McNEAL

Scientists may have found a new way to combat the most dangerous form
of computer virus. The method automatically detects within minutes when
an Internet worm has infected a computer network. Network
administrators can then isolate infected machines and hold them in
quarantine for repairs.

Ness Shroff, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Networking and Communications at
Ohio State University, and his colleagues describe their strategy in
the current issue of IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure
Computing.

They discovered how to contain the most virulent kind of worm: the kind
that scans the Internet randomly, looking for vulnerable hosts to
infect. "These worms spread very quickly," Shroff said. "They flood the
Net with junk traffic, and at their most benign, they overload computer
networks and shut them down."

Code Red was a random scanning worm, and it caused .6 billion in lost
productivity to businesses worldwide in 2001. Even worse, Shroff said,
the worm blocked network traffic to important physical facilities such
as subway stations and 911 call centers.

"Code Red infected more than 350,000 machines in less than 14 hours. We
wanted to find a way to catch infections in their earliest stages,
before they get that far," Shroff said.

The key, they found, is for software to monitor the number of scans
that machines on a network send out. When a machine starts sending out
too many scans — a sign that it has been infected — administrators
should take it off line and check it for viruses.

The strategy sounds straightforward enough. A scan is just a search for
Internet addresses — what we do every time we use search engines such
as Google. The difference is, a virus sends out many scans to many
different destinations in a very short period of time, as it searches
for machines to infect.

Shroff was working at Purdue University in 2006 when doctoral student
Sarah Sellke suggested making a mathematical model of the early stages
of worm growth. With Saurabh Bagchi, assistant professor of electrical
and computer engineering at Purdue, they developed a model that
calculated the probability that a virus would spread, depending on the
maximum number of scans allowed before a machine was taken off line.

In simulations, they pitted their model against the Code Red worm, as
well as the SQL Slammer worm of 2003. They simulated how far the virus
would spread, depending on how many networks on the Internet were using
the same containment strategy: quarantine any machine that sends out
more than 10,000 scans.

They chose 10,000 because it is well above the number of scans that a typical computer network would send out in a month.

"An infected machine would reach this value very quickly, while a
regular machine would not," Shroff explained. "A worm has to hit so
many IP addresses so quickly in order to survive."

In the simulations pitted against the Code Red worm, they were able to
prevent the spread of the infection to less than 150 hosts on the whole
Internet, 95 percent of the time.

A variant of Code Red worm (Code Red II) scans the local network more
efficiently, and finds vulnerable targets much faster. Their method was
effective in containing such worms. In the simulations, they were able
to trap the worm in its original network — the one that would have
started the outbreak — 77 percent of the time.

Anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of the time, it spread to one other
network, but no further. The remaining 3 to 13 percent of the time, it
escaped to more networks, but the infection was slowed.

In all cases, there was a dramatic decrease in the spread of the worm
within the first hour. To use this strategy, network administrators
would have to install software to monitor the number of scans on their
networks, and would have to allow for some downtime among computers
when they initiate a quarantine.

"You just keep trying to come up with techniques that limit a virus’s ability to do harm."

God Bless us all!

Scientists unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer on Monday, a $100 million machine that for the first time has performed 1,000 trillion calculations per second in a sustained exercise.

The technology breakthrough was accomplished by engineers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM on a computer to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work, including simulating nuclear explosions.

The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM’s Blue Gene system, which itself is three times faster than any of the world’s other supercomputers, according to IBM.

"The computer is a speed demon. It will allow us to solve tremendous problems," said Thomas D’Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons research and maintains the warhead stockpile.

http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=24663
But officials said the computer also could have a wide range of other applications in civilian engineering, medicine and science, from developing biofuels and designing more fuel-efficient cars to finding drug therapies and providing services to the financial industry.

To put the computer’s speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today’s most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world’s 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

The IBM and Los Alamos engineers worked six years on the computer technology.

Some elements of the Roadrunner can be traced back to popular video games, said David Turek, vice president of IBM’s supercomputing programs. In some ways, he said, it’s "a very souped-up Sony PlayStation 3."

"We took the basic chip design (of a PlayStation) and advanced its capability," said Turek.

But the Roadrunner supercomputer, named after the New Mexico state bird, is nothing like a video game.

