COMPUTER APPLICATION TO MANAGEMENT (1) Wi-Fi Technology and its importance (2) Cyber Terrorism, Hacking, Phreaking &

Spamming (3) Bluetooth and Infrared Communication

TO: MADAM: BUSHRA MEMON BY AAMIR ALI TALPUR

WI-FI TECHNOLOGY

Wireless fidelity: Popularly known as Wi-Fi, developed on IEEE 802.11 standards. It is widely used technology advancement in wireless communication. As the name indicates, WI-FI provides wireless access to applications and data across a radio network. WI-FI sets up numerous ways to build up a connection between the transmitter and the receiver. Transmitter is normally a wireless router / Hotspot and receiver is normal Wi-Fi enabled device such as Laptop, Mobile, and Tablet etc. Beginning of Wi-Fi technology: The development on WI-FI technology began in 1997, when the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) introduced the standard 802.11 technology that carried higher capacities of data across the network. This greatly interested some of major brands across the globe such as the world famous networking giant 'Cisco Systems' or '3COM' . Initially, the price of Wi-Fi technology was very high but around in 2002, the IT market witnessed the arrival of a breakthrough product that worked under the new 802.11g standards. In year 2003, IEEE sanctioned the standard and the world saw the creation of affordable Wi-Fi enabled device in masses. Wi-Fi technology provides its users with the liberty of connecting to the Internet from any place such as their home, office or a public place without the hassles of plugging in the wires, by now you should be quite aware of that at least. It is quicker than the conventional modem for accessing information over a large network. With the help of different amplifiers, the users can easily change their location without disruption in their network access. Wi-Fi enabled devices are compliant with each other to grant efficient access of information to the user. Wi-Fi location where the users can connect to the wireless network is called a Wi-Fi hotspot. Through the Wi-Fi hotspot, the users can even enhance their home business, as accessing information through Wi-Fi is simple. Accessing a wireless network (Wi-Fi) through a hotspot in some cases is cost-free while in some it may carry additional charges. Many standard Wi-Fi chips such as PCI, mini PCI, USB, Card bus and PC card, Express Card make the Wi-Fi experience convenient and pleasurable for the users. These small devices are normall plug and play and can be easily used if your device does not provide in build Wifi. But now every single thing comes with Wifi. Distance from a wireless network can lessen the signal strength to quite an extent; some devices such as Ermanno Pietrosemoli and EsLaRed of Venezuela Distance are used for

amplifying the signal strength of the network. These devices create an embedded system that corresponds with any other node on the Internet. Software tools available for Wi-Fi monitoring: The market is flooded with various Wi-Fi software tools. Each of these tools is specifically designed for different types of networks, operating systems and usage type. For accessing multiple network platforms, Aircrack-ng is by far the best amongst its counterparts. The preferred Wi-Fi software tools list for Windows users is: KNSGEM II, NetStumbler, OmniPeek, Stumbverter, WiFi Hopper, APTools. Unix users should pick any of the following:Aircrack, Aircrack-ptw, AirSnort, CoWPAtty,Karma . Whereas, Mac users are presented with these options: MacStumble, KisMAC, Kismet. It is important for users to pick out a Wi-Fi software tool that is compatible with their computer and its dynamics. How Wi-Fi technology works: Wi-Fi uses radio networks to transmit data between its nodes. Such networks are made up of cells that provide coverage across the network. The more the number of cells, the greater and stronger is the coverage on the radio network. The radio technology is a complete package deal as it offers a safe and consistent connectivity. Radio bands such as 2.4GHz and 5GHz depend on wireless hardware such as Ethernet protocol and CSMA. Initially, Phase Shift Keying (PSK), a modulation method for conveying data was used, however now it has been replaced with CCK. Wi-Fi uses many spectrums such as FHSS and DSSS. The most popular Wi-Fi technology such as 802.11b operates on the range of 2.40 GHz up to 2.4835 GHz band. This provides a comprehensive platform for operating Bluetooth strategy, cellular phones, and other scientific equipments, While 802.11a technology has the range of 5.725 GHz to 5.850 GHz and provides up to 54 Mbps in speed. 802.11g technology is even better as it covers three non-overlapping channels and allows PBCC. 802.11e technology takes a fair lead by providing excellent streaming quality of video, audio, voice channels etc. 802.11ac is the most upcoming latest standards which will be completed in the market by 2015. To connect to a Wi-Fi network an wireless adapter card is essential. Additional knowledge about the SSID, infrastructure, and data encryption is also required. The Wi-Fi users dont have to be concerned with the security issues. The security methods such as MAC ID filtering, Static IP addressing and WEP encryption ensure the user privacy to the maximum. Following are the videos which will give you complete information that you may require to understand Wi-Fi technology comprehensively.

