Beware though; there are many dangers on the internet. Some of these dangers include: Viruses, hackers, pedophiles and scams. Many innocent people fall victim to these dangers on a daily basis. So before you connect make sure you are prepared.

Virus Protection

Before ever even stepping foot onto the web, you need to make sure your computer is safe from viruses. Viruses and harm your computer or cause them to not work at all. Computers are not cheap so the last thing you want to do is have to replace one because of a virus. Most computers these days come with trial version antivirus software preinstalled. For the safety of your computer it's highly recommended that you buy a license for the software. Before you buy the software make sure you like how it works and that you are comfortable with the interface. If you do not like it, you can find a lot of trial version antivirus software for download on the internet. Try them out until you find one you like. One last tip for virus protection: Never open emails or files from people that you do not know. I speak from personal experience when I say this, it will lead to nothing but a headache.

Firewall

Most, if not all, computers have a firewall. The firewall on any windows computer can be found in the control panel under security. A fire wall is designed to inspect network traffic passing through it. The firewall either denies or permits based on a set of rules. Firewalls are simple to use and add extra security to your computer. If a firewall block a program or site that you personally know is safe you can stop it from being blocked by going to your firewall settings.

Children and Teens

Other than adults, children and teens love using the internet. They like to chat, meet new people and go onto social networks like Myspace and Facebook. Children and teens can be naive and believe almost anything they are told, making them the main target of online predators and pedophiles. If your child or teen goes onto sites like Myspace and Facebook, set their accounts to private. With the private setting anyone they don't know and that isn't on their friends list. Parents should take use of Parental Controls, which is located in the control panel under security. You can view your children's activity on the web, allow and disallow programs and websites, even hours that they spend online.

Scams

They are everywhere on the internet. The most important rule is to not believe everything you read, no matter how good it looks. People most commonly come across scams while sifting through email and while looking for work online. If you go through your email and you see mails like "Make hundreds of dollars instantly" click the delete button. There is no such thing as making hundreds of dollars instantly. If someone you meet online gives you a business opportunity make sure you get proper credentials on that person, do a little research. If you ever receive emails asking for your SSN, bank account information and/ or credit card numbers delete it immediately.

Thousands of people search daily on the internet for legitimate ways to make money. The majority of these people end up losing money by attempting these online jobs. If you ever come across a job online that makes you pay money to make money, it is not legitimate. No real employer will ever make you pay an upfront fee to work for them. As a person who has searched for work online most of what you will come across are scams.

Happy surfing!

Now that you have been given a rundown of the various dangers on the internet and ways to prevent them you are now ready to safely surf the web.

bacre is a new weapon to fight against the informatic plague that the viruses are. It protects your pc against viruses, trojans and bugs.

Active Virus Shield 6.0.0.308

Active Virus Shield is a free system, supported by AOL and based in the powerful antivirus engine of Kaspersky Labs. It is so simple that you can install, config and start using it in minutes.

AntiPharming 1.30

This application was created in order to prevent "Pharming". You can install it in your PC and it will check the websites that you visit and protect your PC against this recent-created activity.

Avast Home 4.8

Avast Home is a powerful, functional and well-known antivirus. It can detect a large list of viruses, trojans, bugs, rootkits and spywares. It also checks your PC with great efficiency, cleaning it in real time.

AVG Free Edition 8.0

Grisoft has recently created the new 8.0 AVG. This corporation says that this version has a lot of facilities and is much better than previous editions. Some of the innovations are a LinkScanner and a WebShield module.

Comodo AntiVirus 2.0 Beta

Altough this antivirus is free, it has a lot of advantages and good options. You can make 3 kinds of analysis: Fasts, Generals or periodics. It has automatic actualizations and support for e-mail analysis.

NOD32 Anti-Virus System

This is, perhaps, the best antivirus in the market, and you can get it for free here. It is one of the fastest and powerful antivirus. It also has automatic actualizations and it works in all versions of MS Windows.

Norton Antivirus 2008

Norton Internet Security is a complete set of security tools for your computer. You will have a full FireWall, internet privacity, e-mail scan, and many other useful applications. It is also one of the most known antivirus.