The interconnecting system occupies 6,000 square feet with 57 miles of fiber optics and weighs 500,000 pounds. Although made from commercial parts, the computer consists of 6,948 dual-core computer chips and 12,960 cell engines, and it has 80 terabytes of memory housed in 288 connected refrigerator-sized racks.

The cost: $100 million.

Turek said the computer in a two-hour test on May 25 achieved a "petaflop" speed of sustained performance, something no other computer had ever done. It did so again in several real applications involving classified nuclear weapons work this past weekend.

A "flop" is an acronym meaning floating-point-operations per second. One petaflop is 1,000 trillion operations per second. Scientists also said the computer represents still another breakthrough, particularly important in these days of expensive energy since it performs 376 million calculations for every watt of electricity used.

We have reached an era in which computing power comes through paralelism.

But is it actually a progress? Puting many CPU cores working together offers extremely high performances in terms of petaflops, which is the goal in specific applications such as those announced for IBM’s Roadrunner system. However, some years ago, someone expected that today’s technology would be able to offer computating power through improved silicon and CPUs that would follow Moore’s law - a law currently put aside by Intel and AMD with their press releases to emphasize in words like "energy efficiency" and multi-core implementations.

Take your mouse and hover it over the Wifi
icon in the bottom right of your computer screen. Go ahead, do it. It
will show you the name of your wireless network. If you’re like 80% of
Wifi users, the wireless network you are connected to is titled
something like, "Linksys (Unsecured)" or "Default (Unsecured)".

An unsecured wireless network is an open invitation to hackers to walk
right in to your computer and steal your personal information, upload malware onto your computer, and otherwise terrorize you.

Thankfully, securing your Wifi connection is extraordinarily simple to
do. In this article we cover 10 simple steps that will take your
wireless network from being a welcome beacon to hackers to the wi-fi
equivalent of Fort Knox.  So let’s get started…

Changing Administrator Passwords and Usernames

After you’ve taken your Wifi router
out of the box and started the setup process, you will be asked to sign
on to a specific webpage and are required to enter information such as
your network address and account information. In theory, this Wifi
setup page is protected with a login screen (username and password).

The Problem:
Though the username and password are intended to allow only you to get
access to your Wifi setup and the personal information you have
entered, the fact remains that the logins provided are usually given to
everyone with the same model router, and because most people never
change them, they remain an easy target for hackers and identity
thieves. In fact, there are sites that list the default usernames and passwords for wireless routers, making a hackers job even easier.

The Solution:
Change the username and password for your Wifi setup immediately after
the first login. And if you are going to spend the time changing your
password, make sure it is difficult to guess. Your name, birth date,
anniversary date, child’s name, spouse’s name, or pet’s name are going
to be among the hacker’s first guesses. And because many hackers use a
technique called ‘dictionary hacking,’ (running a program that tries
common English words as passwords) you should make sure that your
password isn’t just a common English word, but rather is a combination
of letters and numbers.

Upgrading your Wifi Encryption

If the information sent back and forth over your Wifi network isn’t
adequately encrypted, a hacker can easily tap into the network and
monitor your activity. When you type personal or financial information
into a web-site, that hacker can then steal that information and use it
to steal your identity.

The old encryption standard Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) can be hacked within 30 seconds, no matter the complexity of the
passphrase you use to protect it. Unfortunately, millions of Wifi users
are still using WEP encryption technology to encrypt their information,
despite the availability of the vastly superior WPA2 encryption standard.

The Problem:
Despite the superior encryption protection that WPA2 provides, most
Wifi home users have failed to upgrade their protection because they
were unaware of the problem, or simply felt overwhelmed by the
technical prospects of upgrading. As a result, many continue to use WEP
encryption, which is now so simple to hack that it is widely regarded
as little better than no encryption at all.

The Solution:
The solution, of course, is to upgrade your Wifi encryption to WPA2.
But before you can add WPA2 protection, you will have to complete a few
steps in order to update your computer. The first step is to download
and install Microsoft’s WPA2 hotfix
for Windows XP. You will also likely need to update your wireless card
driver. These updates, if needed, will be listed in Microsoft’s Windows Update page under the subheading "Hardware Optional".   

Now that your computer and wireless card are up to date, you will need
to log into your router’s administration page through your web browser
(this is the page you signed into in order to setup theWifi router the
first time you opened it up, the specific URL can be found in your
router’s instruction manual.) Once signed in, change the security
settings to "WPA2 Personal" and select the algorithm "TKIP+AES".
Finally, enter your password into the "Shared Key" field and save your
changes.

