Wireless security an insight into WEP

Wired Equivalent Privacy, a security protocol for wireless local area networks (WLANs) defined in the 802.11b standard. WEP is designed to provide the same level of security as that of a wired LAN. LANs are inherently more secure than WLANs because LANs are somewhat protected by the physicalities of their structure, having some or all part of the network inside a building that can be protected from unauthorized access. WLANs, which are over radio waves, do not have the same physical structure and therefore are more vulnerable to tampering. WEP aims to provide security by encrypting data over radio waves so that it is protected as it is transmitted from one end point to another. However, it has been found that WEP is not as secure as once believed. WEP is used at the two lowest layers of the OSI model - the data link and physical layers; it therefore does not offer end-to-end security.

Authentication

Two methods of authentication can be used with WEP: Open System authentication and Shared Key authentication.

For the sake of clarity, we discuss WEP authentication in the Infrastructure mode (ie, between a WLAN client and an Access Point). But the discussion applies to the Ad-Hoc mode too.

In Open System authentication, the WLAN client need not provide its credentials to the Access Point during authentication. Thus, any client, regardless of its WEP keys, can authenticate itself with the Access Point and then attempt to associate. In effect, no authentication (in the true sense of the term) occurs. After the authentication and association, WEP can be used for encrypting the data frames. At this point, the client needs to have the right keys.

In Shared Key authentication, WEP is used for authentication. A four-way challenge-response handshake is used:

I) The client station sends an authentication request to the Access Point.

II) The Access Point sends back a clear-text challenge.

III) The client has to encrypt the challenge text using the configured WEP key, and send it back in another authentication request.

IV) The Access Point decrypts the material, and compares it with the clear-text it had sent. Depending on the success of this comparison, the Access Point sends back a positive or negative response. After the authentication and association, WEP can be used for encrypting the data frames.

At first glance, it might seem as though Shared Key authentication is more secure than Open System authentication, since the later offers no real authentication. However, it is quite the reverse. It is possible to derive the static WEP key by capturing the four handshake frames in Shared Key authentication. Hence is advisable to use Open System authentication for WEP authentication. (Note that both authentication mechanisms are weak).

IS it Good

We all know by now that 802.11's wired equivalent privacy (WEP) isn't good enough to protect our data. Thus equipped, a cracker only needs some patience to mount a successful invasion. Specifically, it usually takes only five to ten million packets to break WEP encryption. And, at fifteen million packets, it's almost dead certain that a dedicated attacker can pry the lid off your network traffic. Or, to put it another way, a small WLAN with four active users is almost certain to be cracked with two weeks of eavesdropping.

Making matters even worse, the cracking techniques most frequently used will work equally well no matter what WEP key length you're using. Thus, a 128-bit key is just as vulnerable as a 64-bit key. Indeed, even if a WEP key was 1,204 bits, it still as crackable by today's methods as one's that the minimal 64-bits.

How can that be? To understand how that works, you have to look closely at how WEP actually generates and manages, or more to the point doesn't, manage its encryption keys.

Every WEP packet is encrypted separately with an RC4 cipher stream generated by an encryption key. That key is made up of a 24-bit initialization vector (IV) and either a 40-bit or 104-bit WEP key that's usually set by your wireless device. Combined, they have a total length of 64 or 128-bits, hence the popular names of 64 and 128-bit WEP keys (some vendors use to call the 64-bit key a 40-bit key, but they simply weren't including the 24-bit IV -- so 64 and 40-bit WEP are the same thing). This transmitted packet is generated by a mathematical operation called 'bitwise exclusive OR' (XOR) using the packet sent to your network interface card (NIC) by your computer and the RC4 encryption key.

With me so far? Now, the first thing that kills WEP's fundamental security is that every packet you send also includes the IV in plaintext. In short, any would-be snooper can immediately see part of the key.

Now, because the IV is only 24-bits long, you can only get 16,777,216 different RC4 encryption streams for every key, regardless of how long the rest of the key is. Sounds like a lot doesn't it? It's not even close to enough. The plaintext IV is constantly reused and it takes many packets to send even a quick "Hi, how are you?" instant message, so it doesn't take long for a snooper to gather up enough packets to start cracking your messages.

If that was WEP's only weakness, it would still be insecure but it would take a serious processing power and a lot more packets to break into a WLAN. Unfortunately, RC4 has another problem. Not all of those close to 17-million possible IV numbers work as well as others in RC4. When one of these approximately 9,000 'Weak IVs', are used to encrypt packets, a snooping program can recognize and collect them. These Weak IVs give additional clues on the full encryption key, no matter its length, and so they make breaking WEP that much easier.

