Computer Forensics

Computer forensics is the process of using the latest knowledge of science and technology with computer sciences to collect, analyze and present proofs to the criminal or civil courts. Network administrator and security staff administer and manage networks and information systems should have complete knowledge of computer forensics. The meaning of the word “forensics” is “to bring to the court”. Forensics is the process which deals in finding evidence and recovering the data. The evidence includes many forms such as finger prints, DNA test or complete files on computer hard drives etc. The consistency and standardization of computer forensics across courts is not recognized strongly because it is new discipline.

It is necessary for network administrator and security staff of networked organizations to practice computer forensics and should have knowledge of laws because rate of cyber crimes is increasing greatly. It is very interesting for mangers and personnel who want to know how computer forensics can become a strategic element of their organization security. Personnel, security staff and network administrator should know all the issues related to computer forensics. Computer experts use advanced tools and techniques to recover deleted, damaged or corrupt data and evidence against attacks and intrusions.

These evidences are collected to follow cases in criminal and civil courts against those culprits who committed computer crimes. The survivability and integrity of network infrastructure of any organization depends on the application of computer forensics. In the current situations computer forensics should be taken as the basic element of computer and network security. It would be a great advantage for your company if you know all the technical and legal aspects of computer forensics. If your network is attacked and intruder is caught then good knowledge about computer forensics will help to provide evidence and prosecute the case in the court.

There are many risks if you practice computer forensics badly. If you don’t take it in account then vital evidence might be destroyed. New laws are being developed to protect customers’ data; but if certain kind of data is not properly protected then many liabilities can be assigned to the organization. New rules can bring organizations in criminal or civil courts if the organizations fail to protect customer data. Organization money can also be saved by applying computer forensics. Some mangers and personnel spent a large portion of their IT budget for network and computer security. It is reported by International Data Corporation (IDC) that software for vulnerability assessment and intrusion detection will approach $1.45 billion in 2006.


As organizations are increasing in number and the risk of hackers and contractors is also increase so they have developed their own security systems. Organizations have developed security devices for their network like intrusions detection systems (IDS), proxies, firewalls which report on the security status of network of an organization. So technically the major goal of computer forensics is to recognize, gather, protect and examine data in such a way that protects the integrity of the collected evidence to use it efficiently and effectively in a case.

Investigation of computer forensics has some typical aspects. In first area computer experts who investigate computers should know the type of evidence they are looking for to make their search effective. Computer crimes are wide in range such as child pornography, theft of personal data and destruction of data or computer.

Second, computer experts or investigators should use suitable tools. The investigators should have good knowledge of software, latest techniques and methods to recover the deleted, encrypted or damaged files and prevent further damage in the process of recovery.

In computer forensics two kinds of data are collected. Persistent data is stored on local disk drives or on other media and is protected when the computer is powered off or turned off. Volatile data is stored in random access memory and is lost when the computer is turned off or loses power. Volatile data is located in caches, random access memory (RAM) and registers. Computer expert or investigator should know trusted ways to capture volatile data. Security staff and network administrators should have knowledge about network and computer administration task effects on computer forensics process and the ability to recover data lost in a security incident.


Radha Khisan
(articlebase.com)

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To Get the Most Out of Your Leisure Software You Need the Right Hardware

ny game, like any job, is made easier and more enjoyable if you have the right tools. Consider this: you don’t see Shane Warne walking out to bowl with a rugby ball in his hand, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t play soccer in sandals, Vladimir Kramnik wouldn’t dream of taking on Lazaro Bruzon without a full complement of pawns, bishops and knights.

Computer games are no different. While many games work superbly using only the standard keyboard and mouse, others really do benefit from the use of an appropriate, dedicated gaming controller.

Sure, you can operate them from the keyboard if you wish, but that’s a bit like playing backgammon without the doubling die, or poker without money – much of the fun is lost.

Unfortunately, there is no ‘one size fits all’ gaming controller. Different games benefit from different types of hardware. Something that is ideal for killing monsters in a shoot-em-up is not necessary the best device for piloting a 747 in Flight Simulator, and vice versa.

However, unless you play every genre of game out there, the odds are that one or two carefully chosen controllers will provide you with everything you need.

Joysticks

The grand-daddy of gaming controllers is the joystick, with a history that dates back to the early days of microcomputers. The very early joysticks – typically designed for long-forgotten home-oriented systems such as the Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST – were relatively primitive devices, but that didn’t prevent a whole generation of teenagers from becoming experts at playing games.

Compatibility

Not all gaming controllers work with all games. Unless you only play recent, Windows Vista compatible games, make sure that any joystick you buy will work with your chosen software. Spending a few hundred bucks on a useless joystick is enough to spoil anybody’s weekend.

Any Port in a Storm

Nearly all gaming controllers need a game port. This looks a bit like a serial port, and is found on the vast majority of sound cards. However, some controllers have special needs. They may need to slave power from your keyboard or mouse port. They may need to send and receive extra information via your serial port. If you have a modern notebook computer, then you may not have a game port. However, the odds are that you have a USB port or two, or three. You need one of these, or else a docking station which provides a game port.

Feel the Force

Most games today put you in situations where you are doing things, and also where things are happening to you. Fire a real gun and it recoils, fly into turbulence and an airplane’s controls start bucking, drive on a dirt road and the steering wheel has a mind of its own, catch a large bass and the rod wiggles.

During Adam and Eve’s time, they had to imagine all this. The technology is called Force Feedback. Fire a virtual gun and you feel the recoil, fly into software-generated turbulence and… well, you get the picture.

