Archive for the 'Guest Authors' Category
June 17th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: laptopsbattery
How to protect your Wireless Network
Now we use the wireless network moer and more in our laptop iPhone and other mobile devices. The same time ee enjoy the convenience of wireless, we also face this situation, someone intrude into our wireless network without permission. They steal our network and laptop battery resource by wireless. What should we do, we must protect our wireless network.
Unlike wired networks, wireless networks use radio signals to communicate. Because radio signals travel outside your home network, other wireless devices can pick up unprotected signals and connect to the network (uninvited) or capture information not sent through it. For example, a Dell Inspiron 6400 Battery network could be created at home to be accessible by its neighbor.
Protect your wireless network
Consider the following safety precautions when setting up your wireless network.
Use a wireless transmitter with a function of security features
Many cellular base stations, gateways or routers offer integrated security features such as wireless security protocols and firewalls. With the right wireless transmitter, you can protect your network from the most common laptop wireless security risks.
Working behind a firewall
a firewall is a barrier that controls the data and data requests sent to the Dell Latitude D420 Battery network and discards any suspicious objects. Firewalls are available in many variants, both software and hardware. Some networks use a combination of both.
Use wireless encryption
There are a variety of sophisticated encryption protocols for your wireless network. Find the best solution for network security work.
Wired Equivalent Protocol (WEP)
Wired Equivalent Protocol (WEP) is a wireless security protocol encrypted or encoded, that all network data before laptop is transmitted, with a WEP key. Normally, you can assign to your setup to the network, the WEP key. alternatively, you can have your own key to generate a different key, or select other options. Without the correct password, the user may not use the wireless network the resource from battery4.us.
WPa (Wi-Fi Protected access)
Like WEP, WPa security settings are used to encrypt and decrypt data transmitted over the network. But instead of a static security key for WEP encryption, WPa uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) dynamically generate a new key for each packet, and generate different types of keys for each team.
Connect your network
If possible, avoid the network name (SSID) broadcasting by the wireless transmitter. Most networks to transmit the default name, for example all computers in the vicinity of your network is available. By knowing the closure of the laptop battery network, other computers, it is less likely that your network is available.
NOTE: If the network is closed and the SSID is not broadcast, you need to know or remember the SSID to connect new devices to the network. Enter the SSID off and store in a safe place before the closure of its network.
Safety in public places
Wireless networks in public areas or “hot spots” such as cafes and airports can be no security. New technologies are being developed by the laptop battery manufacturers and suppliers of Wi-Fi to make the public safe and anonymous environment. If you are concerned about the security of your computer in a warm place to limit their activities to the critical network e-mail and basic Internet surfing.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/networks-articles/how-to-protect-your-wireless-network-2082491.html
About the Author
Focus on write review and introduce of laptop battery, electronics and digital produce.
June 10th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: raza
Computer security is the branch of information technology, which is about privacy in a network or standalone computer. Like any organization depends on computers, technology upgradation of its security requires constant. Here are the different types of computer security.
Network Security
Computer networks are an integral part of any business these days, because they facilitate the free movement of services and data to authorized users. However, these networks also pose a threat to security in the case of classified and confidential information, which makes network security a vital necessity. Since the data is restricted to authorized users, it is to do hackers, as if the user name and password. Security of computer networks may be interrupted or disturbed in the following manner:
* Denial of Service: Denial of Service is designed to disable a computer or network and can be operated with limited resources. It is one of the most common forms of attacks by pirates and effectively disable the entire network of an organization. Denial of service enables a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. To carry out this type of attack, hackers flood a network or generally Access Router Traffic wrong. They do disturb Attempts to connect between two computers is to prevent people from accessing a service.
* Trojan: A Trojan horse is common and one of the potential threats to computer security. They are vicious and unprecedented security, as something that is not harmful to health as a disguised security software. They are a useful tool for hackers who try to enter on private networks. Hackers usually put a Trojan in a file that triggered a virus or a remote control, with complete control to the hacker.
* Viruses and worms: Viruses and worms are known for their destructive nature and property of the known replication. They are essentially part of the code of computer programs that are written by hackers and other computer-genius.
* Sniffing: Sniffing is the act of intercepting TCP / IP packets as they are transmitted at the beginning of a network. The monitoring is usually done by simply listening to a pirate.
Computer Systems Security
Security hardware and its components is also necessary for the comprehensive protection of data. Even if the computer is not connected to a network, a person can open his office and have access to the hard disk, which can then be used on another computer for data theft. If an autonomous system with important information or contain classified must be constantly monitored. It is also necessary to recall that in one case conceals his computer equipment, the risk of loss of the guarantee very high.
