Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Financing your MBA
Resigning from a secure job, moving country, even leaving behind family and friends; potential MBAs seem to take such obstacles in their stride. But with programmes at top-flight school now costing as much as US $75,000, one question seems to occupy business school applicants more than any other: just how can I find the money to pay for my education?
Every year, TopMBA surveys nearly 4000 aspiring MBAs around the world to establish whether finance is likely to prove a barrier to study. The latest survey found that most had already looked seriously into how they would fund business school. A wide variety of methods were cited, from scholarships to personal loans. Worldwide, 74% of respondents favoured scholarships. Next came a student’s own savings at 68% followed by some form of external loan at 61%. Overall, only 28% expected to get financial help from their employer.
Favoured funding methods vary considerably from area to area. Help from family and friends appears to be most common in the Asia-Pacific region, where it was cited by 48% of those questioned, contrasting with 43% in the USA and Western Europe. Personal loans were the preferred source for over 81% of US students, but for fewer than 57% of those from Latin America. Company sponsorship was expected by 36% of respondents in the Middle East and Africa, but by only 21% of those in Latin America. Own savings were the favoured method for 80% of Western European candidates, but for only 62% of those from the Middle East and Africa.
However, whatever a student’s initial preference, in practice, the most common source of finance is now the education or career loan. We look at some of the sources of such loans across the globe.
Selected sources of MBA Finance around the world
UK
UK citizens can borrow up to two thirds of their pre-study salary in any twelve-month period from NatWest to fund an MBA. Applicants need to contribute at least 20% of the course fees from their own resources and repayment periods range from 7 years for sums under £20,000 to 10 years for sums over £20,000. Interest is currently 6.9% APR. HSBC offers loans to students of a number of British based schools, including Cranfield, London Business School and Manchester Business School. Unlike many other schemes, this facility is open to students from anywhere in the world. Interest is charged at 2% over HSBC’s base rate for the duration of the loan. There are no upfront commissions or early repayment charges.
USA
There are several sources of aid for US students studying at home or abroad and for overseas candidates looking to study in the USA. These include:
Citibank has a very well developed student loan division, which provides standard loans and also partners with individual schools to provide tailored packages. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, for example, offers funding through Citibank, which guarantees most accepted students a prime plus 0.5% interest rate, with a 15-year payback period, and no co-signers or credit check required. www.citibank.com
IEFC – Students interested in studying at one of nearly 400 institutions around the world may be eligible for loans of up to US $45,000 from the IEFC (International Education Finance Corporation). The IEFC has three loan programs: the Stafford for US citizens or permanent residents, Can HELP for Canadians and ISLP for foreign students. To be eligible for ISLP you must be able to provide a guarantor, who is a US citizen or permanent resident. www.iefc.com
GATE Universal is a student loan program managed by First Marblehead Corporation and Bank of America. www.gateloan.com
MBA LOANS is a private loan program run by Sallie Mae and targeted specifically at US citizens. www.salliemae.com
Austria
CA-Post-Graduate, Creditanstalt offers some loans. www.creditanstalt.co.at
France
French residents of any nationality who have worked in the country can apply to FONGECIF (Fonds de Gestion du Congé Individuel de Formation) for up to 90% funding of tuition fees plus a part of their current salary. www.emse.fr/ASI/AIDES/fongecif.htmlGermanySince 2001, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has offered a low interest (currently 3.3%) loan of € 7,200 to all graduate students seeking to study in Germany. www.bmbf.de
Certain banks also provide MBA loans. EU students on the MBA programme at HHL-Leipzig, for example, are eligible for loans from Sparkasse Leipzig at 5%, while potential MBAs from the EU, USA and Canada can also apply for funding via the HHL’s partner, CareerConcept .www.hhl.de
Certain banks also provide MBA loans. EU students on the MBA programme at HHL-Leipzig, for example, are eligible for loans from Sparkasse Leipzig at 5%, while potential MBAs from the EU, USA and Canada can also apply for funding via the HHL’s partner, CareerConcept .www.hhl.de
Italy
Banca Commerciale Italiana offers MBA loans for Italian nationals.
Spain
Several of the key Spanish schools have negotiated loan agreements with Spanish and overseas banks to help students with funding. IESE, Barcelona has a loan scheme offered through Banco Santander Centro Hispano, which is open to students of any nationality accepted by the school. Instituto de Empresa, Madrid has similar arrangements to cover fees and iving expenses with repayment periods up to eight years.
Russia
Banque Société Générale Vostok offers loans to Russian citizens to help with MBA study, either at home or abroad. Students can postpone repayment (though not interest) until up to 24 months after graduation. www.bsgv.ru
Latin America
The Organisation of American States (OAS) provides a wide range of financing options for nationals of member states to study for masters degrees both in and outside Latin America. For further information or assistance, candidates should contact the National Liaison Office (ONE) of their country of origin, the appropriate office of the General Secretariat of the OAS or the Educational Portal of the Americas.
Financial institutions in several of the region’s major countries also provide loans geared to the needs of MBA students.
Financial institutions in several of the region’s major countries also provide loans geared to the needs of MBA students.