It works, and it works well. Force Feedback joysticks and steering wheels add another dimension to gaming, and are great news for people who play the right sort of games. But don’t splash out the extra for a Force Feedback joystick unless you are confident that you will really be able to feel the force in your favorite games.

Programmability

Programming a joystick? Isn’t that the job of the people who wrote the game? Not necessarily. A programmable joystick lets YOU decide whether the canon is on button one and the throttle on button three and vice versa. For enjoyable game play this is practically essential. Look for it.

Gamepads

Joysticks are great for serious flight simulators and games which require you to navigate a 3D world, but if you’re into arcade style games then a gamepad can be a simpler, cheaper and just all-round appropriate option. While a joystick can be used with one hand, a gamepad needs two hands. Therefore, it is essential that it provides all the controls you need for your game because you won’t be able to get at the keyboard while playing, unless of course you have three hands.

Steering Wheels

If dedicated pilots need special hardware, so too do keen users of driving simulations. You can feel a bit odd piloting a Boeing with a joystick, but using one to slot a Ferrari through an Alpine pass is just plain daft. The answer is a steering wheel.

Conclusion

Do consider Force Feedback if you play the kinds of games that support the technology. It does add a lot of fun to the gaming experience. And after all, that’s what we’re after, isn’t it?

Sandra Prior

(articlebase.com)

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Raid Importance in Linux

Raid stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disk. It combines multiple small disks into a single logical store unit. Its performance is more than that of Single Large expensive drive (SLED).

For Raid

MTBF of Array = MTBF of individual drive/ Total no of drive in array

Therefore in Raid Mean time between failures (MTBF) is less as compared to SLED.Raid helps in achieving redundancy, low latency, higher bandwidth for reading and writing. It also helps recovery at the time of hard-disk crash.

Raid offers different level. They are as fallows:

1. Raid - 0
It has more improved performance and data storage capacity but is not redundant.
Therefore failure of any disk results in data lost. It is also called “striping”.

2. Raid - 1
It provides redundancy by writing all data in two disks. The speed of accessing data becomes faster. But the array capacity is equal to the capacity of one member disk. Therefore it is more expensive. This also referred as “Mirroring”.

3. Raid -2
It uses Hamming error correction code correction.

4. Raid -3
It strips data at byte level across several drives with parity stored on one drive.

5. Raid -4
It stripes data at block level from several drives with parity stored on one drive.
The speed of reading data is fast enough but for writing it is slow. Since writing requires the parity data be updated each time.

6. Raid-5
It distributes the parity among all drives. If the drive fails need replacement but the array is not destroyed by the single disk failure.

7. Raid-6
It is stripped with dual parity. If two drives fail the array continues the operation.
It provides more safety of data.

There are two types of raid solution in Linux:

1. Software Raid Solution:
It offers cheaper raid solution not only for expensive disk controller cards but also works with cheaper IDE disks as well as SCSI disks. There are two Linux software RAID implementation: MD (multi-disk) driver and the EVMS driver.

2. Hardware Raid Solution
The hardware-based system manages the RAID subsystem independently from the host and presents to the host only a single disk per RAID array.

If anyhow you lost your Linux file you are not able to recover it. You become very much frustrated you don’t know what to do .You can use Linux recovery software. It helps you to recover your ext2, ext3 and Resier Linux file without any extra efforts. Stellar Phoenix Linux data recovery provides you the complete solution for your lost data.

Mahendra
(articlebase.com)

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Laptop Data Recovery

A laptop has gradually assumed the role of a mobile office and a pocket diary that is a custodian of one’s personal and professional profile. Sometimes, due to a technical or mechanical mishap, the Laptop becomes the villain of one’s life by going dead and all of a sudden one feels as if one’s life line has been disconnected. Unfortunately, when the laptop goes dead and silent there’s a lot more that goes dead and quiet along with it. It is at such times that one can’t wait to bring it back to life and regain access to all the information stored in it. Every second that passes following a data loss means time and money. It is only after retrieval of data that one can resume one’s work and other activities since admittedly, these machines have become the focal point of one’s existence. Data recovery is the process of retrieving computer data that, for any number of reasons, has become inaccessible using normal methods. Data Recovery specialists help one quickly determine which data recovery approach is the best for one’s situation.

Fortunately, it is now possible to recover 99% of the data stored in a laptop all within the space of 24-48 hours. The Laptop being a much smaller machine compared to a regular PC, its Drives are very small in comparison to Desktop Drives and the internal mechanics too are miniature versions of their desktop counterparts. All the more reason then, that as soon as your laptop makes whining protesting sounds and throws up messages that spell trouble, it’s the right time to call in the experts, and Laptop Data Recovery experts specialists at that. A host of agencies now offers a complete solution for disk diagnostic, data recovery, and file repair needs.

Usually the Laptop Hard Drive is sent via a suitable postage service to a designated agent after prior online consultations. Thereafter the drive is examined and on identifying the problem, an estimate of the level of data/recovery that can be attained is drawn up and communicated to the client. The data is then recovered and copied on to CD-ROM, DVD or another Hard Drive and optionally, one’s hard drive can be rebuilt with a specified operating/media system and the recovered data. The entire exercise takes not more than 48 hours.

Websites that are dedicated to finding solutions to Laptop Data Recovery problems are staffed with specialist engineers who constantly upgrade their knowledge base and continue to produce ground-breaking solutions.

Pavel P.Zaichenko

(articlebase.com)

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