The FBI and Chinese police busted two software piracy gangs and seized programs worth an estimated $500 million, officials said Tuesday.
Police arrested 25 people in the joint campaign that started in 2005, seizing 360,000 programs and property valued at $7.9 million, said Gao Feng, an official with the Ministry of Public Security.
The FBI's Los Angeles field office estimated the seized software's retail value to be $500 million. The gangs allegedly operated from Shanghai and Shenzhen, and targeted programs from Microsoft Corp. and Symantec Corp.
China has long been the world's leading source of illegally copied goods, including designer clothes, movies and music. It has been under pressure for years to crack down, and that's only grown in advance of next year's Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Gao said police discovered in 2005 that the Chinese gangs were colluding with suspects in the United States and notified the FBI's Beijing office.
The FBI Los Angeles office found that at least two Chinese men from Shenzhen were suspected of producing and selling pirated software in the United States, Gao said.
The FBI statement said it is believed that 70 percent of the pirated software was sold to the United States, with the rest going to other countries, including Canada, Australia and Britain.
"The majority of Chinese-based distributors advertised their products aggressively and recruited distributors via the Internet," the FBI said.
The statement said the suspects were in custody and had been charged with copyright violations.
Microsoft applauded the campaign.
"This case should serve as a wake-up call to counterfeiters," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "Customers around the world are turning you in, governments and law enforcement have had enough, and private companies will act decisively to protect intellectual property."
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
China, FBI Bust Pirate Software Gangs
Researchers Hack Into iPhone Via Web
Hackers could take control of an iPhone if its owner visits a doctored Web site or Internet hotspot, security researchers reported Monday.
The vulnerability of the vaunted device, Apple Inc.'s first cell phone, is only theoretical for now. There are no reports of criminals actually taking advantage of the security glitch to remotely access an iPhone.
But if it were exploited, hijacked iPhones could be very useful to the same gangs that take over personal computers and use them to disseminate spam, said Charlie Miller, principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, which discovered the flaw.
"You could have a million iPhones dialing the company's main line and overwhelm it that way," Miller said.
In addition, hijacked iPhones could be used to send spam by cell-phone text message, which computers generally can't. Any personal data on the phones, such as private phone numbers and text messages, would be accessible as well.
The flaw applies not only to the iPhone, which was launched just three weeks ago, but also to Apple computers running Mac OS and the company's Safari Web browser, a version of which comes with the iPhone. It does not affect Safari running on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows systems.
The researchers at Baltimore-based ISE haven't released the specifics of the vulnerability to the public, but have provided details to Apple and supplied the company with a patch, a software update for plugging the hole.
On Aug. 2, Miller will present details of the flaw at the Black Hat USA hacker conference in Las Vegas and online. That will make it easier for criminals to replicate the exploit, but he stressed that it should also be easy for Apple to release a patch to all its users before then. The iPhone and Macintosh computers are configured to receive software updates automatically from Apple.
"Hopefully, on Aug. 2, nothing happens: we release the information, everyone's patched and that's it," Miller said.
Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said Apple is looking into ISE's report, but would not say if there are plans for a patch.
"We always welcome feedback on our security," Fox said.
Miller said the flaw did not necessarily reflect badly on Apple.
"I'm sure that if you put any sort of mobile device that's complex enough in front of me, we'd find pretty much the same thing," he said. At the same time, "the security of the iPhone is not as good as the security of the Mac desktop, and I think that's something they need to work on."
Miller and the rest of the ISE team, which included Jake Honoroff and Joshua Mason, discovered holes in the security of the iPhone within minutes of getting their hands on their boss' phone.
"He didn't really want to let us do it, but eventually he gave in, and we poked around with it for a few minutes, and already saw some things that could make the programs crash," Miller said.
Their technique, called "fuzzing," involves sending lots of random or improperly formatted data to a device, and noting what causes crashes or other problems that could be openings to sending code that takes over the device.
To protect an iPhone against this and similar future vulnerabilities, the ISE team recommends that users only visit sites they trust, not open Web sites from e-mails and not use unfamiliar Wi-Fi hotspots.
Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Is Imminent
The second beta of Visual Studio 2008 is slated to drop sometime this week, according to a blog.
Scott Guthrie, a general manager within the Microsoft Developer Division, mentioned in response to a reader post that "You'll see Beta2 ship later this week -- so only a few more days now."
Guthrie further confirmed that beta 2 is nearly feature complete. "We'll do some small features additions/changes based on new feedback on Beta2, but 99% of the features are all there," he wrote.
VS 2008, formerly code-named "Orcas", is scheduled to be officially launched Feb. 27, 2008, along with Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008.
The first beta came out April 19. VS 2008, a development environment for numerous Microsoft products including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Office 2007 and SQL Server, includes as many as 200 new features.
You can contact Keith about "Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Is Imminent" at kward@1105media.com.
Second SQL Server 2008 CTP Coming Soon
Look for improvements in the way policies are set up in SQL Server 2008 when Microsoft releases the next community test preview (CTP) of the database server by month's end.
Those participating in the CTP program of Microsoft's next-generation database server will notice some significant improvements, according to Francois Ajenstat, director of product management for Microsoft's SQL Server,
Perhaps the most noteworthy improvement is the declarative management framework (DMF), a policy-based system for managing one or more instances of the new database, Ajenstat said in an interview.
Microsoft released the first SQL Server 2008 CTP during its TechEd conference in early June. The company last week said SQL Server 2008 will be part of its Global Launch Wave event on Feb. 27, 2008, though Ajenstat acknowledged reports that the database will not be released to manufacturing until the second quarter.
Ajenstat confirmed Microsoft's goal of routinely releasing new CTPs. "We are targeting every 60 days to have a CTP," he said. "The next one should be before the end of the month." Based on feedback of the first CTP, Ajenstat said the DMF feature appeared to require the most attention.
"Thus far, the DMF is probably the most visible one that's getting some attention," he said. "There's definitely going to be some fixes in this next CTP, based on the feedback that we got through the community."
The key DMF improvements center around the user interface. Ajenstat said testers have found that setting up policies requires too much navigation, a criticism he agrees with. "Having used it myself, it did require quite a few clicks to put a policy in place," he said. Based on early customer studies, the intent is to minimize the number of clicks required to set up a policy.
Among other features in SQL Server 2008 in which testers should see improvements in the forthcoming CTP is data mirroring, which provides server replication for disaster recovery; improvements to Transact-SQL (T-SQL), the proprietary extensions to the SQL offered in databases from Microsoft and Sybase; and extended XML support.
Ajenstat also pointed to Microsoft's release of an update to the Astoria CTP last week, which enhances Astoria's compatibility with Silverlight, Microsoft's rich Internet application tool. Astoria is the codename for Microsoft's new technology to extend .NET services, allowing developers to expose applications as a Web-based data service.
"If you are building a Silverlight application that needs to pull data from a database, with the Astoria code you can actually use that and now add data as part of Silverlight," Ajenstat said.
You can contact Jeffrey about "Second SQL Server 2008 CTP Coming Soon" at jschwartz@reddevnews.com.
Canon Waste Ink Tank Reset Procedures
Canon GENERIC "S" SERIES RESET CODEWaste Ink Counter Reset.(1) Turn off the printer.(2) Press and hold the RESUME button, then press and hold the POWER button.(3) Release the RESUME button, Next press and release the RESUME button two(2) more times in succession.Note: you are still holding the POWER button). The printer's carriage will "reset" or move momentarily. If the above was properly performed the printer will enter the "Service Mode".(4) Press the RESUME button 4 times, this will select the clear waste ink counter function. The lamp will alternate (change) color with each key press. 1. Service/Factory test printout, including ink sensor check. 2. EEPROM - Info printout. 3. EEPROM - Initialization. 4. Reset the Waste ink counter. 5. Printer model setting. (More selections beyond this point - However it is best leave them unaltered - You have been warned!)After selecting the desired mode (eg 4), press the POWER button to "set" the change, and return to the top of the function selection menu. Press the POWER button again to restart the printer.
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Brief Guide To Cabling
In this section we will discuss the various network components which make up a network. We will discuss the cabling types, patch, patch panels, connectors etc.Brief Guide to BUILDING WIRINGThe following is a very brief overview of the components that make up the wiring standards for commercial buildings. The objectives of such standards is to:computer define a generic voice and data wiring system that is multi-purpose and multi-vendorcomputerhelp minimise cost of administrationcomputersimplify network maintenance and changesA building wiring system covers a number of different elementscomputerhorizontal wiringcomputerbackbone wiringcomputerHorizontal WiringThe horizontal wiring extends from the wall outlet to the system centre (telecommunications closet). It includes the:computerthe wall outletcomputerthe horizontal cablecomputercross-connects or patch cables in the telecommunications closet (TC)Some general features of the horizontal wiring scheme are: computeruses star topologycomputerlimit of 90 meters (295') from TC to wall outletcomputerlimit of 3 meters (10') to connect from wall outlet to PCcomputerpatch cords and cross-connect leads are limited to 6 meters (20')computerminimum of two outlets per user (phone+data)computerstandardized media, Outlet A=4pair 100ohm UTP, Outlet B=same or 2 pair 150ohm STPBackbone WiringThe backbone wiring system interconnects telecommunication closets, equipment rooms and entrance facilities (ie, the outside world). Some general features are:computer star topologycomputermaximum of two hierarchical levelscomputerinterconnections between any two TC must not go through more than 3 cross connectscomputeruse of recognised mediacomputeradherence to distance limitationsCabling Typescomputer Twisted Pair (STP and UTP)computerused in token ring (4 or 16MB/s), 10BaseT (Ethernet 10MB/s)computercheapcomputereasy to terminatecomputerUTP often already installed in buldingscomputerUTP prone to interferencecomputerlow to medium capacitycomputermedium to high losscomputercategory 3 = 10MB/s, category 5 = 100MB/sUnshielded Twisted Pair cable used in Category 5 looks like:Category 5 cable uses 8 wires. The length of exposed wires is very critical, the standard limits this to less than 1/2" an inch. The various jack connectors look like:The patch cord which connects the workstation to the wall jack looks like:In 10BaseT, each PC is wired back to a central hub using its own cable. There are limits imposed on the length of drop cable from the PC network card to the jack, the length of the horizontal wiring, and from the jack to the wiring closet.This is obviously a physical STAR configuration, in that each PC is wired back to a central point (the Hub).Ethernet 10Base-T wiring specifies an 8 position jack, but uses only two pairs.
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ROUTING PROTOCOL
A generic term that refers to a formula, or protocol, used by a router to determine the appropriate path over which data is transmitted. The routing protocol also specifies how routers in a network share information with each other and report changes. The routing protocol enables a network to make dynamic adjustments to its conditions, so routing decisions do not have to be predetermined and static.ROUTING PROTOCOLS are the software that allow routers to dynamically advertise and learn routes, determine which routes are available and which are the most efficient routes to a destination. Routing protocols used by the Internet Protocol suite include:· Routing Information Protocol (RIP and RIP II).· Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).· Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS).· Interrior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP).· Cisco's Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).· Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).Routing is the process of moving data across two or more networks. Within a network, all hosts are directly accessable because they are on the same.ROUTED PROTOCOLS are nothing more than data being transported across the networks. Routed protocols include:· Internet Protocolo Telneto Remote Procedure Call (RPC)o SNMPo SMTP· Novell IPX· Open Standards Institute networking protocol· DECnet· Appletalk· Banyan Vines· Xerox Network System (XNS)Outside a network, specialized devices called ROUTES are used to perform the routing process of forwarding packets between networks. Routers are connected to the edges of two or more networks to provide connectivity between them. These devices are usually dedicated machines with specialized hardware and software to speed up the routing process. These devices send and receive routing information to each other about networks that they can and cannot reach. Routers examine all routes to a destination, determine which routes have the best metric, and insert one or more routes into the IP routing table on the router. By maintaining a current list of known routes, routers can quicky and efficiently send your information on it's way when received.There are many companies that produce routers: Cisco, Juniper, Bay, Nortel, 3Com, Cabletron, etc. Each company's product is different in how it is configured, but most will interoperate so long as they share common physical and data link layer protocols (Cisco HDLC or PPP over Serial, Ethernet etc.). Before purchasing a router for your business, always check with your Internet provider to see what equipment they use, and choose a router, which will interoperate with your Internet provider's equipment.NON-ROUTABLE PROTOCOLS cannot survive being routed. Non-routable protocols presume that all computers they will ever communicate with are on the same network (to get them working in a routed environment, you must bridge the networks). Todays modern networks are not very tolerant of protocols that do not understand the concept of a multi-segment network and most of these protocols are dying or falling out of use.· NetBEUI· DLC· LAT· DRP· MOPRIP is a dynamic internetwork routing protocol primary used in interior routing environments. A dynamic routing protocol, as opposed to a static routing protocol, automatically discovers routes and builds routing tables. Interior environments are typically private networks (autonomous systems). In contrast, exterior routing protocols such as BGP are used to exchange route summaries between autonomous systems. BGP is used among autonomous systems on the Internet.RIP uses the distance-vector algorithm developed by Bellman and Ford (Bellman-Ford algorithm).Routing Information ProtocolThe Routing Information Protocol, or RIP, as it is more commonly called, is one of the most enduring of all routing protocols. RIP is also one of the more easily confused protocols because a variety of RIP-like routing protocols proliferated, some of which even used the same name! RIP and the myriad RIP-like protocols were based on the same set of algorithms that use distance vectors to mathematically compare routes to identify the best path to any given destination address. These algorithms emerged from academic research that dates back to 1957.Today's open standard version of RIP, sometimes referred to as IP RIP, is formally defined in two documents: Request For Comments (RFC) 1058 and Internet Standard (STD) 56. As IP-based networks became both more numerous and greater in size, it became apparent to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that RIP needed to be updated. Consequently, the IETF released RFC 1388 in January 1993, which was then superceded in November 1994 by RFC 1723, which describes RIP 2 (the second version of RIP).These RFCs described an extension of RIP's capabilities but did not attempt to obsolete the previous version of RIP. RIP 2 enabled RIP messages to carry more information, which permitted the use of a simple authentication mechanism to secure table updates. More importantly, RIP 2 supported subnet masks, a critical feature that was not available in RIP.This chapter summarizes the basic capabilities and features associated with RIP. Topics include the routing update process, RIP routing metrics, routing stability, and routing timers.Routing UpdatesRIP sends routing-update messages at regular intervals and when the network topology changes. When a router receives a routing update that includes changes to an entry, it updates its routing table to reflect the new route. The metric value for the path is increased by 1, and the sender is indicated as the next hop. RIP routers maintain only the best route (the route with the lowest metric value) to a destination. After updating its routing table, the router immediately begins transmitting routing updates to inform other network routers of the change. These updates are sent independently of the regularly scheduled updates that RIP routers send.RIP Routing MetricRIP uses a single routing metric (hop count) to measure the distance between the source and a destination network. Each hop in a path from source to destination is assigned a hop count value, which is typically 1. When a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed destination network entry, the router adds 1 to the metric value indicated in the update and enters the network in the routing table. The IP address of the sender is used as the next hop.RIP Stability FeaturesRIP prevents routing loops from continuing indefinitely by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops in a path is 15. If a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed entry, and if increasing the metric value by 1 causes the metric to be infinity (that is, 16), the network destination is considered unreachable. The downside of this stability feature is that it limits the maximum diameter of a RIP network to less than 16 hops.RIP includes a number of other stability features that are common to many routing protocols. These features are designed to provide stability despite potentially rapid changes in a network's topology. For example, RIP implements the split horizon and holddown mechanisms to prevent incorrect routing information from being propagated.RIP TimersRIP uses numerous timers to regulate its performance. These include a routing-update timer, a route-timeout timer, and a route-flush timer. The routing-update timer clocks the interval between periodic routing updates. Generally, it is set to 30 seconds, with a small random amount of time added whenever the timer is reset. This is done to help prevent congestion, which could result from all routers simultaneously attempting to update their neighbors. Each routing table entry has a route-timeout timer associated with it. When the route-timeout timer expires, the route is marked invalid but is retained in the table until the route-flush timer expires.Packet FormatsThe following section focuses on the IP RIP and IP RIP 2 packet formats illustrated in Figures 44-1 and 44-2. Each illustration is followed by descriptions of the fields illustrated. RIP Packet Format· Command—Indicates whether the packet is a request or a response. The request asks that a router send all or part of its routing table. The response can be an unsolicited regular routing update or a reply to a request. Responses contain routing table entries. Multiple RIP packets are used to convey information from large routing tables.· Version number—Specifies the RIP version used. This field can signal different potentially incompatible versions.· Zero—This field is not actually used by RFC 1058 RIP; it was added solely to provide backward compatibility with prestandard varieties of RIP. Its name comes from its defaulted value: zero.· Address-family identifier (AFI)—Specifies the address family used. RIP is designed to carry routing information for several different protocols. Each entry has an address-family identifier to indicate the type of address being specified. The AFI for IP is 2.