Mexico
FIDERH – provides loans of up to MXN158,500 per annum to cover tuition fees and living expenses. Candidates need to hold a first degree, be aged under 30 and be able to supply a guarantor of Mexican nationality, who owns a property with a value of at least 150% the loan amount. www.fiderh.org.mx
Fundación Healy provides loans and scholarships for residents of Sonora or Baja California. www.fundacionhealy.org
Fundación Healy provides loans and scholarships for residents of Sonora or Baja California. www.fundacionhealy.org
Peru
Banco de Credito offers loans of up to US$50,000 to cover the cost of an MBA and up to US$20,000 towards living expenses. www.bcp.com.pe
Australia
Through its partnership with ANZ Bank, AGSM can provide access to credit for MBA fees and living expenses for permanent Australian and New Zealand residents. Repayments are deferred and eligibility is based on 70% of earnings over the previous 12 months. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia does not have a specific student loan programme, but will consider applications on individual merit up to AU$5,000 at branch level. Head office considers higher amounts.
India
Indian nationals have access to a wide range of educational loans geared to fund MBA study. Key suppliers include State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, State Bank of Mysore, Bank of Baroda and the Industrial Development Bank of India. Loans can be used to cover the cost of fees, travel to an overseas school, the cost of books, computers, etc and living expenses. In most cases, candidates will already need to have secured a place at a recognised institution and may need to supply a guarantor, such as a parent or close relative, with sufficient funds to cover the loan. Repayment ranges up to four years after graduation and interest rates are currently around 8.5 to 8.75%.
Canada
Domestic students at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto can access interest-subsidised loans from Scotiabank to cover the full cost of their tuition. Each provincial government in Canada also administers and maintains a student financial aid program in cooperation with the federal government's Canada Student Loan Program. Eligibility requirements, maximum borrowing amounts and loan repayment policies vary from province to province. Usually, assistance is in the form of interest free loans while a student is in school, although some provinces award grants to students or offer additional assistance to students graduating with debt over a certain amount. http://osap.gov.on.ca.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
HTC HD Mini and HTC Desire Official Video and Complete Specifications
HTC HD Mini
HTC unveiled their new phone HTC HD Mini today at Mobile World Congress at Barcelona which seems to be power packed with all the features in a compact design. It is going to have windows mobile 6.5.3 with HTC Sense Interface concept, here is how it looks like as shown in the image below.
It also have multi-touch gesture support, with which users can pinch and zoom in and out of Web pages and photos. It is much smaller than the current HTC HD2, and with its HVGA screen resolution. Although it runs on a slower processor than the 1 GHz HD2. Still, it has unique features comparable to HTC HD2, like you can share wireless connection with other devices over Wi-Fi. It has a 5-megapixel camera at the back, this device will be available at an affordable price, however pricing details are not yet known.
HTC Desire
This is another HTC Phone revealed at Mobile World Congress today, It has 3.7-inch AMOLED display presents great viewing experience. It has 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor delivers superfast web browsing and amazing multimedia.
Below video of the official presentation happened at MWC today, which can tell you more about HTC Desire and HD Mini
Einstein : Rare Family Collection
Rare Collection.. ......... ...... Einstein's father
Einstein's mother
House of Einstein
Einstein's childhood photo
School class photograph in Munich , 1889. Einstein is in the front row, second from right. He did well only in mathematics and in Latin (whose logic he admired).
Einstein's mother
House of Einstein
Einstein's childhood photo
School class photograph in Munich , 1889. Einstein is in the front row, second from right. He did well only in mathematics and in Latin (whose logic he admired).
Was Einstein's Brain Different?
Of course it was-people's brains are as different as their faces. In his lifetime many wondered if there was anything especially different in Einstein's. He insisted that on his death his brain be made available for research. When Einstein died in 1955, pathologist Thomas Harvey quickly preserved the brain and made samples and sections. He reported that he could see nothing unusual. The variations were within the range of normal human variations. There the matter rested until 1999. Inspecting samples that Harvey had carefully preserved, Sandra F. Witelson and colleagues discovered that Einstein's brain lacked a particular small wrinkle (the parietal operculum) that most people have. Perhaps in compensation, other regions on each side were a bit enlarged-the inferior parietal lobes. These regions are known to have something to do with visual imagery and mathematical thinking. Thus Einstein was apparently better equipped than most people for a certain type of thinking. Yet others of his day were probably at least as well equipped-Henri Poincaré and David Hilbert, for example, were formidable visual and mathematical thinkers, both were on the trail of relativity, yet Einstein got far ahead of them. What he did with his brain depended on the nurturing of family and friends, a solid German and Swiss education, and his own bold personality.
A late bloomer: Even at the age of nine Einstein spoke hesitantly, and his parents feared that he was below average intelligence. Did he have a learning or personality disability (such as "Asperger's syndrome," a mild form of autism)? There is not enough historical evidence to say. Probably Albert was simply a thoughtful and somewhat shy child. If he had some difficulties in school, the problem was probably resistance to the authoritarian German teachers, perhaps compounded by the awkward situation of a Jewish boy in a Catholic school.
