Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts

Wednesday 23 August 2017

Google Tracks Everything You Do. Here's How To Delete It

Google Knows A Lot About Users


In the present scenario, our lives have become more assimilated online than ever before. We tend to interact with families and friends online through social media, emails etc. We also tend to conduct business through difficult, data-driven channels and inventions due to which the culture that we encounter online seems to be essentially connected to what we seem to encounter in real life.

Google being the most popular search engine platform has most of the users utilising its services. It is a known fact that Google tends to know a lot about the user. A major section of the search engine industry model depends on advertising and in order to be successful it requires to know who you are.

Google does not makes an issue regarding its in-depth knowledge of its users however at the same time it does not even tend to keep it undisclosed. Users could get to know how to find out what Google seems to know and take control of your data.Perhaps the least surprising is that Google tends to have all of the search history stored up.

You could follow these guidelines:


If the user prefers not have a list of the search queries stored up, he could go to the history page of Google, click Menu which are the three vertical dots and then hit Advanced - > All Time -> Delete.
If the user desires to stop Google tracking your searches for good, go to the activity controls page and toggle tracking off.

Voice search-saving habits of Google have several times been reported. Those who tend to use voice search or the voice-activated assistant of Google their searches have been stored by Google Now so that more relevant ads are served and the search features are steadily enhanced, the same manner one expects from regular Google search.

Many are not aware that these searches have been actually recorded which means that users are able to listen back to precisely what they have explored by listening to what they said and how they have said it.


If the user has utilised any of the opt-in voice features of Google for yourself, then go to the Voice & Audio Activity page of Google to review your voice searches and listen back the audio. A warning of caution - this could be fascinating, funny or plain cringe-worthy.In order to erase this database of embarrassing searches, you could opt for one or more of the recordings from the check box near them and click `delete’ towards the top of the screen. Google also tends to keep a tab on your location besides recording your searches and your voice.

The location history or timeline page of Google tends to serve up a Google Map enabling you to choose specific dates as well as time and locate where you were. Its precision is based on whether the user were signed in their Google account and carrying a phone or tablet at that point of time. When a user tends to visit the timeline page they can go to setting component towards the bottom right-hand area of the screen and choose delete all from there. Besides this there is also another option to pause location history by going to the big button towards the bottom left area of the screen.However this one seems a bit trickier to get rid completely since to stop it occurring in future, one would need to choose out of both location tracking and location reporting with your device, regardless of running Android or iOS.

A more interesting area of checking out what Google tends to precisely know about the user is to go over its ad setting page where. If signed in Google account, one would see a profile which Google has built for you depending on your search history, YouTube history and interests. For instance, it could know that one is a female, aged 18-24 and interested in banking, consumer electronics, mobile phones, shooter games, rap and much more.

From this page there is a possibility to turn ad personalisation on or off. If the user tends to opt out of personalisation, the adverts which seem to follow you around the web – trainers, after one has searched for them once, will stop showing up. The ad network of Google operates on more than two million websites all across the world and restraining its knowledge regarding the user would make everything less disturbing

If, the user wishes to completely eliminate himself from the internet, then Swedish website Deseat.metends to utilise your Google account for assistance. Utilising OAuth protocol of Google enables third-party users to access your other accounts without knowing your password details, Deseat.me tends to bring up all your online as well as social media accounts, and permits the user to delete his accounts from them.

In order to delete it you could visit Deseat.me and edit your Gmail address. This will bring up all the online accounts that have been linked to that particular email address and enable the user to get rid of the same.

Monday 17 July 2017

Darknet : Your Guide to the Badlands of the Internet

Darknet

Darknet – Totally Diverse Being


If there tends to be something peculiar going on online, then the same could be taking place on the darknet such as hacked login details, cybersecurity exploits put up for hire and much more. In 2013, Target had been hacked and details of customer card had turned up on darknet marketplaces. Hackers had also attempted to do the same with login credential of Yahoo as well as details of O2 phone network customers in the UK.

One will find cybercriminals also selling security exploits. With the growth of bitcoin, the currency of choice on the darknet and unidentified payments seems to be much easier than before. A news enquiry in Australia had recently discovered that an unidentified darknet user had offered up access to the Medicare records of `any Australian’ for only 0.0089 bitcoin - $22, AU$30, £18. Europol has mentioned that the darknet together with the other peer-to-peer networks are yet the `main platform’ for the purpose of sharing child abuse material.

For users using Chrome or Safari to get online, the darknet is said to be a totally diverse being and how could it be diverse from the `surface web’ which we are aware of? What is it that users need to be aware of in advance should one intend to wade in?

`Darknet’ Not Same as `Deep Web’


We need to know that the darknet is not the same as the `deep web’, which is referred to any area of the internet which is not noticeable by search engine. However that does not mean that is suspicious and there are several other sites one would visit in their daily browsing which may fall in this classification. When a user tends to log in to internet banking, they are navigated to a particular location online and one that is not assisted in Google results.

The same could go for various pages which may tend to pop up in webmail services such as Gmail or educational databases on a university network. It seems to be complex in estimating presently how big the deep web could be though the generally cited research, (from 2001) has placed the deep web at 400 to 500 times the size of the `surface web’.

It is said that if the surface web could be the tip of the iceberg and the deep web, of what lies below the water, then the darknet would be what one would find deep in the blackest water beneath. The darknet itself is the network while the dark web the content which is served up on these networks.


Hidden Crime Bazaars


According to researcher Brian Krebs, it is here that one would find a type of open market which tends to pursue their trade in illegal wares, the hidden crime bazaars which can only be accessed through special software that obscures one’s true location online.

Last month the UN had observed that though the drug trafficking over the darknet seems to be comparatively uncertain, drug transaction has increased by 50% annually from September 2013 to January 2016. Moreover in early 2016, Loretta Lynch the then-US Attorney General had cautioned that some gun sales had been shifting to the dark web in order to stay beyond the reach of regulations.