AntiVirus guide,tips to handle computer viruses,latest updates,solutions,and more..
www.antivirus-finder.blogspot.com
Information on the computer and data security
It is important to avoid loss of data and information in the case of hard disk crash. The only solution is to make regular backups of all data to other media such as cassettes, CD-ROMs, etc. It is good practice to keep external storage media for hard disk failure, restoring data from backup media on the new disc. In the event backup media is not affordable, try to save files on at least two different media. These media devices should systematically in a place that is safe, that information can be kept confidential. Personal database files usually backup files, tables, and large documents. As the technical constraints are still there, it is preferable to perform regular backups to prevent loss of information.
It is important to make a register of consultants, technical support and software documentation on how to keep manuals available to employees of the company.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/types-of-computer-security-4409479.html
About the Author
Riz
www.antivirus-finder.blogspot.com
June 3rd, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: stephanie johns
With advancement in technology and growth in number web users, internet scams have also spreading their reach. More and more number of scams are reported every day by internet scam statistics. Let’s have a look at some of the very common Types of Internet Scamss that are prowling innocent people in the market.
Most of these scams have their sources in Nigeria. Hence, whenever you see a Nigerian or African address offering some scheme, it’s advisable to ignore it.
One such scam that prevailed on the web for many years and looted many internet users is the tyrant story. You initially get a mail by a person who addresses himself as a close relative, wife, or an official of a Nigerian dictator. In the body of the email, you will read a sad story of how the ruler deposited millions of dollars in a savings account and why the amount cannot be accessed now. He then asks for your help and lures you with a major part of the inaccessible amount as reward if you are ready to offer help. No, they don’t want your advice, they want few thousand dollars to access their account. And once you give them the money, don’t expect any reply from them because they are gone and enjoying your money.
Yes, this story is too ridiculous to believe in. However, thousands fell for this story every month and lost their wealth. So, beware of this type of internet scam.
Many fraudsters fool people by promising very high return on their investment. They offer something like ‘get double the invested amount in a month or two’. And you are also assured that your money isn’t at risk because it isn’t invested in stock market or mutual funds. They say your money is safe. However, in reality, it is farthest from being safe. Let alone high returns, you don’t even get a penny of your principal amount.
One of the most famous Types of Internet Scams includes the credit card scam. Here, people with lower credit score are offered credit cards and loans at reduced interest rate. Generally, people with lower score don’t enjoy such lower rates. Hence, they fall for it and pay all types of costs like administration and security deposit asked by them. There are many other internet marketing scams that asks you to buy a product and earn millions.
Here is a golden rule for all the internet users. Don’t even read the emails sent by these types of internet scams. If you read, don’t reply to such emails. And never ever give out your personal information like your bank account number or credit card number, or worse, social security number.
Few emails will ask you to enter password in your email itself. This never happens, no financial company asks you to enter your password anywhere except their website. So, avoid these emails, at any cost.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/common-types-of-internet-scams-1987986.html
About the Author
Stephanie johns is a writer as well as expert in providing great thoughts on Types of Internet Scams and their availability. For more detail Internet marketing scams, internet business scams and Internet scams statistics visit www.financialculture.com
May 6th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Stephen Ogolla
We are living in an era where the social networks have become more of a daily need that just a “social network”. They have become grounds where serious professional networks are established and deals sealed. In keeping pace with the fast moving world of technology, many employers are now willingly or still reluctantly acknowledge that in order to tap into the best talent in the job market; you can only ignore the social media at your own peril. As a result of this it is not uncommon to spot campaigns and advertisement for a number of companies running on the social media forums some of them reminding potential job candidates of the impending graduate recruitment exercise. A recent report by the BBC titled” Virtual job-hunting: Technology fills situations vacant” explained how companies have integrated social networking into their recruitment process.
With such a great and speedy shift by the employers into the social network media, it only spells one thing to the potential employees; You cannot afford to take for granted your
social network profiling. Forums such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter no longer bear the traditional tag they were created for. They are fast and steadily transforming into tools and forums that ascribe certain characteristics and mannerisms to their users courtesy of the information presented therein.
We all have possibly heard of the crazy stories of persons who were denied job opportunities after their photo while in a drunken stupor were posted on their social site pages. The East African region is not new to the social media “busted” encounters. A number of “respected “personalities have lost their well paying dream jobs courtesy of the scenes they posted on their social networking forums. The worst cases have been for individual who were reported to have posted their nude pictures on the social networks or rather had their nude photos posted without their consent.Whichever way they were their photos.
The question then is, what ought you to do as a job seeker? One, you need to understand that as corporates move very fast to the utilizing social media for hiring they will also keep a hawk eye on the online activities and behaviors of the potential candidates. This might just turn out to be a new role for tech savvy HR professionals. Companies will want to be certain that they do hire individuals whose social reputation is unquestionable. There is a high likelihood that this will inform the decision of you being invited for interviews or not. Companies will not want to put themselves in precarious positions that would give their competitors, media and haters a good opportunity to lead destructive campaigns expressing doubt on their core values as expressed in their mission and vision statements.