Changing the Default System ID

When you got your Linksys or D-Link router home from the store and set it up, it came with a default system ID called the SSID (Service Set Identifier) or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier). This ID is also commonly referred to as the name of your Wifi setup.   

The Problem:
Usually, manufacturers assign identical SSID sets to their devices, and
80% of Wifi home users leave their system on the default setting. So
that means that 80% of homes have Wifi systems titled, "Default" or
"LinkSys" or whatever your provider sets as the default name.

The problem with these default settings is that they serve as strong
signals to hackers who have been known to just cruise neighborhoods
looking for Wifi networks with default names to hack into. Though
knowing the SSID does not allow anyone to break into your network, it
usually indicates that the person hasn’t taken any steps to protect
their network, thus these networks are the most common targets.

The Solution:
Change the default SSID immediately when you configure your LAN. This
may not completely offer any protection as to who gains access to your
network, but configuring your SSID to something personal, e.g. "The
Smith House Wifi Network", will differentiate you from other
unprotected networks, and discourage hackers from targeting you. As an
added bonus, having a Wifi network with a unique name also means that
neither you or your family will make the mistake of connecting through
a neighbor’s Wifi network, and thus exposing your computers through
their unprotected setup.

MAC Address Filtering

If you’ve had an unsecured Wifi setup in your home in the past, you can
be fairly certain that at least one of your neighbors is mooching off
your Wifi to connect to the internet. While everyone loves a friendly
neighbor, providing an easy resource for others to steal internet
access is morally and legally questionable, but even scarier is the
harm those moochers can do to your computer.

In order to check who has been using your network, you’ll need to check the MAC address.
Every Wifi gadget is assigned a unique code that identifies it called
the "physical address" or "MAC address." Your wi-fi system
automatically records the MAC addresses of all devices that connect to
them. But busting your internet stealing neighbors isn’t all that MAC
addresses are good for, they can actually be a great help in securing
your WLAN.

The Problem: You are not sure who
or what is accessing and endangering your wi-fi network, and once you
find out that someone or something is mooching off your network, you
want to stop them. But how?

The Solution:
Checking the MAC address long for your wi-fi network will give you a
quick view of all the devices accessing your network. Anything that
isn’t yours, you will want to keep out. To do this, you will need to
manually key in the MAC addresses of your home equipment. This way, the
network will allow connections only from these devices, so your
mooching neighbors will be out of luck. Caution: This feature is not as
powerful as it may seem. While it will stop your average neighborhood
moocher or amateur hacker, professional hackers use advanced software
programs to fake MAC addresses.

Stop Publicly Broadcasting your Network

By now you’ve renamed your Wifi so that hackers won’t see the default
name as they sweep for unprotected Wifi setups. But wouldn’t it be even
better if hackers and curious neighbors didn’t know you had a Wifi
setup at all? Usually, your access point or router is programmed to
broadcast the network name (SSID) over the air at regular intervals.
While broadcasting is essential for businesses and mobile hotspots to
let people find the network, it isn’t needed at home, so eliminate it.

The Problem:Why
broadcast to the world that you have a wireless connection? You already
know it; why do strangers need to know? For most personal uses, you are
better off without this feature, because it increases the likelihood of
an unwelcome neighbor or hacker trying to log in to your home network.
The broadcast works like an invitation to the hackers who’re searching
for just that opportunity.

The Solution:
Most Wifi access points allow the SSID broadcast feature to be disabled
by the network administrator. If you are using a Linksys router,
instructions to disable your SSID broadcast are here, and for those of you using D-Link, your instructions are here
(See Figure 1.6 on page 4). Otherwise, you will need to check the
manual for your hardware for specific instructions on how to disable
broadcasting for your router.

Auto-Connect to Open Wifi Networks? 

Most computers provide a Wifi setting that will configure your computer
to automatically connect to any open Wifi network without notifying
you. While this setting isn’t the default, many individuals select the
setting because it makes connecting faster when you are traveling, or
connecting at a friend’s house. Even more common, is to have selected
‘connect automatically’ to networks that you regularly connect to.
Again, this makes sense, as most people do not want to have to manually
type in the name of their wireless network and the password each time
they want to sign in at home. Unfortunately, both wi-fi setups can
cause major security problems.

