DAY 25: plan for the presentation!

Organizing our presentation!!!!

We will each present our own specific topics. We are first going to start with Malware (by Katherine) then Justine will present Spyware, then Jess will present adware, then Brooke will present Trojan, and lastly Katherine will wrap up with baiting. The flow is going to be from very general to specific. We will provide funny real life examples for each one so as to keep the students interested throughout the presentation (relevant).

We are trying to find a way to stray away from the traditional powerpoint. We have thought about doing a real life theater performance of malware and trojans attackin ga computer. Mantz will play the computer whilst the three other members will be the virus and of those one will be a fire wall - not to fear they will not actually be lit in fire. We also have a relatively intersting video planned for how to make a trojan or how to make a virus to crash your computer.

we have many sources so far, and are still finding more. Of course we used Wikipedia to get a basic understanding of each of our individual topics.

www.wikipedia.org
www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/whatis.aspx
www.lavasoft.com/support/spywareeducationcenter/spyware_history.php
www.bellaonline.com/articles/art45233.asp
www.ehow.com/how-does_4697188_adware-work.html
www.searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid183_gci52193,00.html
www.antivirus.about.com/b/2006/06/31/whats-a-trojan-hors-virus.html
http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing


It should be great!

Day 24: Trojan Horse

What is a trojan horse!!!!
No... its not what was used to hold soldiers ha ha ha


A trojan horse is a program that appeares to be ligitimate but in fact does something malicious. This often involves gaining remote, surreptitious access to a user's system - it does nto replicate nor does it make copies of itself. A trojan horse is also simplified to simply be called a trojan and it appears to perform a desirable function for the user but actually breaks inot the computer system. This was taken from Greek Mythology when soldiers were hidden and disguised as a gift but actually a tactic to take ever. They allow a hacker access to a computer system and some of the operations which a trojan may perform include the following:

• use of a machine as part of a botnet - to perform spamming or denial of service attacks
• data theft (credit cards and passwords)
• installation fo software and other 'seemingly friendly' viruses
• modification or deletion of files
• downloading or uploading of files
• keystroke logging
• viewing the user's screen
• wasting computer storage space

They need a hacker to actually complete their task and the method of installation is as follows:

• software downloads (such as a program for watching tv on the computer)
• websites containing executable content
• email attachments
• application exploits

So how do you remove a trojan horse?

• one must install antivirus software to delete the trojan
• this also prevents them from being installed again
• it is advisable (where the security of the computer is critical) to erase all data from the hard disk and reinstall the operating system and required software

http://antivirus.about.com/b/2006/06/31/whats-a-trojan-horse-virus.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing)

Day 22: all about web!

How does Google work?

Google is a very complicated search engine which manages to select items in a search which are the most relevant to an individuals given search. It runs on a distributed network of 'thousands of low cost computers.' It uses a form of fast parallel processing and consists of 3 primary parts:

1- googlebot - this finds and acquires web pages
2- an indexer which goes through all words and text on a page
3- query processor- compares your search to index and then tells you what documetns might be applicable to your desired search

So lets break this down - say you want to look for Types of Chinese Food, you would type that into google and the Googlebot would use this information to find and acquire web pages which pertain to your search. After this the indexer will go through those pages acquired by the Googlebot and see if they actually do meet your text by finding each word in the page which matches it. The final part is the query processor, once you have clicked enter and steps one and two have been completed, the search index will come up with the list that you see every time you do a search on google. When i typed in Types of Chinese Food into my google search the first three that came up were:


American Chinese Cuisine- Wikipedia
Origin of Chinese Food/Chinese Restaurant Recipes
and
Chinese Food: OVerview

This would be the most popular and relevant articles/documetns which pertain to the text entered in the search engine. Then there are the sponsored links on the side. One of the sponsored links for this search is Chinese Restaurants. The text underneath it reads Find a perfect Chinese Restaurant, store info, directions and more! For more information on the googlebot, indexer, and processor go to the following link (http://wwwgoogleguide.com/google_works.html) I would go into detail about each of these items but figured a general broad overview would be the easiest way to expalin it. Think of it in this simple way: say a child wants to find a toy in their room. They first utilize the 'googlebot' which means they would go and look for the toy. The indexer would be them going through the toys that they did find and 'indexing' them based on the ones that are relevant to what they want to do with said toy. The final part is the processor, where they utilize what they have to play - meaning they 'utilize the documents which they are presented with.'