To avoid jeopardizing your careers in the web of social media excitement and “carefreeness”, any candidate will need to be wary of the following;
Watch out on the statements you post on your social network page(s) or forum. Avoid conservative, inflammatory, abusive, rebellious and ethnic or racially biased remarks. Avoid statement or postings that in themselves portray your hatred for certain employers or certain types of occupations or particular tribes/races. Instead learn to be moderate, liberal, sober and always understand the dividing line between what ought to appear on a social networking site and what ought to remain tucked in your heart .
For God’s sake avoid posting pictures or creating albums that would cast doubt on your character. Pictures taken while you were drunk holding the beer bottles in the middle of the road (while celebrating the new years eve) do not speak so positively about you as much as you my posses the right talent. Pictures possibly depicting near bedroom scenes should never find their way into you social media space. Worse still nude or semi nude images whether they were taken before you “received Jesus” and changed into a good person, should be kept out of this domain. Any serious employer will want to have nothing to do with you since they fear such images might be kept safely by competitors waiting for that opportune time to strike. Remember a picture speaks more than a thousand words. Load socially acceptable images on your social sites. Have photos that bring out the aspect of good grooming in you.
NB: Third party nude pictures posted on your online album are equally character assassinating and career threatening. Avoid them.
You also need to watch out on consistency between your online profile information posted on the social forums and what you eventually present on your CV. Information on schooling, professional qualifications, marital status, prior employers and personal business interests would be of great interest to any serious employer. This could easily be obtained from some of the social networks updates. Any incidence of inconsistency will cast a big shadow of doubt on your integrity which will obviously have a resounding effect on the employers’ decision concerning you.
Last but not least the calibre of friends you entertain on your social forum will definitely speak volumes about the kind of a person you are since we all tend to attract or get attracted to those like us. For your career safety you will have to make some hard choices and allow only friends whose online presence speaks positively about you. Avoid friends who use nude pictures or obscene graphics or images to identify themselves. DO NOT JUST ACCEPT ANY FRIEND REQUEST ON A SOCIAL NETWORK.
Beware that as the employee hiring process finds its way into the social networking media, employers will also be out to safeguard their corporate image by all means. Every kind of tough measure will be put in place to ensure that only the credible individuals whose presence does not stain the company’s shining fabric get the opportunity to contribute to the larger goal and enhance their individual careers.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/career-management-articles/hey-keep-your-social-network-profile-in-order-4101518.html
About the Author
Stephen Ogolla
www.graduatecareers.blogspot.com
April 29th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Nico Kurniawan
Not all members of social networking sites will share the common purpose of meeting and reconnecting with old or new friends, and would have the same intention of opening their social network to all of the members of his contact list. In fact, no person will want to be connected with some person or to anyone for that matter. A social networking member will only accept another person as his/her friend or contact if there is already an existing connection to that person from his past work, in school or they are just interested to be friends with that person.
That is why privacy among users is a crucial factor in most social networking sites. One of the most critical features you have to enable for all of the users of your social networking site is the facility to customize their own user privacy settings. As previously said, it is one of the top features in building a social network website. There may be some members who do not care their profiles to be viewed by the public or anybody. On the other hand, a lot of people would still limit their profiles specific to their friends or sometimes up to their friends’ friends. Others who are very keen on their privacy would just restrict their profiles within their closest friends. Whatever the chosen privacy setting is, it will still be the member who will approve a request coming from a friend or contact. If by any chance you do not approve, the person who had sent you the request to be your friend will no longer enable the connection to that person.
It is best to remember that giving out the authority to your members of keeping their profiles public or private gives them an utmost concern and make them enjoy a good service when you decide to create your own social network site. It is your responsibility to help in giving them all the protection you can as the developer of the site. Moreover, you also have to let your members to contact you in any case a privacy problem arises. There may be possible instances where a user is being reported by another user who appears to be rude, insulting or abusive and a person they wish to hide their profile from, then you have to offer a solution to resolve such concern. If the concerned member gets to block another user from his/her own profile, then he/she will get to maximize and have fun using your social network website without having to worry if the unwanted person is able to view all his/her photos and information.
You may find it a bit tedious as if you are a parent who is resolving a fight between your kids. If you act on this important matters quickly and do all the possible ways to resolve it, then your online members will continuously grow just like a family.
Therefore, make sure that you manage your user privacy very well and impose on respect within your social network site to ensure safety and security within your community where all your members stay and will be out of harm’s way.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/smo-articles/managing-privacy-in-social-networking-sites-4340760.html
About the Author
Create your own Social Networking Site now !
