Technology Business

For homes with more than one computer, it would be wise for

you to setup a wireless network and share your high speed

internet connection, as well as the scanner, printer, and

other computer devices.

Wireless networking, “wireless fidelity”, or Wi-Fi, is

gaining popularity nowadays because it is just so darn

easy and very straightforward.

So, for those who want to use Wi-Fi technology in their

homes, here’s a short tutorial to guide you through the

process and answer some of the most frequently asked

questions. To setup your home network you will need a

wireless router and wireless PCI cards.

1. Get the equipment you will need.

A wireless or Wi-Fi router. This will allow you to share

your internet connection. You will be able to connect to

the net without having to use any networking cables.

Next, you will need Wi-Fi cards, or wireless PCI cards,

for desktop or notebook computer. Most laptops nowadays

have these already installed. This, in turn, enables your

PCs to receive the connection being broadcast by the Wi-Fi

router.

Optionally, you can buy a wireless antenna. This will

boost the signal put out by your wireless router.

Depending on how wide of a net you want to cast around your

house will determine if you need to buy a wireless antenna.

One word of warning though is that your neighbors can

borrow your wireless network if you have a strong enough

signal for them to tap into.

2. Choose what standard you will implement.

Wi-Fi has different standards that have evolved through

time. The most popular is 802.11b or “B for short, which

can carry data at 11 megabytes per second or mbps.

The next generation Wi-Fi is the “G” devices that can

transmit data at 54mbps. The G standard is backward

compatible with the B standard.

3. Connect to your wireless router.

Be sure that when you attempt to connect to your wireless

router, you have shut down all your devices. With an

Ethernet cable, hook up to the LAN of the other computer

or to the WAN port if you are using an Ethernet port of

the modem’s cable. Then, make use of a second Ethernet

cable and attach it to the computer’s Ethernet adapter.

After which, hook up the other end of the cable to one of

the Ethernet’s four individual port router. It is strongly

recommended that you use port 1 as the default port area.

Then, plug in the power adapter to the power port of your

router and then attach it to an electrical outlet. You can

immediately use your computer after configuring the

settings of your router.

4. Install the Wi-Fi cards on your desktop PC or laptop.

Installing a Wi-Fi card might involve opening the casing

and installing a card inside your desktop. This can be very

complex so it is best to ask for some professional help

regarding this one especially if it is your first time.

For notebooks and even desktop PCs you could use a USB

Wi-Fi dongle in place of installing a Wi-Fi card. A

wireless dongle is a USB network adapter that plugs into

your notebook or PC to enable access to a LAN, or

peer-to-peer networking without the need of any wires.

5. Turn on your computers and get surfing.

Once you’ve installed your wireless router and network

cards you are on your way to surfing anywhere in your house.

This just goes to show that since the proliferation of

wireless fidelity, networking had never been the same

again and Internet connection within your household is

now open to a wide array of virtual possibilities.

We all are aware of the wars India and Pakistan have fought and the resulted destruction especially precious human lives. In the current information age, some battles are not only fought with guns and tanks but also through media, internet and pen. Since the advent of Information Technology among the masses of South Asia in mid 1990s, the pace of cyber wars between Pakistan and India have also been increased.

Cyberwars between the two countries started in May 1998, when India conducted its nuclear tests. Soon after India officially announced the test, a group of Pakistan-based hackers called milw0rm broke into the Bhabha Atomic Research Center web site and posted anti-India and anti-nuclear messages. The cyberwars usually have been limited to defacements of each others’ sites. Defacement is a low level damage, in which only the home page of a site is replaced with hacker’s own page, usually with some message for the victim. Such defacements started in May 1998 and continued during Kargil War in 1999 and then during that era when the tension between India and Pakistan was at its peak from Dec 2001 to 2002. Therefore, the period between 1999 to 2002 was very crucial, when the troops were busy across the LOC exchanging gunshots and the hackers busy in defacing sites of each others.

According to attrition.org, a web site that tracks computer security related developments on the Internet, show that attacks on Indian websites increased from 4 in 1999 to 72 in 2000 where as the Pakistani websites were hacked 7 times in 1999 and 18 times in 2000. During the first half of 2001, 150 Indian websites were defaced.