A late bloomer: Even at the age of nine Einstein spoke hesitantly, and his parents feared that he was below average intelligence. Did he have a learning or personality disability (such as "Asperger's syndrome," a mild form of autism)? There is not enough historical evidence to say. Probably Albert was simply a thoughtful and somewhat shy child. If he had some difficulties in school, the problem was probably resistance to the authoritarian German teachers, perhaps compounded by the awkward situation of a Jewish boy in a Catholic school.
Einstein in the Bern patent office
Einstein when his light bending theory conformed
Einstein in Berlin with political figures
Einstein in a Berlin synagogue in 1930, playing his violin for a charity concert.
The Solvay Congress of 1927
E = MC^2
POSTWAR SIGNING
Einstein in his study in his home in Berlin, 1919.
Einstein at his home in Princeton, New Jersey
signature of the legend
Einstein in Berlin with political figures
Einstein in a Berlin synagogue in 1930, playing his violin for a charity concert.
The Solvay Congress of 1927
E = MC^2
POSTWAR SIGNING
Einstein in his study in his home in Berlin, 1919.
Einstein at his home in Princeton, New Jersey
signature of the legend
NatGeo_International Photography Contest 2009
National Geographic's International Photography Contest2009 attracts thousands of entries from photographers of all skill levels around the world every year. Collected below are 25 images from the three categories of People, Places and Nature.
Captions given by photographers themselves.
Nazroo, a mahout (elephant driver), poses for a portrait while taking his elephant, Rajan, out for a swim in front of Radha Nagar Beach in Havelock, Andaman Islands. Rajan is one of the few elephants in Havelock that can swim, so when he is not dragging timber in the forest he is used as a tourist attraction. The relationship between the mahout and his elephant usually lasts for their entire lives, creating an extremely strong tie between the animal and the human being. (Photo and caption by Cesare Naldi)
On the final leg of a six-week United States of America road trip, I was driving east across Interstate 40 when a spot storm with golf ball-sized hail struck. A sign near Groom, Texas, announcing the "largest cross in the western hemisphere" explained the large crucifix I'd been wondering about for miles on the highway; it seemed like an OK place to wait out the storm. On my way to getting stuck in the mud and a giant double rainbow, I saw this silhouetted view of the cross, splitting the sunny sky from the stormy plains. (Photo and caption by Brad Maule)
This picture was taken during the Rinjani volcano trek on Lombok Island in Indonesia at sunrise. (Photo and caption by David Bismuth)
An example of photo luminescence in coral in West Papua (Photo and caption by Stephen Martin)
5
A male gelada baboon on the Guassa Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands enjoys a good grooming. (Photo and caption by Robin Moore)
I was in the front car of the short subway between Pudong and the Bund, and was treated to the wonderful spectacle of an oncoming train in the tunnel's changing light show. I put my camera up to the window and shot as fast as possible to get this image. (Photo and caption by Gail von Bergen Ryan)
A stone's-eye- view of two tracks made by the sailing stones of Death Valley's Racetrack playa. The dried clay surface has a beautiful texture, and there is a palpable aura of mystery over the entire three-square- mile playa. The Racetrack was not entirely free of human influence though: several weeks before this taken many of the stones were stolen, leaving long trails without a traveler at the end. (Photo and caption by Tucker Sylvestro)
On my second day visiting the astounding Iguazu falls on the Brazilian side I was forced to change to my telephoto lens as my wide angle had been damaged by the water vapour. In had rained solid for 10 days prior to my arrival and so the falls were at their most spectacular. Standing on the elevated viewing platform I was able to shoot this school group who stood transfixed, emphasizing the incredible size of the falls. (Photo and caption by Ian Kelsall)
9
I took this picture on a sunny fall afternoon on a prairie near Chicago, Illinois. To improve the color saturation, I blocked the sunlight with my body. The blue background came straight from the camera. The image was not altered with any editor. (Photo and caption by Richard Susanto)
My grandfather was born and raised on our New Zealand farm. He and my grandmother were married nearly 60 years. Preparing for a photo in the barley, my grandmother lovingly reached up to adjust his hat. This was his last harvest. (Photo and caption by Gemma Collier)
During a rainy, cloudy morning at the Wild Goose scenic overlook on St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana, the sun peeped from under the cloud cover long enough to paint a golden-yellow swath across the face of the mountain for maybe 15 minutes before disappearing again. (Photo and caption by Rebecca Latson)
A young orangutan swings from tree to tree in Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesian Borneo. (Photo and caption by Sean Crane)
This is about one hour of firefly activity near my home in rural Ontario. The precision of the background star trails is an interesting contrast to the chaotic pattern of the firefly flashes. (Photo and caption by Steve Irvine)
The edge of an iceberg floating just off the coast of Antarctica. (Photo and caption by Mike Matas)
While visiting Kruger National Park with my son, we came across two male hippos battling for dominance as we crossed a bridge over the Sabie River. The bellowing from the animals as they fought their bloody battle was incredible. They first fought in the shallows near the bank and then moved into the deeper part of the river. We don't know how it turned out but we were so glad to see the spectacle. (Photo and caption by Steve Mandel)
Andrew and his friend, a young sperm whale named Scar, were swimming together off the west coast of Dominica. The two of them became "friends" after Andrew saved Scar's life. (Photo and caption by Peter Allinson)
17
