CISCO hires me…!!

I attended Cisco On-campus placement procedure on 11 th  September 2012, at Amrita School of Engineering, Bangalore Campus. As per the read information of Cisco recruitment, the rounds were familiar. Cisco is a one of the best product based company one can ever get into. Thanks to almighty for providing a wonderful opportunity for me to get into Cisco.

 The day began with pre-placement talk by the company. It was followed by a written test. As expected the exam consisted of aptitude questions, technical questions, and electronics questions. It was 50 questions, 60 minute long exam. One good at aptitudes and technical can easily crack the test. The electronics part is not to be much bothered, because if you are good at other parts, this will naturally follow. Out of some 200 people attended, they shortlisted 33 students.

The next round was interview. The panel consisted of two members. The interview was surprisingly HR oriented rather than technical. They asked me to introduce myself, about Cisco and all. When I explained about Cisco, panel responded to me back my saying ‘You too have done the home work. right?’. I mixed my elegant smile along with courage to answer a bold “Yes”. They read the resume fast and I was waiting for their Data Structure questions. But he asked me to explain what is data structure. Then he asked me to explain my projects. He went into its database part. I took papers and explained each and every table clearly. Then other interviewer asked me the trickiest question ‘What post would you choose if given a turn ? ’ (there was actually two posts for which they were recruiting  IT analyst and IT engineer). I answered IT analyst and argued that my experiences with project gives me enough confidence for the post. Then they looked at my projects and enquired whether I have clear idea of post to which I am speaking for. This confused me and explained the post details according to me as an IT analyst. He corrected me by saying that it is purely a non-technical post. He then asked me ‘How confident will you be at such a non-technical post, being so good at technical aspects ? ’. I smiled and told, In that case , I can try for the post of IT Engineer. They smiled. I was a little bit worried on this answer of mine, because you don’t know how your interviewer’s take this view point. Then they asked about my present semester topics and their significance in Industry, especially Data Mining. At last interviewers asked me, ‘how you rate yourself in this interview?’. I frankly told them that ‘I feel I could perform well and could even more if I didn’t have done a switching in domain’. They smiled and conveyed that they have done with interview.

We were asked to wait for the results till 2:00 pm. The  HR manager took some 7 of us to a room. He then asked a girl to attend next round interview. Then  he took a seat and conveyed that we’re going to have a discussion on topic ‘Corruption – can it be removed ’. We had a good discussion with everyone performing well. Me didn’t expected my entry into this round and could perform at the best of I can. After discussion, HR manager had confirmed details of job post, location of placement etc. He also wanted to confirm from us that we don’t prefer higher studies. Surprisingly, HR manager conveyed that they have done with their rounds and results will be announced later.

They shortlisted some 10 students from Amrita, where my name was not there. But after one week, I received a mail confirming my full time offer. It has been like a dream come true when I received this mail and I thank almighty for providing me this chance to share my successful story of Cisco recruitment.

Web Applications Development

For beginners of Web development,my biggest advice is to understand HTML and once you think you're done with html basics,move on to other wings of CSS,PHP etc.Here I would like to share my experiences with web development and the journey which I think will help any beginner in Web development to land successfully int their projects.

Two years before, I was wondering how are the web applications been build and maintained ! Then I began to start from its basic element -HTML. Of course to get a good grip on any web designed application , you need to be good at HTML.So I understood the basics tag elements, implementation of forms, styling and table features in HTML. The base at HTML will certainly will contribute towards your progress in CSS. A sound knowledge in CSS is helpful in designing your own outline in web designing. The concepts of div and customizing the elements, will lead to custom outline design of web page.  

To advance in dynamic environment of web page, better to know javascript. The functionality feature along with hidden code feature, helps to develop a very good application platform. The form validity feature is the functionality i really liked in javascript. So now once you come through HTML, CSS, JavaScript- i would say you have paved your platform for web applications.

Now to go a step ahead is the wonderful language of PHP. Php acts as a link between your application and and data storage.MySql comes handy once you look for a back end support. Acting as a base, mysql extends the feature to create tables,alter it,update it and many more features which helps in data storage. The basic things to learn in mysql are to design- how to create tables,adding constraints,insert into table, updating tables, retrieving the contents from table based on view and constraints.