April 22nd, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Kazmee
Internet privacy refers to the personal privacy of a user when using internet to transmit, manipulate, and access data. But since the internet is known to be a “public place”, several privacy issues arose. With the creation of different social networking sites, a lot of invasion of privacy threats have been identified which may actually compromise the privacy of a user.
One of the most important things that most people forget to remember is that you should never post your personal information on the internet because this may be used against you such as in hacking your account. A lot of people nowadays publish or post everything that they can think of on the internet without thinking twice and this often results to several invasions of privacy issues.
When creating your personal page on social networking sites, it is recommended that you do not post your real information as much as possible because it only takes a little effort for a hacker to crack your account using the information that you have posted.
When you are doing an online shopping, you should be very careful on where you enter your banking information such as credit card numbers, bank account number, and electronic check details. You should ensure first that the website that you are entering your financial details on is a legitimate site. Often times, a padlock sign will appear either on the address bar portion of your browser or at the lower right part which indicates that the webpage that you are currently on is secured and the data that you will transmit will be encrypted.
You also have to be aware of the different techniques that a hacker may use to gain access to your personal information. Examples of these schemes are phishing, pharming, and social engineering. Always be cautious whenever you are doing a transaction over the internet which involves your personal information to avoid being a victim of different internet crimes.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/internet-privacy-issues-4022338.html
About the Author
To know more about automation, you can search about IC600CB536 and IC600CB537 online.
April 8th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Eric Carlson
In the world of information technology, it seems that every few years a new concept comes along that emerges as being the next great leap in technology. One of the current concepts that fits that description in the IT world is called cloud computing. However, before a company decides that it will embrace cloud computing, it needs to make sure that it understands all the implications of this new offering. As with most technologies, there are many benefits that can be gained, but along with understanding the benefits, the business risks must also be evaluated. When making this evaluation, it is important to keep in mind not only the short term needs, but the long term objectives and goals of the organization. In recent years, the Obama administration has pushed for all federal agencies to investigate cloud computing to see if it will benefit each agency. “The Federal CIO Council under the guidance of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO), Vivek Kundra, established the Cloud Computing Initiative to fulfill the President’s objectives for cloud computing.”5 With the recent push from the current administration, cloud computing is expected to grow by leaps and bounds over the next few years. In some studies, there are predictions that “cloud services will reach $44.2 billion in 2013, up from $17.4 billion of today, according to research firm IDC.”4 This paper will lay out the considerations that an organization should consider at before making a decision to use or dismiss cloud computing at the present time.
Overview of Cloud Computing:
“Cloud Computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network-based access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interactions.”2 This definition is one of many that have been introduced within the IT industry, but what does this actually mean? The concept of a cloud can be looked at as a “leasing-versus-owning concept – an operational expense versus a capital one.” 4
To understand the cloud computing concept more clearly, let us compare it to a more common concept: paying for electric utility. Each month, a household or business utilizes a certain amount of electricity which is monitored by a company and the consumer is billed based on their usage. If each household had their own power source, that would be congruent with non-cloud computing; there is no central power source that households take advantage of. If, as is the standard case, households buy their power from a consolidated power source (e.g. a power plant), that would be like taking advantage of a cloud; many users sharing a resource to fulfill their independent needs. Using this simple example, the cloud would be similar to the power plant, providing either infrastructure or software to customers on pay-per-use basis.
Some experts may disagree, but in many regards, cloud computing is similar to the way that computers were used when they first entered the market. At the advent of computers, computers (and associated facilities) were extraordinarily expensive and only owned by a few select organizations such as universities or the government. Few had the expertise to support a separate computing facility in house. Therefore, companies would lease time on computing resources provided by a small number of providers, only purchasing what they needed for what they were working on. In a similar model, cloud computing introduces the concept of buying resources as needed, and similar to the past, the resources can be accessed from a remote location. Key differences include quality of service, and variety of services offered by cloud computing vendors.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) serves as a guide towards helping government agencies achieve cloud. NIST’s cloud model “promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.”2 As this paper continues, each of these components will be addressed.
Development Models:
Prior to being able to evaluate if cloud computing is a good fit for a given organization, the general concepts of cloud computing must be understood. There are a number of different deployment models as well as applications of clouds that make up a cloud environment. The cloud deployment models include: public cloud, community cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud. There are strengths and weaknesses to each deployment model as it relates to the specific case that a cloud is being considered for use with. The following provides a summary understanding of each deployment model so that one can be chosen to move forward with consideration of cloud implementation.