TrojanHunter 4.7

As its name says, it will defend your computer from Trojans. TrojanHunter checks the Registry files, memory and disk drives, to detect any trace of Trojan, including new Trojans.

Windows Defender 1593

Windows Defender is an utility with which you can easily remove spyware that have infiltrated your PC, while you are protected so that they do not 'enter' more, as do the antivirus software with viruses.

None of these services is an alternative to a virus protection program on your PC but it is always good to check and double check your system using sites like these if you have any concerns over the health of your computer.

1. Make the security topics precise and concise. If the information security topics are long, create more time for awareness programme so that the audience can absorb the information. Break topics into smaller sections and focusing on each topic.
2. Ensure that the security topic make sense to the audience. Remember that the awareness program is designed for all staff, including non-IT and IT staff. Therefore, every care should be taken, where possible, to ensure that the message is not written technically and technical jargons should be avoided, unless defined.
3. The awareness messages must address the needs of the audience based on their involvement in securing their information assets.
4. The message should not be repetitive and monotonous. An awareness program must be injected with creativity and constant care.
5. Consider the current security culture and understand that it takes time to make a change. The security programme should not affect the productivity of the staff for the worse.
6. Use creative illustrations and examples so that the people will see it the way you do.
7. Do follow ups and continuously review your awareness materials as well as adjust program when required. Continuous improvements should be made to fine tune the programme.
8. The awareness resource developed must include the definition of security, how it impacts their daily activities, and processes that support the security program. Employees must understand the security policies and know where to find them.
9. The awareness message developed for the management should focus on policies and its enforcement meeting the business goals and objectives.
10. Create a mix of awareness, e.g. quiz, newsletters, etc. A good mix of materials is usually more effective.
11. Don't be negative about a security situation. The risks and issues need to be written in a manner so that it is easier for the audience to relate the context in the real world application.
12. The message should be topical and should state the risk and threats faced by the user. It should also state its relevance to them, what to do and not to do and why they should be protected.

(Photo credit: Dee)

If you're pregnant or you want to be a mother, it's time for you to have one USB Pregnancy Test device. It's 99% accurate to detect hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin), hCG-H (hyperglycosylated hCG - for detection before your first missed period), and LH (luteinizing hormone - for detection of your most fertile days). Note that these hormones don't indicate pregnancy or ovulation respectively as the extenuating circumstances may have affected the levels of these hormones in your body. In addition to these hormones, the device will show you the symbol of a baby, no baby, or multiples and your estimated delivery date based upon your concentration of hCG, hCG-H, and LH in your urine via its onscreen interface.

To use it, you pee on a stick, specifically the absorbent test strip at one end, then you remove the cap from the other end of the stick (to keep you away from casually contaminating) to reveal the USB connector. Next, pop it into your computer and you'll see your USB port starts the electrospray ionization process with a created spectrograph of the various masses for your analysis and urinalysis. After reviewing your test results, just pop the device out of your computer and change the test strip. The display will remain lit for five minutes before power off. It is recommended to use the horizontal USB drives for this USB product to avoid accidental moisture transference.

USB Wheel Phone Stand

(Photo credit: TechIT)

Can you feed your eyes with a visual stimulant instead of hearing the phone rings? Of course, with a device called USB Wheel Phone Stand, you can achieve your desire. However, this Ferris wheel only works for VoIP phones.When a call comes in, this device which is connected to your PC will spin. It's indeed an interesting stuff!

Popdrive Bottle Drive

(Photo credit: Simon)

The Popdrive Bottle Opener is a 1GB thumb drive that is both USB 2.0 and 1.1 compatible. This device comes with an attached bottle opener with its entire length in 3.75”, 1.5” in width, and 0.5” in height. Now, you can have this device to transfer your file and open those cold beverages without using your teeth. It also has an attached carabineer-style key chain to enable you to clip to your belt buckle, backpack, purse or set of keys easily. Its unique feature is that it lets you transferring files and opens the frosty beverage with the pesky bottle caps all at a time.

“I Love You” LED Laptop Light

(Photos credit: USBfan)

“I Love You” LED Laptop Light is a device that adds a little more light to your laptop or computer. It might be a perfect gift to give for Techie girl.

