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Hackers accidentally give Microsoft their code
When hackers crash their systems while developing viruses, the code is often sent directly to Microsoft, according to one of its senior security architects, Rocky Heckman.
When the hacker’s system crashes in Windows, as with all typical Windows crashes, Heckman said the user would be prompted to send the error details — including the malicious code — to Microsoft. The funny thing is that many say yes, according to Heckman.
“People have sent us their virus code when they’re trying to develop their virus and they keep crashing their systems,” Heckman said. “It’s amazing how much stuff we get.”
At a Microsoft Tech.Ed 2010 conference session on hacking today, Heckman detailed to the delegates the top five hacking methods and the best methods for developers to avoid falling victim to them. Heckman explained how to create malicious code that could be used in cross-site scripting or SQL injection attacks and, although he said it “wasn’t anything you couldn’t pick up on the internet”, he suggested delegates use the code responsibly to aid in their protection efforts.
According to Heckman, based on the number of attacks on Microsoft’s website, the company was only too familiar with what types of attacks were most popular.
“The first thing [script kiddies] do is fire off all these attacks at Microsoft.com,” he said. “On average we get attacked between 7000 and 9000 times per second at Microsoft.com,” said the senior security architect.
“I think overall we’ve done pretty good, even when MafiaBoy took down half the internet, you know, Amazon and eBay and that, we didn’t go down, we were still up.”
Heckman said there were two reasons why the top hacking methods of cross-site scripting and SQL injection had not changed in the past six years.
“One, it tells me that the bad guys go with what they know, and two, it says the developers aren’t listening,” he said.
Heckman said that developers should consider all data input by a user as harmful until proven otherwise.
Top Tips on cloud computing for small businesses
A far off reality only a few years ago, today cloud computing has become mainstream.
However, many small businesses are still unclear what cloud computing is and, more importantly, how it can benefit their business. Indeed, they are not alone, a recent survey of European IT Heads by Portio Research found that 56% were not familiar with cloud computing.
Cloud computing, or software as a service (SaaS), is when IT software and services are delivered over the web and through a browser. This transfers the responsibility for IT maintenance, software upgrades and any system issues onto the service provider, allowing enterprises to focus on their core business instead of their infrastructure. That’s why the cloud is especially appealing to small-to-medium sized businesses, which have a smaller workforce and less capacity for time-consuming and expensive IT maintenance.
Robert Whiteside, Head of Google Enterprise, UK, Ireland and Benelux has put together the following 10 things to consider when getting started in the cloud:
1. Moving to the cloud is easy: The transfer of business information into the cloud is very straightforward. There is no need to install new hardware or software as everything is run by the cloud provider.
2. Cost savings could be higher than you anticipate: Businesses that move to the cloud can make savings on many different levels – IT hardware and software expenditure is cut dramatically and fewer staff or support resources are needed for IT maintenance. Last September, analyst group IDC estimated that business can instantly reduce their IT spend by approx. 54% by moving to a cloud based solution.
3. Improved productivity: One of the key benefits of cloud computing is that employees can access documents and emails whilst away from the office. If your business demands mobility and flexibility or you have staff keen to extend their use of home or remote working, the cloud could be a straightforward and affordable way of addressing these needs.
4. Greater level of security: Cloud computing can be more secure than traditional IT. It’s all about economies of scale – many established cloud suppliers employ leading security experts, invest vast amounts of money into securing their applications and develop technology beyond the means of any small business. In addition, the risk of losing confidential data on a laptop or a USB stick is also diminished, as everything is stored in the cloud and not on your devices. (Last year a survey from CREDANT Technologies found that 55,843 mobile phones and 6,193 other devices, such as laptops, had been left in the back of London black cabs over the previous six months. In November 2009, it found that New Yorkers forget on average around 5,000 mobile phones and more than 500 other handheld devices, including iPods, laptops and memory sticks, in the back of taxis, every month.)
