Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Is Stuxnet the new weapon for cyber insurgents?

Weaker combatants have always used unconventional or inexpensive means to defy stronger foes, including guerrilla warfare and suicide attacks that depend on a greater willingness to sacrifice life.

This approach can be decisive. Of all “asymmetric” wars since 1800 in which one side had far more armed power than the other, the weaker side won in 28 percent of cases, according to a 2001 study by US political scientist Ivan Arreguin-Toft.

The ratio may now be set to shift further in favour of the underdog.

The revelation this year of a novel way to use computers to sabotage an enemy’s lifeline infrastructure suggests a powerful new kind of weapon is moving within reach of weak states, militant groups and criminals, some analysts say.

That weapon is likely to be a variant of Stuxnet, a highly destructive Internet worm discovered by a Belarus company in June and described by European security company Kaspersky Labs as “a fearsome prototype of a cyber-weapon”, analysts say.

A GREAT DANGER”

“Stuxnet is like the arrival of an F-35 fighter jet on a World War I battlefield,” blogged German industrial control systems expert Ralph Langner.

Whoever created the bug, believed by many to have targeted an Iranian uranium enrichment facility, the job likely required many man-hours of work and millions of dollars in investment.

But now that its code has been publicly analysed, hackers will need only a few months to develop a version of the customised malware for black market sale, some experts say.

Ali Jahangiri, an information security expert who tracks Trojan codes, harmful pieces of software that look legitimate, describes that prospect as “a great danger.”

“The professional Trojan codemakers have got the idea from Stuxnet that they could make something similar which can be used by governments, criminals or terrorists,” he told Reuters.

Stuxnet’s menace is that it reprogrammes a control system used in many industrial facilities to inflict physical damage.
At risk is automation equipment common to the networks on which modern societies depend – power plants, refineries, chemical plants, pipelines and transport control systems.

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Analysts say they suspect hackers are rushing to build a version of the worm and sell it to the highest bidder before experts can install counter-measures plants across the globe.

“My greatest fear is that we are running out of time to learn our lessons,” US information security expert Michael Assante told a Congressional hearing on Stuxnet this month.

Stuxnet … may very well serve as a blueprint for similar but new attacks on control system technology,” said Assante, President of the US National Board of Information Security Examiners, which sets standards for security professionals.

Langner says multinational efforts against malware inspired by Stuxnet won’t work since “treaties won’t be countersigned by rogue nation states, terrorists, organised crime, and hackers.”

“All of these will be able to possess and use such weapons soon,” he said. If the next Stuxnet cost less than $1 million on the black market, then “some not-so-well equipped nation states and well-funded terrorists will grab their checkbooks.”

As well as favouring small states, cyber appears to be a tool of special value for Russia and China, since it allows them to become equals to the United States in a sphere where US conventional military dominance counts for nothing.

Stuxnet is a powerful example of the fastest-growing sort of computer bug – customised malware written specifically to attack a precise target. What is new is its power, and the publicity it has attracted through a presumed link to Iran.

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That publicity will have drawn attention in small nations such as North Korea, which can be expected to take an interest in acquiring a Stuxnet-like capability to balance an inferiority in conventional arms with its US-backed southern foe.

Like some impoverished countries in Africa, North Korea has a cyber advantage – it has so few systems dependent on digital networks that a big cyber attack on it would cause almost no damage, writes former US National Security Coordinator Richard Clarke in his book Cyber War.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Mac vs PC, desktops vs laptops

The humble desktop or laptop computer hasn't yet sunk to the status of commodity product, but it's getting close. On one hand, processing power, memory and storage keep getting cheaper and more plentiful; on the other, competing manufacturers have been settling on the same set of features.

They do, however, remain resolutely divided on one issue: Mac or PC? So are many of you.

I think Apple's Mac OS X is safer and simpler than Microsoft's Windows 7. It requires less setup work and ongoing maintenance, and most PCs lack the smart, stylish design of Macs. Apple's stores can be horribly crowded, but their Genius Bars (with an appointment) offer first-person tech support that's unparalleled among most PC vendors.

But I also know that PCs cost a lot less than Macs. And while Windows 7 retains such traditional annoyances as prolonged program installations, upgrades and uninstallations, its Home Premium edition represents a significant advance over the widely loathed Windows Vista and especially Vista's cut-rate Home Basic release.

You'd think that in a down economy, customers would opt for the cheaper option, but Apple's market share keeps going up.

Whatever operating system you pick, you'll have to choose between a laptop and a desktop. Most people get laptops and with good reason: The traditional cost gap between portable and stationary machines has largely vanished, leaving a desktop's bigger screen and more comfortable keyboard as its major real-world advantages.

