The Insecure Protocol at the Heart of the Web

There are lots of reasons why the world wide web has developed so quickly from it’s early origins in CERN at the beginning of the 1980s. Of course, there are many reasons why it has become so popular but arguably at the core is the transport protocol called HTTP. This is the reason why different clients, servers and devices have been able to communicate with each other so effectively. However there is a problem with the simplicity of this protocol, which is now a major concern due to the fact that so much of our lives has been transferred to the digital realm.

The issue is security which in the initial development of the web was not really a concern.  However, the world has changed and now the web is much more than a few thousand websites passively supplying text pages to our browsers.     There are some client side solutions that people can take and one of the most popular is to use a VPN which will encrypt your connection.  One of the benefits of using these services is that you can even bypass region blocks and watch things like BBC TV abroad.

And so precisely how does the best part of your digital communication get moved around the net? Well the vast majority takes advantage of something referred to as HTTP that you have already almost definitely heard of.  HTTP is actually the transport used by your web requests and is essentially an extremely simple protocol utilized to deliver HTML webpages. It’s not exactly what you could call secure but is primarily designed for lightness and speed – you can read about it in more depth in the RFC Here.

One of the main problems inn attempting too always keep our details and identification safe and secure utilizing HTTP is the simple dilemma that it is predominantly an ASCII based protocol which in turn functions in plain text.

This is almost brilliantly simple and quick and simply operates at a quite basic degree of request and respond. HTTP is a mechanism, a way to request a resource from a world wide web server (GET request) and a response will be supplied and the information when possible.

Here’s an example of such a request

GET/ index.htm HTTP/1.0.

Not actually exactly difficult stuff and the worrying fact is there’s no cryptic language to understand and no need to decipher any of the data that passes to and from your web browser and the web server.

Among the most revealing things you can do in order to show how insecure the HTTP protocol is actually for delivering and obtaining data is to connect up to a wi-fi coffee shop, hotel access point and after that fire up a free sniffer program like wireshark (despite the fact that I still use ethereal!) and look at the data that is actually circulating in the clear.

Same goes with wireless connections – I still just can’t quite look at some of my neighbours in the same way the moment I saw some of the websites he visits flying passed my sniffer.

There certainly are loads of reasons why HTTP is such an insecure protocol such as it functioning over the exact same well known TCP ports but we should also remember exactly how staggeringly effective and efficient it is as a delivery mechanism. It certainly done a damn great job sharing information over the internet but quite possibly in some cases a little too good!

Source: Using a Residential Proxy

A Comparison of Physical Vs Digital Identity

At the core of this particular service-oriented economy are truly network-based, automatic transactions. Automated transactions are actually basically different than the transactions in which occur within the physical realm. The minute I stop by the corner store to purchase a snack, I can easily barter money for peanuts. Unless the clerk happens in order to know me, the operation is anonymous. In comparison, in the service– oriented economy, anonymous transactions are actually rare, simply because delivering service immediately almost always suggests that you will have to know something about who’s being given the service—- if not their names, then a minimum of their preferences or other attributes.

This distinguishing data is normally transferred digitally, across the network. In a service-oriented economy, electronic identity matters. Of course when we speak about the service-oriented economy, we’re certainly not just talking about ecommerce. Note in which my scenario with the convenience store involved a small cash purchase. However imagine the same situation, except this time around I use a debit card, credit card, or check. In any one of those scenarios, I have actually invoked a network-based monetary service as component of the overall transaction.

Network-based services are as prevalent in operations which take place in the real world as they are in online interactions. Within an automated, network-based service, I need to know who you are in order to sell anyone easy access to my service.   This could concern any user whether from the domestic market, international customer or perhaps an unidentified user from something like a UK VPN service who hides their identity.

Since these services are increasingly delivered over electronic digital networks, businesses really need dependable, secure, and private means for producing, storing, transferring, and using digital identifications. Network-based, computerized services are not simply just supplied to customers, workers, partners, and providers likewise interact with the enterprise via services. In a lot of cases, anonymous service is actually impossible or undesired, and also as a consequence, digital identities need to be designated as well as managed. In addition to determining clients in order to sell them services, business have an increasing need to determine employees, systems, resources, and services in a systematic way to create business agility and make sure the safety of company assets.
Using Digital Identity

Digital identity is definitely the lynch pin within each of the activities we have actually merely discussed, in addition to a wide selection of other activities significant to business. Consequently, exactly how your company manages digital identities will have a great influence on whether you are constantly dealing with complications brought on by a lack of attention to taking care of identity, or whether you are exploiting opportunity enabled by a flexible and rational digital identity infrastructure.

