equal to your most precious thing in life….so don’t ever try and attempt loosing it.Mozzilla,Opera have these free softwares ready for download at the click of a button and Chrome is working still!!!!!
3. Another thing about the key logger software’s available in the market, yes they include OPEN SOURCE TYPE ALSO………so all the more vulnerable the user becoming a quarry. Key logger can be of two types :
a. Hardware Type – By using a small chip in the keyboard which makes by passing impossible.As shown in the figure below,we see a normal CPU rear from back and another PC with the malicious chip placed in between the cable.
b. Software Type – Can be activated with the help of a Trojan or with the help of a simple installation.
4. A software based key logger can either keep a record of what is being typed or would be able to take periodic screen shots while the user is using the PC.All this being sent to a remote server without the knowledge of the bechara user.Hai na kamaaal ke baat!!!!!!!!!!
5. VIRTUAL KEYBOARD : Although the endeavor of the cyber cafe PC user should be to ensure that in no circumstance, credit card details should be typed,but if at all it is marta kya na karta wali baat,then use of virtual keyboard should be exploited. This would be available as Start > Accessories > On Screen Keyboard.Although there are ways and means to even break this,but then there would never be a guarantee of sort…after all U R ON THE WEB BHAISAAAB…..every thing is accessible.
6. I would like to mention one more thing here….VIRTUAL KEYBOARDS/ON SCREEN KEYBOARDS are not a guarantee for ensuring safety. There are key loggers which are even configured to log only details from on screen key boards. There is a solution to this also and that is OBFUSCATION.
7. OBFUSCATION : This basically allows key loggers to log a certain combination of keys,while keying in different combination. There are some programs that are targeted at different obfuscation algorithm and thus by pass typing in the meat thing. Obfuscation is actually the deliberate hiding of the software's behavior, is used by malware authors as well as legitimate software developers. They both use code obfuscation techniques to keep curious souls from understanding how their software works and what it is doing to the computer on which it runs.A complex thing in itself but who needs to know that….aaam khao….not to worry of guthli!!!!!!!!!!!How to use it?Pl BING or Google.
8. Another important thing to be ensured is to protect your USB drive from Viruses.The first thing to do when you plug in your USB Drive into a public computer is to identify and disable malicious processes running. Process Explorer is a good utility for doing this.This is actually like windows task manager but with few more good options to work on. A Screen Shot from my lap top shown below.
9. Securely deleting data : Last but not the least…ensure using a good software that ensures that no trace of activity on the used computer is left behind.I recommend using ERASER and Free Commander ……tried and tested……………
Monday, June 22, 2009
Hi Tech Door Bell : Is it required?
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Storage Technology - Graduating Trends
2. Many different forms of storage, based on various natural phenomena, have been invented. So far, no practical universal storage medium exists, and all forms of storage have some drawbacks. Therefore a computer system usually contains several kinds of storage, each with an individual purpose. The two primary storage technologies are magnetic and optical.
3. The primary types of magnetic storage are:
(a) Diskettes (floppy disks)
(b) Hard disks
(c) High-capacity floppy disks
(d) Disk cartridges
(e) Magnetic tape
4. The primary types of optical storage are:
(a) Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-rfruROM)
(b) Digital Video Disk Read-Only Memory (DVD-ROM)
(c) CD-Recordable (CD-R)
(d) CD-Rewritable (CD-RW)
FUTURE TRENDS
5. MEMS : One technology that promises to store more information than disk drives is micro electromechanical systems. MEMS have electrostatic actuators — electrically-driven springs and levers — that can move components like storage media and read/write heads tiny, precise distances. It involves recording bits by heating the tips to melt tiny pits in a plastic storage medium, similar to burning a CD. The presence of a pit represents a 1 and the absence a 0. The device reads bits by sensing changes in temperature. When a tip moves across the surface and falls into a pit, more of the tip is in contact with the surface, which causes it to dissipate heat more quickly.
6. Holographic Storage : Holographic storage devices have the potential to both hold much more data than magnetic technologies and access it much faster. Holograms are made by bouncing a laser beam off an object and having a second laser beam intersect the reflected light. The laser beams interfere with each other, producing a unique pattern of bright and dark areas that can be captured in storage media like light- sensitive plastics or glass composites. The resulting hologram can be illuminated by shining the second laser beam on the media at the same angle as when the hologram was recorded.