Public Cloud
“Made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services”2
A public cloud is owned by a third party vendor that sells, or offers free of service, a cloud that can be used by the general public. A public cloud is the quickest to setup within an organization, but it also has a limited amount of transparency and limits the amount of customization.
Community Cloud
“Shared by several organization and supports specific community that has shared concerns” 2
A community cloud is an architecture that is established when a group of organizations come together to share resources. A community cloud is a mini public cloud, but only a select group of organizations will be authorized to use the cloud. In contrast to the public cloud, it will generally be more expensive since it will only be used within a smaller group of organizations and all of the infrastructure must be established. A community cloud is a great choice for a group of organizations, such as a group of federal agencies that desire to share resources but want to have more control over security and insight into the cloud itself.
Private Cloud
“Operated solely for an organization” 2
A private cloud is one that is established to support a small singular organization. There is much debate if a private cloud should be considered a cloud at all, as the infrastructure and management of the cloud remains within the organization.
Hybrid Cloud
“Composition of two or more clouds (private, community or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enable technology that enables data and application portability.” 2
A hybrid cloud allows for some of the resources to be managed by a public cloud environment, while others are managed internally by a private cloud. This will normally be used by an organization that wants to allow itself to have the scalability features that a public cloud offers, but will want to keep mission critical or private data internal to the organization.
Service Models:
In addition to the platform on which a cloud will be deployed, there are a variety of different applications of cloud. There are three major types of cloud services, Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Described below are the concepts between the varying types of cloud models.
Software as a Service (SaaS):
“Delivers software over internet without need to install and run applications on the customers own computers” 2
SaaS allows applications to be used by customers over the internet to complete business processes. SaaS is not a new concept; for example, “Salesforce.com has been providing on-demand software for customers since 1999.”6 The advantage of SaaS is the software is run from one centralized location, which means that that the software can be accessed from any location over the internet. The other benefit of having the software managed in one location is that the patches and updates only need to be done once, eliminating the time consuming need to conduct software updates on every machine. Lastly, SaaS is generally “on-demand” which means that an organization does not have to commit to enterprise licenses.
Platform as a Service (PaaS):
“Delivers a computing platform and/or solution stack as a service, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud applications” 2
The PaaS is a platform that helps to deliver an environment where a user can use the clouds to develop new applications without the need to have the software or infrastructure purchased in-house. The consumer will have control of the applications that are running on the cloud, but will not have control of the infrastructure that it is running on. In essence, PaaS provides “anything needed to support how a company builds and delivers Web applications and services in the cloud.”3
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):
“Delivers computer infrastructure, typically platform virtualization environment as a service. It’s an evolution of virtual private server offerings.” 2
IaaS is using the cloud to supply the infrastructure that would normally have to be procured by a singular organization to run an organizations IT infrastructure. Included in the infrastructure are such things as servers, memory and storage that allow a customer to scale up or down as necessary. The infrastructure can than be used by customers to run their own software with only the amount of resources that are needed at a given moment in time. In the past, companies would often have to purchase a huge infrastructure to support a periodic spike in the need for resources, leaving the servers and networks idle for much of the remaining time. With IaaS, resources will not be wasted, because only what is needed at a given moment is utilized. The customers to the cloud service have control over the operating systems and applications, but don’t manage the cloud infrastructure.
Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing:
Now that the basic concepts of cloud computing are understood, an organization needs to consider all of the impacts that cloud will influence. As one might expect, there are a number of considerations that need to be weighed to decide if an implementation of cloud computing is the best approach for a given organization.
Advantages:
There are many advantages that can be gained from the use of cloud computing. Cloud computing is built upon the idea of economies of scale. The great thing about the concept of cloud is the potential cost-savings benefits that can be gained for a small startup, large company, or even an entire federal agency. Cloud computing eliminates the usual high up-front cost that companies often cannot afford, allows for “infinite” resources on-demand, and provides the ability to pay for resources as they are needed. It also removes the need for special facilities and highly trained personnel dedicated to IT and the need to continually upgrade hardware and software as technology moves on and company requirements change.
In general, the use of cloud computing should reduce costs by companies paying for only the resources that are needed. Many companies do not know what the demand will be for their IT infrastructure, which previously meant that companies either over-bought servers or were overwhelmed by demand that could not be handled; leading to a loss of customers or degradation of service to their customers. In either scenario, there is a detrimental impact because money was inefficiently expensed on unnecessary hardware and/or potential sales were lost.
Maintenance of software can be just as big an expense for organizations as the initial purchase. With the use of cloud computing, software updates and backups are made without the organization having to spend time and money on these activities. This helps to alleviate many of the technical burdens that are often put on companies and allows them to concentrate on their core competencies while still gaining the advantage of having the most up-to-date version software.