The Darvaza natural gas crater is located in the center of the Karakum Desert in the central Asian country of Turkmenistan. The crater resulted after a Soviet natural gas exploration accident in the 1950s and has been burning ever since. The crater is approximately 60 meters in diameter and its depth is approximately 20 meters. (Photo and caption by Natalja Silver)
When the wave conditions are right a wave appears, infrequently, as a result of the splash back off the cliff connecting with an incoming wave. This causes the incoming wave to pop up, creating fan-like shapes. On this particular day, over the two hours I spent on the rocks, this wave only appeared once. This is that shot. (Photo and caption by Aaron Feinberg)
David Hanson crosses a fallen log beneath soaring trees and a lingering fog in Washington's Olympic National Park. (Photo and caption by Michael Hanson)
Even during the Arirang Mass Games in North Korea, the ultimate expression of the state ideology, an individual can still sometimes stand out from the crowd and break free of the collective. If only just for a moment. (Photo and caption by Brendyn Zachary)
Cary stands on a deserted road in Central Ohio, at sunset. (Photo and caption by Lisa Roberts)
This bee was unfortunate enough to land in my pool, but he made some amazing patterns buzzing around in the water. He later escaped. (Photo and caption by Michael Johnson)
Taken at Kwena Croc Farm in South Africa (Photo and caption by Wayne Holloway)
This is one view of many dunes found in Jordan. Two steps forward and one step back made for a challenging ascent. (Photo and caption by Andrew Cwiklewich)
Curious gulls on Sanibel Island, Florida. Meet my friend, "Gull-i-Bel" !!! (Photo and caption by Richard Rush)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery
This article discusses the following:
- How to determine whether your computer is infected with a computer virus, a worm, or a trojan
- How to recover from an infection
- How to prevent future infections from a computer virus
What is a computer virus?
A computer virus is a small software program that spreads from one computer to another computer and that interferes with computer operation. A computer virus may corrupt or delete data on a computer, use an e-mail program to spread the virus to other computers, or even delete everything on the hard disk.
Computer viruses are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or by instant messaging messages. Therefore, you must never open an e-mail attachment unless you know who sent the message or unless you are expecting the e-mail attachment. Computer viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files. Computer viruses also spread by using downloads on the Internet. Computer viruses can be hidden in pirated software or in other files or programs that you may download.
Symptoms of a computer virus
If you suspect or confirm that your computer is infected with a computer virus, obtain the current antivirus software. The following are some primary indicators that a computer may be infected:
- The computer runs slower than usual.
- The computer stops responding, or it locks up frequently.
- The computer crashes, and then it restarts every few minutes.
- The computer restarts on its own. Additionally, the computer does not run as usual.
- Applications on the computer do not work correctly.
- Disks or disk drives are inaccessible.
- You cannot print items correctly.
- You see unusual error messages.
- You see distorted menus and dialog boxes.
- There is a double extension on an attachment that you recently opened, such as a .jpg, .vbs, .gif, or .exe. extension.
- An antivirus program is disabled for no reason. Additionally, the antivirus program cannot be restarted.
- An antivirus program cannot be installed on the computer, or the antivirus program will not run.
- New icons appear on the desktop that you did not put there, or the icons are not associated with any recently installed programs.
- Strange sounds or music plays from the speakers unexpectedly.
- A program disappears from the computer even though you did not intentionally remove the program.
Note These are common signs of infection. However, these signs may also be caused by hardware or software problems that have nothing to do with a computer virus. Unless you run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, and then you install industry-standard, up-to-date antivirus software on your computer, you cannot be certain whether a computer is infected with a computer virus or not.
Symptoms of worms and trojan horse viruses in e-mail messages
When a computer virus infects e-mail messages or infects other files on a computer, you may notice the following symptoms:
- The infected file may make copies of itself. This behavior may use up all the free space on the hard disk.
- A copy of the infected file may be sent to all the addresses in an e-mail address list.
- The computer virus may reformat the hard disk. This behavior will delete files and programs.
- The computer virus may install hidden programs, such as pirated software. This pirated software may then be distributed and sold from the computer.
- The computer virus may reduce security. This could enable intruders to remotely access the computer or the network.
- You receive an e-mail message that has a strange attachment. When you open the attachment, dialog boxes appear, or a sudden degradation in system performance occurs.
- Someone tells you that they have recently received e-mail messages from you that contained attached files that you did not send. The files that are attached to the e-mail messages have extensions such as .exe, .bat, .scr, and .vbs extensions.
Symptoms that may be the result of ordinary Windows functions
A computer virus infection may cause the following problems:
- Windows does not start even though you have not made any system changes or even though you have not installed or removed any programs.
- There is frequent modem activity. If you have an external modem, you may notice the lights blinking frequently when the modem is not being used. You may be unknowingly supplying pirated software.
- Windows does not start because certain important system files are missing. Additionally, you receive an error message that lists the missing files.
- The computer sometimes starts as expected. However, at other times, the computer stops responding before the desktop icons and the taskbar appear.