During Kargil war, the first Indian site reported to be hacked was http://www.armyinkashmir.com, established by the Indian government to provide factual information about daily events in the Kashmir Valley. The hackers posted photographs showing Indian military forces allegedly killing Kashmiri militants. The pictures sported captions like ‘Massacre,’ Torture,’ ‘Extrajudicial execution’ and ‘The agony of crackdown’ and blamed the Indian government for its alleged atrocities in Kashmir. That was followed by defacement of numerous Indian governmental sites and reciprocal attacks on Pakistani sites.

Two prominent Pakistani hacker groups are PHC (Pakistan Hackers Club) and G-Force. The founder of PHC is Dr. Nuker. The US Department of Justice has identified “Doctor Nuker” as Misbah Khan of Karachi. Misbah Khan was involved in defacement of the official site of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). Doctor Nuker struck back with an interview to a magazine Newsbytes where he claimed that the ‘federal grand jury made a mistake in indicting Misbah Khan of Karachi’ and that ‘he merely uses insecure servers in Pakistan to get online anonymously’. Doctor Nuker has been featured in international publications including Time and Newsweek.

G-Force is based in Lahore and it consists of eight members. Both Pakistan Hackers Club and G-Force are professional hackers with a specific aim: to work for the cause of Kashmir and Palestine. It is still to be seen how their hackings are helping the cause of Palestine or Kashmir! Pakistan Hackers Club has been around since quite long and apart from Indian site, they have defaced many USA and Israeli sites including US Department of Energy’s site. G-Force was founded in May 1999 after the nuclear tests and their initial target was Indian sites but after 9/11, their concentration has been shifted to US-based sites. According to zone-h.org, G-Force has successfully defaced 212 sites. G-Force’s “achievements” includes National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and three military sites associated with the US Defence Test and Evaluation Professional Institute.

During this cyberwar, in December 2000, a wired.com news story created waves that claimed that an Indian hacker’s group “Patriotic Indians” has defaced the official site of Pakistani government pakgov.org. Later, it was revealed that the actual site of Pakistani government is pak.gov.pk, not pakgov.org and pakgov.org was in fact registered by the alleged hacker himself with fake information.

On the Indian side, there are various hackers groups that have defaced Pakistani sites. Among them, the most famous one is H2O or the Hindustan Hackers Organization. However, the independent as well as Indian analysts admit that at this cyber-front, Pakistan has always been winning this war. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, Pakistani hackers are organized in groups where as most of the Indian hackers are working as solo. Secondly and the most important reason is the religious motivation of the hackers based in Pakistan, to do something for the cause of Muslim brothers & sisters in Palestine and Kashmir.

At the government level, both the countries are doing their best to curb hacktivism. NIC (National Informatics Centre) of India and Cybercrime division of FIA (Federal Investigation Authority) in Pakistan are taking necessary steps to eliminate all forms of cybercrime, including hacking.

A few of the Indian sites defaced by Pakistani hackers are:

1. Indian Science Congress

2. National Informatics Centre

3. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (State-run international voice carrier)

4. External Affairs Mnistry

5. UP government site

6. Ministry of Information Technology

7. Mahindra & Mahindra

8. Rediff Chat

9. Asian Age newspaper

10. Aptech India

11. University of Mumbai

12. Official site of Gujarat Government

13. GlaxoWellcome India

14. The Parliament home page

15. SetIndia.com

16. Department of Electronics

17. Engineering Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Commerce

18. Center for Advanced Technology

A few of the Pakistani sites defaced by Indian hackers are:

1. The Nation (newspaper)

2. Pakistan Television

3. Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation

4. Official site of Punjab Government

5. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology

6. Prime bank

7. Hamdard University

If fighting with our neighbours is in our genes, we can fight through the internet, media, newspapers and books but let us not fight with guns and missiles. There may be humiliation if a website is defaced but at least no human life is lost.

Please visit India-Pakistan Friendship Club (IPFC) to access more articles related to India and Pakistan.

One of the most successful spin-off series in the history of television, CSI: Miami returns for a fifth series this fall. The show, reported by Reuters this year as the most watched television show in the world, returns this season with the continuation of an explosive story line that threatens to destroy Lieutenant Horatio Caine – and has already cost the life of someone close to him.

If you’ve fallen behind in the fourth season of CSI: Miami, here’s a short primer to bring you up to date with the world of Horatio Caine and his crack team of crime scene investigators.