There are other theoretical ways to take advantage of WEP, but the combination of these two ways of exploiting the IV have proven to be easy and effective enough that little effort is being spent on developing software to exploit these holes. Trust me, the existing way to pry open a WEP-protected network work more than well enough.

Video Conferencing - a innovative technology

Video conferencing uses telecommunications of audio and video to bring people at different sites together for a meeting. This can be as simple as a conversation between two people in private offices (point-to-point) or involve several sites (multi-point) with more than one person in large rooms at different sites. Besides the audio and visual transmission of people, video conferencing can be used to share documents, computer-displayed information, and whiteboards.

Basic Video conferencing Technology

Compressed video systems allow a larger audience to experience the benefits of high-quality video conferencing at a reasonable cost. A video conferencing system requires the audiovisual equipment, which includes a monitor, camera, microphone, and speaker, and a means of transmission.

Rather than an Internet-based connection, such as that used by webcams, which have to share bandwidth with other Internet data, a compressed video system on a dedicated bandwidth provides smooth audio and video.

The compressed videoconferencing may be transmitted via an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line or over IP (Internet Protocol) lines. It is an economical solution for high-quality videoconferencing.

The most significant distinction among videoconferencing systems is the method of transmission. Transmission is important because two systems cannot connect if they are using different transmission methods. Videoconferences can be transmitted over two protocols, H.320 - ISDN (phone) or H.323 - IP (Internet) lines. In the past, most videoconferences used ISDN lines; however, many people are now using IP connections due to cost savings. In order to connect two units using different transmission methods, a bridge must be used that will handle these mixed protocols. In an ISDN call, bandwidth is dedicated to only one videoconference, while in an IP call, bandwidth may be used to transmit for multiple uses. However, ISDN calls can be very costly since you may be making the call over a distance, in which case, long distance phone line charges apply, and ISDN lines take up 6 phone lines. Connections around the world average 384 kbps.

Megameeting a company dealing with web conferencing has taken this technology to a step further with new, 100% desktop, browser based web conferencing services and webinar software that does not require any special installation on your computer.

Through its variety of services, MegaMeeting provides full-featured and flexible web conferencing software, video chat server and webinar software. Participants can communicate by voice, instant messaging chat and see each other by video/videoconference. This is made possible by the powerful video chat server. With Professional and Enterprise versions of its web conferencing software, MegaMeeting includes multipoint, desktop video conferencing software that allows up to 16 individuals to be seen at the same time, and an unlimited number of additional web conferencing attendees to see those 16. Participants can talk and hear one another by using standard microphones and headsets thanks to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). As an alternative, if you wish, you can choose to use free, integrated teleconferencing for the handling of audio in your webinars.

New standards and greater innovations are continuosly progressing in this field which has made video conferencing a cost effective means.

How to make money from your Blog

Advertising Programs - Perhaps the most obvious changes in the past few months have been with the addition of a variety of viable advertising options for bloggers looking to make money from their blogs. The most common way bloggers seem to earn money online is via the contextual ad program from Google - Adsense. Another two popular ones with many is BlogAds. A more recent addition that many are using successfully are Chitika’s eMiniMalls and AuctionAds,CrispAds, Text Link Ads.

Adgenta, Azoogle Ads, Intelli Txt, Peak Click, DoubleClickTribal Fusion, Adbrite, Clicksor, Industry Brains, AdHearUs, Kanoodle, AVN, Pheedo, Adknowledge, YesAdvertising, RevenuePilotTextAds, SearchFeed, Target Point, Bidvertiser, Fastclick Value Click and OneMonkey (to name just some of the options - I’m sure I’ve forgotten some) and there is a smorgasbord of options. Of course there is more to come with MSN Adcenter and YPN both in beta testing and with a variety of other advertising system currently in development (so I hear).

RSS Advertising - The past 12 months have seen some advances in RSS Advertising also. I’m yet to hear of any bloggers making big money blogging through it to this point - but as improvements are made to the ad programs exploring this I’m sure we’ll start to see examples of it being profitable.

Importance of Insurance for Parents

Life Insurance ! in a simple defination it can be described in short as contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the policy owner's death. In return, the policy owner (or policy payer) agrees to pay a stipulated amount called a premium at regular intervals.

Though Life insurance itself is a broader spectrum we would try to limit the boundaries on the importance of life insurance on parents.

We must be a responsible person for our parent’s non-working life. In today’s technology driven world, the average life of a person is becoming greater each day. And more importantly, the medical field is getting expensive beyond control. Generally, your parents’ ability to take care of themselves go down as they move up in their lives. Inability can be physical as well as financial or in many cases both of the above given cases. And here is where you are responsible towards their care taking in financial terms and physical terms – to the extent possible. Insurance will help you take care of the future, in present, if planned well.

