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