 Here the main key is secrecy and whistle-blowers, activists together with political insurgents definitely tend to a valid reason to obscure their online location and post secrecy on the deep web as well as the darknet, though that level of secrecy has also been sought by the criminals.

Precise Software/Devoted Browser


This does not seem to be a matter of issues to `darknet.com’ and to spy one would need precise software together with a devoted browser. Most probably the Tor software and its dedicated Tor Browser are the most famous of these but there are other comprising of I2P and Freenet.

By utilising software initially called The Onion Router, Tor tends to secure traffic by routing it via a network of secure relays which anonymize traffic. These relays are said to be run by volunteers all over the world who donate their server bandwidth. Considering it as a network of safe house, one travels through underground tunnels which run along the line of the street above and tend to pop out where you desire safe houses donated by fellow network users.

However with links on the darknet, it is usually only alphanumeric stings of gibberish and could be very difficult to know what you’re getting. It is significant to recall that Tor is not illegal software, only as torrenting software, does not do anything illegal till one tends to use the same in sharing pirated movies.

Tor states that plenty of `normal people’ tend to use its service together with citizen journalists, whistle-blowers, law enforcement agencies and as per Human Rights Watch, Chinese dissidents. As per the estimates of Tor only around 4% of traffic over its network is for hidden services and the rest is people accessing regular internet sites with greater secrecy.

Monday 15 May 2017

How, When, and Why to Set a Connection as Metered on Windows 10

1
If you are still looking for an elegant solution for the manual control of Windows Updates, you should read these Windows 10 tips and tricks .

If you are traveling with your mobile phone or tablet via a mobile connection, the switched connection prevents large amounts of data, such as Windows 10 tips and tricks, Windows updates, etc., from being downloaded. Only when you are allowed to download (click on download), it will be loaded.

If you are now at home with a PC that has only LAN, it looks officially different. There is thus a function not offered. Windows updates are loaded and installed without request. But there is remedy. LAN (Ethernet) can also be activated as a switched connection.

Through the windows 10 tips and tricks , it is now possible to make this change directly in the settings. And so it goes:

Open Settings -> Network and Internet -> Ethernet
Here, press the name of the connection (Network Connected).
In the new window, Metered Connection appears.
In the Settings -> Network and Internet you will find under Ethernet no possibility. This change must be made in the registry. And so it goes: Press the Windows key + R Press regedit and start
To the path
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \
NetworkList \ DefaultMediaCost.
By means of this windows 10 tips and tricks it is possible in the new version of Windows 10 from the Creators Update, you can also make this network setting via the Windows Settings app. The appropriate setting can be found under the point "Network and Internet", then on "Ethernet", then click on the "Connected symbol" and then the following setting option appears. In the left tree, right-click on DefaultMediaCost -> Permissions, and then change the owner to Administrators or your user name. Confirm the name and set a checkmark at the bottom left to accept all the objects underneath.

If the owner has been taken over and the checkbox is set to Full Control, you can now change the rule entry.
In the right pane, double-click Ethernet and change the value from 1 to 2.

Save and reboot.

That's it.. Now, Ethernet (LAN) is set as a switched connection and is recognized by Windows as such.

Anyone who wants to reset the ownership rights for the registry key can do so. You just have to enter NT Service \ TrustedInstaller as the name, confirm it and the rule entry is protected again.

If one goes now in the settings to Windows Update and security and looks for updates, the message that "updates are available. They will be downloaded if you do not use a clocked connection. ".

Now you can manually download the updates whenever you want. Anyone who runs the Defender does not need to worry either. Unless the service is completely disabled, the defaults for the Windows Defender are downloaded directly from the Defender. Or you use through Windows 10 tips and tricks to load these definition updates manually via a script .

If you have a limited data tariff and want more control over the data usage, set this connection as a switched network. Some apps may work differently to reduce data usage when connecting to this network.

Microsoft also points to this setting again on the Windows Update page and explains.

Saturday 11 March 2017

Dark Net is More Resilient to Attack than the Internet

Darknet
Our reliance on internet for day to day activities is growing exponentially with every passing month. Internet is regarded as a robust and complex network which happens to fail quite a lot even though the technological evolutions are upgrading it capabilities at break neck speed. A research conducted by the scientists has revealed that the dark net which remains hidden from the regular internet as well as invisible to the common search engine happens to be less vulnerable to the cyber attacks. Given the fact it has low visibility and not everyone knows about it keeps it secure even though it works on the same foundation of the commonly used internet.

Decentralization is the major reason for attacks on common internet

The regular is extremely decentralized which is known to become extremely stable in normal circumstance which makes it easier to wreak it. Internet is just an amalgamation of sites and servers which are millions in number and works fine even when you take out few sites or servers from this complex network. That is why it becomes more vulnerable and can easily be used to launch a coordinated attack and this is what exactly happens when someone launches a distributed denial of service attacks or more commonly known as (DDoS). Dark Net is less vulnerable because of its unique structure.

Lack of rick club effect safeguards dark net from attacks

Their study has found that the powerful network nodes in the regular internet tend to connect with the powerful nodes with ease. This helps in forming what these scientists describe as network elites. Therefore launching an attack on single such node results in triggering the failure of the other nodes and this ultimately results in failure of the whole network. Dark net simply does away with the high level connectivity among the powerful nodes present in its network.

When it comes to network elites in the dark elites then appear to avoid each other which ensure its robustness against the mitigated attacks. Dark net in essence creates the ‘small world network’ which is filled up with the heavily connected nodes link which is a part of the smaller local nodes. It can be easily visualized as the major traffic hubs and how they connect with the smaller airports spread across the region. Scientists are still to figure what makes the dark net so much touch against the attacks when they happens to very much similar to regular internet in the way it works and interacts with different node in many ways.

Scientists have put forward the thought that completely reconfiguring the internet is the only resort toward infusing the robust toughness in the regular internet. This method of reconfiguring the complete internet will certainly be a giant momentous task that would be expensive beyond imagination but this will help in bringing highly secure environment for the next generation of the users and large companies.