- The computer runs very slowly. Additionally, the computer takes longer than expected to start.
- You receive out-of-memory error messages even though the computer has sufficient RAM.
- New programs are installed incorrectly.
- Windows spontaneously restarts unexpectedly.
- Programs that used to run stop responding frequently. Even if you remove and reinstall the programs, the issue continues to occur.
- A disk utility such as Scandisk reports multiple serious disk errors.
- A partition disappears.
- The computer always stops responding when you try to use Microsoft Office products.
- You cannot start Windows Task Manager.
- Antivirus software indicates that a computer virus is present.
Note These problems may also occur because of ordinary Windows functions or problems in Windows that are not caused by a computer virus.
How to remove a computer virus
Even for an expert, removing a computer virus can be a difficult task without the help of computer virus removal tools. Some computer viruses and other unwanted software, such as spyware, even reinstall themselves after the viruses have been detected and removed. Fortunately, by updating the computer and by using antivirus tools, you can help permanently remove unwanted software.
To remove a computer virus, follow these steps:
- Install the latest updates from Microsoft Update on the computer.
- Update the antivirus software on the computer. Then, perform a thorough scan of the computer by using the antivirus software.
- Download, install, and then run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool to remove existing viruses on the computer. To download the Malicious Software Removal Tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx)
For more information about how to remove a computer virus, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/remove.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/remove.mspx)
How to protect your computer against viruses
To protect your computer against viruses, follow these steps:
- On the computer, turn on the firewall.
- Keep the computer operating system up-to-date.
- Use updated antivirus software on the computer.
- Use updated antispyware software on the computer.
For more information about how to protect a computer against viruses, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx)
COMPUTER VIRUSES
Markus Hanhisalo
Department of Computer Science
Helsinki University of Technology
This report briefly introduces computer viruses and how they effect network security. I have introduced today's virus situation. Many people are afraid of viruses, mostly because they do not know much about them. This report will guide you in the event of a virus infection.
Computer viruses and network security is important. There are things that are not public information. Therefore it is good to be a weare of possible network security problems.
________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to computer viruses
2. General information about computer viruses
2.1 Different Malware types
2.1.1 Viruses
2.1.2 Trojan
2.1.3 Worms
2.2 Macro viruses
2.3 Virus sources
2.3.1 Why do people write and spread viruses?
2.4 How viruses act
2.4.1 How viruses spread out
2.4.2 How viruses activate
2.5 Viruses in different platforms
2.5.1 PC viruses
2.5.2 Macintosh viruses
2.5.3 Other platforms
3. How to deal with viruses
3.1 What are the signs of viruses
3.2 What to do when you find viruses
4. How to protect from viruses
4.1 How to provide against viruses
4.2 Different anti-virus programs
5. Computer viruses in Finland
5.1 A questionnaire survey in Finland about viruses
5.2 It is going to be a criminal act to make viruses in Finland
6. How computer viruses have spread out around the world
7. Computer viruses and network security
8. Conclusions
1. Introduction to Computer Viruses
The person might have a computer virus infection when the computer starts acting differently. For instance getting slow or when they turn the computer on, it says that all the data is erased or when they start writing a document, it looks different, some chapters might be missing or something else ubnormal has happened.
The next thing usually the person whose computer might be infected with virus, panics. The person might think that all the work that have been done is missing. That could be true, but in most cases viruses have not done any harm jet, but when one start doing something and are not sure what you do, that might be harmful. When some people try to get rid of viruses they delete files or they might even format the whole hard disk like my cousin did. That is not the best way to act when the person think that he has a virus infection.
What people do when they get sick? They go to see a doctor if they do not know what is wrong with them. It is the same way with viruses, if the person does not know what to do they call someone who knows more about viruses and they get professional help.
If the person read email at their PC or if they use diskettes to transfer files between the computer at work and the computer at home, or if they just transfer files between the two computers they have a good possibility to get a virus. They might get viruses also when they download files from any internet site. There was a time when people were able to be sure that some sites we secure, that those secure sites did not have any virus problems, but nowadays the people can not be sure of anything. There has been viruses even in Microsoft's download sites.
In this report I am going to introduce different malware types and how they spread out and how to deal with them. Most common viruses nowadays are macro viruses and I am going to spend a little more time with them. I am going to give an example of trojan horses stealing passwords.
2. General information about computer viruses
2.1 Different malware types
Malware is a general name for all programs that are harmful; viruses, trojan, worms and all other similar programs [1].
2.1.1 Viruses
A computer virus is a program, a block of executable code, which attach itself to, overwrite or otherwise replace another program in order to reproduce itself without a knowledge of a PC user.
There are a couple of different types of computer viruses: boot sector viruses, parasitic viruses, multi-partite viruses, companion viruses, link viruses and macro viruses. These classifications take into account the different ways in which the virus can infect different parts of a system. The manner in which each of these types operates has one thing in common: any virus has to be executed in order to operate. [2]
Most viruses are pretty harmless. The user might not even notice the virus for years. Sometimes viruses might cause random damage to data files and over a long period they might destroy files and disks. Even benign viruses cause damage by occupying disk space and main memory, by using up CPU processing time. There is also the time and expense wasted in detecting and removing viruses.
