Intrusion Prevention System Help Avert Lockheed Attack

The recent "significant and tenacious" cyber attack on Lockheed Martin's information system could not have been averted without an intrusion prevention system installed on their network.


Lockheed Martin is a big player in the global arms supply and the no. 1 defense contractor for the United States. Any breach on the company's network could heavily compromise their customers, program or their employee's personal information. But most of all, if the intrusion was successful it would have been a big problem for America as vital secrets on next generation as well as current weapons technology will be exposed.


A spokesman for Lockheed did not mention anything about IPS on their system but reported that "we have policies and procedures in place to mitigate the cyber threats to our business, and we remain confident in the integrity of our robust, multi-layered information systems security".


An intrusion prevention system is more than a firewall or antivirus software. IPS is both a hardware and software system that works inline along the network of a security infrastructure of a company. It has the capability to detect attacks coming from known and unknown sources, block the attack and make an alert.


The attack against Lockheed’s information system is believed to have originated at RSA, a division of technology giant EMC, when their SecurID tokens used by Lockheed employees for remotely accessing their data have been breached. Hackers could have made duplicates of the token keys out of the stolen data from RSA.


Most experts say it is virtually impossible for any company even with an up to date security solution to totally stop cyber espionage. But having an intrusion prevention system in place, an individual or company can rely on protection for their sensitive information which is far more effective than firewalls and antivirus combined.

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6 Ways To keep Your Kids safe On The Web

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Your kid's security on the Web must be of utmost priority. They are the most vulnerable when it comes to cyber bullying, scams, sexual offenders and other forms of abuse on the Internet. Parents should monitor, manage and administer their children's use of the computer to make sure they stay away from websites that wittingly or unwitting could pose some risks. Without proper guidelines children could easily fall victim to on line predators.

Here are 6 tips that would help protect your child from the dangers of the virtual world and ensure their safe and rewarding experience online:

1.) The first thing parents should do for their kid's online security is to position the computer in a place where they can see what their kids are doing over the Internet from time to time. They should also set a time limit for the use of the computer notably when playing online games.

2.) Learn the sites where your children most often go. See to it that the sites do not contain sexually explicit content or violent graphics and images inappropriate for their age. Check out also whether they are indulging in activities online with strangers who are out only to exploit your kids.

3.) Teach them the proper and responsible way of using Facebook and other social networks. Some sites have features that give users control of their profile and how or to whom they can share photos and other personal information. Urge your kids to utilize these controls.

4.) You can report to Google if your kid encounters abuse or inappropriate content on one of their products. In You Tube, you can click on the "Flag" link below a video which you think violates Google's Community Guidelines and they will review it for removal.

5.) When doing some school projects on the Web, your children should learn to distinguish between the real and not real. Not all you see, hear, or read on the Internet can be true. Educate your child to verify the information they find.

6.) Purchase parental-control software to keep your kids away from websites which they are not suppose to access. You can program the software in a way that restricts the children from "adult" sites but not necessarily block your own use of Internet.

Facebook email: The new kid in town

Mark Zuckerberg actually does not want to call the new Facebook messaging system an email in the traditional sense. Neither would he term it as a “Gmail killer" like what has been speculated in the media. Mr. Zuckerberg said it is more than Gmail.
The latest Facebook product has been in the works for 15 months by a team of 15 engineers headed by Andrew Bosworth who said that it is the "biggest engineering team ever put up by Facebook for a new product.
It was Zuckerberg's interview with high schoolers, whenever he got the chance to talk to them that drove the Facebook chief to create the seamless messaging system. However, it was not what the teenagers are using as a way to communicate with one another that gave Zuckerberg the impetus, but rather it was what they are not using, the email.
According to the youngsters they are not using email because it was too slow and not real time. "It adds a lot of friction and cognitive load to the process of sending email and communicating", adds Zuckerberg.
Facebook messaging or Facebook email integrates the various messaging platforms, IM, sms, email into a single conversation thread with the other person or groups you are communicating to.
This feature is called seamless messaging and one of the three features included in the Facebook product which the conventional email does not have. The other feature is the conversation history where users can keep track of their communications over multiple platforms in one single history.
Social Inbox is another feature of the new messaging system. Here, the users' messages are stored in three separate categories: the "messages", where your most important messages are kept; the "others", for those which are not so important, and the "junk", where messages that are not valuable are thrown in.
For the general users of Facebook who are eager to try the new system, they will have to wait a little further. The initial launch will have the members of the press to try and test the product first and then give their feedback. The address @facebook.com will be given entirely optional for Facebook users who may wish to sign up.

No Such Thing As Safe OS

The operating system is the backbone of a computer. It directs, manages and controls all the various applications installed on the hardware. The OS also processes the input/output data between the user and the computer.
Today's popular operating systems, Microsoft's Windows, Mac OS X of Apple and Chrome of Google cannot be said to be completely safe. Each of them has its own vulnerabilities. Not one is foolproof. A user of any of these softwares could be secure for a period of time, but for how long depends on the complacency of the vendor company.
Why do you think Microsoft is releasing security updates for their Windows softwares almost every month? Because it needs to be protected from those malicious writers who is always on the lookout for any loopholes in the system which they could exploit.
Just a couple of days ago Microsoft announced that they will be doing patches this September to fix 13 vulnerabilities.
Now, you might contend that Linux, or Chrome, or Mac OS X is safer and that Windows are more prone to attack by hackers. I don't think so. The only reason why Microsoft software is the target of so many viruses and malwares is because it is so widely used.
Any operating system is impervious to risks. Apple's Mac computers which have a reputation of being largely untouched by threats also have its own flaws.
A recent news on Apple is about the patching of three gaping holes on Safari 5.0.2 and Safari 4.1.2. These browsers are available for Mac OS X versions 10.5 and 10.6 and on Mac OS X version 10.4. These vulnerabilities on the browsers potentially put web surfers at risks of drive-by download attacks.

Even the Department of Home Security (DHS) knows the high-risk involved when they were alerted by the failure to keep its own systems upto date with the latest software patches. The vulnerabilities on their system was discovered not have been fixed when auditors working for the DHS inspector general ran a sweep of US-CERT using vulnerability scanner Nessus.

A Mini Hydro Power Plant For Mobile Devices

The latest hydrogen-powered mobile charger in the market is the MiniPak from the company Horizon. It is the cheapest around and comes in handy when the sun is not shining. Solar-powered chargers can be functional only when the sun is up.
The MiniPak, first demonstrated at CES 2010, was designed for charging portable electronic devices on the go. This neat looking gadget uses fuel cell technology and comes together with two refillable cartridges called HydroStik. The whole set is priced at a dandy $100 for those busy bodies who are always on the move.
The MiniPak fuel charger has a USB port in which to connect your smartphone or other devices that need to be recharged. Each of the two HydroStik fuel cells is a 'solid-state' hydrogen storage unit in which one of them has the juice equivalent to about 1000 AA batteries. Also, each of the fuel cells can store power up to 15 W. Nowadays, a smartphone or an mp3 player only needs less than 5W electricity to be fully charged.
Horizon has another product which complements the MiniPak, the HydroFill. With the HydroFill you don't have to buy another fuel cell after your HydroStik is depleted. The small scale refilling station can recharge the HydroStik just by putting water and plugging it in your wall socket. It will create hydrogen as fuel. It cost $500.

Samsung Epic 4G, Where Now SCH-r900?

Last month I made a post that Samsung SCH-r900 would most likely be the next 4G handset after the HTC Evo. It was first announced by Samsung themselves in March at the CTIA Wireless 2010 in Las Vegas.

But last Monday, Sprint revealed that Samsung will be coming out with the Epic 4G smart phone which will run on their wimax network. The Epic should be the second 4G handset on Sprint after Evo unless Samsung changes their mind. It is also Samsung's first 4G handset, again.

So with this Monday's announcement, (after the March announcement) what will happen to the aforementioned SCH-r900? Will its début push through this summer or is it dead? Or is it really the Epic 4G disguised as SCH-r900?

I do think however that Epic 4G would be the official one because when Samsung reported about the SCH-r900 they didn't came up with neither an image nor any specs. What they only said is that it will run on LTE technology of the other carrier Metro PCs and will be available for the consumers on the second half of the year. On the Epic 4G they came up with accompanying images and a quite remarkable specs and features. Samsung should have made some clarification regarding the issue.


Anyway, what really matters is how the Epic 4G will live up to the hype. In my humble opinion, Samsung would have to do a little bit of extra effort to make a nudge on some of its strong rivals notably the iPhone 4 and the HTC Evo.

Samsung SCH-r900, The Next 4G Smartphone

After the release of the first 4G handset,the HTC EVO,from Sprint last June 4,the next 4G smartphone in the US would most probably be the Samsung SCH-r900 and will run on Metro PCs carrier network.


Even before the launch of HTC EVO 4G, Samsung had already announced in
March the availability of the first commercial LTE capableCDMA/4G handset, although it wont deployed yet to the consumers until the be second half of this year.


No details of its specs nor any images have been provided by Samsung during its announcement at CTIA Wireless 2010 in Las Vegas.The only thing we know as of now is that it will fork on the LTE technology rather than on the Wimax being run by Spint on its HTC EVO and that it will be released late in the summer


The Samsung SCH-r900 will be the first LTE-enabled multi mode, CDMA,4G handset in America. Its introduction is part of Samsung's collaboration with Metro PCs in the US. Metro PCs has also selected Samsung Mobile to provide the networking infrastructure needed to launch its LTE technology in Las Vegas.