424: Rampage

After marrying CSI Delko’s cancer stricken sister, Marisol, things are going swimmingly for Lieutenant Horatio Caine. While she may have little time left, the couple are enjoying the time they have together to the fullest. That is, until Horatio gets caught up in the criminal trial of a leader of the sinister crime gang Mala Noche.

When gang leader Raphael Sifuentes escapes from his trial Lt. Caine shoots his accomplice Jose Truillo dead, incurring the wrath of the Mala Noche. In retribution for the killing the gang put out a hit on Caine’s new wife, Marisol. Both she and Delko are shot by a sniper from a high-rise building. While Delko’s wound is not life threatening, Marisol is seriously injured.

While being rushed to hospital, Marisol’s ambulance is ambushed by members of Mala Noche driving a black Lincoln. Caine leaps from the ambulance, firing on the car and taking out two hitmen while the driver, Memmo Fierro, escapes on foot. Meanwhile, Marisol’s condition worsens due to the delay in receiving treatment, and she later passes away in hospital.

Caine and Delko succeed in tracking Marisol’s shooter, Memmo Fierro, to the hotel at which he’s staying. They drive him to an isolated spot in the Everglades, and Caine holds a gun to his head. Paralyzed with fear, Mierro reveals that it was Mala Noche member Antonio Riaz who ordered the hit on Marisol.

425: One of Our Own

The season finale begins with the continuation of the search for Antonio Riaz, the Mala Noche gang member who ordered the killing of Marisol Delko. The CSIs are called to a murder scene at which 5 members of Mala Noche were gunned down, and it seems that the scene was Riaz’ safe house. While clearing the scene, police officer Aaron Jessop triggers a booby trap – a grenade hidden in a barbecue – and is killed. It appears that Riaz wished to leave a surprise for Lt. Caine.

The weapon used to kill the gang members, an AK47, is tracked to Rafik Ohmad, a weapons trader who did business with Mala Noche. Video evidence of a trade between Ohmad and Riaz reveals the real reason Marisol Delko was executed – she was a witness to the deal, and was killed to ensure her silence.

The CSIs also track down a phone number for Antonio Riaz, and while speaking to him he admits the real reason for the hit. He also boasts that there will soon be a “fireball over Miami” – leading Caine to surmise that Riaz purchased a surface-to-air weapon from Ohmad, and intends to destroy a commercial airliner.

Meanwhile, an FBI investigation into the CSI unit stifles the team’s work. It seems that $12,000 cash went missing from evidence, and the feds were called in to investigate. It emerges that Delko’s off-and-on love interest, Natalia Boa Vista, was an FBI mole sent to discredit the Miami Dade Police Department, but she insists that she didn’t report the missing evidence. CSI Ryan Wolfe re-investigates the evidence and proves that the cash was stolen by someone outside of the department. In fact, the money was stolen by State Attorney Monica West in an attempt to discredit the department for her own political gain. Her fiancé, Treasury Agent Peter Elliot, draws a confession from West that leads to her arrest.

With time running out, Antonio Riaz is spotted by a police helicopter setting up a shot on an industrial estate near Miami Airport. Arriving at the scene just in time, Caine takes out Riaz with two shots to the leg as he pulls the trigger on the anti-aircraft weapon. Resisting the temptation to kill him, Caine fires a shot close to Riaz’ head to scare him into submission.

The series concludes with the shocking news that Riaz cut a deal with the FBI, agreeing to inform on an Afghan terrorist sleeper cell operated by Rafik Ohmad in exchange for his extradition to Brazil, where he will most likely go free. On hearing the news, Horatio tells Delko to pack his bags: they are going to follow him…

What’s Next?

We can expect an exciting start to the fifth season of CSI:Miami. On arriving in Rio de Janeiro Caine meets with his sister-in-law Yelina, who fled there with her husband Ray and their son, Ray Jr, in the final episode of the third season. However, all is not well. Raymond has gone missing, and Ray Jr, now 14, has been forced to infiltrate the Rio underworld in order to track him down. Little does he know that it may already be too late…

So, how will this story arc conclude? Who knows? CBS are keeping tight-lipped on new developments in the fifth season of CSI: Miami. The only way to find out, then, will be to tune in…