2.1.2 Trojan
A Trojan Horse is a program that does something else that the user thought it would do. It is mostly done to someone on purpose. The Trojan Horses are usually masked so that they look interesting, for example a saxophone.wav file that interests a person collecting sound samples of instruments. A Trojan Horse differs from a destructive virus in that it doesn't reproduce. There has been a password trojan out in AOL land (the American On Line). Password30 and Pasword50 which some people thought were wav. files, but they were disguised and people did not know that they had the trojan in their systems until they tried to change their passwords. [9]
According to an administrator of AOL, the Trojan steals passwords and sends an E-mail to the hackers fake name and then the hacker has your account in his hands.
2.1.3 Worms
A worm is a program which spreads usually over network connections. Unlike a virus which attach itself to a host program, worms always need a host program to spread. In practice, worms are not normally associated with one person computer systems. They are mostly found in multi-user systems such as Unix environments. A classic example of a worm is Robert Morrisis Internet-worm 1988.
2.2 Macro virus
Macro viruses spread from applications which use macros. The macro viruses which are receiving attention currently are specific to Word 6, WordBasic and Excel. However, many applications, not all of them Windows applications, have potentially damaging and infective macro capabilities too.
A CAP macro virus, now widespread, infects macros attached to Word 6.0 for Windows, Word 6.0.1 for Macintosh, Word 6.0 for Windows NT, and Word for Windows 95 documents.
What makes such a virus possible is that the macros are created by WordBASIC and even allows DOS commands to be run. WordBASIC in a program language which links features used in Word to macros.
A virus, named "Concept," has no destructive payload; it merely spreads, after a document containing the virus is opened. Concept copies itself to other documents when they are saved, without affecting the contents of documents. Since then, however, other macro viruses have been discovered, and some of them contain destructive routines.
Microsoft suggests opening files without macros to prevent macro viruses from spreading, unless the user can verify that the macros contained in the document will not cause damage. This does NOT work for all macro viruses.
Why are macro viruses so successful? Today people share so much data, email documents and use the Internet to get programs and documents. Macros are also very easy to write. The problem is also that Word for Windows corrupts macros inadvertently creating new macro viruses.
Corruption's also creates "remnant" macros which are not infectious, but look like viruses and cause false alarms. Known macro virus can get together and create wholly new viruses.
There have been viruses since 1986 and macro viruses since 1995. Now about 15 percent of virus are macro viruses. There are about 2.000 macro viruses and about 11.000 DOS viruses, but the problem is that macro viruses spreads so fast. New macro viruses are created in the work-place, on a daily basis, on typical end-user machines, not in a virus lab. New macro virus creation is due to corruption, mating, and conversion. Traditional anti-virus programs are also not good at detecting new macro viruses.
Almost all virus detected in the Helsinki University of Technology have been macro viruses, according to Tapio Keihänen, the virus specialist in HUT.
Before macro viruses it was more easy to detect and repair virus infections with anti-virus programs. But now when there are new macro viruses, it is harder to detect macro viruses and people are more in contact with their anti-virus vendor to detect an repair unknown macro viruses, because new macro viruses spread faster than new anti-virus program updates come up.
2.3 Virus sources
Viruses don not just appear, there is always somebody that has made it and they have own reason to so. Viruses are written everywhere in the world. Now when the information flow in the net and Internet grows, it does not matter where the virus is made.
Most of the writers are young men. There are also few university students, professors, computer store managers, writers and even a doctor has written a virus. One thing is common to these writers, all of them are men, women do not waste their time writing viruses. Women are either smarter or they are just so good that never get caught.
2.3.1 Why do people write and spread viruses?
It is difficult to know why people write them. Everyone has their own reasons. Some general reasons are to experiment how to write viruses or to test their programming talent. Some people just like to see how the virus spreads and gets famous around the World. The following is a list from news group postings alt.comp.virus and tries to explain why people write and spread viruses.
- they don't understand or prefer not to think about the consequences for other people
- they simply don't care
- they don't consider it to be their problem if someone else is inconvenienced
- they draw a false distinction between creating/publishing viruses and distributing them
- they consider it to be the responsibility of someone else to protect systems from their creations
- they get a buzz, acknowledged or otherwise, from vandalism
- they consider they're fighting authority
- they like 'matching wits' with anti virus vendors
- it's a way of getting attention, getting recognition from their peers and their names (or at least that of their virus) in the papers and the Wild List
- they're keeping the anti virus vendors in a job
Viruses main mission is to spread out and then get active. Some viruses just spread out and never activate. Viruses when they spread out, they make copies of self and spreading is harmful.
Viruses mission is to hop from program to other and this should happen as quickly as possible. Usually viruses join to the host program in some way. They even write over part of the host program.
A computer is infected with a boot sector virus if it is booted from an infected floppy disk. Boot sector infections cannot normally spread across a network. These viruses spread normally via floppy disks which may come from virtually any source:
· unsolicited demonstration disks
· brand-new software
· disks used on your PC by salesmen or engineers
· repaired hardware
A file virus infects other files, when the program to which it is attached is run, and so a file virus can spread across a network and often very quickly. They may be spread from the same sources as boot sector viruses, but also from sources such as Internet FTP sites and newsgroups. Trojan horses spread just like file viruses.