5. Manage the cultural adjustment: Today’s employees expect to have the same technology at work that they enjoy at home. Google designs its applications with users in mind and many staff will already be familiar with Google Mail and Google Docs. However, internal communication about the change of service and in-house training sessions will help staff to feel more comfortable using the new technology.
6. A more collaborative way of working: Using cloud computing applications, people can work more closely together, accessing and working in the same documents in real time – without the need for hundreds of emails with attachments. Improved knowledge sharing and communication encourages creativity amongst your employees which can help drive the business forward.
7. Flexibility to scale up or scale down your business: Cloud based “pay as you go” style services allow you to easily increase your use of cloud services as your business grows, or decrease your spend if you need to temporarily scale down.
8. Employees of tomorrow: Look at how teenagers interact – on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace – all cloud environments. These teenagers will soon become employees, accustomed to collaborating online and accessing their data from any mobile device at hand, not expecting to work in one location and from 9 to 5.
9. Your business resiliency can be improved: Cloud computing providers should not only offer 24/7 support but also the increased resiliency and redundancy afforded by multiple data centres to ensure your information is always available. This means that you experience less downtime than when managing IT in-house, and any problems can be solved far quicker by being fixed centrally. IDC estimates that businesses operating in the cloud achieve 97% greater IT reliability.
10. More choice: In contrast to traditional IT models which can involve expensive software licenses and long lock-in contracts, the cloud model offers far more flexibility. You can switch provider far more easily and regularly in order to get the best experience and value for money. However, it is important to check with your cloud provider as to how you retrieve data from their cloud should you choose to switch in the future.
What is cloud computing?
At its simplest cloud computing describes services that you use on the internet without needing to download any software. The simplest example is a web-based email account such as Yahoo!, Gmail or Hotmail. With these accounts you can log onto your email from any computer anywhere in the world. The information exists in a central place rather than on a specific computer. So there’s no need to download any software or use any special equipment.
Cloud computing isn’t just about software though. It can also mean physical computers as well. If your business has a website, chances are that you don’t own the server (a type of computer) on which the website “sits”. You probably pay a company a few quid a month to host your website for you. This is also cloud computing as it is done centrally.
CHANDRAYAAN-1: India’s first mission to Moon
“THE MOON” with the history of the early solar system etched on it beckons mankind from time immemorial to admire its marvels and discover its secrets. Understanding the moon provides a pathway to unravel the early evolution of the solar system and that of the planet earth.
Through the ages, the Moon, our closest celestial body has aroused curiosity in our mind much more than any other objects in the sky. This led to scientific study of the Moon, driven by human desire and quest for knowledge. This is also reflected in the ancient verse.
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o Moon! We should be able to know you through our intellect, You enlighten us through the right path.
Rgveda Part -1/91/1
(About 2000 years B.C)
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Exploration of the moon got a boost with the advent of the space age and the decades of sixties and seventies saw a myriad of successful unmanned and manned missions to moon. This was followed by a hiatus of about one and a half-decade. During this period we refined our knowledge about the origin and evolution of the moon and its place as a link to understand the early history of the Solar System and of the earth.
However, new questions about lunar evolution also emerged and new possibilities of using the moon as a platform for further exploration of the solar system and beyond were formulated. Moon again became the prime target for exploration and a new renaissance of rejuvenated interest dawned. All the major space faring nations of the world started planning missions to explore the moon and also to utilize moon as a potential base for space exploration.
The idea of undertaking an Indian scientific mission to Moon was initially mooted in a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1999 that was followed up by discussions in the Astronautical Society of India in 2000. Based on the recommendations made by the learned members of these forums, a National Lunar Mission Task Force was constituted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Leading Indian scientists and technologists participated in the deliberations of the Task Force that provided an assessment on the feasibility of an Indian Mission to the Moon as well as dwelt on the focus of such a mission and its possible configuration.