IMPORTANCE OF Wi-Fi
It's fast. Wi-Fi's latest version is many times faster than DSL or cable connections, and literally hundreds of times faster than those old dial-up connections. That's particularly handy when you're working on the run, on the road, or from home: If you've ever watched seconds tick by while watching Web pages load, you'll appreciate the potential productivity gain. It's convenient. As soon as a Wi-Fi-equipped device is within range of a base station, it's online. With no wires, you can move your laptop computer from place to place -- for instance, from your office to a conference room down the hall -- without losing your network connection. (For an online calculator that can help determine ROI on an in-house wireless network," Resources."). When traveling, you can set up shop anyplace equipped with a Wi-Fi network: another company's office, a hotel room, or a convention center. It's everywhere. Public Wi-Fi access sites -- or "hot spots" -- are multiplying faster than others. They're in bookstores, airport lounges, fast-food restaurants (including some McDonald's and Deli outlets), and coffee shops (including many Starbucks outlets). For all its wonders, the Wi-Fi world comes with some drawbacks. Among them: Range: Although you lose the wires, you're still limited to the base station's range, typically 75 to 150 feet indoors and a few hundred feet outdoors, depending on equipment, radio frequency, and obstructions. Power drain: Networks using early versions of Wi-Fi technology tend to quickly gobble power -- a disadvantage for battery-dependent laptop users. Interference: Nearby microwave ovens and cordless phones, particularly older models, can slow down Wi-Fi transmissions. Security: Here's the downside of providing fast, easy access: outsiders can sometimes get into your wireless networks as fast and easily as you can. Check with hardware vendors about the latest security precautions and products. The Wi-Fi Alliance currently recommends using Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) technology, which both authenticates users and encrypts data. Look for even tougher security measures within the next year.

CYBER - TERRORISM?
In the wake of the recent computer attacks, many have been quick to jump to conclusions that a new breed of terrorism is on the rise and our country must defend itself with all possible means. As a society we have a vast operational and legal experience and proved techniques to combat terrorism, but are we ready to fight terrorism in the new arena cyber space? A strategic plan of a combat operation includes characterization of the enemys goals, operational techniques, resources, and agents. Prior to taking combative actions on the legislative and operational front, one has to precisely define the enemy. That is, it is imperative to expand the definition of terrorism to include cyber-terrorism. As a society that prides itself on impartiality of justice, we must provide clear and definitive legislative guidelines for dealing with new breed of terrorism. As things stand now, justice cannot be served as we have yet to provide a clear definition of the term. In this light, I propose to re-examine our understanding of cyber-terrorism.

There is a lot of misinterpretation in the definition cyber-terrorism, the word consisting of familiar "CYBER" and less familiar "TERRORISM". While "cyber" is anything related to our tool of trade, terrorism by nature is difficult to define. The old maxim, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is still alive and well.

Cyber Terrorism is known as Unlawful attacks and threats of attack against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives"

Under the above-mentioned definitions of cyber-terrorism one can only point to the fact that any telecommunications infrastructure attack, including site defacing and other computer pranks constitute terrorism. It means that cyber-terrorism has already occurred and we "live in the epoch of cyber terror. Thus, use of information technology and means by terrorist groups and agents constitute cyber-terrorism. Other activities, so richly glamorized by the media, should be defined as cyber crime.

HACKING
Hacking is the practice of modifying the features of a system, in order to accomplish a goal outside of the creator's original purpose. The person who is consistently engaging in hacking activities, and has accepted hacking as a lifestyle and philosophy of their choice, is called a hacker.

Computer hacking is the most popular form of hacking nowadays, especially in the field
of computer security, but hacking exists in many other forms, such as phone hacking, brain hacking, etc. and it's not limited to either of them. Due to the mass attention given to blackhat hackers from the media, the whole hacking term is often mistaken for any security related cyber crime. This damages the reputation of all hackers, and is very cruel and unfair to the law abiding ones of them, from who the term itself originated.

PHREAKING
Phreaking is a slang term that describes the action of experimenting with or manipulating a telephone system. Since phreaking took place before personal computers became popular, it is sometimes considered to be the precursor to computer hacking. While not all phreaking activities are illegal, the term is often associated with using a phone system to make free long distance calls. Early phone systems have limited security features, which allowed "phreaks" to tap into analog phone lines and make calls free of charge. This was often done using a device called a "blue box," which simulated a telephone operator's console. Phreaks could use these devices to route their own calls and bypass the telephone company switches, allowing them to make free calls. This activity was more prominent before the turn of the century, when cell phone companies began including free long distance service. Phreaking has evolved over past several decades along with telecommunications technology. In the 1980s and 1990s, phreaks began using modems to access to computer systems over telephone lines. Once connected via modem, tech-savvy users could access private data or exploit computers connected on the local network. This activity also faded out around the turn of the century as dial-up modems were replaced by DSL and cable modems and new security measures were put into place. While phreaking still exists, it is much less common than other types of computer hacking.