Google was originally known as BackRub before its name was changed. It determines relevancy and rankings by looking outside of a site. This means that it loosk to see what other sites use to 'link the site in question.' This is known as reciprocal linking. This has been devalued recently, however, because it does not meet the desired relevancy. Now what google does is they look at the type of links that are being traded. The first sites that come up on a google search generally have the most traffic especially when manipulation of search rankings occurs. (http://www.marketingtitan.com/how_does_google_work)

To utilize the words of wiki anwers: "google is a compound search engine giving information on all items. To use google just simply go to Google's Home Page and type in a word and it will provide many websites that are related to your requested search'' (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/how_does_google_work )

So there you have a somewhat simple and summarized version of how google works! Enjoy!

Day 18- Skype

1. Who are you? Show corporate logo(s), explain what you do, what you are famous for, or briefly explain how your business makes money.

• Skype is a software which allows for individuals around the globe to communicate with one another via telephone or video communication. These video to video and voice to voice calls are free if done computer to computer or may cost a small fee for computer to telephones.
• It is an eBay company
• One must use an internet connection to use it
• It does not replace a traditional telephone and is not suggested to use for emergency calls
• Skype makes money by charging individuals money to make calls from a computer to an international telephone (or local)
• voice calls which are made over the internet
• some are free of charge numbers but calls to landlines and mobile phones may be done for a minimal feed
• there is also instant messaging which makes it an all-inclusive program
• it was written by Estonia-based developers who had originally developed Kazaa
• Originally called Sky Peer-to-peer
• there has been a boom in its groth since the service began
• it was acquired by eBay in 2005 for $2.6 billion
• you can also receive calls on skype from a landline which makes you accessible at any point in time and there are also answering machines hwere people may leave voicemails if you are not at your computer
• skype works with any type of computer whether it be a PC or a Mac
• Skype has 171 million (as of April 22 2009) usear
• rs and has contributed $153.2 million in revenue for first quarater in 2009
• SKype is at a growth rate of 189% a ye

2. If you are representing multiple people, you may wish to explain how your ideas are the same or different. (e.g. if you are both Microsoft and Amazon, do you feel the same or different about net neutrality? How do you know this?)

• Skype is similar to eBay and Facebook by bringing about varying methods of communication
• With Facebook you cannot do a video chatbut you can do actual chats as well as write on people's 'walls' and post pictures publicly
• With eBay you cannot directly chat but a business is made out of buying other person's goods and communicating via email or telephone number if given to purchase a good
• Skype allows communication which is very popular for businesses and it is a social network just like eBay and Facebook
• Businesses (and other individuals) use skype because it is a free service and all that is required is an internet connection and you can keep in contact with virtually anyone in the world with merely a computer, internet connection and a head set
  

3. What is your history of positions on the network neutrality debate? Why are you right? why should the FCC listen to you and choose your side?

• Skype has been accused (as well as Google) of freeloading or freeriding by using a netowrk of lines and cables which other comapnies such as Verizon have spent a large sum of money building
• Skype was blocked in Germany in 2009 (April 3) - by T-Mobile due to this freeriding; however, skype actually uses very little bandwidth so it was clear that the reason for blocking it was not a traffic-related issue
• the reason for this blockade could have largely been due to a market issue and downfall in demand for t-mobile
• Skype now has an iPhone application as a free application which resulted in an open letter being sent to the FCC to examine wireless carriers' practices
• Skype has been accused of violating the FCC internet policy statement and restricts competition and innovation for wireless broadband internet service
• Skype is in support of network neutrality

4. What is your current (November 2009) position on net neutrality? How do you feel about the FCC's recent decisions? What do you hope the FCC will decide on this issue in the future?