Further reading: http://bbciplayerabroad.co.uk/how-to-watch-match-of-the-day-online-from-anywhere/

Is it Ok to Bypass Internet Filtering?

The internet of course traverses the globe and one of the difficulties in this scale is the problems of laws and their jurisdiction.  After all calling the Thai Royal family stupid names might be illegal in Thailand, but it certainly isn’t in Chicago.  All over the world there are hugely different laws, rules and regulations which cover people in specific countries but are increasingly difficult to apply over the internet.

One of the simplest implementations is that the law applies to your physical location and using the internet is not the issue.  So for example if you go online in France then French laws should be applied irrespective of your nationality.  This is generally the case and corresponds with all other laws which are normally applied by physical location.

Bypass Internet Filtering

However this does open lots of loopholes, for instance any country with minimal internet and cyber laws could be used as a base for legal ‘criminal’ operations.   This is a real issue as if you are the victim of cyber crime it’s highly unlikely that the criminal lives in the same country as you.  There are other less extreme issues, for example the whole area of copyright law is to be honest a complete mess online.

Take for instance a movie producer, they can license their film to be broadcast on a per country basis.   However when that film is broadcast over the internet perhaps on an entertainment site where is the license applicable?  Is it in the country of the web site or perhaps the location in which the movie is being watched – there is no definitive answer.   The reality is that it could be streamed perfectly legally to a US viewer, but at the same time the viewer in Europe could be watching the exact same stream and it would be unlicensed.

Of course, this copyright infringement is pretty vague and in reality for years people have been using free online proxies to bypass these restrictions.   In a similar way that school children have been using proxies to access blocked websites online, ordinary people have used them for unblocking websites like BBC iPlayer or Hulu from across the world.

How to Bypass Internet Filtering

This means that it is perfectly possible to watch UK TV online in USA for example  despite all the British TV channels being restricted to the UK.  Even thought the companies try to stop this, all the user has to do is to hide their true location by switching IP address and they can watch what they like.  It doesn’t matter what terms and conditions that the entertainment put on their site as these will have different meaning depending on what country you are in.  The technology usually used to switch virtual locations are VPNs and proxies however these are important tools in all sorts of areas and have a legitimate place online.

Many people rely on Virtual Private network connections to bypass government and state oppression online.  For example even somewhere relatively democratized such as Turkey have banned and filtered sites based on religion, sexuality and female rights.   Using a VPN is the simplest way to bypass these restrictions.  They also provide a level of protection for people who try and use such sites from their governments.  No political activist  in a place like Iran, China or Turkey would last long without protecting their identity online by the encryption provided from a proper VPN.

So it can be seen that the level of internet filtering spreads right across the world.  Much of it is simply there to protect commercial interests and companies like the BBC attempt to block VPNs routinely like this post illustrates.   Much more though filters and blocks normally seek to restrict free speech and the right to protest.  Many oppressive regions seek to either block social media sites or worse they monitor and use them for covert surveillance.

Whatever the situation having the ability to protect yourself and your identity online is an important civil liberty.   Over the years the battle with multimedia companies and governments has resulted in some technological developments. Unfortunately the plethora of bypass proxy sites that people used to use are now fairly useless. Most commercial websites can detect and block proxies automatically and they no longer work to bypass internet filtering.

Introduction to Computer Forensics

The meaning of forensic comes from the Latin forensis, that is a forum. In its simplest and most relevant logical meaning, it simply infers that it can to be used in court or in legal proceedings. It is usually applied to the procedures used to acquire and examine evidence and convince the court that the signs could be relied on. While some people today uses the word adjectively to imply rigorous and thorough for instance when it’s utilized to describe a point of questioning or a document. In the digital domain you can have seen a number of comparable terms, like computer forensics, forensic computing, digital forensics, forensic informatics, network forensics, and so on.

In this brief introduction, we have adopted the term personal computer forensics to incorporate all aspects relating to computers as well as networks, peripherals, and storage devices. It is important to keep to our definition as anyone who has watch the TV and seen shows like CSI available on UK TV abroad now try here – http://uktvabroad.org/. Computer forensics has some similarities yet is a very distinct science to the criminal investigations you find in these shows.