7. Blu Ray : Blu-ray Disc (also known as Blu-ray or BD) is an optical disc storage medium designed/created by Sony to supersede the standard DVD format. Its main uses are for storing Playstation 3 games, high-definition video and data storage with 50GB per disc. The disc has the same physical dimensions as standard DVDs and CDs. The name Blu-ray Disc derives from the blue-violet laser used to read the disc. While a standard DVD uses a 650 nanometre red laser, Blu-ray uses a shorter wavelength, a 405 nm blue-violet laser, and allows for almost six times more data storage than on a DVD.
8. Network Storage : Network storage is a generic term used to describe network-based data storage, but there are many technologies within it. Direct Attached Storage (DAS) is a storage device that is directly attached to a host system. The simplest example of DAS is the internal hard drive of a server computer, though storage devices housed in an external box come under this banner as well. DAS is still, by far, the most common method of storing data for computer systems.
9. Molecular Switches : Storing a bit in a single molecule is about as small as you can get. Certain molecules can be used to store data because they can be switched back and forth between two stable states that can represent the 1s and 0s of digital data. One of these is rotaxane, which contains a thin, thread- like section with a ring that moves freely around it. The ends of the thread section are thicker, preventing the ring from slipping off. Researchers have found ways to move the ring from one end of the thread to the other and the ring will stay where it is placed.
10. Nanotechnology, shortened to "Nanotech", is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size. Nanotechnology is very diverse, ranging from novel extensions of conventional device physics, to completely new approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, to developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale, even to speculation on whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale. Breakthrough Nanotechnology Will Bring 100 Terabyte 3.5-inch Digital Data Storage Disks
11. Storage-specific operating system : Just as a computer operating system makes a computer usable, a storage-specific operating system will make storage devices and their associated networks operate in a usable manner. Powerful storage networking switches may provide the platform for the storage-specific operating system.Moving intelligence away from servers and storage systems into interconnected switches in the core of the network could solve interoperabliity problems that are inherent in heterogeneous enterprise environments and administration tools and allow complex infrastructures to be managed as a single, scalable entity.
12. Storage Virtualization: Virtualization improves storage manageability by separating the presentation of storage to the server operating system from the actual physical devices. Virtualization consists of taking several physical storage devices and joining them to appear as one logical unit to manage. This represents a collective pool from which users can request any amount of disk space. The users will thus be able to access storage without knowing where a device is, and how it is configured.
13. H.A.M.R : Heat-assisted magnetic recording ie HAMR is a technology that magnetically records data on high-stability media using laser thermal assistance to first heat the material. HAMR takes advantage of high-stability magnetic compounds such as iron platinum alloy. These materials can store single bits in a much smaller area without being limited by the same super paramagnetic effect that limits the current technology used in hard disk storage. The only catch being that they must be heated to apply the changes in magnetic orientation. HAMR was developed by Fujitsu in 2006 so that it could achieve one terabit per square inch densities.
14. R.A.I.D & M.A.I.D : RAID is an acronym to describe a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, a technology that allowed computer users to achieve high levels of storage reliability from low-cost and less reliable PC-class disk-drive components, via the technique of arranging the devices into arrays for redundancy. On the other hand we have MAID, an acronym to describe Massive Array of Idle Disks ,a system using hundreds to thousands of hard drives for near-line data storage. MAID is designed for Write Once, Read Occasionally (WORO) applications. In a MAID each drive is only spun up on demand as needed to access the data stored on that drive. This is not unlike a very large JBOD but with power management.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
H.A.M.R : Storage Futurity
Friday, June 12, 2009
My DIGIT Webinar
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Google and Bing : Bade miyaaan Chotey Miyaan
Sunday, June 07, 2009
PAPER BOOKS CONVERGE TO E-BOOKS : KINDLE DX
2. Slowly over a period of time, now 10 years, the thing doesn't look inconceivable. To add to the various options available today in form of e-mails, web sites, mobiles etc.....the latest IN thing is KINDLE DX from Amazon. The gadget is shown in the pic inset.
3. Recently read about the same in the June issue of Digit. It also mentioned about how the biggest library of the world ie British Library is putting in lots of effort in digitizing books available presently on its shelves. It has put up four giant scanners, working for last 2 years with the help of a 21 MP camera clicking all the way while a robotic arm turns them.
4. The configuration of this KINDLE Dx is as follows :
- Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
- Carry Your Library: Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents
- Beautiful Large Display: 9.7" diagonal e-ink screen reads like real paper; boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images
- Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages
- Built-In PDF Reader: Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go
- Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle DX, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
- Books In Under 60 Seconds: You get free wireless delivery of books in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
- Long Battery Life: Read for days without recharging
- Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable.