Friday, February 27, 2009

Cyber Attacks : The New Weapon

Cyber Attacks: The New Weapon

Cyber Attacks: The new weapon against government networks in recent months illustrate how states like China are discovering the power of a new weapon that is less expensive and more discreet than battalions of tanks or spies.

Cyber assaults blamed on China have struck sensitive government sites in Britain, France, Germany and the United States - including the Pentagon and the French defence ministry, officials recently confirmed to major media. China denies the accusations.

"A state can use these tools to exert its power. States are beginning to understand that, and in a lot of ways the Chinese are taking the lead, and the Russians as well," said Ned Moran of the Terrorism Research Centre.

"A country like China is realising that instead of building a robust espionage network, based on people in a country and recruiting spies, they can do the same thing at a very low cost by executing cyber attacks," Moran said.

The expert at the Virginia-based Terrorism Research Centre, a branch of Total Intelligence Solutions - a firm founded by former CIA officials - said it was clear the recent spate of hacking came from China.

"You can detect patterns, coming from the same country, the same network, with the same type of techniques," he said.

"That gives you a sense that it's probably coming from the Chinese, based on what I've seen. The Chinese government either is doing it, or is looking the other way as Chinese citizens are doing it."

Operating quietly and methodically, the cyber attackers identify key people in an organisation and then send them emails to penetrate the network, he said.

"They send you an email that looks like it comes from your boss, with a link that they ask you to click on. Once they are in your computer they can get into your network and they start looking for information and very quietly copying it and moving it out," Moran said.

The emails target two to three people "to stay under the radar," he said. "They are very patient."

Successful attempts at breaking into defence networks raise the possibility of shutting down communications between a commander and forces in the field, Moran said.

"They would be able to control a ship, not change its GPS (global navigation) coordinate but more likely cut off communications," said Moran.

The Pentagon reportedly suspects Beijing of preparing a plan to disable the US aircraft carrier fleet, while the Financial Times reported this month the Chinese military had broken into a computer network used by the office of Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

In an apparent warning to China, officials from European and US governments have confirmed cyber attacks and blamed the breaches on Beijing.

"Typically when these attacks get announced, they have happened many months before," Moran said. "Because when it happens, you don't want anybody to know that you know these attacks are taking place."

According to Moran, official confirmation from Europe and the United States indicates Western governments are faced with a growing threat from information warfare.

An attack on Estonia's information network earlier this year, allegedly carried out from Russia, represented a certain type of economic-oriented cyber assault, Moran said.

"They shut down their banks, the (Estonian) government's ability to collect taxes, the media's capacity to get information out to the public," he said.

The move represented a Russian warning to Estonia, he said, "without encircling it with tanks."

Although Estonia is a member of NATO, the alliance chose not to respond to the cyber attack amid initial confusion over whether an attack was indeed under way, he said.

"Basically the Russians got away with it, and they achieved their goals," he said.

The case of Estonia underscores how cyberwarfare can deliver results in a way that in the past only large spy networks or vast armies could produce.

"States are starting to figure out how cyberwarfare can help them achieve their goals, espionage, economic embargo, or coercion - to cause pain to your enemies so they change their behaviour," Moran said.

Cyber warfare is now a common pursuit among most states, said Bruce Schneier, who has written books on the subject. "Everybody does it," he said.

Moreover, government networks are plagued with "lousy security" arrangements, he said. And as government information networks become more complex, the networks become increasingly vulnerable.

"Complexity is the worst enemy of security," Schneier said.

But he said the dangers of cyber warfare should not be overstated, saying US battle ships could not be steered remotely by a cyber hacker.

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How to Motivate Yourself

How to Motivate Yourself

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.
-Andrew Carnegie

If you want to excel in life, self motivation is essential. You must know how to motivate yourself. You must be able to keep your spirit high no matter how discouraging a situation is. That’s the only way to get the power you need to overcome difficulties. Those who are discouraged in difficult times are certain to lose even before the battle is over.

The question is: how do you motivate yourself? Here are several tips I’ve found to be effective to build self motivation :

1. Have a cause

I can’t think of a more powerful source of motivation than a cause you care about. Such cause can inspire you to give your best even in the face of difficulties. It can make you do the seemingly impossible things.