Now php supports html inside it .Its really easy to embed html inside a php page.Just put ur each lines of html into a  echo ""  statement.

So easy I guess to change your html page to php page. Now like javascript , php helps in  hiding the code content from being viewed. So it offers security compared to html.Also Php helps to add queries to its page, which helps in acting as a interface between application and tables of mysql platform and helps in transfer of data.

Below is a basic php code of how to connect to sql and retrieve contents from it , verify and step ahead.The code basically connects with mysql, retrieves data and thus takes action on basis of it.



php
$conn=mysql_connect("localhost","root","pwd");//enter password of mysql instead of pwd
if(!$conn)
{
die('COUDNOT CONNECT SUCCESSFULLY:'.mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname",$conn);
$query="SELECT * FROM ACCOUNT WHERE USER='abc' AND PASS='passed' ";
$res1=mysql_query($query,$conn);
$num1=mysql_num_rows($res1);//retrieves number of available tuples corresponding to query

if($num1 != null)
{
}

mysql_close($rohi);
?>

Similarly i would suggest to learn the basic php code of Inserting the contents into table , displaying the contents of a table , which will help you to achieve almost 80% of your tasks in PHP.The basic starting of all these features will be same as above.

So now for people loving Java and JSP, I would suggest all the steps you followed in PHP is equally applicable in java too.Also for lovers of Oracle,SQL, and M' Access , the contents I mentioned about MySql is equally applicable.

For Java the code for connectivity will differ as the example given below:

import java.sql.*;

import javax.sql.*;

class DBConn

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

try

{

Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

Connection conn=DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:odbc:db_pwd");//

//code for inserting contents

PreparedStatement ps=conn.prepareStatement("insert into ACCOUNT values(?,?,?)");

ps.setString(1,"abc");

ps.setString(2,"pass");

ps.setInt(3,100);

System.out.println("Rows Inserted"+ps.executeUpdate());

//code to retrieve contents

Statement stm=conn.createStatement();

ResultSet rs=stm.executeQuery("select * from stud");

while(rs.next())

{

System.out.println(rs.getString(1));

System.out.println(rs.getString(2));

System.out.println(rs.getInt(3));

}

}catch(SQLException e)

{

System.out.println("Exception" +e);

}

catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe){

System.out.println("" + cnfe);

}

}

} 

Now using jsp, we can integrate HTML,CSS along with Java for advanced features.Same like php, here to embed HTML into JSP, we just need to embed html into a statement called  out.println();

Similarly the concept of Servlets helps in modularizing the components. So you can take PHP of JSP as the front end of your projects and build on its appearance and functionalities. Meanwhile we can fix mysql/oracle/Ms Access as back end and work on how data are normalized into tables and adding constraints properly to maintain data security.

To begin with basic web development, its very easy once you think you've got enough basics of HTML.For me, HTML have lead me to a point of confidence and passion to learn the other parts of Web applications. I would personally suggest sites like w3schools will definitely help any one in web application development field

Some of the common workable web application projects include student-management system,hospital management system, event managements systems etc.

Anybody who have queries on above contents do post your queries and I'll try my level best to answer your queries.

How can i check intrusion into my system using firewalls?

I was recently shocked to find that I had downloaded a huge heap of data on a single day as reported by my college authorities. I checked my update history, checked my system updates , but still I could only found was just MB size. So how did i downloaded  GB sizes from net???

The very next day, I found one of my other classmate too reporting to have downloaded huge sized data from same wifi. Now I began to think of some intruder being outplaying us.

This made me look into the deeper side of intrusion. I heard from many that there is been a concept called Nmapping, where  your ports and even MAC can be spoofed by others. This was a shocking fact for me. It was then very easy for me to think how would have an intruder peeped into my system.But the most fascinating thing I interested  to know was 'how would have INTRUDER done so??? '.

First thing I did was to install a firewall to observe the activities within my system.I downloaded  and set a firewall. As soon as I activated the security, things were coming in my way. I found there had been a software called Port Locker, which was installed in my laptop recently, and it have been blocked my firewall.  Further I detected some 179 intrusions in next one hour !!

