Lets see what are the most useful technique through which cloud is used today :

Utility Computing

Big industries and companies rent out hardware from the cloud service providers. The advantage of this is that companies are not required to invest in the required hardware needed. It is particularly useful for the SME which cannot afford to buy the expensive infrastructure for the development purpose. This also saves maintained cost too. So, pay for only what you use.

SAAS

A quite similar is SAAS which is “software as a service”. In simple terms , let say you want to use a software called Microsoft powerpoint but you are required to pay for the whole office suite. But with help of SAS , you only pay for the service which you are using. So , you are not required to worry about the product updates, license validity of the software or buying the latest version of the product. All this is managed by your service provider.

Using cloud for your personal storage

This segment is particularly gaining importance today. With Internet rates falling and accessibility of net everywhere , its great idea to have your data with you always using the net. This is done via the cloud . You store your data ,files,videos, music etc. on the cloud. Just upload your files and access them anywhere. This eliminates your worry about physical hardware damage that could happen to your hard disk which could corrupt your data and important files. The restriction to this is that most of such cloud service providers offering cloud storage have a upper limit to storage space which is quite small such as 2-5Gb.

Some of the best Cloud services available are :

Amazon Cloud Drive

It offers you 5Gb of free space. You can upload all your stuff such as music ,videos ,files etc to the servers. The upper limit to the file size is 2Gb. You can always buy more storage if you like . It even allows you to stream videos and music without need of downloading them.

Windows Skydrive

If you have a Live ID( such as your hotmail account ) then you are also entitled to get skydrive. It gives you 25 gb of free storage with upper limit of 50mb per file. It gives you maximum storage space given by any cloud service today. The ‘ Live Mesh’ available can be used to simply drag & drop files with ease.

Box.net

Here you have two choices, either a free space of 5 gb with upper limit of 25 Mb per file. There is also a business account with better features and facilities. Ofcourse the business account comes with a hefty price tag.

Dropbox

One of the most common cloud space provider is dropbox. It offers 2 Gb of free space , though there are ways to increase this space like referring friends which gives you 250 Mb of free space for each referral in case your friend joins dropbox. There is also way to use your .edu email address to increase your space ( just Google to find ways to increase dropbox free space).

Google

Our beloved Google also provides you with approx 8Gb of space which includes your gmail ,docs,spreadsheet and picassa space.

Safesync

it is owned by Trend micro solutions which is most famous for its security products. It is actually a paid service cost you around Rs 1800 for 20Gb space.

Advantages of the Cloud

Quickly reviewing the advantages offered by the cloud are

• Accessibility of your files from the INTERNET anywhere
• Backing up your important data and files over the net
• Accessing files simultaneously over multiple PC’s.
• Cost saving by renting only the necessary hardware and software and not the complete production unit.

So make sure that you take advantage of the Internet cloud and use it to the fullest.

Now , I am sure that one thing that you would have surely noticed in 11.04 is that all panels/windows have so huge shadow at the back . Its very annoying for me personally. After searching for the solution to decrease that shadow width , I found a little tweak which would help us to reduce it as per our choice .

Procedure :

1. open a terminal
2. write following commands:

cd /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/metacity-1
sudo nano metacity-theme-1.xml

3. Find following line ( use Ctrl+w to find ):

shadow radius=”45.0″ opacity=”0.75″ color=”#abde4f” x_offset=”1″ y_offset=”4″/>

Alter the contents of radius to your choice. I found 15 as appropriate.

Exit and save when prompted.

Now you shadow width would reduce to appropriate value.

Many famous sites have recently been hacked and it leads us to think a very important discussion.

What are my Website Vulnerabilities?

Let’s look at most common o them:

1. Cross-site scripting (XSS)

This is one of the most powerful, very common yet very effective techniques used today. Here the hackers inject a code into the website which is then viewed by the users.  So improper pop ups opens with that website or drive by downloads occurs. The code which is injected by the hackers causes them to take advantage to get access to sensitive content, cookies and other variables where user stores information.

2. Parameter manipulation

Here the parameters exchanged between the server and client are manipulated to modify application contents. The hacker uses the information present in the cookies, URL query strings, forms etc. to gain the control of the application.  Exploitation of these can further lead to attacks like XSS and directory traversal.

3. Directory traversal

Here we try to access which is obviously not intended to be accessible.  It uses HTTP requests , user request for a file by adding “../ “directives to the string. This would lead to going one level up the directory structure. If it is successful then hacker can traverse through your entire site.

4. Attacks related to Authentication

It’s not actually a loop hole but a hacking technique. It’s as simple as permutation and combination for a username –password combination. So , if your password is strong ( which is highly recommended that you always use strong passwords online) then you may elude this hacking attempt.

5. Directory enumeration

Last but not the least , here the attacker makes the server or host enumerate the various resources on his system. These include services, policies, and user names etc.  Attackers usetools such as http-dir-enum and DirBuster  to get the list of directories in the server.

So make sure you try your best to curb these vulnerabilities if exists in your site. There are some tools which may help you to achieve this. So Stay Safe J

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