Getting Covered

Now that we know we need it, what are the life insurance options and how much should we buy?

Basically there are two types of life insurance policies available: term and cash-value.

Term – Term life insurance is the simplest type of life insurance. With term life insurance, you pay a premium (usually yearly or monthly) over a set period (for example, 10, 20 or 30 years). With some policies (“increasing term”), the premium goes up over the term of the policy; with others (“level term”), the premium remains the same over the term of the policy. In return, if you die before the term of the policy is up, the insurance company will pay your beneficiaries a set sum of money (the “face value” of the policy). When the time period (term) of the policy ends, your payments (as well as the coverage) ends, unless you choose to renew it.

Term policies can be further divided into two main types:

• Level term life insurance, in which both the premium and the death benefit on the policy remains the same throughout the term of the policy.

• Decreasing (or declining) term insurance, in which the premium remains the same, but the death benefit gradually declines over the life of the policy. Mortgage life insurance is usually a declining term policy. And, because the death benefit declines and the death benefits often must be used for a specific purpose – that is, to pay off a remaining balance on a mortgage or other loan – declining term life insurance is virtually never a good buy.

Cash-Value – Cash-value life insurance policies combine life insurance with a savings or investment element. As with term insurance, you pay regular premiums on the policy, and, if you die while the policy is in effect, the insurance company will pay your beneficiaries a set sum of money. Unlike term insurance, cash-value policies remain in effect for most or all of your life, and, in some cases, after a period of years, you can stop paying premiums on the policy (even though the policy remains in effect). Generally, there are three types of cash-value policies:

• Whole life insurance, in which premiums generally remain the same over the term of the policy. A portion of the premium pays for your insurance, while a portion is put into a “savings account” (the “cash value” of the policy). How much interest that is paid on this cash value does not have to be disclosed by the insurance company. Moreover, the only way to access this cash value is to borrow against it or cancel the policy.

• Universal life insurance, which is very similar to whole life insurance. However, with universal life policies, the amount of your premium going toward savings, and how much interest is being paid on those savings, is disclosed to a larger (but not complete) degree. In addition, because of the numerous fees and expenses that are charged on universal and whole life policies, the actual cash value of the policy (as well as its rate of growth) is often much less than it seems.

• Variable life insurance is virtually the same as universal life policies, with one major exception. With universal, the insurance company chooses where to invest the “cash value” of policyholders’ accounts; with variable life, you get to choose from a number of investment vehicles (usually a mixture of mutual funds, bonds, stocks and money market funds) and, therefore, the degree of risk that the investment (or savings) portion of your policy takes.

I hope these discussions should have started a stream of questions in you , so what are you waiting for lets get started by buying life insurance for parents.

New concept in the world Automotive insurance

Insurance! The very word itself brings in our mind streaks of images and contents regarding quotes , finance , security , credit , maturity , claim and the list goes on. Insurance has become one of the integral parts of our life. Insurance is actually a very broad vertical covering personal , accident , healthcare , automotive etc…

In this blog we will discuss about one such player Advantage Auto Quotes, who are revolutionizing the concept of Automotive insurance by their customized service.

Advantage Auto Quotes guides you throughout the process of Auto Insurance, by helping you to select the type of coverage needed for your vehicle and putting you in touch with car insurance companies that will give you better car insurance rates available. Whether you are looking for insurance coverage for cars, truck, SUV, or business vehicle, gap coverage for new vehicle , leased vehicle gap insurance policies , whether you are insuring a teen or senior driver, and whether you have an excellent driving history and qualify for the lowest lowest auto liability quote or poor driving record, they can save you money on your auto insurance with their online insurance quoting services.

They provide the best competitive affordable auto rates for your car, suv or commercial van across the united states from all major agencies. This actually helps to lower Your Car/SUV Insurance and get the cheapest automobile insurance policies available anywhere. So you get the best coverage for sports car, truck , SUV insurance policies , business insurance no matter what your driving record looks like. They offer the best rates and the cheapest most affordable auto insurance plans available.They have plans that are customized for all types of drivers including hard to place teenage drivers (teen driver auto policy), and of course if you have a excellent driving record with no accidents or points, you will qualify for the lowest and most affordable plans.

So login today at Advantage Auto Quotes to meet your Automotive insurance requirements and get the best policies for yourself and your favourite car.

Generate Traffic to your Blog

1. Syndication.
Convert your blog posts into articles and submit them to article directories.

2. PR.
Write press releases and distribute them.

3. StumbleUpon.
Add a “stumbleupon” button to all your blog posts. When your readers click on the buttons, more people will start visiting your website through stumbleupon.com toolbars.

4. Hug another blogger.
Send them thank you notes. Comment on their blogs.

5. Co-Exchange Posts.
Contact a blogger and ask him to write a guest post for your blog and you can write a guest post for his.