• Skype continues to support neutrality.
• Even with the AT&T opening if its 3g wireless network, the momentum has not been derailed at the FCC
• They still continue to support net neutrality and hope that Julius Genachowski will be in support as well
• he has been stated to say "opening wireless services to greater consumer choice will drive investment and innovation in the mobile marketplace''
• With this partnering with AT&T skype is in a good position to continue its push for network neutrality
• Skype has a 2 year old petition pending at the FCC to apply the open-access provisions that govern the wireline telecom sector to wireless
• the petition has still yet to be acted on, but the net neutrality rules would effectively settle the matter
• the last meeting was on october 22
  

5. You will then take questions from the audience.

• Questions!?!?

http://www.internetnews.com/mobility/article.php/3842736

http://blogs.findlawy.com/technologists/2009/04/skype-iphone-app-sparks-net-neutrality-complaint -to-the-fcc.html

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/network_neutrality

www.skype.com

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

http://andreinchile.com/2007/03/23/economic-facts-about-skype

Day 17:

My IP Address: 152.33.45.210

The following are some things that I found out from my IP address on this computer which I am using are:
It was purchased from Elon University by Wall, Eccles. It was purchased by Elon University in North Carolina. The update has not occurred since 2004 and the phone number is as follows: 1-336-278-5110

I then typed in facebook.com. The basic information is as follows:

Current Registrar:		TUCOWS INC.
IP Address:		69.63.184.32 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location:		US(UNITED STATES)-CALIFORNIA-PALO ALTO
Record Type:		Domain Name
Server Type:		Apache 1
Lock Status:		clientTransferProhibited
WebSite Status:		Active
DMOZ		23 listings
Y! Directory:		see listings
Secure:		Yes
Ecommerce:		Yes
Traffic Ranking:		4
Data as of:		22-Apr-2008

This information is interesting because you can actually find out where the website originated and more detailed information about it. You can even look at the contact information of it:

Administrative Contact:
   Admin, Domain  domain@facebook.com
   1601 S. California Ave
   Palo Alto, CA 94304
   US
   +1.6505434800    Fax: +1.6505434800

The exact URL for all of this information is: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/facebook.com
The exact URl for the information on this specific IP I am using is: http://whatismyip.com/tools/ip-whois-lookup.asp

Day 16: Game

Sending Message Questions:

-- What was the word you were sent, and what is its definition?
The word which I was sent was the word TARNALLY. This word is an adjective and is used as an alteration of the word 'eternal.' Tarnal also means damned.

-- What was the word you were trying to send, and what is its definition?
The word which I was trying to send was the word KATCINAS. Katcinas is a noun and it means any of various ancestral spirits deified by the Hopi Indians and impersonated in religious rituals by masked dancers. It is a Hopi religious ritual were they impersonate a spirit.

-- How long does it take you to send your message using this method?
It actually did not take me very long at all to send my message with this method. I found that my timing was fairly well planned out when I sent my messages and I ensured that they were received. It did take a while for everyone to send their messages for the entire 'game' to be over however.

-- Was it easier to send or receive a message using this method?
I find it easier to send my message than receive. I sent mine quickly but it took a while for me to actually receive mine which could greatly interfere with appropriate communication.

-- What were some of the bottlenecks?
One of the main bottlenecks which appeared in this communication process was the congestion. Once one collision occurred, two or three more collisions would occur consecutively. This seemed to continue and people were not sure of how long to wait before trying again. I also noticed that if one individual was 'collided' with they would try to send their message immediately after which interfered with the overall process. Another bottleneck would probably be finding a way to communicate with your partner if a letter or message was not understood. This caused for many persons to have the wrong letters which would, thus, completely throw off their word which they were receiving. Also, an appropriate 'tone' needed to be implemented so as how to voice the 8 bits you were going to read out loud.

-- How could you speed up this process or make it more efficient?
To make this process more efficient and to speed it up I believe that from the beginning everyone should have gone in a circle. With 27 messages and 8 characters a piece everybody would have received their messages within 8 rounds of the circle. This would have been much more time efficient as well as understandable. It would also give others the capability of predicting when their message was going to be sent and when they should prepare to write down their own individual messages.