Star Wars USB Hubs

(Photos credit: akihabara)

For both computer Greeks and Star War's fans, the invention of R2-D2 and Darth Vader USB Hubs seem to be good news for them. Undoubtedly, the addition of these USB hubs will bring more joys to the computer users. Once you plug one of them into the USB port, it will operate automatically. You will see its eyes get blinking, its head moves and you will listen to sounds actually to what you listen in the Star War movie.

USB Fridge

(Photos credit: feiyang)

This USB Fridge will keep your beverage chilled while you're at your computer. It gets 5 minutes to bring the fridge down to 8 degree Celsius (47 degree Fahrenheit) after plugging it to your laptop or computer.

USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard

(Photos credit: Simon)

This USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard is made by high-quality silicone and it is washable, water resistance, soft touch while typing without creating sounds and foldable. It comes in white and pink color. This device is so convenient that it can be rolled up and put easily in your briefcase, notebook carrying bag or backpack.

USB Data Injection

(Photo credit: pcjunky)

This is not made for the injection purpose; rather it is used for data junkies. It might be simply made your daily data storage easier and interesting.

Stethoscope looks like USB

(Photo credit: Erfan)

Please don't be mistaken! This is not a stethoscope that a doctor uses to place on your stomach to diagnose to sounds of your heart, breathing, intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins. This USB is used for a direct individual data connection. It is equipped with the properties of hearing, scanning and checking.

Strange looking USB Drive

(Photo credit: 123pc)

This is a very creative designed of a USB drive, featuring in a delicate art in its design. It is a tool for theft prevention on a laptop or a computer that is essential for data security, virus protection, industrial or individual espionage and video piracy.

USB Apple-shape Speaker

(Photos credit: link)

This is an interesting design PC speaker used particularly for a notebook. That means the desktop computer users cannot use this device at their computer desks.

USB Monster Hub

(Photos credit: link)

This monster has six-legged attached beneath its body. It has the ability to hook up to USB devices via any of its highly adjustable limbs. Its furry legs are pretty cool looking. This monster resembles the Dark Star that I watched from the Slayers series.

USB & FireWire Hub

(Photos credit: Hume)

This stylist USB & FireWire combination Hub is designed by Ora-Ïto for your PC or Mac. The hub is round in shape, and has a white polycarbonate appearance. The add-in 4 USB ports and 2 FireWire ports allow you to connect iPod, PSP, mobile phone, movable keyboard, camera and printer simultaneously. That means you can connect up to six devices at a time. It comes with 8 flexible and twistable cables (5 USB 2.0 & 3 FireWire 400), a USB fan, a USB light, a USB extension cable and a FireWire 400 extension cable to make it fully equipped for all the connections the computer users required. Indeed, the connectivity with this interesting USB hub will let you experiencing the creativity and beauty of the art.

A Purse's U-disk

(Photo credit: KimJong)

Nowadays, a USB is like other fashionable hairstyle and clothing has become a modern trend to suit different requirement and situation. Like what you see in the picture, this is a female-like modern purse U-disk. It is particularly favored by females, spy agents or female detectives.

A Porcupine fish's U-disk

(Photo credit: Jack)

Hey, you, SpongeBob, don't make me angry; I'll stab you!

Christmas Cake USB Hub

(Photos credit: Yaujima)

This creamy cake is a product of Japan. It has 4 ports that are decorated with four USB strawberries, measures 120x120x130mm, and weights 650g. It offers up to 1GB memory and is compatible with OS Window 2000 and later. This sumptuous like creamy USB Hub cake looks like a real cake but unfortunately you're not tempted to have a slice of the cake.

Wooden USB Memory Sticks

(Photos credit: Joana)

These wooden USB Memory Sticks are available in memory sizes of 512Mb, 1GB, and 2GB. They're USB 2.0 Memory sticks which are compatible to Window, Linux and Mac. These memory sticks are useful to have around when transferring files from a computer to another computer.

If your spy ware removal program wants you to pay then pay or download some other program and remove that. Then there are that sort of viruses that you remove, shut down your computer, then turn it back on and the virus is back. I had a virus like that called Trojan . I used spy ware doctor to remove it and spy bot removed it too. But it kept coming back and I removed it over and over until it was gone. And if you want to keep your private data secure, then I recommend to clean your browser cookies at least once a week. And if your computers back ventilator is too full of dust to work then I recommend you clean it or it will start to make laud noises if it moves and it will will broke.