How to Make Money Online by Blogs

Internet marketing revolves around content. With the lack of one-to-one approach in the virtual marketing arena, internet solely depends on creating magic through words that attract people. The need for articles is enormous. Websites are filled with content.

If you wonder why articles are so important. Articles are one way of ensuring your website climbs up the search engines. The reason is because people search for information on search engines. The websites that have more useful content are the ones that are at the top of the search engines like Google. The reason why search engines concentrate and appreciate good content is because they want to provide what people are looking for.

Where do articles come from?
Articles don’t just appear by themselves out of nowhere. The websites looking for articles have to either write the articles themselves or they will have to buy them. The problem is that most website owners may not have the skill to write articles in a way that attracts the reader or even if they have the skill, may not find the time. That’s when they look at freelance writers for articles.

That is precisely the reason why article writing for pay is a great way of making money online. Having said that, it would help to know how one could go about doing that. There are several paths you can choose from. The first one and the easiest is to write articles for the article submission sites.

Article submission sites
There are several article submission sites, which accept articles and pay for them. One is Associated Content, that pays your for the articles they buy from you. Then there is Constant Content that pays you when your articles are sold. The amount that one gets paid varies anywhere between $3 to $200 per article. It is pretty obvious that the articles that pay higher amount are more in depth, informative, and longer.

Contacting top websites
The second way is a little more time consuming when compared to the first. You will need to contact the website owners directly and offer to write unique content specifically for them. Many website owners would love to hire a freelance writer for their articles, even if it costs more, because they want unique content. You can concentrate on the gurus on the internet and if you land yourself one contract and do a good job, then the word of mouth is enough to land you lots of projects.

Own Freelance website
There is another way of selling your articles and making money. This one certainly consumes a lot more time but is the most lucrative. Setting up your own website and advertising your freelance services. This way, you will not have to look for work; people will be coming to you for articles. Of course, you will need to promote your website. But that is a small price to pay, for what you are going to gain.

Get your own domain and set up a website. You need to keep some samples of your work on the website. People want articles of various lengths. You can have about 2 or 3 articles of different lengths, may be 150 words, 350 words, and 500 words. Next thing that needs to be done is the sales letter, selling yourself. Yes, not your website, but you. You need to let people know through your sales letter that they are hiring a writer; it’s almost like having a writer on staff.

Now, with that done, where do you find clients and where do you promote your website?

There are numerous places to find clients for this sort of work. Some of the better places are warriorforum.com, forums.digitalpoint.com/, sitepoint.com/marketplace/. Here you can sell your article writing services to the highest bidder. You can also have your website link in your signature.

Monthly membership site
This is an innovative idea to sell your services. PLR monthly membership sites are well-known, but here instead of PLR content, you are going to be selling your services and you are not going around looking for clients. Suppose you are into writing ebooks, you can have a membership site, where you give away 2 ebooks a month to each member for their exclusive use. You can have just a few people as members and charge around $200 or $300 per month. Many people wouldn’t mind paying this kind of money if they are going to get their money’s worth. You will just have to see how many you can write in a month and have members accordingly.

Content website
Find a great topic or niche, write about 10 articles, get a domain name that is related to the topic, get hosting, get some free website template. Sell these sites in a matter of hours and you can earn quite a bit from them.

Clickbank products
This is a novel idea and one, which is certain to work well. You will have to set up a website where you will sell articles in batches, approximately 35 articles in a batch. These articles will be on a particular Clickbank product. The reason for doing this is because there are always people looking to sell Clickbank products. They would want articles to promote the product. You will be providing a specialized service for Clickbank products. In fact, you can incorporate this option in your writing website if you have one or you can have a separate website only for this. As long as you price them reasonably, you will have lots of work.

Article writing can be a great money earner and one can start making money within a few hours or few days. If you have a passion for writing or even if you are confident that you have good English and grammar skills, it is smart to consider article writing as one ways to make money fast.

TIP TO IMPROVE

John Chow dot Com is a blog that helps you money on the internet. He is offering to link to your blog if you review his blog.

www.johnchow.com is a great website giving tips on How to Make Money Online. He has many tips, ideas and ways to share with everyone. His site has been taken place in Google's first page for the phrase "Make Money Online". His Alexa rank is getting better everyday.
He divided his website in 12 categories

1) AGLOCO
2) Cars
3) Fine Dining
4) Investing
5) Make Money Online
6) Ramblings
7) Review My Blog
8) ReviewMe Reviews
9) Technology
10) The Net
11) Videos
12) Wordpress

He started a new way to promote his website and you also can get benefits from it. Just write a review on his website and place a link to his blog’s home page with the anchor text “make money online” and link to his post .