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If you plan on taking a laptop places, however, don't buy one that weighs more than five pounds or has a battery that isn't at least advertised as running three hours. (Those qualifications rule out many budget-priced Windows laptops.)

If you're buying a laptop as a second or third machine, a Windows or Linux netbook that would otherwise offer insufficient storage could make sense. But watch out for awkward keyboard layouts, as evidenced by a too-small right-hand Shift key. And - just this one time - pay attention to processor speeds, as the Intel Atom chips in most netbooks run on the slow side.

What about an option that didn't exist last year, tablet computers like Apple's iPad?

To me, they only make sense as a secondary device. The iPad requires a separate Mac or PC for setup and software updates and, without the webcam that's become standard on home laptops, it can't do video calling. A newer, Android-based tablet, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, suffers from high pricing compared to the iPad and even many netbooks, as well as some awkward moments in its software. (Look for a full review of that next week.)

Will this piece ever get to the traditional questions of computer shopping - what specifications to look for? Yes.

Ignore the processor entirely (outside of notebooks, as outlined above) unless you'll be editing video often and intensively. Three or four gigabytes of memory should suffice; two GB, seen on some entry-level Macs and cheaper PCs, can get cramped if you keep multiple applications open at once. (A year ago, buying a PC with less than 4 GB of RAM would have allowed you to get the 32-bit edition of Windows 7, but that more compatible option has essentially been banished from retail by 64-bit versions that don't offer a meaningful benefit to most home users.)

As for storage, 250 gigabytes of hard disk space should also be plenty unless you have an enormous video collection. You can get away with less on a second computer or if you don't have a large digital-media archive. Anything but a netbook (or Apple's high-priced answer to that category, the MacBook Air) will have a CD-burner drive that can probably burn DVDs, too. But you're unlikely to use an optical drive's write capability to do more than burn a backup CD or DVD. Spending extra for a Blu-ray drive makes no sense to me.

Expansion is yet another issue where you no longer have much to choose from. All you need are a few USB ports to plug in a mouse, a printer or other peripheral devices and an SD Card slot for your camera or phone's memory card. Apple's cheapest models fall short on those requirements but just about every other computer meets them. The FireWire ports on most Macs and the eSATA ports on some PCs can accommodate external hard drives but don't do much else; I can't call either essential.

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Every machine has WiFi wireless these days as well, leaving only Bluetooth as an option to consider if you have a wireless mouse or your phone can transfer files with this under-used wireless technology.

With all the above criteria in mind, picking a Mac should be a relatively straightforward process (the basic iMac or the 13-in. MacBook should each do fine as a general-purpose home machine). But how to pick one PC out of so many similar competitors? I'd like to say you should choose the one with the cleanest software bundle, but vendors seem to have sunk to a common level of mediocrity.

Unless you custom-order a stripped-down bundle online, you're likely to get the same set of third-party software: Microsoft's Windows Live bundle of Internet and multimedia software, an expiring trial copy of Internet-security software, a trial copy of Microsoft Office, and DVD software that duplicates what comes built into Windows 7.

Maybe one PC vendor will try to set themselves apart in this department in time for next year's computer-shopping column. We can only hope.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pakistan Asian Hockey Champion 2010

Pakistan have won the final of men hockey in asian games 2010 .Pakistan are the champion for  the eight time in asian games.Great day for Pakistan they also won the men double squash final today and are just giving so happiness to their nation.I am proud to be Pakistani.

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oh sorry to mention the goals scored.And they were 2-0. Sohail Abbass scored 1 goal and Rehan Butt the second goal.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

TECHNICAL WRITING STYLE(do's)

Technical writing

One specific area of communication that involves transmitting and understanding the knowledge of a technical subject to others that need to know the basics and details of the subject in question. In written form, this type of communication is called technical writing.

Goal of a technical writer

Remember that your aim as a technical writer is not to impress, but to inform.

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In Technical Writing Style

DO’s

  • •     Important information first

  • •     Normal word order

  • •     Sentence length

  • •     Active voice

  • •     Parallel structure

  • •     Preview List

  • •     Keep it real


IMPORTANT INFORMATION FIRST

By putting important information at the beginning of a sentence, we make that sentence easier to understand(or in paragraph). It also serves to clarify what is the most important part of the sentence.

Important information first

•     Unclear: Its unwise to walk  area near the cliff edge, walking there may result in a dangerous fall and therefore it is recommended that one remains a safe distance to maintain personal safety.

•     Clear:

Danger -- Stay away from the cliff its very steep.


NORMAL WORD ORDER:

Subject verb order(SVO). By using this order the sentences become more clarified.

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

Umer eats apple.

Many  people hate America.

SENTENCE LENGTH


The length of a sentence is vitally important in conveying information, which is of course the primary task of the technical writer. The ideal sentence length for technical writing is somewhere between 15 and 25 words, and varying the length of your sentences makes for lively reading.