SPAMMING
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender. There are two main types of spam, and they have different effects on Internet users. Cancellable Usenet spam is a single message sent to 20 or more Usenet newsgroups. (Through long experience, Usenet users have found that any message posted to so many newsgroups is often not relevant to most or all of them.) Usenet spam is aimed at "lurkers", people who read newsgroups but rarely or never post and give their address away. Usenet spam robs users of the utility of the newsgroups by overwhelming them with a barrage of advertising or other irrelevant posts. Furthermore, Usenet spam subverts the ability of system administrators and owners to manage the topics they accept on their systems. Email spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. Email spam lists are often created by scanning Usenet postings, stealing Internet mailing lists, or searching the Web for addresses. Email spams typically cost users money out-of-pocket to receive. Many people anyone with measured phone service - read or receive their mail while the meter is running, so to speak. Spam costs them additional money. On top of that, it costs money for ISPs and online services to transmit spam, and these costs are transmitted directly to subscribers. One particularly nasty variant of email spam is sending spam to mailing lists (public or private email discussion forums.) Because many mailing lists limit activity to their subscribers, spammers will use automated tools to subscribe to as many mailing lists as possible, so that they can grab the lists of addresses, or use the mailing list as a direct target for their attacks.

BLUETOOTH AND INFRARED COMMUNICATION

BLUETOOTH: is a specification for a small form-factor, low-cost, short-range radio solution for providing links between mobile computers, mobile phones, and other portable and hand-held devices, and for providing connectivity to the internet. It is based on a radio link that provides fast and reliable transmission of both voice and data. It can carry up to three high-quality voice channels simultaneously at speeds to 1 M bit/sec, even in noisy environments. Like USB, the specification incorporates both rules for implementing the interface and rules for designing compatible peripherals for the network.
Bluetooth allows users to connect to a wide range of devices at one time without cables, and potentially without actively initiating the connection. For example, your PDA could automatically update a copy of your schedule stored on a desktop PC the minute you walked into your office. This connectivity is enabled by a tiny microchip incorporating a radio transceiver that is built into Bluetooth devices. This radio transceiver provides the advantage of being effective through obstacles. Thus, you could ostensibly use a Bluetooth connection to send data from a computer in one room to a printer in the next--right through the wall. One concern when using such a system is privacy. As Bluetooth operates in the globally available 2.4 GHz frequency, it is conceivable that an unintended recipient could intercept a signal. To combat this, all Bluetooth devices are keyed for their own networks. The transmissions use a sophisticated encoding specification that not only guards against interference, it also ensures that only devices specifically programmed to receive a broadcast will be able to decode it. Bluetooth uses a flexible, multiple piconet structure for communication. It supports both point-to-point and multipoint connections for full-duplex networks. Currently up to seven slave devices can be configured to use a master radio in one device. Several of the piconets can be established and linked in scatter nets to allow flexibility among configurations. Devices in the same piconet have priority synchronizations, but other devices can enter the network at any time. In a full-duplex network, a multiple piconet structure with 10 fully loaded, independent pico nets, can maintain aggregate data transfer speeds of up to 6 Mbps. The major difference between the 2 classes of Bluetooth adapter is communication range and power requirements. As a rule, you will typically trade power consumption for distance (though all Bluetooth devices typically have low power requirements relative to other types of computer add-in devices.) Class 2 Bluetooth devices have a communication range of 10 meters (30 feet), and Class 1 adapters provide a communication range of 100 meters (300 feet). The Bluetooth specification implements two power levels: a low power level designed for short distance communication such as within an office (Class 2), and a high power level that can accommodate a medium range, such as an entire building (Class 1). Additionally, Bluetooth limits power output to exactly what the device requires at any given time. For instance, when two devices connect and determine that they are close together, the transmitter immediately modifies its signal to the strength needed to accommodate that range. When traffic volume across a connection slows down, or stops completely, a receiving device will shift to a low power sleep mode that is intermittently interrupted for very short periods in order to maintain the network connection. With these power saving features,

Bluetooth devices consume very small amounts of power, making them ideal for portable applications. Bluetooth technology makes data communication fast, easy, and convenient. As speeds and distances are currently limited, it should be viewed as a short-range solution for low to medium speed applications. It does provide remarkable flexibility, by communicating through walls and other obstacles, that makes it an ideal choice for home or office networks-for example sharing a printer among multiple PCs located in different rooms on the same floor. It also expands the functionality of a mobile phone, allowing it to serve as a modem for Internet connections, or allowing it to communicate with other devices--such as the prospect of using mobile phones to purchase drinks from vending machines.

INFRARED: This is one of the earliest types of optical communication and is still very much in use today. It is found in remote controls for televisions, DVD players and most other entertainment devices.
Dimmer lights and other facilities can be also be controlled using infrared. Infrared uses light that is invisible to us and is just above the red end of the color spectrum. The key component of an infrared system is an infrared LED (Light Emitting Diode) to emit the light and a photo-diode in the television or equipment to receive the light. A digital code within the controller switches the light on and off, this is then picked up as a digital code at the other end. The communication standard is called 'IrDA' short for Infrared Digital Association and it allows wireless communication between Mouse, keyboard, joysticks, gamepads etc and receiving equipment such as PC, Laptop, game console. Bandwidth is normally quite modest, around 115.2 kbps (IrDA serial infrared standard). Although IrDA does define a fast data transfer standard of up to 14 Mbps, this is rarely used. IR works only up to about 10 meters but that is fine for the type of applications it is mainly used for. It will only work line-of-sight. Technologies such as Bluetooth have largely supplanted infrared as a communication method for mobiles and computers.