A multipartite virus infects boot sectors and files. Often, an infected file is used to infect the boot sector: thus, this is one case where a boot sector infection could spread across a network.
2.4.2 How viruses activate
We are always afraid that viruses do something harmful to files when they get active, but not all the viruses activate. Some viruses just spread out, but when viruses activate they do very different things. Might play a part of melody or play music in the background, show a picture or animated picture, show text, format hard disk or do changes to files.
As an example, in one unnamed company: over a long period of time, the files in a server were corrupted just a bit. So backup copies were taken from the corrupted files. And after they noticed that something was wrong, it was too late to get back the data from the backups. That kind of event is the worst that can happen for the uses.
There is also talk that viruses have done something to hardware like hard disk or monitor. Viruses can not do any harm to hardware but they can do harm to programs and for example to BIOS so that computer does not start after that. Usually you can start the computer from a boot diskette if the computer does not start otherwise.
2.5.1 PC viruses
Viruses are mostly written for PC-computers and DOS environment. Even though viruses are made for DOS environment, they are working also in Windows, Windows95, Windows NT and OS/2 operating systems. Some viruses like boot sector viruses, do not care what about operating systems.
2.5.2 Macintosh viruses
Macintosh viruses are not as a big problem as PC viruses are. There are not so many viruses in Macintosh operating system. Macintosh viruses has been found mostly from schools.
How many Mac viruses there are? I found out that there are about 2-300 Mac-specific viruses. There are virtually no macro viruses which have a Mac-specific payload, but all macro viruses can infect on Macs and other platforms which runs Word 6.x of better.
Viruses can be found from in almost any kind of computer, such as HP calculators used by students like HP 48-calculators and old computers like Commodore 64 and Unix computers too.
In general, there are virtually no non-experimental UNIX viruses. There have been a few Worm incidents, most notably the Morris Worm,. the Internet Worm, of 1988.
There are products which scan some Unix systems for PC viruses. Any machine used as a file server (Novell, Unix etc.) can be scanned for PC viruses by a DOS scanner if it can be mounted as a logical drive on a PC running appropriate network client software such as PC-NFS.
Intel-based PCs running Unix e.g. Linux, etc. can also be infected by a DOS boot-sector virus if booted from an infected disk. The same goes for other PC-hosted operating systems such as NetWare.
While viruses are not a major risk on Unix platforms, integrity checkers and audit packages are frequently used by system administrators to detect file changes made by other kinds of attack.
3. How to deal with viruses
3.1 What are the signs of viruses
Almost anything odd a computer may do, can blamed on a computer "virus," especially if no other explanation can readily be found. Many operating systems and programs also do strange things, therefore there is no reason to immediately blame a virus. In most cases, when an anti-virus program is then run, no virus can be found.
A computer virus can cause unusual screen displays, or messages - but most don't do that. A virus may slow the operation of the computer - but many times that doesn't happen. Even longer disk activity, or strange hardware behavior can be caused by legitimate software, harmless "prank" programs, or by hardware faults. A virus may cause a drive to be accessed unexpectedly and the drive light to go on but legitimate programs can do that also.
One usually reliable indicator of a virus infection is a change in the length of executable (*.com/*.exe) files, a change in their content, or a change in their file date/time in the Directory listing. But some viruses don't infect files, and some of those which do can avoid showing changes they've made to files, especially if they're active in RAM.
Another common indication of a virus infection is a change to the reassignment of system resources. Unaccounted use of memory or a reduction in the amount normally shown for the system may be significant.
In short, observing "something funny" and blaming it on a computer virus is less productive than scanning regularly for potential viruses, and not scanning, because "everything is running OK" is equally inadvisable.
3.2 What to do when you find viruses
First thing what you should do when you find virus is count to ten and stay cool. You should keep notes on what you do and write down what your virus programs and you computer tells you. If you are not sure what to do, you should call the administrator for future action. In some cases it is not good to start you computer from hard disk, because the virus may active and then do some harm.
Second, make sure that you should get sure that it is virus and what virus it is. It is important to know what kind of virus we are dealing with. Companies that make anti-virus programs knows what different viruses does and you can ether call them and ask about that viruses or you can go to their web pages and read about the virus you have.
When you start you computer you should do it from a clean (non-infected) floppy diskette and after that run the virus program. The boot diskette should be write protected so that virus can not infect the boot diskette too.
It is good to take a backup of the file that was infected. Virus program could do some damage to the file and that is why it is good to have a backup.
It is good to let you administrator to know about the virus, so viruses would not spread around so much. In TKK PC classes are protected by anti-virus program and that virus program reports to a person, responsible for virus protection.
4. How to protect from viruses
4.1 How to provide against viruses
Best way to protect yourself is to prepare your computer against viruses in advance. One way to protect you computer is to use updated anti-virus program. When you get an email attachment, you should first check the attachment by checking the file with a anti-virus program.