Thursday 27 August 2015

New Internet Routing Method Allows Users to Avoid Sending Data through Undesired Countries


Internet_routing
Censorship of information has become quite commonplace all across the world. The developing countries and developed countries- both are using censorship in similar fashion to thwart the flow of information on the online medium. Censorship is even a greatest threat to the open channel communication on the internet. If data travels from the route, which passes by countries, which had placed censorship, then it is a cause of worry for data integrity.

A new system offers sublime internet routing features

Some computer scientists at the University Of Maryland have come up with a commendable solution of advanced internet routing method. A method has been developed which provides a concrete proof to the internet users so that their information does not cross through certain geographical areas, which possess censorship. The advantage of using of this new system is that it can be deployed immediately without wasting any time and it happens to be extremely easier to use and doesn’t require any special or extensive knowledge.

How this new internet routing method works?

This new system of internet routing has been named Alibi Routing and is expected to be presented in the upcoming event of Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group On Data Communications (ACM SIGCOMM) in London.

Information when transmitted over the internet in form of website requests or email content then it is broken into different packets and later on it is sent through a series of routers until it reaches its destination. Through the censoring of content, some parts of the world are known to actively engage in modifying the data, which is returned to the users. Alibi Routing uses an extensive peer-to-peer network in order to locate peers- who are running alibi routing software- and relay the user’s packets to the final destination through avoiding the forbidden regions. In this system a peer is termed as “alibi” whose work is to provide proof through calculations whether the information can relay fast at a particular time over a particular geographical location or not. Successful rates show that the information has reached successfully to its desired destination without traversing through the forbidden regions.

Users can use safety parameter in the Alibi Routing in order to get much better control over their data. If a safety parameter is set at larger then it will be hard to find an alibi but at smaller safety parameter alibi can be found easier. The safety parameter shows the user’s desired level confidence whether their data packets are safeguarded from travelling the forbidden regions or not.

Alibi Routing gives better control to users over their data
 
In the recent times, censorship of the internet traffic and information has resulted in the creation of suspicious boomerang routing. This routing makes it easier to monitor the data, which leaves a region to come back again, which is not at good for the end users. Computer scientists have developed the Alibi Routing system in a bid to empower the users to have better control over what happens with their data on the internet.

Saturday 18 July 2015

Internet Addresses Have Officially Run Out

Internet
Top Level Exhaustion ….. IPv4 Addresses Allocated for Special Use

When the internet was first developed, it was presumed that around 4 billion unique number combination would be adequate. However, it did not turn out the way it was predicted when tech pioneer Ken Olsen had stated in 1977 that `there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home’.

With the internet it gave rise to more usage with users getting tech savvy and getting connected to the internet world. Each node of Internet Protocol – IP network like computer, router or a network printer has been assigned an IP address which is used in locating and identifying the node in communication with several other nodes on the internet. An IP address space is handled by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority – IANA, globally, as well as by the five regional Internet registries – RIR, that are responsible in their respective territories for tasks to end users and local internet registries like internet service providers.

 Top level exhaustion took place on 31, January’2011. From the five RIRs, three have exhausted allocation of the blocks and have not reserved for IPv6 transition which took place on 15th April 2011 for Asia Pacific, while on 14th September 2012 for Europe and for Latin America and the Caribbean on 10th June 2014.Internet Protocol version 4 offers 4,294,967,296, addresses though large blocks of IPv4 addresses have been allocated for special uses and are not provided for public allocation.

ARIN unable to Fulfil Allocation of Large IPv4 Address Block

As per Gartner researchers, he states that there would be around 25 billion internet connected devices by 2020 which is more than six times to what the developers had planned when the net went live in 1983. Vint Cerf, the internet founding father clarifies that they were aware of this coming up and had been reading about the drying blocks of IPv4 addresses and for the first time North America has been out of the new IPv4 addresses.

Presently, Caribbean Islands, Canada, North Atlantic and US will be receiving the waiting list from the American Registry for Internet Numbers and has been cautioned that it will be unable to fulfill the allocation of a large IPv4 address block since the address pool has been drying and because of this the ARIN for the first time will be changing its policies on allocation. Though the infrastructure running the internet was made with space for 4 billion addresses, which had seemed a lot at that point of time, however with provision of too many devices coming up, the IPv4 protocol seems to be running out of space.

Initiated IPv4 Unmet Request Policy

American Registry for Internet Numbers, - ARIN, has now initiated its IPv4 Unmet Request Policy and till now, organizations in the ARIN area were in a position of getting IPv4 addressed whenever needed. However, recently, ARIN is now not in a position of fulfilling the requests resulting in ISP which come to ARIN for IPv4 address space are faced with three choices namely-
  • They could take a smaller block, presently ARIN does have a limited supply of blocks of 512 and 256 addresses
  • They could go on the wait list with the hope that a block of desired size would be available sometime in the near future.
  • They could buy addresses from an organization which may tend to have more than their requirement.
Experts have advised those running websites to use the spacious IPv6 specification, though moving could be expensive as well as time consuming. However, most of the large websites had already gone ahead and done so while several smaller ones could be left without much space to continue working. The IP address version which are now running out are utilised by computers in identifying themselves to each other in order to get connected. The old IP addresses comprised of four numbers with dots between them.
IPv6 Picking up Pace
Although being limited to four numbers meant that only 4 billion addresses were available and there are many more devices intending to get connected to the internet. IPv6 is picking up the pace and ARIN has been encouraging organizations in considering using IPv4 addresses.

Supply of IPv6 addresses is enough and is not likely to run out in future. By adopting a much more complex address, IPv6 would be increasing the minimum amount and it has space for 340 undecillion addresses or 340 followed by 36 zeroes, which is adequate for each atom on Earth to be accommodated with one. Those businesses who have not switched so far could move towards the new specification - IPv6.

Being expensive, companies could move towards hardware which would be compatible with IPv6. Should they decide to move over they could end up buying the limited and probably expensive IPv4 addresses that may be left. If users do not move over to the new system, they would not be able to get on the net since they will not have addresses to use and the internet would stop growing at that point. Experts had warned earlier that there were only 3.4 million addresses left in North America and that they would be running out in summer.