While other causes could inspire you temporarily, a cause that matters to you can inspire you indefinitely. It’s a spring of motivation that will never dry. Whenever you think that you run out of motivation , you can always come to your cause to get a fresh dose of motivation .

2. Have a dream. A big dream.

Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.
Karen Ravn

Your cause is a powerful source of motivation but it’s still abstract in nature. You need to make it concrete in the form of a dream. Imagine how the world will be in the future. Imagine how people will live and work.

Having a dream is important because it’s difficult to be motivated if you don’t have anything to shoot for. Just think about people who play basketball. Will they be motivated to play if there is no basket to aim at? I don’t think so. They need a goal. You need a goal. That’s what your dream is for.

But just having a dream is insufficient. Your dream must be big enough to inspire you. It must be realistic but challenging. It must stretch your ability beyond your comfort zone.

3. Be hungry

Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.
Les Brown

To be truly motivated, you need to have hunger and not just desire. Having mere desire won’t take you through difficult times since you don’t want things badly enough. In many cases, hunger makes the difference between the best performers and the mediocre ones.

How can you have hunger? Your cause and your dream play a big role here. If you have a cause you care about and a big dream related to it, you should have the hunger inside of you. If you think that you are losing hunger, all you need to do is to connect again to your cause and dream. Let them inspire you and bring the hunger back.

4. Run your own race

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

Comparing yourself with others is an effective way to demotivate yourself. Even if you start with enthusiasm, you will soon lose your energy when you compare yourself with others.

Don’t let that happen to you. You have your own race so how other people perform is irrelevant. Comparing yourself with others is like comparing the performance of a swimmer with a runner using the same time standard. They are different so how can you compare one with the other?

The only competitor you have is yourself. The only one you need to beat is you. Have you become the best you can be?

5. Take one more step

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill

When you meet obstacles along the way, there could be the tendency to quit. You may think that it’s too difficult to move on. You may think that your dream is impossible to achieve. But this is where you can see the difference between winners and losers. Though both of them face the same difficulties, there is one thing that makes the winners different: the courage to continue.

In difficult situations, just focus on taking one more step forward. Don’t think about how to complete the race. Don’t think about how many more obstacles are waiting for you. Just focus on taking the next step.

6. Let go of the past

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Believe it or not, one of the best demotivators is your past. Your past can drag you down before you realize it. Your past can give you a heavy burden on your shoulders.

The good news is it’s a burden you don’t have to carry. Take it off your shoulder and leave it. You might make mistakes in the past. You might disappoint others with what you did. But it’s over. It’s already in the past and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Today is a new day and you have the chance to start again. No matter how bad your past might be, you still have a bright future ahead waiting for you. Just don’t let the burden of the past stop you.

***

Apply these tips and motivate yourself. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Let your self motivation take you to excellence.

This article is part of October 2008 theme: Winning Attitude

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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Forever Friendship

Forever Friendship

Sometimes in life,

You find a special friend;

Someone who changes your life Just by being part of it.

Someone who makes you laugh Until you can't stop;

Someone who makes you believe That there really is good in the world.

Someone who convinces you

That there really is an unlocked door

Just waiting for you to open it.

This is Forever Friendship.

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Monday, February 23, 2009

Rainbows of Life

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Something You May Not Know

Something You May Not Know

1. Coca-Cola was originally green.

2. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

3. The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with.

4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

5. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

6. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters onlyon one row of the keyboard.

7. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!

8. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath..

9. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

10. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

11. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

12. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

13. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to

Suppress a sneeze; you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

14. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history. "Spades" - King David; "Clubs" - Alexander the Great; " Hearts" - Charlemagne; "Diamonds" - Julius Caesar.

15. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

16. If a statue of a warrior on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

17 What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?

Ans. - All invented by women.

18. Honey - This is the onlyfood that doesn't spoil.

19. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

20. A snail can sleep for three years.

21. All polar bears are left handed.

22. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

23. Butterflies taste with their feet.

24. Elephants are the onlyanimals that can't jump.

25. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

26. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

27. Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.