The Problem:
If you connect to every available Wifi network automatically, you will
inevitably end up connecting to dummy Wifi networks designed
specifically to catch unsuspecting users and hack their computers.

Similarly, if you automatically connect to your regular Wifi networks
(meaning you don’t manually type in your network name and password
every time) then you may be setting yourself up for a security breach.
That is because 80% of Wifi users have not changed the name of their
wireless connection. Therefore, it is very easy for a hacker to create
a dummy network entitled "Linksys" or "Default", then sit back and
watch 80% of computers automatically connect to the network since it
has a ‘trusted’ name.

The Solution: Never
select the ‘connect to available Wifi networks automatically’ setup
option under your Network Connections window. If you don’t want to have
to manually type in the name and password to your Wifi connection each
time you sign in (the safest option), at least make sure that you have
named your Wifi connection something unique, and that you eliminate all
generic titled networks from your ‘preferred networks’ list. That way,
you won’t get automatically connected to dummy Wifi networks setup by
hackers and given the names, "Default" or "Linksys".

You’ve got a built-in firewall, so use it

Your IT security needs to use a layered approach. While no single layer
of your security is enough to withstand every attack, adding layers to
your security will help ensure that spyware and malware are kept out.
Two important security layers are the router firewall and your individual PC’s firewall.   

The Problem:
Routers come with built-in firewall capability. However, since there is
an option to disable them, they can often be accidentally turned off by
someone toggling options.

The Solution:
Ensure that your router’s firewall is enabled, along with related built
in security featured which block anonymous internet requests or pings.
This extra step will help hide your network’s presence to the internet,
and thus help protect your network. After all, it’s harder for hackers
to infiltrate what they can’t find.

Positioning of the Router or Access Point

Wifi
signals don’t know where your house ends and where your neighbor’s
begins. This Wifi signal leakage gives hackers and neighbors the
opportunity to find your wireless network and attempt to access it.

The Problem:
While a small amount of overflow outdoors is not a problem, it is
important to keep this leakage to a minimum. This is important because
the further your signal reaches into the neighborhood, the easier it is
for others to detect and exploit.

The Solution:
If you haven’t yet installed your wireless home network, make sure to
position the router or access point in the center of the home rather
than near windows or doors. If you live in an apartment, consider that
a Wifi network is restricted in part based upon the materials that it
must pass through, the more walls, doors, and metal the signal passes
through, the weaker it is. So if your goal is to reduce leakage, you
might consider mounting your Wifi in a closet in order to reduce signal
strength.

When to Turn Off the Network

Most
of us know that it is impractical to constantly turn devices on and
off. Having a Wifi connection is in large part a device of convenience,
and having to turn it off every time you aren’t using it, eliminates
much of that convenience. Unfortunately, a Wifi connection is
vulnerable when it is on; therefore shutting off your wireless signal
when not in use would be a huge boon to its security.

The Problem:
There is an inherent tension between convenience and security in
deciding whether to turn off a wireless access point between
connections.

The Solution: Just as you take
extra home security measures when taking a vacation, like asking your
neighbors to pick up the mail and leaving a light on, so also should
you take extra Wifi security measures when your network will not be in
use for expended periods of time. Shutting down the network is a basic
but effective security measure that can protect your network when you
are not around to protect it, and hackers may take the opportunity to
mount their attack.

Putting your Improvements to the Test

Now that you’ve made all these changes to your Wifi setup, it would be
nice to know that you are secure. Unfortunately, the only surefire test
for how secure you are is to wait to see if you get hacked. Trial by
fire is no way to test your security, however, so thankfully there is a
program to help audit your Wifi security.

The Problem:
There is no way for the average home Wifi user to know if the changes
they made to upgrade their wireless security will really prove
successful in keeping them safe.

The Solution:
The Netstumbler utility, by Marius Milner will both determine your
network’s vulnerabilities and unauthorized access points. In addition
to these security concerns, the downloadable program will also reveal
the sources of network interference and weak signal strength, so that
you can improve the strength of your wi-fi signal. Netstumbler is free for download, although the author asks that those who find the tool helpful make a donation to support the creation of future utilities.   

Bakit gusto natin mag abroad? dahil sa pera sa
sweldo at sa mga nakikita natin kababayang naguuwian na maraming
pera, nakakapag paayos ng bahay. nakakapamili ng kung anong gusto nila.