And if your computer box top is hot then something is wrong cause it should not be. Never ever ever hit your computer when its slow.

But as you praise the computer for being nice there's a thing to worry about it. You might notice especially when you're a regular computer user that some computers are slow. Or after you've just opened that document at home obtained from your school's PC your computer went crazy. These scenarios are just only a few of hundreds that viruses are the probable root cause. Be not afraid about it as I tell you the basic stuff about the most notorious enemy of PCs and how to finally get rid of them.

Know Your Enemy From Head To Foot

What are viruses?

A virus is a malicious code that is being run to the PC to perform various illegal activities. It is commonly a self-replicating file and pose as a valid file to hide its identity. Its strength depends on the type. It also executes and works to the PC secretly. A typical PC user does not need to know that there's a virus until he or she notices that something is broke in his or her computer. There are two main types of viruses

1. Good viruses - They are the types of viruses that are useful to the computer user that usually helps to make the system better. Large networks are using these viruses to expose the flaws in their system, which is critical if not noticed.
2. Bad viruses - sometimes called malware, it is usually aimed to destroy a PC's hardware or collect personal information all without the user's consent which may lead to property or privacy loss.

Under this category are two kinds of malware:

1. Worms - usually spread in e-mails, these kinds of malwares does not need “carriers” such as removable media to spread it. It replicates itself by sending itself to emails that often results in an overload of e-mail servers. One good example of this kind is the ILOVEYOU virus which infected 3/5 of the computers around the world in 24 hours and made the famous e-mail servers of Yahoo and Microsoft to shut down for days and reportedly resulted to cost $10 billion for the worldwide lost work due to the virus infection
   
2. Spyware - obtained from the words “Spy” and “Malware”, this kind of virus attacks when a valid program is run and it secretly executes itself to usually perform data collection and/or modification without a user's consent such as passwords and e-mail addresses, which is a perfect ingredient to a successful way to hack your accounts that may result in a major personal property loss. Popular examples of it are Time Bombs, Trojan horses, Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP), and adwares.

Where are viruses usually found?

 

When a PC is full-blown infected with a kind of virus, it resides on the computer's hard drive. A single virus file is enough to infect the computer by replicating itself for at least hundreds. Then it performs its work secretly whether it's a good one or a bad one. For a Trojan horse for example, after it infects the computer, it resides to the hard disk, then it tries to modify the system files which results to an abnormal behavior of the computer. Another place that viruses could lurk is the Internet. Be aware of downloading files and accessing certain websites. Not all that you see on the Internet is valid. Some websites pose as a valid site and when a user types in its web address to access the website, the site secretly installs malwares that causes erratic actions to the computer. That is also the main reason why downloading programs is prohibited in our Internet laboratory as defined in our student manual.

Why are viruses being made?

 

Viruses are made depending on their usage. In good viruses, it is mainly used for exposing a system security's flaw, which is detrimental in improving one's system security. Otherwise, like in bad viruses, collects private information without consent. It is also made either to destroy a computer's hardware, portray a computer attack to control it remotely, claim an instant fame in the cyber world by the programmer who made the virus, post advertisements even you don't want to and create a cyber-chaos. It is also reportedly made sometimes for online activism to push black propagandas in the cyber world.

What types of people usually makes a virus?

 

In making a virus, being a computer genius is not a typical requirement. In a TIME magazine article investigating about the ILOVEYOU virus said that the man who made the virus codenamed himself as “Spyder”. He is a 23-year old student at the AMA Computer College and is reportedly not an excellent student in his collegiate years in which this virus is described by the anti-virus giant McAfee CEO Gene Hodges as the “most damaging and the most widespread virus outbreak ever.”

When are viruses made?

 

There is no limited time that viruses are being made. It is spread anywhere at anytime. Although in some types like the time bomb, a single file virus lurks into the deepest file directories and waits to “explode” by infecting the computer at a programmed time and date.

How viruses can be fought off?

