Tag Archives: data
Useful Methods for Circumventing Internet Censors (Page 1 of 2)
Circumventing internet blocks and avoiding censors has become an important part of web surfing for many users. Censors can range from a restrictive government regime to a company or schools IT department and web surfers are always looking for a way to get through tight controls. Users need to maintain a certain level of privacy and anonymity when circumventing censors, especially since many companies will fire an employee for surfing, or in extreme cases a government can fine or imprison a web surfer for browsing on sites they deem to be inappropriate. Many products and services can be found to help users break free of stringent internet censors, allowing netizens to surf freely without the fear of oppressive bodies controlling their every movement. These products offer users unique ways to maintain their internet privacy and connect to the World Wide Web without any restrictions.
One of the ways users can circumvent blocks is with the Java Anon Proxy, commonly referred to as JonDo. This method allows users to choose which network to surf through. These networks are run by independent organizations. After a user chooses their network, the data stream is scrambled and mixed with other users data. This allows users to remain anonymous since anyone attempting to spy on or restrict the data flow is confused by the cluttered connection. Unlike TOR, the operators are not anonymous, which allows a user to decide which operators they will or will not trust with their information. A major drawback of this service is that all the operators, also known as mix cascades, can record their logs and compare them to reveal users online activities.
A second way users can outsmart censors is by using Psiphon. Psiphon is a web proxy that was directly created to circumvent the tight Internet censorship of countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba. The traffic between clients and servers is encrypted with “https” as the data is being transferred. Psiphon is offers users the advantage of turning their computers into servers that can display web pages from anywhere. This proxy works over trusted connections as opposed to an open proxy which travels over untrusted networks. Users in countries with tight censorship can log in and send a request to a server located in another country to gain access to blocked websites. Users do not have to download any software, meaning no traces of circumventors are found on the hard drive. While Psiphon can gain access to censored content it does not act as an anonymizer and all the clients activities are logged in Psiphons servers, leaving it vulnerable to cyber attacks and hackers/crackers looking for information.
One of the most popular methods to access censored content is by using anonymous proxy servers, either in website form or software-based. These proxies are very common and can be found through the various search engines. Web-based proxies are very easy to implement, which attests to their abundance. While anonymous proxy sites are easy to block, the ease of creating new ones makes it a common go-to for surfers. Many surfers prefer to use the software-based proxy since it will usually offer more security features, such as encrypting the connection and also hiding the port and origin website of the surfer. Anonymous surfing software and websites allow a user to surf anonymously by redirecting their connection through a server which masks the real IP with one generated by the server. Private proxy servers will also rotate IP addresses and randomly refresh so that a user is not constantly surfing with the same IP address. This allows users facing strict censorship to mask their IP address with one from a different country, which will allow the user free reign to surf the Internet.
5 Questions Your Company Should Ask When Looking for a Data Center
Looking for a data center? Since business success so often relies upon the effective use of technology, whether to perform daily tasks or to create and deliver mission-critical services, a great technology partner has become a vital necessity. Typically companies ask their potential data center partners excellent questions about the facilitys power redundancy, security, and network connectivity, but with todays IT mission criticality, these features have now become the minimum bar for most data centers.
In addition to those standard questions, it is important to ask the following questions to ensure you are selecting a flexible, affordable data center solution positioned to be a foundation for your companys IT growth. By asking these five simple questions you can better understand the prospective data centers ability to host your infrastructure now but more importantly in the future. Knowing the facilitys capabilities and how they impact your environment will help keep from having to make costly and risky moves due to lack of resources and help to avoid constraint on IT deliverables.
Here are five questions that you need to ask when looking for an enterprise data center for your company.
1) How many watts/amps of usable power can I consume per cabinet?
This is important for a number of reasons, but primarily to determine if you can fully utilize your cabinet today and into the future. Its important to specify usable power because some facilities will say “60 amps per cabinet” but what they really mean is 30 primary and 30 redundant amps. You should also specify ‘consume’ as some facilities will allow you to install any circuit you want, but limit your draw to just a portion of those circuits.
2) Does the data center offer a power metered billing method or flat-rate?
A metered method of billing power allows you to pay for only what you consume rather than pre-buying the entire circuit capability and using only a portion, which drives up your real pre-amp cost. A true consumption model will allow you the flexibility to install power circuits that will meet your future power needs without a premium today. For example: If you plan in two years to consume 14 kW per cabinet then install the proper outlets that allow for that consumption today. This will reduce setup fees and the time to install resulting in a lower total cost of ownership.
3) Is the data center in a single floor, single tenant building?
Operating a data center is all about controlling risk; multi-tenant buildings make that nearly impossible. For example, if your data center is on the fifth floor, how do you ensure that a water leak on the floor above will not affect your operations?
4) What free services are included (loading dock, reboots, monitoring)?
Don’t underestimate the costs you’ll incur for extras. You may only need 3 reboots per month now and thats fine until something happens and you need 20. Its not about the first invoice; its about the total cost over the course of the relationship..
5) What are the tools the data center can offer to help with your growth? (SAN, data backup, server management, monitoring, cloud services?)
For example, if a server goes offline at 2AM, does the data center have 24/7 on-site staff with the skills needed to resolve the problem?
About the Author
Scott Palsgrove joined Net Access during its first year of operations and has over 15 years of sales and technology management experience. As Sales Manager, Scott has helped to develop flexible and innovative products and services that have resulted in accelerated sales revenue growth. Scott is responsible for sales and product strategy, marketing, and partner development.
Effective IT Security Essential Needs of Every Business
Nowadays Information Technology and Computer Applications are crying needs of every business regardless of their domain of working. However, with increasing use of Computers and Internet in professional work, it is mandatory for all organizations (whether small, medium or big) to take care of their digital security needs.
Why IT Security for Organizations
Nowadays, the chances of information theft have increased a lot due to increasing use of Internet for Data and Information transfer and sharing. Viruses (Trojans, worms, malware and adware) are one of the major threats of all time. Virus attracts on a company’s network can have destructive effects. Some major issues caused by viruses may be system crash, data corruption, reduced speed of network and information stealing. For proper functioning of businesses, companies need foolproof IT security plan.
Types of IT Security Needs for Organizations
An organization can have following IT security needs according to their dependency on computers and internet in business.
Security of Data Usually every organization has large amount of data that is important for the proper functioning of their business. It can be sensitive financial details, employee details, sales and purchase details, or any other type of data that can affect the business.
Security of Network This is an essential requirement of all small, medium and large organizations. We have witnessed several cases of network intrusion or unauthorized use of any organization’s network for destructive causes.
Email Security Emails are main sources of information sharing and corporate communication. Most of the secret information and orders are issued through emails. So, its very important to protect email communication from external threats.
IT Surveillance After several cases of internal IT crime (within organization), the need of internal surveillance is required. It includes implementation of access control systems, traditional CCTV surveillance, or modern IP based surveillance systems that are very helpful in finding out the root of internal IT crimes.
Although, every operating system provides basic level of security implementation through their in-built security features (like firewalls and automatic threats detection), but it is not sufficient when you think of business level. For that, one needs additional tools to ensure proper IT security.