Day 15: Reaction to Video

YOU-TUBE VIDEO:

My prediction about what happens regarding communication and addressing was extremely off. The messages need to be timed so that they do not collide as they are being sent. Connecting with other networks takes a lot of time (as quick as it may seem to us) and ensuring that messages do not 'collide' with one another is very difficult. My idea revolved more around mapping out where computers were located, which was correct, however, this video focused on making sure that they did not collide on the way which I did not focus on.

Day 15: Networking

Question:
Be creative. What are some ways that we can design a network to handle (smoothly) 1) Addressing and 2) Communication conflicts in a bus topology.

First of all, it is important to understand what a BUS topology is. This is also referred to as ethernet today. It is when there are a series of computers which are connected to a network, often times through a bus in the wall. The first thing we must do to solve this problem is to figure out where all of the other computers are (addressing). This will enable you to navigate where your message must go or which direction your networking should take for the least amount of congestion. The goal of this is to allow a smooth handling of communication and addressing and to avoid conflicts in a bus topology. A large problem with BUS topology is that so many of the computers networks run through each other in some way which can slow one down if everyone is trying to get to the same network.

In order to design a network that smoothly handles communication conflicts, finding out where the other computers networks are is important. You must locate the computer which you are trying to communicate wtih. This wil increase communication speed so that your message is not lost in a wave of networking. Say I am computer A and I want to communicate with computer D. To communicate with D I would not want to go through B and C if I am in a hurry. Rather, I would want to find a way to go directly to D from A through perhaps a direct network or finding the path in the BUS which is the shortest. It is a lot like driving somewhere for a holiday. You would want to find the shortest route and if I85 will take you to where you want to go quickly in 2 hours, you would not take the backroads through small towns which get you there in 4 (unless you wanted a scenic tour but in this case we'll pretend we dont).

This answer is probably completely off topic, but in summary finding out the location of other computers on the same network may save you time in your communication process.

Day 9: Revenge of the Nerds Finale...

(1) What did Steve Jobs mean when he quoted Picasso?
When Steve Jobs quoted Picasso in the film he referred to the idea that good artists copy, great artists steal. He talks about how you have to take note of the great things that humans have done and then use them yourself, just improve them. He also discusses how Mac has always been shameless about stealing ideas. See question 3 for more information since they merge together.

(2) In one or two sentences, summarize the Apple-Microsoft "look and feel" lawsuit (taken from notes during movie)
The Apple-Microsoft 'look and feel' lawsuit prolonged for 6 years over whether or not Microsoft was stealing the ideas of the GUI from Apple. Microsoft claimed that they would take the lawsuit to the supreme court and in the end Apple lost and Microsoft came out as champions and won the "GUI' war.

(3) Who is the "good artist" and who is the "great artist" in this scenario? Or is it irrelevant, and Jobs was talking about something else?
In this scenario, the good artist is Microsoft and the great artist is Apple. This is because Steve Jobs discusses how they have so many unique individuals working for their company and then apply their abilities to the field of computer science. For example, Apple hires musicians, poets, zoologists, historians. These skills of theirs were used and they, as Jobs says, "just so happened to be the greatest computer scientists in the world." This is actually very relevant, in my opinion, because without having such a unique staff it would be difficult to create a unique product. Having many different techniques and talents ultimately provide for something amazing - a popular word of Jobs'.

(4) Just for fun, find out what is the current share of the market for each small computer (PC) operating system? Group Windows variants together, Mac variants together, and all unix variants together. Provide a link to show where you got your information, or put a picture here that shows your information as a pie chart. What is the date for these numbers?

Microsoft: 93.06%
Macintosh: 4.87%
Linux: .94%
Iphone: .33%
java.me: .31%
Symbian: .14%
Other: .23%

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8
for an image see the link above but you may also use wikipedia for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system

And that's about it!!!

Day 7: Creating our own punch card... uh oh!