 

There are ways to prevent and cure computer virus infections. One is to obtain anti-virus software if you suspect that your computer is infected. By installing it into the infected computer and regularly updating it with the latest updates, rest assured that you could detect and remove the virus by scanning it for at least two times. It also prevents further infections by scanning the removable media as soon as it is inserted to the computer and isolating it from infecting the host computer. There is lots of anti-virus software in the Internet that maybe used under a trial period with limited functionality for free or either purchase the software with an automatic full functionality. One of them is McAfee. You can visit their website at www.mcafee.com. Another way is to having it professionally fixed by a certified virus removal expert. Although this is costly, the virus can be removed to the computer. What's the difference of two methods? In the first method that I've said, this is a Do-it-Yourself type that does not assure the removal of virus especially if it is a tough type and this method is the also the cheapest solution while in the method 2 you can relax as the certified virus removal expert exterminates the virus for you even the toughest types for a hefty price. Take a pick depending on what you need.

Also take note of these virus infection prevention tips:

1. After using the removable media such as diskettes and flash disks from a public computer, have it scanned on anti-virus software before you use it in your home or office computer
2. Have your anti-virus updated regularly. Scanning the infected computer even for a thousand times is useless if the anti-virus is not updated. An updated anti-virus is protecting your PC from the latest threats since anti-virus relies on a group of files that is the key for identifying types of viruses called signatures. An old signature won't detect the latest threat since it does not being informed about it.
3. Have your whole computer scanned regularly with an updated anti-virus. It takes a checkup of your computer health in a regularly basis. As one saying tells, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
4. Acquire Internet tools that may warn you if the web address that you are accessing is a dangerous one. This is easy to make a good judgment about the website according to its safety.
5. And lastly, employ anti-virus software that has a powerful tool in extracting the virus. You may consult computer technicians on which brand should you choose depending on the type of the PC that you have.

Security should not be deprived in any computer system. Having a good security feature as compared in one's home, is a good promise for a carefree and pleasant computing experience. With the ways that I've told you about combating viruses, put your armor on, as you are ready to join the winning battle for a safe computing.

A Trojan horse can enter your computer without your knowing. The person who gave you the Trojan horse can have unrestricted access to any data stored on your computer. A Trojan might be a program that runs on your computer without your knowledge. It might even be connected to a legitimate program you do know about, with additional features that you do not know the program has.

How do Trojans operate, you might wonder? What types of Trojans exist, and what can you do to project yourself? This article will attempt to answer some of those questions.

The best known Trojans are Remote access Trojans, with some kinds being the Back Orfice, and Netbus Trojans. With such Trojans, someone has complete access to another's computer, with access to all files, private conversations, and accounting data.

One example of such a Trojan was the Bugbear virus, which in September 2002 gave those who used it remote access to sensitive information.

Such a Trojan acts as a server and uses a port that is not available to Internet attackers. If a computer user is connected to a network behind a firewall, that person is protected from attacks outside the network. A hacker inside the network, however, could still use such a Trojan.

Another type of a Trojan is a Data-sending Trojan. This is a kind of Trojan that hackers use to obtain credit card information, as well as chat logs, and address lists. Such a Trojan could look for information in specific places, or it could install a key logger that would send all recorded keystrokes to a hacker.

Often a hacker who uses a Data-sending Trojan uses a free e-mail service to receive his information. The information can also be sent to a hacker's website. Such a hacker might well use a free website provider. In such a case, the data would be sent through a web form. Such methods would not be noticed, and a hacker could even be anyone on the same network as the victim. Such a hacker would not have to be in a network, however, as he could externally use such a system to gather information from a victim.

The only purpose of a destructive Trojan is to destroy and delete files. The Trojan could be activated by the attacker. It could work like a bomb, designed to be activated at a specific time.

A destructive Trojan can be a danger to any computer network. It works a lot like a virus. Because it is specifically designed to attack, however, it might go unnoticed by anti-virus software.

Another type of Trojan is a Denial of Service Trojan. It is designed to start a denial of service, if there are enough victims. For example, if you have 200 infected users, and each victim is attacked at the same time, heavy traffic will be generated, more than the victim's bandwidth can carry most likely. Access to the Internet will be shut down or denied.

A proxy Trojan turns the victim's computer into a proxy server. It would then be available to the whole world. Such a Trojan is often used to make purchases with stolen credit cards, or other illegal purposes. This makes the attacker anonymous, because he is using your computer for any illegal activity.