Pero ang hindi natin nakikita ma nga filipino or naikwekwento ay mga
pangyayaring nagaganap bago nila marating ang level na makauwi na may
pera. And also the timing is important some of us are lucky and some
are not. Mga consequences of life abroad. Kahit na papaano sa atin
kahit gaano kahirap nahahanapan natin ng solosyon.

Its a matter of taking risk in life. Which is in some part actually
ain’t bad. Dahil kung tutuusin naman everything about life has something
to do with taking a risk.

At pag nakarating na tayo sa ibang bansa ay saka lang natin ma realized
na ang buhay sa ibang bansa ay walang pinagka iba sa buhay natin sa
pilipinas. Dahil malaki nga kita mo malaki rin ang gastos. Dont forget
the expenses u made before being able to work abroad.

So actually the 1st two years of your working abroad most of ur earning goes to all your utang back home sa pinas.
And this is if everything goes well? na sweldohan ka nga ng amo mo.

What i would only like for our kababayan to learn is that. Working abroad doesn’t makes your life better.
Its how u treat life that makes ur life better.

Learn to budget, Learn to accept sometimes ang wala. Learn to
appreciate what you have and not look for things u don’t and cannot
have. It only frustrates you. Appreciate the fact that you are healthy
and being with your love ones. And think practical po bago kayo mag
family planning. Wag po kayo makipag karera sa kaibigan or kapamilya
nyo. having a family is not a race its how you support and plan one, yan ang
importante.

Dahil isipin mo nagpapadala ka nga monthly para ano? ma supportahan natin ang ma nga global fastfood restaurants satin?
Ano man ang sabihin mo na iba ka. lol you know the truth. na sa
karamihan pinapadala natin sa mga minamahal natin sa buhay ay
napupunta sa mga malalaking shopping center satin sa pinas.
And still its never enough. samantalang noon nasa pinas ka pa, eh
napapakain mo pa rin ang buo mong pamilya napapag-aral mo sila at
nagagawa pa ang karamihan.

Gusto ko po na pagisipan niyo mabuti kung mas makakabuti ang buhay niyo pag kayo ay nag abroad.

Pagisipan nyo the fact na lalaki ang ma nga anak niyong d nyo nakikitang lumaki.

Money doesn’t make life happier it actually learns u to become a
westerner.  materialistic and most of all you forget what is important.
Co’z u are often busy with ur thumb sending txt to your friends. Or
being seated infront of your PC chatting searching for the happiness
you are longing for. na kahit na anong halaga ng pera ay d mo mabibili
and that is a nice conversation talking about native and back to basic
life back home.

I missed the good oldies na makikinood sa kapitbahay namin na yon
buong sala ay puno ng mga kapitbahay, na makanood ng television
series from 7pm to 8pm at pagkatapos ay maglalaro sa labas at mga
magulang natin ay nagkwekwentohan.

Prevent becoming a westerner. Be proud of being what and who u are.
and that is being a Filipino. Wag po natin hanapin ang wala.

Every programmer should learn C during their programming career. Its
benefits are too numerous to ignore. Not only will it open many more
job opportunities, but it will teach you more about computers as a
whole.

1) C is lower level then other programming languages
(C++, Java). Programming at a lower level allows you to further your
understanding of computers, as a whole.

2) Device drivers and operating systems are written
exclusively in C. Now, you may never write a device driver or an
operating system, but what if you are ever required to modify one?

3) What if you ever want to get a job programming
microcontrollers? They are programmed in C. Are you going to limit your
possible list of jobs because you didn’t want to learn a new language?

4) C programs are smaller and faster then any other
program created in a different language. Sometimes your program needs
that speed boost that only C can give it.

5) If you have learned C, you can learn any modern
programming language. The reason behind this is that all modern
programming languages are based on C (Java, C++, C#, etc).

6) Because C has been around for many years, it has
a large community and collective code base. This allows you to quickly
and efficiently implement new algorithms or functions that have been
programmed before.

7) C is the language of the Open Source community.
The Open Source poster child, Linux, was coded in C. If you know C, you
can participate in and contribute to numerous Open Source communities
like Source Forge.

C is the only language that teaches you what pointers really are. C#
and Java skip the subject completely. It is pointers that give C its
power.

   9) C is still the most commonly required language for programming jobs. It is well worth your time to get C under your belt.

   10) Anything that has a microprocessor in it has support for C. From your microwave to your cell phone, C powers technology.

"Damn, life is too short to be always angry!"