The intrusion attempt went to almost 600 around next 3 hours. Then I observed the details of target of intrusion.I found all these were targeted to some folder called port Locker.I was little bit concerned about the issue and approached college authorities.They thoroughly checked system and found that there had been a malicious software called as 'hotspot', which in turns sucks the entire band width of wifi and can be manipulated very easily.So GB size can never be an issue.

Looking into wikipedia, i understood of what hotspot is  "A 'poisoned/rogue hotspot' refers to a free public hotspot set up by identity thieves or other malicious individuals for the purpose of "sniffing" the data sent by the user. Such identity thieves will have access to the MAC address of the connecting terminal, which individually identifies the hardware. By examining packets sent, they may attempt to decipher passwords, login names, or other sensitive information."

Further due to thorough analysis, i found lots of unwanted applications and add-ons like yontoo, which was detected as suspicious by my anti-virus. It took a good change on my system and its performance after most of these applications were once removed.

So be aware of such identity thieves around you,even in your same LAN/Wifi and do try the level best to get rid of issues like this. What i found myself to be secure afterwards was,having a good firewall and mechanism to detect the intrusions will always give you an upper hand in being betrayed by these poisoned hotspots in your personal computer/laptops.

Security Code N Nokia??

 

Havent you all felt its difficult to remember the security code in Nokia phones ? Its too easy to reset the security code in your phone with the following steps , hardly taking 5 minutes. I recently got stuck with my phone's security problem and solved by following steps. Trust me , it really works. The only thing you have to take care is to save your contacts lists into any PC or device prior to all these steps, since we are trying to bring the phone memory to initial phase.

Tools Required :
- Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)
- Nokia PC Suite
- Data cable

Reset Security Code

Steps:
1. Install Nokia PC Suite
2. Install Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)
3. Connect your phone to your PC with data cable. If the phone prompts, choose default mode or PC Suite mode (DON’T OPEN PC SUITE)
4. Open Nemesis Service suite (NSS)
5. Click scan for new devices button (on top right corner of NSS)
6. Click Phone Info button.
7. Click Scan button.
8. Under Power Mode, click Local and then click Change button. At this part, your phone should restart, and you should see the text Local mode across your phone screen.
9. Under Production Data Edit, click Read button. The textboxes should now contain values.
10. Check the Enable check box beside Product Code.
11. Click Write button.
12. SelectTools button on top
13. Click Factory Settings tab
13. Tick Full Factory button and click Reset button.
14. Final step, go back to Phone Info and click Normal then Change.
Now your security code should be 12345.

Now everything will be as initial phase.It really work.

Now to Regain Your Security Code

Steps:

1. Install Nokia PC Suite
2. Install Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)
3. Connect your phone to your PC with data cable. If the phone prompts, choose default mode or PC Suite mode (DON’T OPEN PC SUITE)
4. Open Nemesis Service suite (NSS)
5. Click scan for new devices button (on top right corner of NSS)
6. Click Phone Info button.
7. Click Scan button.
8. Click Permanent Memory tab.
9. Click Read button.
10. It will read the permanent memory file and save it on the disk at following path.
C:\Program Files\NSS\Backup\pm\.pm
11. Open the .pm file using Notepad.
12. Now scroll until field [308], and on the 5th Record (5=) your security code is saved at there.
13. Like 5=31323334350000000000 (Example)
14. Abandon the red fonts.
15. So, 12345 is your security code. (Example)

Now, here is how to reset your security code.

Counter strike spray images-how to create?

How to make counterstrike spray from an image?

By ROHITH.O

For making simple spray for counterstrike 1.6 , we just require some image editing software. We need not worry much about its quality and trust me we can

1. First of all, select an image and open it with any image editing software , say Microsoft Paint.

   2.Then resize the image into 64 x 64 pixels :-

   2. 1. For this select the resize option

   2. Then remove maintain aspect ratio and resize into 64 px x 64 px

   
   

   
   

3. Now save the image as a monochromatic image-say 8ball1.

4. Now again save the image as 256 colour bit map type image , say 8ball1.bmp.
5. This picture can now be loaded into your counter set up folder,i.e, counter-strike/valve/logos/8ball1.bmp
And Now when you open counter strike options, we can observe:-

web security- a technical paper by Rohith.O

WEB SECURITY: SAFE AT HANDS?