This could cause legal problems, if you are a personal victim of such a Trojan, or for your company, if your company is. If such illegal activity is tracked, it will be tracked back to you or your company's computer.

Another type of Trojan is a security software disabler. It is designed to kill programs such as firewalls, and anti-virus software.

The Bugbear virus was just such a type of a Trojan.

How are computers infected with a Trojan, and can anything be done to prevent them from being infected?

Two common ways a computer is infected are through an e-mail attachment, or through a software download from a website.

Many people will claim they never download software from an unknown website or open an attachment. Hackers often use techniques, however, to cause someone to open an attachment or downloading infected software, without suspecting a thing.

One such Trojan was the Septer.troj, which victims received in an e-mail in October 2001. Victims were tricked into believing the e-mail contained a submission form for disaster relief for the Red Cross. Victims filled out a form with their credit card information, which was then encrypted and sent to the hacker who created it.

Many people have a computer that was infected when they opened an attachment. The hackers often know the names and even e-mail addresses of your friends. They will use such information to send you an "e-mail," or "joke," which you think is from your friend. When you open the e-mail, your computer is infected with a Trojan.

Many people have received Trojans when they downloaded a file from a website. This can happen with a link you receive in an e-mail.

The ZeroPopUp Trojan was one Trojan sent in that manner. Victims were tricked into believing they were downloading software to block pop-up ads. Once installed, the Trojan sent an e-mail to everyone in the victim's address book, implying that the e-mail was from the victim, promoting the software.

Hacking programs, mail bombers, flooders, and other tools can even be found for free on archives of free web space providers.

There are steps you can take to protect yourself from Trojans. If you have any reason to be suspicious about whether an e-mail is actually from your friend or not, don't open an attachment until you are certain. Contact your friend and find out before you open the attachment.

It might also be safer to never open at attachment, if you don't know the source of the e-mail.

If you receive an e-mail that seems to be from a trusted website with a link to something you really want to download, and you are at all suspicious, contact customer service or someone from the website first. Make certain the link to a website is legitimate.

Suppose you want to download software from the Internet, and you do not know anything about the source. One option would be to not download the software to be safe. Another would be to notice before you download if a pop up box appear with a digital certificate from a certification authority appear to authenticate the identity of the software publisher (VeriSign is the world's largest). A message might appear which says something to the effect that the publisher authenticity has been verified by VeriSign Commercial Software Publishers, CA.

These are some steps you can take if you use a personal computer at home. There are no absolute answers to prevent infection. Even if you use a computer in a network at work, most virus scanners detect only a portion of known Trojans and do not detect unknown Trojans.

Even though there are not absolute answers for preventing infection in the workplaces, steps can be taken to make computers safer. Not only does virus scanning need to be done for e-mail, but it should be done for the Internet, for HTTP and FTP, because otherwise you might be protected for e-mail only. Otherwise a user could download a Trojan from a website without knowing it.

Multiple virus engines should be used. Multiple sources will detect more Trojans than a single engine.

Executables entering the network should be checked.

While there are no absolute answers to prevent your computer from being infected with a Trojan, there are steps you can take to be safer.

• Data corruption: If the incident causes data corruption, the organization may be forced to take systems offline until you can recover or rebuild the data. In large databases, this process can take several days, even on the fastest available computers.
• Denial of Service (DoS): A concentrated attack, especially when it originates from large numbers of systems, can render a server or an entire network of servers unreachable to customers and partners. Such attacks can last for hours, days, or even weeks.
• Forensics: Your organization (or law enforcement) may need to carry out forensic operations on affected systems to gather evidence for a possible prosecution. Trained personnel usually conduct forensics on quiescent systems (systems in which activity is halted) to provide stability, ensuring the best possible evidence gathering.