· Address—Specifies the IP address for the entry.· Metric—Indicates how many internetwork hops (routers) have been traversed in the trip to the destination. This value is between 1 and 15 for a valid route, or 16 for an unreachable route.Note: Up to 25 occurrences of the AFI, Address, and Metric fields are permitted in a single IP RIP packet. (Up to 25 destinations can be listed in a single RIP packet.)RIP 2 Packet Format· Command—Indicates whether the packet is a request or a response. The request asks that a router send all or a part of its routing table. The response can be an unsolicited regular routing update or a reply to a request. Responses contain routing table entries. Multiple RIP packets are used to convey information from large routing tables.· Version—Specifies the RIP version used. In a RIP packet implementing any of the RIP 2 fields or using authentication, this value is set to 2.· Unused—Has a value set to zero.· Address-family identifier (AFI)—Specifies the address family used. RIPv2's AFI field functions identically to RFC 1058 RIP's AFI field, with one exception: If the AFI for the first entry in the message is 0xFFFF, the remainder of the entry contains authentication information. Currently, the only authentication type is simple password.· Route tag—Provides a method for distinguishing between internal routes (learned by RIP) and external routes (learned from other protocols).· IP address—Specifies the IP address for the entry.· Subnet mask—Contains the subnet mask for the entry. If this field is zero, no subnet mask has been specified for the entry.·Next hop—Indicates the IP address of the next hop to which packets for the entry should be forwarded.· Metric—Indicates how many internetwork hops (routers) have been traversed in the trip to the destination. This value is between 1 and 15 for a valid route, or 16 for an unreachable route.Note: Up to 25 occurrences of the AFI, Address, and Metric fields are permitted in a single IP RIP packet. That is, up to 25 routing table entries can be listed in a single RIP packet. If the AFI specifies an authenticated message, only 24 routing table entries can be specified. Given that individual table entries aren't fragmented into multiple packets, RIP does not need a mechanism to resequence datagrams bearing routing table updates from neighboring routers.SummaryDespite RIP's age and the emergence of more sophisticated routing protocols, it is far from obsolete. RIP is mature, stable, widely supported, and easy to configure. Its simplicity is well suited for use in stub networks and in small autonomous systems that do not have enough redundant paths to warrant the overheads of a more sophisticated protocol.Review QuestionsQ—Name RIP's various stability features.A—RIP has numerous stability features, the most obvious of which is RIP's maximum hop count. By placing a finite limit on the number of hops that a route can take, routing loops are discouraged, if not completely eliminated. Other stability features include its various timing mechanisms that help ensure that the routing table contains only valid routes, as well as split horizon and holddown mechanisms that prevent incorrect routing information from being disseminated throughout the network.Q—What is the purpose of the timeout timer?A—The timeout timer is used to help purge invalid routes from a RIP node. Routes that aren't refreshed for a given period of time are likely invalid because of some change in the network. Thus, RIP maintains a timeout timer for each known route. When a route's timeout timer expires, the route is marked invalid but is retained in the table until the route-flush timer expires.Q—What two capabilities are supported by RIP 2 but not RIP?A—RIP 2 enables the use of a simple authentication mechanism to secure table updates. More importantly, RIP 2 supports subnet masks, a critical feature that is not available in RIP.Q—What is the maximum network diameter of a RIP network?A—A RIP network's maximum diameter is 15 hops. RIP can count to 16, but that value is considered an error condition rather than a valid hop count.
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Virtual Local Area Networks
The purpose of this document is to provide a better understanding of Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANS) and their use in the Network 21 architecture. In the following sections, we will define a VLAN and describe its benefits as well as some limitations. We will explain why it is important for a LAN administrator to understand VLANs, and give some basic instructions to determine how many VLANs a department would typically need. Lastly, contact information will be provided for any additional questions you might have.The main reasons for covering all of this is to further your understanding of the changes that will occur as part of Network 21 and to assist you in filling out the Network 21 Stage 3 Survey. Use of this information to determine a department’s VLAN needs will ease in the conversion process. If VLANs are well conceived in advance, the need to readdress devices and modify VLAN configurations more than once will not become an issue. This will save everyone involved a great deal of effort and minimize the amount of changes that will be needed following the initial conversion.
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Network Topology
A network may be represented as a collection of notes, some of which are connected by links. A given node may have links to many others. Network topology is determined only by the configuration of connections between nodes; it is therefore a part of Graph theory. Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates and/or signal types are not a matter of network topology, although they may be affected by it in an actual physical network.
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