ROHITH.O

Abstract:

The paper discuss about the web security system available now a days around us. The paper briefly travels through the problems that a computer might have to face. One among it is web security. We discuss regarding the curative steps in case of other failures of computer system except web security. The paper clearly describes the intentions behind the security attacks, their method of approach, their traps and methods by which we can resist such traps. We discuss the world’s some of the common heard web threats and their method of approach towards the scenario. The paper discusses the latest available technical support regarding the web security, helping tips which one should never forget to use to secure themselves in avoiding the potential threats of web security.

Index terms:

Secure Sockets Layer, Cryptography, Symmetric key Algorithms, Secure Electronic Transactions.

1. INTRODUCTION

In the modern era of computers and internet, the security to internet is a relevant issue to be watched out. Internet have become a part of life for majority of this world with in these decade. Hence an issue which affects all around the world as far as an computer world is concerned may be web security. From the moment of creation of computer softwares, many brain have been worked in a similar manner to crack it down. Similarly Internet is also been prone to plenty of such threats available now a days. The recent detection of Bom sabado virus in social community website ‘orkut’ is one of such instants , which show the threat posed by an user in utilizing the day today’s web. The only thing which keep alive such manipulation is the cyber law.Internet is believed to be full of anarchy and a system of law and regulation therin seems contradictory . However , cyberspace is being governed by a sytem of law and regulation called Cyber law. Cyber law is a generic term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of internet and the issues concerning any activity of netizens and others, in cyberspace comes within the ambit of Cyberlaw . The growth of Electronics commerce has propelled the need for vibrant and effective regulatory mechanisms which would further strengthen the legal infrastructure .

In spite of these strict and hard laws of cyber wing , the hackers and cracker’s activities have never gone below a limit and hence comes the necessity of self defense. For every action on the internet , we should be aware of the problems behind the screen. The main reason for the web hacking is the unawareness of users about the techniques and lack of experience in detecting the traps. So we here discuss , the main problems faced by the user, the actions to secure the web use, the actions which should be avoided to be safe etc. The currently available technologies can secure widerange of security threats and hence clearly help us in being safe, but at the same time there are many other techniques by which we can secure our part of web.

2. DATA WAREHOUSING

1. Computer security: Basic issues

To begin with web security, we must be aware of the potential threat, a system is subjected to. The security of hardware and software using locks or tags are the first priority. Secondly, preventing damage through system failure (software or hardware) and preventing damage through malicious intentional actions (security attacks, theft). The recent sensational Bom sabado virus belongs to this category of action. The threats to a system includes power outage, corrupted disks, hard drive crashes, at the hardware side and Software crash, Software does not perform as intended/desired at the software side.

Some of the possible methods to cure the intensity of such risks include keeping up back up process before the risk. The back up process include Level-zero backup (copy of the original system when first installed), Full backup (copy of every file on the computer), Incremental backup (copy of all modified files).

Security risks have greatly increased due to the Internet; no computer is an island. We focus on security issues related to the Internet, but this will also include basic security for the user’s computer.

2. Attacker’s aim & target

An attacker, who breaks the web security of system, definitely will be aiming a task. Here we would like to coin the term hackers and crackers, rather than attacker’s in general sense. The crackers are the malicious programmers who break into secure systems whereas Hackers are more interested in gaining the knowledge about computer systems and possibly using this knowledge for playful pranks. The pejorative sense of hacker is becoming more prominent largely because the popular press has co-opted the term to refer to individuals who gain unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing and corrupting data. Now a day’s among professional programmers, depending on how it used ,the term can be either complimentary or derogatory ,although it is developing an increasingly derogatory connotation .Some of such possible target include: Scanning the system for confidential documents, corrupt information on the computer, Modify the operating system by creating security loopholes, steal credit card numbers etc. The information so gained may be utilised for a bargain, make profit, or can be used to create a lot of agonies in future. The attacker can even block access the user’s interface. So the data stored in any PC becomes a source of market for attackers.