It certainly can get confusing, but the term also encompasses devices with embedded computers. Such as that in mobile cellphones, GPSs, along with other devices. Many people have tried to extend the term computer forensics to encompass for any post incident evaluation or incident, but it’s challenging see that this does something other than cause confusion. The rest of the planet uses the word forensics to stage in the direction of preparing possible evidence so it’ll be robust enough to meet hostile challenges in a court of law enforcement.

At first sight, the answer to this question seems simple. Wikipedia describes it as: A broad array of subspecialties that use techniques adapted from the natural sciences to obtain criminal or other legal proof. A careful examination. However, yields some very important insights. The scientific part refers to the scientific method and how it could apply both normally and with regards to a specific investigation. The forensic component refers to how the courts make their decisions. Among the main lessons is the forensic scientists behaving as witnesses aren’t allowed to usurp the authority and function of the court in reaching its decision.

As we’ll see later, this has a considerable effect on how a forensic scientists go about their business, how they write reports for court use, and the way in which they give proof. Scientific fact finding and decision making are extremely different to legal reality», finding and decision making. We need to be familiar with the difference, not just because it’s an intriguing area to think about, but since it goes to the heart of the forensic investigators generate evidence to be used in court. We have to begin by considering what’s meant by science and the scientific method, then see how it operates inside the domain of forensic science.

John Hamilton

Security Blogger and Consultant

Author of How to Watch BBC iPlayer in Ireland

Learning about Cloud Computing

Of all the latest technologies that are filling the news pages of the technological press – perhaps the most common is ‘cloud computing’. In effect this is a technology that is already playing a great part in most of our lives but what exactly is it?

Cloud computing identifies the programs provided as services on the web and the hardware and systems applications in the information centres that provide these solutions. The data centre hardware and software is that which we can call a Cloud. Cloud computing is comparatively new idea and it’s become popular lately.

Cloud adopts virtualization technology and also at the gist of Cloud computing there’s a logical gap between distinct nodes, every node appears as a unique physical system to the consumer. Unlike grid computing systems, it creates many dispersed computers linked together to make a large logical computer that can handle large number of information and computation. In the event of Cloud calculating the virtualization technology makes it feasible to get each node seem as different physical machine enabling user to load custom applications and operating system on every node and configure customized rules for every node.

The notion of computing is developed from parallel processing, distributed computing and grid computing systems. There’s a little gap between them but they operate differently. Although computing is an emerging area of computer engineering, the idea’s existed for a couple of decades. It’s named Cloud computing because the data and applications exist on a “cloud” of Web servers. To simplify the concept, Cloud computing can be defined as simply the sharing and application of applications and resources of a network environment to get work done without concern about ownership and management of the network’s resources and applications. According to Scale, with Cloud computing, computer resources for getting work done and their data are no longer stored on one’s personal computer, but are hosted elsewhere to be made accessible in any location and at any moment.

Related Technology Comparison

Grid computing a Type of distributed computing and parallel computing, whereby a ‘super and Digital computer’ is composed of a cluster of networked, loosely coupled computers acting in concert to perform Huge tasks

Utility computing The packaging of computing resources, such as computation and storage, as a metered service very similar to a standard public utility, such as electricity.

Autonomic computing

Computer systems capable of self administration.

General mechanism

Cloud computing utilizing information technology as a services over the network. The idea generally encompasses of Infrastructure for a service (IaaS), Platform for a service (PaaS) Hardware for a Service (HaaS) and Software as a service (SaaS). It may be the ability to lease a server or servers and run a geophysical modeling application available anywhere. It may be the ability to (S Rupley, 2009) rent a digital server, load software on it, turn it on and off at will, or clone it to fulfill a sudden workload demand. It can be storing and securing considerable quantities of information that is accessible only by authorized applications and users. It can be supported by means of a cloud provider that sets up a platform with the capacity to scale automatically in response to changing workloads. It can use a storage cloud to hold application, company, and individual data. And it may be the ability to use a small number of internet services to integrate photos, maps, and GPS information to create a front page in customer Web browsers.

In a cloud computing system, there’s a substantial workload shift. The network of computers which comprise the cloud handles them instead. Allow the cloud take care of it. Today’s, a Web Browser such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer 8 is widely use as an interface software in cloud computing system. It’s increasingly being used as an alternative to privacy applications too, see the article here about BBC iPlayer blocking VPNs.

The truth is, internet users already utilized some kind of cloud computing. If they have an email account with a Webbased email service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then they had some experience with cloud computing. Rather than running an email program on a local computer, user will log in to a internet email account remotely. The software and storage for the account doesn’t exist in the neighborhood computer it’s on the service’s computer cloud.