Our group attempted to create a new punch card which would use a different format to fit 80 characters (letters or symbols) to form words. After much struggle, we finally came up with a plan which has a worst and best case scenario. The plan is to have the alphabet go across each row, followed by punctuation, followed by capitals. For example: every 30 punch holes there would be 26 letters, a period, a comma, semi colon, and colon (each 30 punches are a set). The Set of 30 continues every time (subtracting the last two columns from the entirity which are reserved for capitalized letters). This would repeat, for examples:

- a-z plus 4 puncutations would occur 2 times in the first row of 0 (ending at the 60th zero) then the alphabet would continue once again, ending at the 78th row and restarting with the remaining parts of the alphabet (the last 2 columns are used for capitalized) so they are completely discluded from the sets of 30.

This method could have a worst and best case scenario:

At the best case, there could be up to 800 possible punches. However, it is very unlikely that said method would actually formulate comprehendable words, unless someone was actually punching out the whole alphabet and punctuations.

Worst case scenario, would be if only one letter from each alphabet set could be used and none of the capitals and punctuation in which case only 26 characters would be used in which case our method would not actually work.

It is a very different method and does require some memorization of the actual system.

You would read (and use) the punch card like a book, reading it from left to right then going onto the next row. This continues until the person runs all the way to the last punch on the card- which in the ideal case would be before the card ends!
In reality, if the punch card could not have numbers but rather letters, it would be incredibly easy to read since the letters that are missing would be the ones that need to be read outloud.

And there is our pitch!

TRANSLATING BINARY!!!!!

010000100110010100100000011100
1101110101011100100110010100100
000011101000110111100100000011
0010001110010011010010110111001
1010110010000001111001011011110
1110101011100100010000001001111
0111011001100001011011000111010
001101001011011100110010100101110

This code means: "Be sure to drink your ovaltine!"

Now how did we figure this out (apart from the online binary translator...)

Each letter is represented by one byte, and each letter has a corresponding number to it which you find by adding up the numbers within a byte. Example the number for B is 98 which means that the numbers within the followin byte sequence: 128-64-32-16-8-4-2-1

Thus the CAPITAL B would be 2 +64= 66!!!!
The alphabet in binary code is.....
http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~adenton/ExpandingHorizons/EH2005/ascii-binary-chart.gif

the link... http://home2.paulschou.net/tools/xlate/ feel free to do it! to translate

By going to that above link, type in a ny letter in the top left hand box and you will see what the 8 digit binary code is for it. For example the binary code for B is: 01000010
if you are doing the letter e (lowercase) the code is going to be 01100101. It is very complicated to understand at first because it takes a lot of memorization, but once it is learned it is understandable, one just needs to understand what the number equivalency is to the letter.

A Very Confusing Language... Day 6

Reading a punch card proves to be incredibly difficult once you actually begin looking at it. First, when reading a punch card, be sure it is actually facing the right way and not upside down - if it is you will soon come to find out that the language is impossible to understand. The notch in the card should be at the top left hand corner.

Once you have completed this trying task...

Read the card in the following manner- vertically (up and down not side to side - down 80 columns)
1) If the card has only one punch, in a certain number, that represents the actual number which is being represented. So, if you have the number 4, that would be punched out of the card going down vertically. If the number was 18, row 1 would have 1 punched out of it and row 2 would have 8 punched out of it.
2) Then, it comes time to read a punch card with actual words and symbols. The symbols were represented with multiple digits, for example, the group which I worked with discovered that a comma was represented by the 0, 3, and 8 being punched out and the period was indicated by a punched out the top above the 0, 3 and 8. Symbols always have 3 punches and letters are represented by 2. This make it easy to distinguish if you are reading a number, letter, or symbol.
3) When reading the letters, it can be difficult to tell which is which. We found that the letters in the first part of the alphabet (A-N) were represented within the top half of columns 1-80 whilst the remaining 13 letters of the alphabet (M-Z) were shown in the bottom half of columns 1-80.
4) The punch card is set up so that the order goes from 12-9. (12, 11, 0, 1, ....9) where the top two rows (12 and 11) are zone rows and the remaining are the numeric rows. This makes up the alphabet. For example if 12 and 1 are punched out the letter A is represented.
5) The punch card is able to have 64 separate punches each representing a different symbol number or letter. This allows many combination's with the alphabet only being 26 letters.
6) The below website (2nd one) demonstrates the alphabet for the punch card and what the symbols are. It shows that B = 12 and 2, C= 12 and 3, and that D= 12 and 4 (etc). Once you have reached the limit for the combination's which can be made with 12 (which would be 12 and 9 letter I) the use of number 11 would start i.e. 11 and 1 would be J and so on...