Cloud computing allows a company to operate in an elastic fashion. Resources can be scaled up or down as needed by a project, consumer demand or operating need. The elasticity that is gained by cloud computing allows projects to proceed in a manner that is appropriate, without the time consuming and costly delays that the purchase of hardware and software has through the procurement process. Resources can be quickly provisioned/de-provisioned, which should result in a lower investment cost.
The use of cloud is looked at as an environmentally friendly approach. Currently, there are a huge number of server farms that operate to serve individual organizational needs. With cloud computing, a single server farm can support a large number of different entities, potentially reducing power requirements, emissions, and disposal of old electronics.
Disadvantages:
A company may think that cloud computing is unquestionably the way to go, but there are a number of concerns that need to be taken into consideration before a company elects to implement cloud computing. The main concerns inherent in cloud computing include security, privacy, reliability and cost.
Security is by far the most common reason that an organization states for not moving forward with cloud. Many organizations ask: “who would trust their essential data out there somewhere?”1 The amount of security control that an organization will have depends on the type of cloud structure that is adopted; private, public or community. The amount of security control is highest in a private cloud and lowest in a public one. While a cloud environment might be just as secure as a non-cloud, there is limited transparency into the cloud which escalates the worry of security. Along the same lines, there is also a concern by many organizations about the amount of privacy that a cloud environment could potentially lack. The third party vendor that is supplying the cloud could potentially access a company’s sensitive information, which increases the risk of a privacy breach.
Reliability is a huge concern for many organizations; having a service down for even a few minutes a year could be very costly or even cause a safety concern. Cloud takes the control of reliability out of the hands of the organization and puts it into the hands of the cloud vendor. It is important that service level agreements are established with the cloud vendor to make sure the reliability requirements are agreed upon by both parties upfront.
In some organizations, especially within the government, there are reporting laws that make it so a cloud option might “not be an acceptable solution due to government regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Health and Human Services Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)”.1 In addition, there are many regulations that prevent sensitive data from being transmitted beyond the borders of a nation. Cloud computing farms are general built in locations that offer the lowest possible cost, many times outside the borders of the customer’s nation. Currently, clouds are being established that alleviate this concern, but as a result, the cost of using the cloud vendor increases.
While the “advantage” section mentioned how cloud computing was a way to lower costs, this is not always the case. The initial cost of utilizing a cloud will be lower, but the lifetime costs could be much higher due to the continual expense of paying for service. Lastly, there is always the concern the business that is selling the cloud services goes out of business. Cloud applications from one provider will generally not be compatible with other providers’ clouds; thus limiting an organization’s options if they needed to change providers for some reason.
Cloud Implementation:
The first step that needs to be taken before deciding to implement a cloud within an organization is deciding if cloud is the right fit. The proper analysis needs to be conducted to include: cost, time, risk, benefits and interoperability. The cloud environment could be a great revolution for a given organization, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. If flexibility and scalability are an organization’s paramount needs, cloud is likely an optimal solution. In organizations that have high concerns for security and privacy, cloud might be a viable IT solution, but an in-depth analysis of the tradeoffs needs to be conducted. The length of time that an application or infrastructure will be commissioned should be a factor in deciding if cloud is an appropriate model. For a short duration project, cloud is likely an excellent candidate due to the fact that the infrastructure does not need to be procured. In the case of a long term implementation, cloud might still be a very viable option due to the fact that demand often fluctuates. This being the case, if demand is steady, a procurement of the hardware might a better option, considering cloud normally has a higher cost per transaction.
After it has been decided that a cloud environment is the correct fit, the layer of cloud that will be implemented needs to be selected: SaaS, PaaS or IaaS. Each of the differing layers brings with it entirely different questions. Following the selection of the layer, the type of platform that the cloud will be deployed on needs to be chosen: public, community, private or hybrid.
It is important to take into consideration the entire life cycle cost of implementing cloud. Without much question, the initial cost of implementing a cloud will be lower, but since costs are paid for on a per-use basis, the cost over the entire lifetime of could potentially be higher with cloud. When developing the cost estimate to establish an IT infrastructure without cloud, it is essential that cost beyond the initial purchase of the hardware and software are taken into account. With cloud, especially in the public cloud, there is a large reduction in the costs for updates/patches, maintenance and reductions in staff, all factors that need to be taken into consideration when doing a fair comparison. Simply put, opportunity cost must be determined for moving to a cloud and a decision should be made based on the needs of the organization.
Summary:
In summary, cloud computing has the potential to change the way organizations view and deal with IT needs. As the private and government sectors continually look for ways to reduce costs, cloud is an approach that needs to be evaluated. In general, the cost of this type of infrastructure will be lower, but to some degree at the expense of customization and control over security in the organization’s IT structure. By fully investigating all of the considerations and options presented in this paper, an organization will be well positioned to make a smart decision on cloud computing for their current and future needs.