To reduce the effects of a security incident, consider these measures:

• Alternate servers and storage systems: Place alternate systems and storage systems into service while trained personnel perform forensics on affected systems. Before you place affected systems into service, however, the organization needs to be certain that they won't be compromised, too.
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) defense: Some Internet service providers offer a DDoS defense service that may help to restore connectivity to customers and partners. These solutions can cost you, but so can being offline.
• Alternate network locations: If an organization is experiencing a Denial of Service or Distributed Denial of Service, you may be able to avoid disruption by relocating affected servers or networks to another logical place on the Internet. Whether this move works has a lot to do with the determination of the attackers and their ability to change their intended target.
• Backup data: Replication and mirroring are great technologies that can compensate for hardware failures. However, in the case of a deliberate attack, replication or mirroring may propagate the corruption to other storage systems. If this widespread corruption occurs, you may need to recover data from a recent backup - but only if analysts can determine that the attack hasn't affected a recent data backup.
• Heterogeneous (similar) systems: If attackers attack through known vulnerabilities in software, using heterogeneous systems may prevent an attack from reaching some systems. For instance, if an application uses both a Sun system with Oracle databases and a Windows system with SQL Server databases, an attack through the Windows system can't succeed on the Sun server.
• Forensics training and tools: This measure is an up-front investment of dollars and training. With better forensics preparedness, your business can respond more quickly when you need forensic activities, as well as develop alternate strategies that can minimize impact on business operations.

IP transit is a formal agreement, usually in the form of a registered contract by which wholesale Internet bandwidth is sold or resold by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers.

Pricing is typically offered as a fixed or sliding scale of per megabit per second per month basis (M-bit/s/Month) and requires the purchaser to commit to a minimum volume of bandwidth. Pricing for the bandwidth can be reduced significantly by purchasing larger volumes or extending the contract term.

Modern IP transit agreements typically provide service level guarantees to almost all of the major Internet Exchange Points within a continental geography such as North America, Europe or Australia. However, these IP Transit Service Level Agreements (SLAs) still only provide best-effort delivery since they do not guarantee service from the Internet Exchange Point to the final destination.

As individual consumers, we too enter into SLAs with our particular ISP to purchase IP transit. For Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) broadband services these consumer grade service level contracts are generally expressed in terms of an asymmetric capped bandwidth rate usually with some upper volume limit on a Gigabytes per month basis.

The asymmetric aspect is generally manifested as a quoted download connection rate with a much lesser upload connection rate. Bear in mind that actual data transfer rates tend to be somewhat less than the connection rate in either direction.

They also tend to be variable in that once the connection has been established the actual data transfer will begin at a rate of XM-bit/sec which is not sustained indefinitely as it will progressively decrease throughout the duration of the conversation.

You will however find that at some point this transfer rate depreciation will plateau; more often than not somewhere near the rate cited by your ISP as being that of the immediately adjacent lower metric and/or lower priced service agreement rate currently available to you from that ISP.

The result is; as I am sure you have already noticed by now, that you can download considerably quicker than you can upload. Additionally, downloading a 50MB file takes considerably longer than 50 times the time taken to download a 1MB file.

Considering that the average Internet consumer's usage habits are such that they will spend a far greater proportion of time downloading then they do uploading this disparity between the two rates of transfer is usually perceived by the consumer as being satisfactory. We just accept that that is the way it is.

Another factor that reinforces this degree of consumer “satisfaction” is that the majority of us remember years of frustration with dial-up services followed by the revolutionary advent of broadband (ADSL) and now with ADSL 2+ there truly is a gap of “light-years” between now and then. Still I have no doubt that the magic will wear off and consumers will be primed for further higher-speed always on services and technologies.

One of the driving forces in this vicious cycle is the size factor of the average file transferred over the Internet. With the “average” file size increasing as rapidly, if not more so than the capacity for the “I want it now” consumer's Internet service to deliver it now impatience will often win out. Nobody likes waiting for websites that are slow to load or files that take ages to transfer. With a click of the mouse we will generally surf on to the next site.

Holding consumer attention is something that Web masters are all only too acutely aware of. With Google, Yahoo, MSN and co. delivering so many options for a search this should come as no great surprise. StubleUpon.com is one such social networking service characterized by high user “surf-through” rates. I myself click the Stumble button if a site is slow to load. There are heaps of worthy sites yet to Stumble and so on I go.

The richness of Web 2.0 and user interactivity (feedback, comments, content contribution etc.) is such a powerful element that it further accelerates mass migration from once flavor-of-the-day bogged down social networking sites to newer better performing ones with such suddenness that it truly takes the breath away. Check out Delicious.com and the recent changes (including changing their user unfriendly name and URL) wrought there for these very reasons.