The task force recommended that given the technical expertise of ISRO it will be extreme worthwhile to plan an Indian Mission to the Moon. It also provided specific inputs such as the primary scientific objectives of such a mission, plausible instruments to meet these objectives, launch and spacecraft technologies that need to be developed and suggested the need for setting up of a Deep Space Network (DSN) station in India for communication with the lunar orbiting spacecraft. The team also provided a provisional budgetary estimate.
The Study Report of the Task Team was discussed in April 2003 by a peer group of about 100 eminent Indian scientists representing various fields of planetary & space sciences, earth sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics and engineering and communication sciences. After detailed discussions, it was unanimously recommended that India should undertake the Mission to Moon, particularly in view of the renowned international interest on moon with several exciting missions planned for the new millennium. In addition, such a mission will provide the needed thrust to basic science and engineering research in the country including new challenges to ISRO to go beyond the Geostationary orbit. Further, such a project will also help bringing in young talents to the arena of fundamental research. The Academia, in particular, the university scientists would also find participation in such a project intellectually rewarding.
Subsequently, Government of India approved ISRO’s proposal for the first Indian Moon Mission, called Chandrayaan-1 in November 2003.
After Vista flop, Indian CIOs not open to new Windows
Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, may be throwing parties for potential customers to test its Windows 7 operating system to be launched in October, but many chief information officers (CIOs) are not joining the party yet.
Reliance Communications, Asian Paints, Essar Group and some other companies will wait to see how efficient the new product of Microsoft is before shifting to it, after the Vista failed to deliver on the promise of a faster and sleeker operating system.
“I’m in no hurry to rip and replace my existing OS (operating system
),’’ said Manish Choksi, chief information officer (CIO) at Asian Paints which has 2,500 desktops and about 100 servers.
Microsoft is trying hard to convince companies and individuals that they buy Windows 7, an operating system that has in-built software for data encryption and allows data back-up onto any drive. This comes almost three years after Vista’s launch. Companies, which use software to run their operations, are prepared to wait and see how the new product performs before planning to buy it and also gauge the cost benefits of shifting to a new system.
“We want to see whether it will improve productivity,” said Sumit Chowdhry, CIO, Reliance Communications. “In the light of failed Vista, we don’t want to rush into any decision,” he added. Companies are also wary of frequent upgradation of products that cost them on training staff and disrupts the smooth functioning.
“There’s a learning fatigue if you have new OS every two years,” said Essar Group’s CIO Vijay Mehra, adding, “Our current OS, Windows XP
, is stable and we see no compelling reason to upgrade.” Essar has about 350 servers, 7,000 laptop users and 3,000 on the desktop.
At a recent event hosted by Microsoft India, 60% of the 120 CIOs present said they would take as long as a year to deploy Windows 7, while 26% said they would switch over from Windows XP to the latest OS within six months of the launch.
The Redmond giant is facing resistance even as it pushes customers to buy the new system. “For the first time, we had to push a lot of people for the early adoptive program,” said Microsoft Windows client director Ramesh Gopalkrishna. “We are determined not to make the same mistakes we did with Vista. We are working closely with partners and clients to fix problems right away,” he added.
Some are buying Microsoft’s pitch. Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and NIIT are among those who are confident that Microsoft would not fail customers this time.
The Enterprise version of Windows 7 was launched on August 1, 2009. “It does not need a large memory footprint and we can run it on our existing hardware,” Infosys CIO Murali Krishna said, adding while Vista was a challenge, the transition to Windows 7 has been smooth so far. Application compatibility has been ensured, as there is an option in this to bundle Vista application drivers and transfer it. While Wipro believes productivity could increase 20%, NIIT is enamoured by safety features.
“The new software does not allow users to access applications without administrative privileges and this enhances security,” Pankaj Dikshit, deputy GM at NIIT, said. “Also, the software goes on a sleep mode when not in use, saving power and enhancing battery life of laptops,” he added.
Code Junction 