Ethical Hacking
'Times are a changing' - nowadays more than ever this is true. Companies and individuals rely more and more on the Internet and let's be honest: the Internet is not a safe place, not by a slim chance. I'm not even talking about viruses, which on their own are a pretty big threat. What I am going on about are hackers. You know, the evil guys who want all your money and your credit card numbers.
Don't take it personally, no hacker has a grudge especially against you or your company, but unless you take preemptive measures to be on the front line, then you are at risk. There is a chance that you are at risk right now. This is the sort of thing where you cannot possibly think "this only happens to other people" - well, think again, it happened to electrical power plants in the US.
Are you convinced that you need to do something about it yet? I hope you are.
So what's the whole idea you ask? Well, the idea is being ahead of the hackers, it is thinking like an hacker so that you can be preemptive and patch the holes in your organization. Do you know how store-owners set up motion sensors near windows that can easily be broken? The idea here is just the same.
This concept is called ethical hacking. You are taught on the ways, tricks and subterfuges of hackers so that you can have a different insight on your company. Believe it or not, but the biggest flaw in computer systems is actually us, the users. We are easily duped and deceived by people pretending to be who they aren't, and this has reached astronomical levels. The most blatant case nowadays is when you get an e-mail that pretends to be a legitimate e-mail from your bank, from a work-mate or simply people who would be innocently sending you pictures.
Well my fellow Internauts, no enough care is much care these days. The EC-Council provides you with the security training that you need not only to help yourself and your company, but also to help other companies. This of course is an investment that can get a return flowing in so in the end, it is all benefits! This isn't all; if you are trained in IT Security, your job opportunities simply tenfold. Is that not what everyone wants at a time of recession and crisis?
The iClass by the EC-Council has the following categories:
-Security Fundamentals
-Ethical Hacking
-Penetration Testing
-Computer Forensics
-Disaster Recovery
-Secure Programming
So whether you are a newbie (hey, there's no shame about that!) and you need the fundamentals, or whether you fancy a job at a crime lab doing scientific forensics for a living, the iClass covers it all. You just take your pick!
If you are interested, and here's hoping that you won't miss this great opportunity, then here are some links that will help you on the EC-Council site.
Program Site:
http://iclass.eccouncil.org/
Different Certifications:
http://iclass.eccouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=91
The CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) :
http://www.eccouncil.org/ceh.htm
Certification Center:
http://www.isc2.org/
CompTIA:
http://www.comptia.org/
LG KM900 – You’re doing it wrong
As the newest LG KM900 is released, I can't help the thought: LG, you're doing it wrong.
Honestly, I do not feel motivated to write about this phone simply because it is not aimed at mainstream; whoever tells me otherwise is clearly missing on the whole point. Put it this way, a phone isn't really just a phone anymore these days. The market requires customisable and flexible phones, such phones that can be expanded. What is the point of having a next-gen, touch-screen phone if afterwards you can't extend it with third-party applications and functionality?
In my humble opinion, it is safe to say that nowadays, a phone without:
1) Windows Mobile
or
2) Symbian OS
or
3) iPhone OS
is just doomed to extinction and failure. I know I wouldn't buy anything outside that. (I am a proud owner of an iPhone 3G by the way)
Google Summer of Code 2009 – Part 2
Waaaaaaait for it, waaaaait for it....... YES PEOPLE! I was accepted for Google Summer of Code 2009 
This will be my smallest post ever but that is all I have to say 
I am friggin' ecstatic!
Windows 7 RC out – maybe
Alright ladies and gentlemen, the announcement is out: the first (and hopefully only) Release Candidate of the newest, mind blowing, operating system from the folks at Redmond is out. Or is it really? There's a Microsoft Partners' page announcing the event and I say that that's as reliable as it gets.
According to said page, the RC should be available right now for MSDN and TechNet subscribers but well... it ain't. The same page also announces that a global (and I guess, public) release will be done on May 5th which is actually pretty close in time.
My guess is that we just sit and wait, and that within the day, this RC will be made available on the MSDN downloads page. Or so I hope.
Finally, this release is more coherent with Ed Bott's speculative timeline over at ZDNet which places the Windows 7 RTM release on late August of 2009. At this point, we just wait and see - being a 7 Beta user, I am happy and borderline ecstatic to get a RC release so soon. Way to go, Microsoft!
Courtesy of Neowin.net
Google Summer of Code 2009
I know this post comes a little late and all but I still had to mention it on my blog. It turns out I am repeating the stunt again. After being turned down by Google last year, I decided I would try to apply once more this year.
Since last year I still had the change to get acquainted and get the logic of Apache Derby, I thought it would be wise to apply for the same project, and so I did. After all I do have an education on database management and also on Java, which are key for a project like Apache Derby. On top of it all there's also my tutor from last year; despite not having been chosen I still had a tutor who helped me all the way through. Kathey Marsden agreed to be my tutor again this year and that is a plus for me because I know upfront what I can expect.
So, the application period is over and my application is submitted. The results should be out on April 20th and I have my fingers crossed for me to get picked