Saturday 11 July 2015

US Researchers Find A Way to Make Internet Access Cheaper, Faster


fiber_optic
Recently, US researchers have found a way to increase the speed of internet (data traveling) over a fiber optic network. It is expected that this technology will adopted commercial to provide cheaper and faster internet. According to Nikola Alic, a data scientist at Qualcomm Institute, which is part of the University of California at San Diego, this technique will take the couple of years to make a meaningful impact, but it’s all about implementation process and determination of the technical community. The more he added that whenever more you struggle the much faster you sink because it’s like quicksand.

US based researchers have found the way which is more significant to improve the performance of fiber networks as it could be benefit for both such as; ISP (Internet Service Providers) and consumers. The researchers have found a way to manage the distortion in internet network whenever you try to add power in it. It allows data to travel for longer distances before being reconditioned by electronic regenerator.

However; it’s clear that these findings will eliminate the need of electronic regenerators. These fiber optic cables are not only able to carry information or data for long distance, but also they don’t need power to supply data. Information and data in fiber optic cables get degrades with the distance travel and whenever you will try to increase the speed of internet at which data or information is traveling after getting boost from power in the network, so degradation gets worse.

The main concern with repeaters is that they should be applied anywhere from 80 to 200 data channels, but it could be highly power consuming as well as much expensive. However; to reduce the numbers of repeaters in the network, researchers have used the frequency combs of wideband to make sure that signal distortion which also known as the crosstalk.

Crosstalk occurs in the fiber to convert it into the original state after while arriving at its final destination. We all are aware that crosstalk was not random as it governed by high strict physical laws, but whenever we will look into the lab, it will appeared as the random which is still mystery, explained Alic.

According to Doug Brake, who is telecom policy analyst at The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, it affects the way of sending the information over the fiber optic networks, but it is not a limitation factor while building the infrastructure at the last stage. In the whole process eventually, researchers have discovered the frequency variations in the entire communication channel, which need to tune at the source.

To produce some meaningful result in the lab researcher were able to retrieve the information after traveling 7,400 miles or 12,000 kilometers through fiber optic cables as well as standard amplifiers. According to cyber experts, this technology is meaningful and attractive for new ISP players such as; Google as they are adopting aggressive marketing strategies and technologies to capture the major market share.

Wednesday 7 January 2015

Evolvable Internet Architecture



Internet
When it comes to the future Internet research, making improvement in the existing architecture so that it meets different types of requirements becomes the key topic. Professor Xu Ke and his group from Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University have set out together to find a solution to this problem.

The team has been able to develop a novel evolvable Internet architecture framework under the evolvability constraint, the manageability constraint and economic adaptability constraint. According to them, the network layer can be used to develop the evolvable architecture under these design constraints. Their teamwork has been published SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences.2014, Vol 57(11), with the title, "Towards evolvable internet architecture-design constraints and models analysis".

The total concept: 

With nearly 1/3 of the total world’s population having access to internet, it has become one of the strongest and the global means of communication. However, in a deeper sense, internet is no longer a communication channel but now it has been extended to become a communication and data processing storage area. Looking at the changes it is difficult for the existing Internet architecture to adapt.

Even though there are corresponding researches about future Internet research depending on the dirty-slate approach and the clean-slate approach, for more than years the two mainstream architecture development ideas have been conducted in many countries but still these approaches cannot fully solve the current Internet architectures problem efficiently.

As far as the dirty-slate approach is concerned, it can only solve a small range of local issues on the Internet but it also makes the internet architecture evolve into a complex and cumbersome structure. But when it comes to the clean-slate approach, there is serious deployment and transition issues, which becomes totally uncontrollable in the current architecture.

The evolvable Internet architecture combines the advantages of both the clean-slate approach and dirty-slate approach also ensures that the core principal is not hampered.

The evolvable architecture is more flexible when compared to the dirty-slate approach. Even the evolvable architecture becomes more stable when compared to the clean-slate approach. There are three different types of layers in the evolvable architecture.

Apart from ensuring that the construction of the evolvable architecture is in conformity with the design principles, three constraints are required during the development stages. They are the economic adaptability constraint, evolvability constraint, and the management constraint. This is all about the next generation of the internet.

The development and history: 

The collaborative efforts from many researchers from different institutes and universities are behind the discovery and development of this evolvable architecture. This project got the support from a grant from 973 Project of China (Grant Nos. 2009CB320501 & 2012CB315803), NSFC Project (Grant No. 61170292 & 61161140454), New Generation Broadband Wireless Mobile Communication Network of the National Science and Technology Major Projects (Grant No. 2012ZX03005001), 863 Project of China (Grant No. 2013AA013302), EU MARIE CURIE ACTIONS EVANS (Grant No. PIRSES-GA-2010-269323), and the National Science and Technology Support Program (Grant No. 2011BAK08B05-02).

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Giant DDoS Kicks Of North Korea Off The Internet


North_Korea
North Korea was unceremoniously knocked off the internet by DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. This attack has come into limelight soon after the “proportional response” to the Sony Pictures hack promised by the government of the United States of America. According to the rumors, the attack was supposedly carried out by North Korea and this is what even the FBI believes. On one side if this attack was carried out by the US government, it will become too obvious, so it is safe to believe that this attack would have been carried out by some disgruntled hack-activists such as Lizard Squad or Anonymous. At present, internet has been restored in North Korea but the outage lasted for about 9 hours and 31 minutes.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): 

While there might be some people who are not aware about DDoS, but is no longer unusual for a service to get knocked off by the same. In the last couple of months, both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live have encountered outage issues. But it is quite surprising for an entire country to get knocked off like this. But all this makes sense given to the poor internet connectivity in North Korea.

As far as North Korea is concerned, the state owns the newspapers and TV stations making sure that there is no freedom of information. This clearly indicates the presence of dictatorship and absence of any dealings with democracy. The country has a very tight control over the flow of information.