It is fairly simple once it is understood! Use the websites below to help, mainly the second one. The second website provides excellent information on how to read a punch card.




References...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card#Card_formats
http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/codes.html

Day 5- Reverse Engineering

I, personally, define reverse engineering as when a product (or recipe, or other item which is 'created') is taken apart, in an orderly manner, in order to discover what it is actually 'made up of'. The process of reverse engineering allows someone to see how they can replicate a thing or how they may be able to improve said item by seeing what is not necessary and what can be consolidated to make something more efficient.

However, when the issue of whether or not reverse engineering is legal today is a tricky one. For me, I find reverse engineering to be legal on certain things- but not others. For example, reverse engineering seems to be perfectly acceptable, and could also be viewed as a compliment to someone when it involves a recipe. Trying to discover what actually goes into a certain food for example.

Then there is the issue with reverse engineering on electronic products and whether or not that is considered 'legal.' There have been court cases held, even brought to the Supreme Court, on issues regarding reverse engineering. The Supreme Court has also stated that reverse engineering promotes and encourages the innovation of the market place. Congress has passed certain laws saying that certain products are able to be reversed engineered whilst others are not. Another site which I visited stated that copyrighting does not protect ideas just the way those are expressed. For example, the Zune could be viewed as a copy of the I-pod, however, it is a reversely engineered product. The I-pod was examined, and then it was further developed and challenged the I-pod market. This is not taking the ideas, it is changing the ways in which they are 'expressed.' All in all, though, all markets and industries must be sure to verify the copyright infringement regulations on any given product which they are hoping to alter or 'change the expression of.'
I am in support of reverse engineering, however, not directly copying and slapping a different logo on it. Reverse engineering must show some changes or alterations, making each company's product, truly 'its own.'


http://www.chillingeffects.org/reverse/faq.cgi#QID195
http://www.jenkins.eu/articles/reverse-engineering.asp#a8

DAY 4 My Comment to Someones 'Burning Question'

http://andrewscsc111ablog.blogspot.com/2009/09/one-burning-question.html?showComment=1252953683628#c795005068264681158

Questions for the Course

I have always been curious about where information 'goes' once it is deleted. Obviously, as I am sure the class is aware, it goes to the Recycle Bin. However, after it has been placed in there, where does it go so that we can bring the information back to our computer if we have not yet emptied the bin yet.

Stereotypes of Nerds- and more

Stereotypes:

1) Do not have a social life of any sort
2) All are mainly young, many did not go to college
3) All are men

Many of these sterotypes still exist today, however times have changed. These days 'nerds' are not only caucasian and many are of different ethnicities. Also, nerds today, many of them to go to college and have a large focus on getting good grades. Nerds are often seen today as those who spend their nights in front of books. Some nerds today are seen as 'cool' but it all depends on what they are 'nerdy' at.

Nerds today are not all men, however, this sterotype still does exist. When a girl is referred to as a nerd it is often because she studies a lot and is into school. Guys are still nerds, but in the computer sense. Nerds today are still young, often starting at an even younger age due to the ease and accessibility of computers in today's society.

If I were to make a movie about sterotypes of nerds today, I would point out that they focus largely on taking apart and rebuilding items. It is not as popular amongst nerds in high school these days for them to focus on programming and creating new things- but rather using what is already there.

An Introduction to Brooke...

Hi! My name is Brooke Kassner. I am from Switzerland and am currently majoring in Political Science and History. I have lived overseas my whole life - ranging from Kazakhstan to Indonesia -and currently am residing in Angola, which is in the western part of Africa. I am currently a sophmore here at Elon and absolutely adore it. I have a strong passion for international affairs and am a huge advocate for human rights. I also love working with various UN programs and other items of importance in the global community.