Works Cited:
1 Armbrust, Michael, et al. “A View of Cloud Computing.” Communications of the ACM 53.4 (2010): 50-58. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
2 Grance, Mell, and Peter Mell. “The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing Version 15.” 7 Oct. 2009.
3 Lahey, David, and Taylor MacDonald. “Three flavors of cloud.” Accounting Today 24.10 (2010): 22. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
4 McCafferty, Dennis. “Cloudy Skies: Public Versus Private Option Still Up in the.” Baseline 103 (2010): 28-33. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
5 US General Services Administration. “Cloud FAQs.” Apps.gov. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
6 Yan, Han. “On the Clouds: A New Way of Computing.” Information Technology & Libraries 29.2 (2010): 87-92. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/cloud-computing-trendy-or-transformational-4520721.html
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April 1st, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Helen Griffiths
A computer is basically found everywhere in this era. We see them in shops, in homes, at schools, the supermarket, places of work, etc. But no matter how common a computer may seem to be, and how regularly we use it in our daily lives; how many of us follow the computer safety principles? Or how much of us know that a guideline for computer safety actually exists?
No matter how stylish or corporate your workplace maybe, it’s always best that you carry out health and safety training or guidelines for your employees. High quality health and safety training for your staff and employees will provide them with the proper guidelines and the right procedures on safety processes. With it they can also avoid any injury or harm know how to deal with any problematic situation or crisis in the workplace. One of the important topics that safety training also covers is computer safety in the area.
Computer safety training shows employees how to properly use their computers in a way to avoid risks of repetitive strain injury, back strain and eye strain.
To make sure that you are indeed following computer safety guidelines, start to follow these tips:
- Avoid glares. Place your computer away from the window to avoid glares on the computer screen. These glares happen when lights bounces off your screen into your eyes. This can affect your visibility, making it difficult and as a result, you strain your eyes and ability to effectively work on your job. If you cannot control the lighting or position, make sure that you use a computer screen or filter to protect your eyes from the glare.
- Check the setting of your screen brightness. If it is set too high, it will probably strain your eyes.
- Check your distance. The distance between your screen and your seat should be at least 19 to 27 inches away.
- Make sure that your screen is at the eye level or below. If it is above the eye level, it will probably strain your neck and eyes.
- Make sure that your computer is not dusty and fingerprint free. Clean your monitor regularly. Dust, smudges and fingerprints will make it difficult to see the screen and work.
- When using a mouse, move your whole arm instead of just your wrist.
- Take regular breaks to loosen your muscles and prevent strains on your eyes.
- Choose a chair that firmly supports your back to avoid stress on your lower back and spine.
Computer safety is really important when it comes down to your Health and Safety. If you are not following the proper guidelines, it could affect not only your performance in work but also your health and safety. Repetitive strain injury of the hands and wrists if just taken for granted can lead to a more severe case of strain injury called Carpal Tunnel disease. Follow these computer safety guidelines for a healthier practice in the workplace.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/easy-computer-safety-tips-and-recommendations-for-using-your-computer-3918841.html
About the Author
Most of us use a computer during our working day without being fully aware of the hazards. Safety Media’s collection of DSE training products will provide your employees with guidance on reducing the risk of injury. Learn more about Computer Safety in the workplace here => http://www.SafetyMedia.co.uk
March 25th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Chip Cooper
Copyright 2010 Chip Cooper
The use of Flash cookies capable of re-installing browser tracking cookies – that users have previously deleted – has triggered the filing of multiple privacy lawsuits against some of the Web’s largest media companies. At issue is a user’s fundamental right to control how their tracking information is harvested and shared.
Issues raised in these lawsuits take behavioral advertising privacy concerns to a whole new level, particularly for sites that participate in ad networks that use Flash cookies. And if your site participates in an ad network that uses Flash cookies, you’d better have full disclosure in your Privacy Policy, or face the consequences.
The Lawsuits
Each of the lawsuits seeks class action status. The defendants include three leaders in the field of behavioral advertising – Clearspring Technologies, Inc., Quantcast Corporation, and Specific Media, Inc.
Behavioral advertising has used traditional “cookies” to track a user’s surfing behavior on the Internet. The cookies track clickstream data including sites visited and the related times on these sites, search engine queries, and content read and downloaded. The data harvested by the cookies is used to create a behavioral profile about a specific user that can be keyed to a specific demographic. Advertisers use this information to target ads that would appeal to the demographic. In essence, behavioral ads are targeted to specific consumers anonymously based on the specific consumer’s past surfing behavior.
The issues raised in these suits significantly increase the stakes in ongoing privacy disputes regarding behavioral advertising. What’s noteworthy in these suits are allegations regarding how a user’s surfing behavior is harvested – specifically, by the use of Flash cookies.
