Information Security

    Information security is a subject that becomes more and more prevalent today, and consumers find they are constantly using services that need their precious personal information to be used, such as banks and credit card companies, special membership deals, mailing, and much more. So how does one deal with those that would want to exploit such information for their own gain? Fortunately, there are plenty of answers to that in the form of anti-virus, anti-adware and anti-spyware programs such as Norton and McAfee.

    To start off, malware is any program specifically made for the purpose of attacking other existing computers on the internet or any other network. These programs employ a wide variety of methods ranging from overflowing with useless information to using another’s computer as a puppet for the malware’s own gain. No piece of malware out there is made by accident, and it almost always requires a certain level of computer proficiency to create sophisticated programs with the staying power to infest as many networks as possible. Though hackers frequently use malware for tracking and theft, other hackers create malware for the sake of making other users’ online experience much more difficult to enjoy. Hackers aren’t picky when targeting their victims, as they could be average users or big companies, but their malware is found more often than not on certain websites.  It’s not all bad news, as certain businesses focus on combating these threats through the use of anti-virus software and firewalls. Since malware attacks in general are becoming so commonplace, specific security measures have had to be put in place to stop it. Other efforts, such as the recent use of the CAPTCHA generator, have kept roaming bot computers from accessing files.

    Apple’s enduring strategy for security is to simply make it difficult to get viruses, which makes combatting viruses that target them easier. By constantly changing the underlying operating system of their computers to progressively more secure models, they keep hackers on their toes with these updates that make previous malware obsolete. With these hang-ups, the company uses the assumption that attacking more mainstream computers are a better option as one of many marketing strategies.

    As of now, there’s no fool-proof way to prevent malware forever. Users have no choice but to keep finding ways to bolster their systems’ security to attacks, and staying informed on the wisest places on the web to surf.

http://www.scmagazineus.com/hackers-disclose-sql-injection-of-barracuda-website/article/200501/#
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-31/news/29365994_1_scada-atcs-systems
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-ways-to-avoid-viruses-and-spyware/813
http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Latest-News/Malware-Authors-Crank-Engines-Reach-20-Million-Mark-in-2010-693089/

Thunderbolt: The Port To End All Ports

 

www.apple.com

Apple's New Technology?

Recently Apple just introduced a new input/output port called “Thunderbolt” on its new MacBook Pro notebooks. Though it sounds like that Apple owns it, the technology is actually developed and owned by Intel under the code name “Light Peak.” Apple is just the first one to adapt to the new technology and introducing it to the market, under a different name.

What is “Thunderbolt?”

The “Thunderbolt” technology is an optical cable interface that provides enough bandwidth to replace both the data connectors and the high performance ports such as USB and FireWire. It is currently the fastest input/output technology that supports high-resolution displays and promises a transfer rate of up to 10GB/second in both directions, and at the same time! It is nearly 20 times faster than a standard USB port. Oh, did I forget to mention that this is only the current speed? It has the potential rate of over 100GB/second over its course life! Now that is fantastic!

 

www.apple.com

The New Age

Though “Thunderbolt” technology is fairly new to us right now, experts has predicted that “Thunderbolt” will be adopted as the new standard port for computers and will eliminate the need of all other ports. It’s almost like globalization, but in a different way. The “Thunderbolt” technology will increase input/output speed dramatically, which in turn improves performance and quality. If the “Thunderbolt” port becomes the new standard, soon we will be able to see lighter and thinner computers and laptops. Reason why? It’s because it eliminates the need for all other ports, which should free up some space. Some people believe that it might be quite difficult to get people to use the new port standard, but who knows. Everyone believes that the bigger and slower the technology, the better, right?

What’s so great about the “Thunderbolt” technology is that in the future, we might have just one universal connector that can handle all our data transfer needs. This means that all of your devices such as data drives, external displays, and mobile phones will be able to connect to one another by using the same port, which makes life whole lot simpler. After all, who needs all those old piles of cables anyway right?

However, there is a downside to this. What if there is a new technology that the “Thunderbolt” can’t support or there are only a limited number of devices that “Thunderbolt” supports? What are we going to do then? Well, someone will figure that out. It’s not like it is the end of the world.

If you want to discover and learn more about the “Thunderbolt” technology, here are a few links that might be helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCz_c_rDAXw

http://www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm

http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/

Source:
Etherington, Darrell. “Thunderbolt: Apple’s Port to End All Ports?” http://gigaom.com. TheAppleBlog. 23 February 2011. Web. 10 March 2011. 
http://gigaom.com/apple/thunderbolt-apples-port-to-end-all-ports/