Key characteristic of Cloud Computing

Currently, there’s absolutely no standard definition or specification for Cloud Computing. It Might Take some time to define the key characteristics of Cloud Computing based on practices in the field.Based on practices in the areas of service provisioning and solution design, the next two key enabling technologies could play a Very Important role in this revolutionary phase of cloud computing:

Virtualization technology

Virtualization technology works to handle on the way the image of the operating system, middleware, and application procreated and allocated to a physical machine or part of the server stack away. The virtualization technology may also help reuse licenses of operating systems, middleware, or software applications, once a subscriber releases their service from the Cloud Computing platform.

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

A service oriented architecture is basically a collection of services. These services communicate with one another. The communication can involve either simple data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity. Some means of connecting services to each other is needed. The growth of a system or software architecture is presently moving towards services oriented, unlike several decades ago the majority of the application is stand alone and purposely for single use. Even if it was possible to buy UK proxy specifically for use with a residential IP address these are strictly commercial organisations.

Lately, the gigantic development of the online user and internet technology availability the usage of applications can now be leased. Giant company like google, Microsoft, Sun or even Amazon have this capability provide software services rather than selling the software directly to user. The SOA is system or software design that addressing componentization, reusability, extensibility, and flexibility. These whole characteristic is a fundamentals need for company that are searching for reducing cost and choose to rent instead of purchase.

Computing Power’s New Leap Forward?

When you look back at the computers we had our disposal at the beginning of the 1990s it’s almost unbelievable to see the change.  Most smartphones contain more raw computing power than my University Computing Department did in that time.

Moore’s Law is a computing term coined by co-founder of Intel Gordon Moore, who predicted that the speed of the modern electronic world would radically increase biannually. This forecast rapid development of computers has stayed steady over the past many decades, but it’s slowing as a result of the constraints imposed by the elements of contemporary computer Pentium processors. Each notebook computer includes a Pentium processor with layers of a atoms round it.

Since these layers become more and more modest to increase processing capacity, the huge heat generated will finally bring about leakage, according to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Therefore, hitting a wall in pc technological advancement is inevitable and brand new applications will not have the ability to compensate. Quantum theory has made computer transistors potential, but they also foreshadow the doom of this era of silicon. Researchers and scientists are focusing on a replacement for silicon to maintain pc technology’s rapid expansion.

In IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights, N.Y., the Business homes a quantum computer. Though their pc is composed just of 16 quantum pieces that enable easy computations and a huge cooling system which keeps the computer capable to operate, scientists expect that quantum computers could be scaled up to replace transistor computers. This would fix the computation limits that modern silicon based computer chips pose.

Science News reports, “Teams from industry and academia are working on expanding their own versions of quantum computers to 50 or 100 qubits, enough to carry out certain calculations that the most effective supercomputers can’t pull off.” Scientists predict this goal will be reached within the upcoming few decades.

Quantum computers could tackle problems and computations beyond what modern computers are capable of doing. Small molecular and chemical reactions could be simulated. The search for new drugs or new catalysts would be revolutionized. More precise algorithms could be developed. Artificial intelligence could be developed to outperform human capabilities. Searches using quantum computers would be more efficient; data that would take modern computers years to figure out would take a quantum computer seconds.

Modern computers make calculations based on computer bits of zeros and ones, but quantum bits or qubit can be 0, 1 or anything in between. This exponentially increases their computational and processing abilities, but in addition, it makes developing and programming difficult.   Take for example the algorithms which are controlling the latest VPN services.  Even allowing for 256 bit encryption you can stream video from the BBC iPlayer to Ireland with minimal buffering.

However, quantum computers need vast cooling systems, which will likely confine these computers to laboratories in the near future. This past year, IBM made a five qubit quantum computer accessible to anybody online. Though limited in its abilities, it provides users with an overall idea about what quantum computers could have the ability to offer. At this time, scientists want to develop a demonstration that quantum computers can outperform modern computers. An algorithm to demonstrate this was proposed by Google researchers in 2016.

Scientists are also working to develop error correcting infrastructure within quantum computers, since they are vulnerable to interference and miscalculations. Information spread out can be corrected within the system, but weeding out the errors calls for greater qubits, which are still a ways off as IBM and Google are currently working on developing 50 qubit quantum computers within the next couple of years. The possible uses for these kinds of computers are still being theorized as physicists attempt to coordinate with other scientists in making this technology a reality.

John Williams

Commentator from France TV Direct.