History has proven that country is easily controllable when all the information/knowledge/dogma generates from a single known point. When it comes to regime of the country, even though internet has all possible required knowledge for humans, it still does not jibe well with the country. Most of the citizens of the country only use intranet and internet is left for higher ups. The country does not depend much on internet but whatever is available is provided by telecommunications giant China Unicom.

Quite frankly, it is very easy to DDoS North Korea. They have a single cable, which connects to the rest of internet. For DDoS a single, low-bandwidth link is trivial but as most of the people in North Korea do not have access to internet, DDoS was not able to achieve what it was meant for.

There are enough speculations doing around about the people or the organization behind the attack. Lizard Squad, seems to have taken the responsibility for the attack on North Korea as they have tweeted, both Xbox Live & other targets have a lot of capacity. They had previously DDoSed the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live services.

The company’s Twitter account has been suspended. Anonymous also has a history of DDoSes but they have openly condemned the whole Sony Pictures/North Korea/The Interview debacle. While we can remember the cyber attack on Sony and the retaliation, which was promised by the US government, such DDoS on North Korea doesn’t make any sense from their side as it hardly makes any impact. While on one side a small period of DDoS will not have any major impact but if it continues for a few weeks or month, it can create serious problems for the country.

Saturday 27 December 2014

First Virtual School for Internet-Addicted Teens in Japan


Virtual_School
With the growing population of internet-addicted teens in Japan, the country is now working towards opening the world’s first ever virtual school. This school will be opened with the aim of catering to the growing needs of the teens in Japan and the ones who find it difficult to function normally in the real world.

The Cybernation School

With the increasing importance of education, the Cybernation School on the outskirts of Tokyo will allow the dropout students to complete their secondary education at their own convenience and comfort of their own bedroom. The school works with the motto of making the Smartphone as the student’s classroom. The school is expected to be launched and started from April 2015 and it has already received nearly 1000 inquiries regarding the first 300 seats, which are available. The school is planning to allow their students to create their own avatars to attend the necessary classes and they can also make friends with other avatars of their classmates. The home works completed and submitted by the students will be checked the teacher’s avatars.

According to the reports published in the Times, the virtual classes for the students will be made of pre-recorded lectures, which will be streamed online. The students will be able to collect necessary study points and gain knowledge that will help them in graduating after 3 years.

It has been observed in Japan that pupils fail to attend to school due to many psychological reasons in 2013. The number is as high as 120,000. Most of these pupils are the recluses or the hikikomori, who find it difficult to make and develop human relationships and prefer to have an anonymous virtual reality online. According to the government statistics, there are nearly 700,000 hikikomori in Japan as of 2010. These people voluntarily take the decision of staying alone and away from society and public.

Meisei High School

Meisei Cyber, which is an initiative of the private Meisei High School in Chiba region, will also offer tests and classes through computer, tablets, and computers in a three-year high school curriculum. Similar to that of Cybernation school, even Meisei school will allow students to study at the comfort of their home, but the students will still have attend the regular school for 4 days every year. Students will be able to consult with friends regarding their students and enjoy their student’s life at the same time. The students will be able to play games through a farm and the fishing spots provided for them.

According to Kota Hasegawa, Meisei spokesperson, this virtual school will be a blessing for the students’, who are scared of attending day school to earn a graduate degree. Although the school agrees that face-to-face education and communication is vital, they are taking another approach to reach out to the students through online education and communication.

As far as online education and learning are concerned, it is not a new phenomenon is Japan. Japan is thinking about giving all the opportunities to educate their children.

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Elon Musk Has New Mission: Provide Cheap Internet Access to the World


Elon Musk
SpaceX has the unique ability of launching stuff’s into space very cheaply and now Elon Musk is ready to capitalize on the same ability. Musk has announced that at present he is working on deployment of a constellation, which will comprise of nearly 700 satellites with the aim of bringing cheap internet access to every person around the world. According to Musk, in terms of finance and ideology, he is more attracted to under connected part of the world like Asia, South America, and Africa but he also agrees to that, the same satellite based internet can be very useful to many rural areas of Europe and North America.

According to the reports released by the Wall Street Journal a few days ago, Musk was also working along with WorldVu on a satellite internet startup, which has slunk out of covertness over the couple of months. Greg Wyler is the person who founded WorldVu; he was also the same person who started O3b. The Company O3b (other 3 billion) is the internet company which was started with the aim of serving internet to people who do not have access to internet at all.

Elon has already confirmed that he is working with SpaceX in forming satellites and they are expecting to make official announcement in the next couple of months. However, there was no confirmation given that WorldVu is working with SpaceX. According to the WSJ reports, both WorldVu and SpaceX are working on the same concept of launching 700 satellites. Each of these satellites will be weighing around 113 kg (250 pounds) and fair into a low altitude orbit of about 800-965km (500-600 miles). Apart from the weight and size, there are no other technical details available about the satellites.

WorldVu: 

WorldVu has been able to acquire a license from SkyBridge called Ku-band, which is a completely failed internet enterprise. The satellites are being targeted to be placed in 20 orbits with the aim of providing consistent internet all around the world. At present no information has been given out on the speed and the cost of the availing the internet. According to Elon, the internet will be provided at very low cost but very much comparable to the current internet access provided by the expensive satellites.

Satellite Internet Access: 

It has been observed that the internet access from satellites is not only expensive but also very unreliable and slow. This can be attributed to the high cost of satellite building and launch the satellites. Historically launching a single satellite in space costs around $ 50 Million and WorldVu is planning to launch 700, but due to their association with Ku-band, the prices will be low.

If WorldVu and SpaceX are able to provide the cheapest internet access to people around the world, then it will become history. People residing in rural areas and countries can easily signup with these companies and get access to the largest internet service providers.

Saturday 18 October 2014

Economy of State Reflected Through the Internet File-Sharing Patterns


Internet
Person to person file sharing in the form of movie files, music files, television show, book and other types of files has gained immense growth in the world of internet usage. Most often this approach is illicit, but this is the best alternative means for sharing large size for the people. Data obtained from a sample part of the world has indicated that BitTorrent users contribute up to 1/3rd for the total internet traffic in that region. Users can share files even in the absence of broadband connections.