ACTIVE VOICE

In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb. Active voice is shorter and more interesting to read.



For passive voice object becomes the subject and vice versa.

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

Parallel construction signals to the reader that two ideas are of equal importance. If two or more ideas or items are connected by a coordinating conjunction such as “and”, “but” or “or”, then those ideas should be expressed in parallel or equivalent grammatical constructs. Items and ideas of equal importance should be presented using equivalent grammatical structures.

•    Not Parallel:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.

•     Parallel:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.

PREVIEW LIST

Lists are a useful tool in technical writing.  Preview list contains the keywords to be used in the document. They can be presented in both ways : vertical and horizontal.

Preview list example

Communication is divided into two types

•     Verbal communication

•     Non-verbal communication

KEEP IT REAL(You):

Maintain focus and only give information about the task at hand .Write what you have experienced. Use “you” to point to the reader.

•     e.g.  I took the training course so that you could experience the problems firsthand.

•             I took the training course so that I could experience the problems firsthand.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Pakistan’s golden girls proud of Asian Games triumph

Pakistan’s victorious women’s cricket captain Sana Mir said Friday their historic Asian Games gold medal was welcome good news for a country where the men’s game is mired in scandal.

The emphatic 10-wicket win over Bangladesh was Pakistan’s first gold of the Games and comes amid fixing allegations swirling around the men’s team.

Pakistan, whose president congratulated the team after their victory, is recovering from catastrophic floods and has been hit by a series of devastating militant attacks over the past few years, leaving thousands dead.

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Whatever is happening in men’s cricket I don’t know how much is true and how much is false,” said Sana Mir, adding that Pakistan was not alone in having people who did not play by the rules.

“The way the women’s team has played and the way they have handled themselves on and off the field is really wonderful for Pakistanis living in Pakistan and abroad,” she said.

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Sana, who took two wickets for 23 runs, said the media often focused on the problems besetting Pakistan but the nation “must be proud of us.”

“There are lot of good things happening in Pakistan and this is one of them,” she said.

Sana denied the women’s team was breaking new ground, saying it was thanks to powerful female role models .

“We are not the pioneers. We are just following in the footsteps of the strong women of Pakistan,” she said.

The 24-year-old said it had become more acceptable for men to watch the women’s game and the women’s team improved by playing against under-19 and under-25 men’s teams.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

HAPPY EID MUBARIK

Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.

beast image THESE ARE MY OWN FOR THIS EID.


Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.

<p偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.
<p 偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.



<p s偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.


<p 偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.



<p s偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.


<p 偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.



 


beast image THESE ARE MY OWN FOR THIS EID.


Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.

beast image THESE ARE MY OWN FOR THIS EID.


Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.

beast image THESE ARE MY OWN FOR THIS EID.


Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.

beast image THESE ARE MY OWN FOR THIS EID.


<p style="text-align: center;"偋Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.



beast image THESE ARE MY OWN FOR THIS EID.


Happy Eid Greetings  to my viewers and to wordpress.

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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Q-Link Mini

In today's electronic world, electro-smog is unavoidable. In fact, no product can "shield" us from exposure to EMFs or to other stressors.

But attaching the Q-Link Mini to your favorite devices allows YOU to take preventative action by engaging, activating and supporting your own body's natural defenses and energy systems.

Q-Link wearers consistently report a reduction of many of the symptoms often associated with exposure to EMFs ... Thousands describe feeling more focused, more aware, more energized and prepared to perform.

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When your body senses stress, it responds by engaging its own natural defense systems. These bio-support systems work together in an organized matrix of living energies which has been called the "biofield".

Unfortunately, EMFs and other stressors interfere with the proper operation of the human biofield and its ability to support our bodies' natural defenses. But when the biofield is reinforced by positive energies like those found in nature - like those programmed into the Q-Link Mini - then our bodies can respond naturally to life's stress and challenges.



Then, when you use your mobile phone, or listen to music on an mp3 player, or hold your game player - the Q-Link Mini focuses and strengthens the biofield's ability to support your body's natural defenses to EMFs and other stressors.








The proprietary technology which powers the Mini and all Q-Link products is called Sympathetic Resonance Technology (SRT™), because when our bodies interact with it they respond by resonating "sympathetically" just like a properly tuned instrument responds in harmony to the vibrations of a tuning fork.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

CLEAN YOUR PC

Yes clean your pc ,iam not talking about formatting it or cleaning it from viruses.Clean your computer physically.

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Keyboard  and mouse can spread diseases if you do not clean them regularly and in a proper manner.and even the mouse .You are at great risk if you eat while using computer. Flu , influenza and other diseases can be easily spread by touch.Dangerous bacteria can badly affect specially if you are using a shared computer .
Not only keyboard or mouse you should also clean the screen regularly .