As an example in one unnamed Finnish company all information was mailed in email attachments. There was this one Word document that was mailed to everybody. That email attachment was infected by a macro virus. Everyone got the infected attachment and those who opened that attachment by Word got that CAP-macro virus. After all there were a few thousand infections. It took lots of time and money to clear that virus.
One can protect the computer against boot sector viruses by setting the BIOS to start from a hard disk rather than from a floppy disk.
Write protection is a good way to prohibit against viruses. Write protection works well in floppy disks, Windows NT and UNIX, but not that well in Windows and Windows95.
4.2 Different anti-virus programs
There are three different kind of anti-viral packages: activity monitors, authentication or change-detection software, and scanners. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. Commercial anti-viral programs have a combination of the above mentioned functions.
There are over ten good anti-viral programs. Most knows programs are Data Fellows F-Prot, EliaShim ViruSafe, ESaSS ThunderBYTE, IBM AntiVirus, McAfee Scan, Microsoft Anti-Virus, Symantec Norton AntiVirus and S&S Dr Solomon's AVTK.
On a day-to-day basis, the average corporation should be very interested in the scan time; these impact strongly the users, who should be scanning hard drives and disks on a daily basis. If a product takes too long to carry out these basic tasks, users will be unwilling to wait, and will stop using it. This is clearly undesirable - the perfect anti-virus product would be one which takes no time to run and finds all viruses.
5. Computer viruses in Finland
5.1 A questionnaire in Finland
Computer viruses are not uncommon in Finland Finland Finland
The knowledge of viruses was quite poor in all sectors: government, local authorities and companies. Respondents' knowledge of viruses was best in government organizations. How importance is virus prevention? The most positive attitude to virus prevention was in government organizations.
90% of the government organizations used some kind of anti-virus program, the same in local authority organizations was about 55 % and in companies it was over 60 %.
5.2 It is going to be a criminal act to make viruses in Finland
There is a new government bill about writing and spreading viruses. If the bill goes through, it is going to be a criminal act to make and spread viruses in Finland England , Italy , Netherlands , Switzerland and Russia
It is not punished to make or spread viruses in Finland Finland Espoo
Virus business in Finland
Computer viruses can also be used as a weapon. It is sad that America used computer viruses to slay and to make Iraq
6. How computer viruses have spread out around the world
Computer viruses are a problem all over the world. The following picture tells us how many times people have accessed Data Fellows, a company that makes anti-virus program F-Prot, more than 1,672,846 per month. It means that people are interesting in virus information. One reason is that people have to deal with viruses. Viruses in not only a problem in Finland and USA
Picture 4 Accesses per month
7. Computer viruses and network security
Computer viruses are one network security problem. A few people when asked if computer viruses can cause network security problems answered as follows.
Dave Kenney answered from National Computer Security Assoc: "There is one macro virus for MSWord that is received as an attachment to MS Mail messages. If a user has Word open, and double clicks to see the contents of the attachment, MS Word and the open document is infected. Then the document is mailed to three other users listed in the original user's address book."
"The only information that is leaked is the thing you should be worried about, your password! The trojan sends an E-mail to the hackers fake name and then he has your account at his hands," wrote CJ from American Online.
"Rarely, a Word macro virus may accidentally pick up some user information and carry it along; we know of one case where a macro virus "snatched" an innocent user macro that contained a password, and spread it far outside the company where that happened. In the future, however, it is entirely possible that more network-aware viruses will cause significant network security problems," wrote David Chess from IBM.
Marko Helenius wrote from Virus Research Unit, that there has been some cases when hackers have used trojan horses to gain information. There is one example in one finnish corporation where some money were transferred illegally a year ago. There has been a trojan in the University of Tampere
8. Conclusions
There are lots of viruses in the world and new viruses are coming up every day. There are new anti-virus programs and techniques developed too. It is good to be aware of viruses and other malware and it is cheaper to protect you environment from them rather then being sorry.
There might be a virus in your computer if it starts acting differently. There is no reason to panic if the computer virus is found.
It is good to be a little suspicious of malware when you surf in the Internet and download files. Some files that look interesting might hide a malware.
A computer virus is a program that reproduces itself and its mission is to spread out. Most viruses are harmless and some viruses might cause random damage to data files.
A trojan horse is not a virus because it doesn't reproduce. The trojan horses are usually masked so that they look interesting. There are trojan horses that steal passwords and formats hard disks.
Marco viruses spread from applications which use macros. Macro viruses spreads fast because people share so much data, email documents and use the Internet to get documents. Macros are also very easy to write.
Some people want to experiment how to write viruses and test their programming talent. At the same time they do not understand about the consequences for other people or they simply do not care.
Viruses mission is to hop from program to other and this can happen via floppy disks, Internet FTP sites, newsgroups and via email attachments. Viruses are mostly written for PC-computers and DOS environments.
Viruses are not any more something that just programmers and computer specialist have to deal with. Today everyday users have to deal with viruses.
References
[4] Koskinen P., Tietokonevirusten teko ja levitys aiotaan säätää rangaistavaksi, Helsingin Sanomat 12.11.1997
[12] Proceedings of the Seventh International Virus Bulletin Conference, The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco USA, 2-3 October 1997 <http://www.virusbtn.com>
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