According to the reports, when compared to countries with large gross domestic product per capita (who are into sharing smaller files like that of music and videos), in countries with lower GDP per capita, BitTorrent users share large size files like that of movies over the internet. According to a recent study, a country’s economy primarily has a vital role in the internet sharing patterns of the people of the country. Studies have indicated that poorer countries have reflected that the people there download large size HD files over the internet.

Two very distinct behavioral patterns were discovered by the Northwestern University research team. This was based on the amount of data that was being shared by the users of BitTorrent, which is a very popular file-sharing application. The very first behavior reflected that BitTorrent users are very particular about the type of content they are sharing.

It was found that users tend to share music files more compared to movies. The second behavioral pattern indicated that countries belonging to the same categories as that of the first one lean to download files in a related pattern. According to Luis A. Nunes Amaral, who is a professor in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering as well as Applied Science at the Northwestern University in the America, looking at the current internet usage pattern around the world, the computer interaction is part of our daily life.

To get an understanding and findings out of the study, the researchers had carried out an analysis of nearly 10,000 users of BitTorrent users around the world. The analysis highlighted that the users shared files which comprised of music, TV shows, small files, books and movies. Nearly 50% of the BitTorrent users downloaded files which primarily fell into two categories, namely not generalist and content specialist.

According to Fabian E. Bustamante, who is the co-author as well as professor of electrical engineering and computer science, this study will be able to provide lots of insights about the functioning of a country. People in a particular country will definitely show an obvious preference for any particular kind of content over the internet. They might even go to content which might to readily available due to the poor communication infrastructure and the laws of the country’s government.

Bustamante and his lab developed an app called as “The Ono app”, which will basically help the users to enhance the performance of the BitTorrent while ensuring that the impact of the same on their internet traffic is minimized.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Internet Revolution: Now to Get the Speed of 1 Gbps


Elon
With the increasing number of people relying on the internet and the increase in the demand of high speeds, one should be expecting new applications which will change the complete face of the online era. According to the research conducted by Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center and US-based think-tank Pew Research Center, by the end of 2025, huge changes are expected in every aspect of life.

This new speed era wherein internet is touching the speed of 1 Gbps, positive impacts is being expected in the fields of education, health, business and science. According to industry experts people will be able to carry out Hyper-personalized interaction within their surroundings with the help of video and Telepresence. There will be extreme dependence o the machines and the life will become virtual, people will be able to tap into information about others as they would have done without the internet.

Although, the Gigabytes connections are faster when compared to the traditional fixed line internet, they are still limited in America. According to the reports from Akamai (cloud service provider), 3.9 Mbps speed was recorded until the first quarter of 2014 around the globe. While countries like America and South Korea are the leaders, India is far behind in the list in terms of usage as well as peed.

Things that can change if increase in popularity of Gigabyte connectivity:

  1.  A simple interaction with friends, family or even doctors will no longer be limited to email. Without any set-up requirement, a user will be able to have video interactions. 
  2. Until now we have been documenting each moment of our lives through different medium, but with this connectivity, live streaming of our lives itself can be very much possible. 
  3. People will be able to buy health monitoring systems and it the monitoring of the patient will be much easier and cheaper when compared to the inside of the hospital. Robotic surgery will become something very common. 
  4. 3D imaging will be used for designing clothes every day. 
  5. Schools will be able to divide the classes and session between home and school. Interaction with the tutors and teaching will become much simpler. 
  6. People will no longer divide themselves into groups based on race and finance, the new division will be based on the fact who has the technology and who doesn’t.
Google initiated a project for building their Google fiber network and among the 1100 communities; Kansas was one of the chose city for the running of 1 Gbps. The company is now focusing on carrying the same project to cities like Texas, Austin and 34 others.

According to Rex Troumbley who is a research assistant at the University of Hawaii, people shouldn’t be comparing the bandwidth they are receiving with others as it can’t be equally distributed. On a low side, if a person is not getting high speed, they will have to settle down with low speed and bandwidth. This can give rise to a completely new divergence.

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Internet Traffic Disruptions Imminent As Routing Tables Approach Limit


Internet Traffic
Short Disruption in Internet Traffic Routing

Short disruptions in Internet traffic routing occurred recently which has been attributed to a short surge of registered IPv4 network routes that have made the total number more than the capacity of the old though popular used routers which form the backbone of the internet.Internet users all over experienced major problems on websites which was the result of flood of updates to databases within the internet routers.

This resulted in problems with connectivity issue for companies and many are of the opinion that the modification and the reboot of routers would probably head towards a decline in internet outages in the near future. Experts are of the opinion that this problem could be solved but are speculating that it could only be a precursor to widespread disruption which may come up later on.

 Some of the older kinds that are still operating, like the massive scale data centre Internet router, have hard coded limit to the Ternary Content Addressable Memory – TCAM, which are placed for storing records of internet routes that are broadcasted by various types of servers from time to time which in turn are used to send data like Web sites requests from one part of the world to the other end.

Getaways/Routers Mark Entry/Exit Points

Global traffic
Thousands of getaways which are routers mark the entry and exit points, between the internet service providers’ network and the large backbones which send data packets across the world and are governed as well as synchronised by the Border Gateway Protocol – BGP. The most practical limitation of storable routes is 524288 or 2 raised to the power of 19 in binary or 512,000 which crossed its limitation on Tuesday resulting in congestion as well as blockage of routes. BGP ended in being unable to identify routes which were the cause in the packet loss.

It is essential to have frequent updates to routers in order to explain how networks should operates since internet traffic is designed to move in the most systematic manner, with 512 ports to table data on the internet. Moreover, the frequency of updates to routers is derived from the fact that some of the routers have the potential of accommodating around 512,000 updates in memory excluding any further tweaks. With some of the routers reaching their limits, it seems that the internet has been reaching its full capacity, resulting in a few networks going offline.