The following can stuck in your keyboard by consistent use

Dust
Dead skin cells
Dirty hands(sweat)
Solid food particles

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If you use a shared computer, other users may also spread contagious skin diseases on your keyboard.

Now its time to combat,i mean its time to clean the PC.

For internal cleaning of Central processing unit you should use blower and in small areas toothbrush is best.Please do not use vacuum cleaner it can damage the circuitry  of system.beast imageFor cleaning of monitor many products (sprays) are available but you can easily use wet towels.For keyboard and mouse use cotton buds to clean through spaces and if dust is hard to remove you can use wet cloth to soften it and then remove by toothbrush.

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Monday, November 1, 2010

RaMpAnT Razzaq StUnS South Africa

 


There are match-winning centuries and there are Match-winning Centuries. You will travel far and wide, maybe even go back in time, but you will struggle to find a more remarkable game-stealing hundred than the one the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi saw tonight. An outrageous 72-ball 109 from Abdul Razzaq dragged Pakistan to a series-levelling target of 287 against South Africa, one ball and one wicket left.


It was scarcely-scriptable and only when Razzaq hit his tenth six in the last over, slogging Albie Morkel over midwicket to climax an unimaginable orgy of power-hitting, was a Pakistan win even worth contemplating; until then he had played to a backdrop of impending, imminent doom. To even get to that point needing 14 was a feat because for 99 overs Pakistan looked a distant second best; a solid, now-to-be-forgotten century from Colin Ingram, hands from Hashim Amla and JP Duminy and the continuing refusal of Pakistan's top order to turn up, the distinct story till then.


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Shahid Afridi and Fawad Alam had tried gamely to make something of the disaster of 70 for 4 in the 19th over. The spinners were on, Afridi was around so inevitably some fun was had. When Afridi went in the 30th, the score at 136, still the best they could hope for was an honourable scrap.


Razzaq began quietly, expressive as a stone, and even a dance-down six off Robin Peterson four overs after Afridi left felt decorative. Alam, meanwhile, was getting bogged down by his own inability to clear a field. But South Africa relaxed, the pair stuck at it. Alam suddenly got going and Razzaq smoked a couple more sixes. By the 40th over, at 200 for 5, theoretically it looked possible - in this age of Twenty20 at least - even if, in reality, it didn't feel gettable.


But for once, Pakistan timed their Powerplay right and when Johan Botha was taken for 11 in the very first, a little tension crept in. Only a little though, for Alam went soon, Morne Morkel bowled two fine overs, there was the inevitable run-out and even though Razzaq had reached his fifty, it was done and dusted.


The 47th over, bowled poorly by Charles Langeveldt, was pivotal. Razzaq launched a sequence of length balls for three sixes in his favourite areas - flat-batted over extra cover, high over long-on and down the ground. Eighteen runs but no expression. Wahab Riaz's run-out off the last ball was merely collateral damage as 53 from 24 became 33 from 18.


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Razzaq had decided at the fall of Alam that if the match was to be won, it would be by him alone, so with the tail in, several singles were turned down. With 25 needed from 12, Langeveldt was lofted down the ground and then pulled with cartoonish violence to midwicket. By the time Razzaq had taken the 14 needed off the last over he had scored 63 of the last 65, effectively from the 45th over onwards. Six sixes came in the last four overs, and only at the very end, after crashing a drive through point, did he let his emotions out, dropping his bat and trying to run but not knowing where to go.(cricinfo)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

AnDrOiD's BeSt PhOnEs

iphone which dominated the mobile world for its touch screen features  is outclassed this year by many companies.Best android phones this year are

 

 

No One: HTC   DESIRE

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No Two: NEXUS ONE

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No three: XPERIA  X10 MINI PRO

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No four: HTC LEGEND

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No five: XPERIA X10

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No six: HTC HERO

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No seven: SAMSUNG GALAXY PORTAL

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No eight: MOTOROLLA MILESTONE

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No nine: LG IN TOUCH MAX GW620

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No ten: T-MOBILE G2 TOUCH

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For specifications click  on name of each phone.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

MeDiA pLaYeRs

There are many formats of audio and video .Each format has its own quality and importance.But how to play them.Huge number of media players available on the internet offer special features ,some of them really work but most are scam.

Here are the most efficient media players.(click on name to download)

Windows Media Player beast image

WMP DESIGN beast image

Real Player beast imageREAL PLAYER DESIGN beast image


Winamp beast imageWINAMP DESIGN beast image


VLC beast imageVLC DESIGN beast image


Itunes beast imageI TUNES DESIGN beast image


Media Jukebox beast imageMEDIA JUKEBOX DESIGN beast image


Jet audio beast image
JET AUDIO DESIGN beast image