Other recent trends such as Software-as-a-Service (S-a-a-S) and many Web hosted applications; such as many of the more recent Help Desk implementations, all contribute to the richness, variety and in most instances the cost-effectiveness of the Web-based applications solutions over the traditional locally hosted varieties.

The most important element of all of the above implementation scenarios is that is very rarely investigated by the end-user is that somewhere along the line and usually at more than one point IP transit must be negotiated.

More often than not and for various reasons not readily available to the consumer this element of costing is hidden from obvious sight. It usually can be found under such headings in the small print of SLAs as “overhead”, “establishment fees”, administrative overheads” or as a component of “service fees/charges”.

However; for commercial enterprises and particularly those with very active websites such as social networking and bookmarking sites the standard consumer grade arrangement is most definitely unsatisfactory and so they will have a different type of SLA with their ISP. Up until very recently this usually meant leased lines or dedicated fiber optic cables between their premises and the ISP's exchange equipment.

I must also make note of the fact that the asymmetric nature of ADSL is not always manifested by higher data transfer rates for downloading than uploading. Sometimes it is more important for a site to have upload data transfer rates superior to its download data transfer rates.

Instances where this type of IP transit arrangement would be considered desirable include manufacture and developer download sites particularly where the content of the consumer downloadable files changes often, regularly or is deemed to be of a critical nature (antimalware sites). Generally their upload link to their consumer/customer accessible downloads and support sites would be a separate and dedicated link specifically for this purpose.

Urgent notification systems that need to rapidly disseminate variable critical content to a large number of target systems and users especially “knee-jerk” security responses to zero-day threats and other emerging vulnerabilities.

Update sites such as the Microsoft Windows Updates site and their automatic updates services would avail themselves of an IP transit Service Level Agreement (SLA) where administrative upload links to these facilities would be higher than that of the download rates. They may even use SDSL access technologies.

Another variant of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) broadband services is Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL). Yes it means just what it says. Data transfer rates are more or less equal in both directions (upload and download).

Today, with ADSL 2+ we find that many a small to medium business no longer requires these expensive alternatives. Web hosting services have also made an impact in this area through the provisioning of assorted quality of dynamics, metrics, 24/7, auto-responder, domain hosting services and Internet point-of-presence services that are affordably suitable for many smaller scale enterprises and individual requirements.

No doubt this is a lucrative field for the services hosting provider. A fact reflected by the number of hosting services providers including Microsoft's entry into the arena with their free domain hosting services.

Once built, upload the website and the rest is taken care of (more or less). No servers to worry about. Let the networking guys at your hosting service provider do that.

Yet another resurfacing technology that follows the Software-as-a-Service (S-a-a-S) centralized application, processing (computing) and services philosophy is terminal services. In a terminal services production environment implementation centrally located servers host the applications, deliver services and perform the bulk of processing (computing) for those clients assigned to it. This is the same sort of structure and relationship that existed between the mainframes of yesteryear and their associated user terminals.

The benefits of this type of arrangement include a dramatic reduction in the amount of data that needs to be transmitted between end-points. Client requests and server replies containing the results of processing and “dumb” client user service accessibility requests ready for onscreen display are basically all that is transmitted.

The above factors also apply to wireless networking and wireless Internet access technologies. The main distinctions between wireless network access (including the Internet) and other technologies is that it is wireless. Apart from this, access, authentication, logical connectivity, bandwidth and aggregate data throughput rates etc. and associated issues are for the most part much like the other available technologies when it comes to IP transit.

The result is that all of these factors are continually conspiring to change the face of the Internet and how we use it. For many of us, considerations and decisions relating to IP transit and the specific intricacies of the products and services offered by and stated in the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between ourselves and our ISP rarely come to our attention. Yet there can be little doubt they are the arrangements upon which the Internet is built and commercial viability is derived.

I guess you could say that “there is no such thing as a free lunch”. One way or another somewhere along the line you the end user, still pays for your share of Internet access and use. The trick from all perspectives (consumers, business, government, enterprise and organizations of all sizes and persuasions) is to minimize these costs.

I will discuss many and varied aspects of the Internet in future articles. Until next time enjoy!!