Fix Router Memory Allocation Issue

The number of routes has been increasing and stakeholders are gearing to fix the router memory allocation issue but are unprepared for the sudden surge in route records. This issue has been given to BGPMon to rectify the error in Verizon’s system which has been fixed and traffic has now returned to normal.

In May however, Cisco had provided information on how to re-allocate TCAM on Catalyst 6500 as well as 7600 to 1,000,000 and this fix was comparatively simple to apply though it would need each router to be taken offline momentarily. Increasing the capacity should enhance the problem for a longer period of time and is not a permanent fix. As per packet fix.net, the milestone of 300,000 routes, indicting a rapid increase in growth was passed in August 2009.

Monday 24 March 2014

Dark side of the Web

Basically, nobody can argue today with the fact, that the Internet is an extraordinary tool which has extremely big potential for those who seek knowledge and information. They can also use it to play video games, download music or watch videos. Recently, most of them are hanging on various kinds of social media websites like Facebook, instagram or twitter. However, we must remember that our children are usually very careless, and they might find on the Internet a way different kind of materials that we would wish for them.  Apart from that, the Internet is used by many evil people, who intend to harm our children.
What we should really worry about
One of the most frightening and dangerous things about the Internet is that it is widely used by numerous kinds of sexual deviants like pedophiles. They use different platforms on the Internet, like chats, communicators or social media websites to search for their possible victims. They often try to become friends with children, which may lead to very dangerous outcome, like kidnap. Due to researches made by PCWebControl, there are over one million pedophiles online every day.  Another disturbing fact is, that about one of every ten children have been approached by sexual predators on the Internet. What is even more disturbing, only about 20% of children who have been exposed to unwanted sexual material have ever informed their parents about such situation. It means, that about 3 of every 4 children never said anything about sexual harassment they experienced online.
Bullying online
Another part of the dark side of the Web is called cyberbullying. Over the years, children have always been victims to various kinds of bullying. Either it was at school or after it. Together with the development of social platforms on the Internet, bullying appeared even online.  Some incidents like these may even end tragically, when the children would rather kill themselves than continue being harassed.
Possible remedies
What can we do as parents to prevent such situations to happen? First thing we need to do, is to have an honest and straight conversation with our child about the dangers that may lurk in the Web.  We can show them for example, how they can protect their identity and other sensitive data using simple privacy settings on social media sites or communicators. Next step could be installing parental control software on your computer in order to monitor our children’s activity. Programs like these can offer multiple options ranging from blocking certain websites with content that we will find inappropriate, like porn sites and so on, to setting on time limits. We can also receive daily or weekly reports about all activities done on the computer that has the parental control software installed.
Summary
As we can see, we have plenty of options that can help to shield our children from the dangers of the Web. Most important thing should be mutual awareness about such dangers. Communication with our child should be followed by equipping our computer with guardian programs. Such measures shall make you more comfortable when you know that your child is safely surfing on the Internet.
PCWebControl is parental monitoring software. It is extensively used by both private and public customers. If you want to know more, visit www.pcwebcontrol.com

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Should Companies Restrict Internet Access During the Work Day?

One of the most controversial topics you’ll encounter in the workplace these days is the question of whether or not management has the right to restrict Internet access. Some see it as an attack on personal liberties, while others view it as nothing more than a company protecting its investments.
It’s a complicated issue, to be sure. Let’s try to get to the heart of the debate by taking a look at the arguments for and against.
Arguments For Internet Restriction
Let’s face it: there are plenty of attractive nuisances in the workplace that can distract us from our work. The Internet is the most obvious, and it can really throw a wrench into workplace productivity.
When an employee clocks in for the day (literally or figuratively), they’ve signed a more-or-less binding agreement that they’re there to work. Anything that might prove to undermine that promise, or take their focus off of their work, should be viewed as a disruption.
As a result, workplaces everywhere have placed restrictions on which sites employees can and can’t visit during work hours. The phrase “time is money” isn’t just a catchy idiom: it also happens to be true. By restricting Internet access, employers are ensuring that the time their employees spend in the office is spent working.
Arguments Against Internet Restriction
One might argue that there are already measures in place to ensure that employees are actually working when they’re supposed to. It’s called a paycheck. Plenty of workplaces rely on qualitative and quantitative measurements to ensure that their employees are meeting expectations. If they don’t, they’ve probably earned whatever’s coming to them. The argument here is that anything that doesn’t negatively impact an employees’ productivity is best left alone. In other words: if an employee can get their work done even with unfettered Internet access, so be it.
Another argument against Internet restriction comes down to trust. Every employee wants to know that they’re trusted and valued. Anything that removes an employees’ ability to make a choice, no matter what the choice might be, can be damaging to their self worth and, in turn, workplace morale.
Bring-Your Own Device (BYOD)
There’s a further complication in this issue, and it comes down to a relatively new practice in workplaces across the country. A rising number of IT departments are allowing employees to bring their own devices to work with them (smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.) for work purposes.
The practice, known as BYOD, has been found to improve morale and even save money for the company. It would seem to be a no-brainer.
However, there are practical reasons why it might interfere with a company’s laissez-faire approach to Internet use. When an employee’s personal device is used as part of an office phone system, for example, it presents certain security risks.
Modern cloud technology and VOIP systems have made it possible to create an inextricably linked network of devices in the workplace. If the security of just one device is compromised, it can pose a risk to the whole system. Restricting Internet usage on personal devices, then, would seem a good way to curb some of the risk.
This will likely be a contentious debate for some time, but understanding the complications involved can help business owners make an informed decision, one way or the other.
Mike Simmons is a native and current resident of South Jersey.  Mike is a web enthusiast with a knack for staying current in a world of constant change.  When Mike isn’t reading the latest technology news, he’s sobbing about Breaking Bad or cheering on his beloved Liverpool FC.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Steps To Increase Your Internet Connectivity Speed



Internet connectivity
Internet is a network connecting millions of computers globally. More than 100 countries are linked into news, opinions and exchange of datas. Actually no one owns the Internet and it’s not a single person or organization that controls the Internet in its entirety. An efficient Internet connection is a vital component of our daily life. Weak connections and slow speeds can be frustrating. Keeping your internet connectivity speed is more important. Here are some steps of about how to increase Internet speed and maximize the performance of your web-connected devices.