How Flash Cookies Work
First, as background, it’s important to understand traditional cookies. A traditional cookie is a small string of text transmitted by a server to a user that is stored by the user’s web browser. Because cookies are text files, they are not executable. Cookies may or may not have an expiration date, and if there is no expiration date, they exist until the browser terminates. Traditional cookies are often used for purposes of authentication and as identifiers for an online session such as a membership website.
Users generally have the ability to control traditional cookies. Web browser vendors generally offer software tools that offer users the ability to configure their browsers to accept or refuse certain cookies, or to delete them at time intervals of the user’s choosing.
Control over cookies by users presents a problem for advertisers. Cookie deletion by users skews the numbers that track and measure a user’s online activity. The result – targeted, behavioral ads are not targeted to the desired degree of effectiveness, and traffic counts are rendered inaccurate.
Flash cookies address this problem by installing on a user’s computer an Adobe Flash Media Player local shared object (LSO) for tracking purposes. The Adobe Flash Media Player is software that enables users to view content on their computers. The tracking results for the user are later merged with information from other sources for purposes of behavioral advertising. This procedure is similar to the procedure used with traditional cookies.
What’s different with Flash cookies is how they work. An independent report by academic researchers titled “Flash Cookies and Privacy” found that:
* when a user visits a Flash cookie site, it receives a traditional, browser cookie, plus an identical Flash cookie; and
* if the user deletes the browser cookie, the Flash cookie re-spawns the browser cookie.
What’s more, Flash cookies remain on the user’s computer and are hard to detect. By default, Flash cookies have no expiration date, and they’re stored in a different location on a user’s computer than traditional cookies.
Privacy Concerns
Plaintiffs in the current litigation as well as privacy advocates in general object to Flash cookies alleging that:
* Flash cookies are passed to a user’s computer without any notice by, or consent from, the user,
* resulting in a violation of a user’s fundamental right to control how their tracking information is harvested and shared.
Conclusion
The use of Flash cookies in the context of behavioral advertising presents new issues with related privacy concerns.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has not yet issued formal guidelines or taken action against the use of Flash cookies, but that doesn’t mean that Flash cookies are not on the FTC’s radar screen. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz recently stated that the FTC is considering implementing a “do not track” list as a response to the growing concern over behavioral advertising in general.
Expect the FTC to act sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, if your site participates in an ad network that uses Flash cookies, you’d better have full disclosure in your Privacy Policy.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/flash-cookies-trigger-privacy-suits-against-online-marketers-3625963.html
About the Author
Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting DigiContracts.com Website Legal Forms for website legal compliance. Use his free online tool — Website Documents Determinator — to determine which documents your website really needs for website legal compliance. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to draft your website legal forms at DigiContracts.com.
March 18th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Author: Ethan Scott
The Internet will be used to support the small community of people who are looking for the daily computer communications. Since the speed of the Internet connections is progressed from 56 kbs to megabytes per second as of 2010. The Internet Service Providers will offer the different download speeds, but they will not guaranteed. To fix the slow computer download will not always in the control, but there are some easy steps that you can take in order to make sure that the download will be done as quickly as possible. Just follow the information below. By reading the information below, you will get more advantages so that you can fix the slow computer download as well as the increasing of your Internet connection.
The first thing that you have to do is that you should connect your computer to the Internet connection with the Ethernet cable. By using the wireless Internet connection will result in the service interruptions or even disconnections. Skull-box.net, the information of technology website, recommends this for the fastest possible Internet speed the computer be plugged into the network router with the Ethernet cable.
For the second step, you need to eliminate factors that will slow down the performance of your computer, just like unneeded programs. If the computer will be running multiple programs, especially the programs that usually use the Internet, it can cause the download in sharing bandwidth and also processor speed. Close all the programs that are not related to the download.
For the next step, you can use an alternate download or even “mirror.” The download mirror is the web host from which you are able to download the similar file. You should search the Internet for the alternate sites with the similar download; the particular website can be the factor in the slow download speed.
After that, it is also important for you to remove the spy ware and also viruses from your computer. Microsoft has noted that the spy ware and also viruses leech the Internet connection and also can dramatically make it slow. Run the anti-virus and also anti spy ware programs in order to alleviate the issues.
For the last step, you can contact the ISP. This will be good for you. If you experience slow downloads, there will be the problems with the underground wiring. This will be worth asking the ISP when it can do anything in increasing the download speed.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/important-tips-for-fixing-slow-computer-downloads-3163820.html
About the Author
Wireless router with DSL modem will give you more advantages in increasing the speed of your Internet connection. Or you can try wireless cable modem router that also will be great for your needs.