Resetting of home network

Sometimes a simple reset of your modem can increase your Internet speed. You may also turn your router off and on to see if that's helpful.

Clean your connections

Dirt is the enemy. Regularly check all modem and router cables to ensure solid and clean connections. Dirty, dusty, or loose cables leading from your cable or computer or router may cause significant reductions in your internet speed. Get compressed air from your local computer store, and use it to blow away the dirt and dust in the connectors. Maintain proper ventilation around all electrical components to avoid overheating.

Use of multiple devices should be avoided 

Turn off smart phones, tablets, set-top boxes, Smart TVs or other devices that you aren't currently using and see whether your Internet speed increases.

Clearing of cache, cookies and browser histories 

You may do this process once in a month to maintain optimum speed.

Internet Explorer: see for the Tools menu and select Delete Browsing History. Check the boxes for browser history, cookies, browser history and Temporary Internet Files.

Firefox: Select "Clear Recent History" from Tools menu. If your version has a "Time Range to Clear" option and select "Everything."

Google Chrome: Enter "[chrome: //settings/clearBrowserData]" in the browser bar. Select all the items that you want to clear. On the "Obliterate the following items from" drop-down menu, select “beginning of time." Click "Clear Browsing Data.”

Scanning of system 

Sometimes it is viruses, spyware or malware that slows down your Internet connection. Close all applications that are active and run your anti-virus program. You can also try a registry cleaner program to increases your Internet speed. To prevent future infections, take time to shut down your computer every day and Turn on automatic security updates for all of your programs.

Removing unnecessary programs

Remove all unnecessary programs from your computer that might be using up bandwidth as they run in the background. On Windows machines, use the Add or Remove Programs feature from Control Panel to remove any programs which you don’t use regularly. You can also use the Task Manager by "Ctrl+Alt+Delete" to see if any programs are running in the background which you do not want.

Change of Wi-Fi channel
If many people are using the same channel in your building, then there would be a major slowdown in your Internet speed. If you see a more channels, then switch channels to increase Internet speed.

Up gradation of your modem or router: 

Upgrading your modem to a newer or advanced version will increase your internet speed.

Using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi

A hardwired connection will always be faster than a wireless connection. Purchase cables that are rated specifically for your desired purpose, and replace cables whenever necessary.

Sky Package Deals



Sky Package Deals
One of UKs leading provider of broadband, phone services and TV by the name Sky have been offering a variety of products to suit the needs of all their consumers. It is one of the leading digital satellite radio and television service providers which originated in 1998 and have been offering some of the sky channels free of cost, while others come with a subscription. Originally it launched a set top box named Sky Digibox and recently has introduced Sky+ and the Sky+ HD boxes where the Sky+ being a digital video recorder has a 300GB or 500GB in built hard drive. Towards, 2012, they updated to Sky Anytime service wherein users could rent or buy films from Sky store. They also launched a new EPG for HD boxes which paved the way for improvement in functions with a new modern look. With the choice of different range of broadband packages available, one can choose from the various options as per their online activity and their needs. The sky package deals available are listed at the site and users could check and opt for the ones most suitable to their needs.

Sky broadband Lite option could be applicable for light users providing a 2GB monthly usage allowance which comes free with Sky TV and Sky Talk. This could be appropriate to use the internet occasionally while Sky Broadband Unlimited can be for consumers who need to download large content and be online often with no need to worry on the extra charges while Sky Fibre Unlimited providing superfast speeds, would be perfect for game lovers, down loaders and movie editors. Sky Talk have inclusive weekend calls or unlimited calls which can be done from UK landlines at any time and one can get connected as often as possible without incurring huge phone bill. The Sky line rental is much cheaper than the BT standard making things easier in one simple bill. With the latest updates available at the site users can take advantage of the facility on the various options made available to consumers along with useful information as well as quick guides which could be beneficial to the user.

Monday 28 October 2013

BT Broadband Offers


BT
The internet has proved to be of immense help when it comes to locating products and any related information to be obtained can be done with the help of the search engine. The option of locating products as well as comparing prices can also be done where the user can obtain all essential information related to any given product. With many different providers available across the internet world and some of those who claim to offer the best deal it tends to get a bit difficult in making the right choice. When it comes to choosing the best providers for broadband selection, users have the choice of choosing from some of the most renowned broadband, television and land line providers, some of which provide great deals and offers, enabling their customers to benefit from the same. The provider being a broadband comparison portal strives to deliver unbiased information, advice and services to the user who visit their site by providing them with the best information on Internet Service Provider according to their requirements.

User could make a choice from the bt broadband offers which could create a lot of difference by way of price and convenience in online shopping where they provide some of the best deals and services which are well designed to suit their customer needs. Users also get the benefit of the different types of services which can be viewed in details, broadband types, etc which are created to clarify the minds of the viewers with first hand information made available at the fingertips and can narrow down their choice from the various options namely, Home broadband, Business broadband and Mobile broadband. They have gone still further in providing their viewers with excellent services by way of Broadband guides which are helpful booklets filled with information on the various broadband options available and which could prove to be of immense help while arriving at a concrete decision. Customers could also get in touch through phone, with their broadband experts in case they need help in choosing the best broadband deal or would like to switch their provider and for all other broadband needs.

Friday 15 April 2011

Streaming represents 50% of Internet traffic


The latest report on Internet traffic published by Sandvine, specializing in networks, shows that the streaming represents a majority of bandwidth consumption today before P2P. The live video streaming on the Internet account represents 50% of the bandwidth on the Internet in North America, Latin America and Europe. This shows the usual changes of users, who are increasingly moving toward these services, rising well ahead of services such as BitTorrent (17.23%). However, streaming is not used for illegal practices, as the U.S. service broadcasting is Netflix movies on its own 29.7% of the bandwidth consumption in the United States during peak hours.