3. Mistakes left by users

The common mistakes committed by user at web are used greatly by the hackers. The user must be very well aware of such mistakes before practicing web security techniques. When we use a website of an unauthorized dealer for setting up an account with an online shop, purchasing tickets via the web, even simple demographic information may be sufficient for identification (e.g. ZIP-code + birthday). Further, various applications and network programs create log files of various activities the user performs. This property of applications can be used to keep track of a user and his activities, which in turn will benefit the hackers. There are many other applications available in web where files on remote web server, contain the details, whenever a page is downloaded. Many other secured systems like Mail logs created by mail server at least contain to address and from address, which are all useful data for a good hacker. The cookie containing the details of the server is a potential threat for an user and an additional bonus for hackers. Now a days , the common web bugs can be simply programmed in HTML, which are capable of alerting a specified web server every time the page is viewed. This is useful for gathering visitor’s statistics , but when used by hackers ,the mission changes. Using these bugs, they are capable of reading e-mails, send personal information encoded in URL.

4. Methods of security

Web security has not been arised as a major issue due to its safe methods in tackling the hackers. Having the basic knowledge of how the hackers sneak into our system, we can prevent them doing so by following a custom when utilizing the web. First among such custom is to pick up a good password and not writing it down. A password is better if we add some non guessable random alphabets, in both small case and capital cases and includes some sort of numbers into it.

The writing down of a password can adversely affect an user if a physical theft or leaves a chance for others to read out the password, and hence the security is at stake.

Authentication is the term which describes the authority of user to use an application. This authentication can be of different types: What you know, Where you are, what you are, what you have. The type what you know may consist of different passwords and secret keys one know, by which the application can verify the authenticity. The type where you are consist of verifying the IP address at which the application been accessed and hence the unauthorized user from other IP address can be restricted .The type what you are consist of biometric transfer of data which clearly authenticate the user. The fingerprint sensors, face detectors, voice detectors are some biometric standards that keep alive this type of authentication. The type what you have may ask for secure tokens for confirming the authenticity. If any of these trustable authentications are utilized then the chances been hacked or cracked can be reduced.

Some of the after control options after the authentication are to lock the system after three consecutive failure of authentication, removal of easy-guessable passwords .Now on analyzing some of recent developments regarding the password stealing is common password by teacher-Used by students to get their credit score information. The most unfortunate part of such password stealing is the cash theft by an English accountant uses co-workers’ password to steal $17 million for gambling. Again in another case, Helpdesk employee uses passwords of accredit card data base to sell credit reports to Nigerian scammers.

5. Preventive measures

Now by knowing this much about web security, we should be cautious of variety of items going around us and will be managing them in a different manner. So here we try to analyze many of such situations where we should utilize our knowledge on field of web security. First among them is to avoid spam and junk mails. Users in modern era are unaware of such mails and discard the security. Further, e-mail address of a particular user should be known to only his genuine friends/users, never try to put your e-mail address on your home page. Taking out e-mail id out of online directories would be another safe task to compete hacking. Next, one should always maintain awareness while using public mailing lists and try not to post to public mailing lists. Picking of an unusual username, which the hacker’s can’t guess from your blog/website would be another safe move.

Now to analyze whether an e-mail is spam or not, plenty of soft wares are available now a days in web. For instant: Al technology, confirmation e-mails etc. These antispam services helps one to keep safe the mailing part on the web. Antispam softwares does the same function as there in the web, but it runs on the computer and mail stays where it belongs, and hence system is also secured of such junk mails and its consequences. As we discussed earlier, cookies are a threat to user at some instants, we can utilize the browser options to refuse cookies and perform the surfing. This however is going to help you in diverting from the path of being hacked. Further, secure E-mail senders should maintain a custom to send encrypted messages before the actual sending of safe documents. This ensures the safe traversal of data among the sender and receiver.

Now the safest methods to protect our IP address been hacked include anonymous browsing. Using of a public terminal like that of a public library or internet cafe will always help in securing our IP address of personal systems. since being a public terminal ,the hackers can’t keep track of a particular system and its IP address for securing data and being a common terminal ,ensures ,the user don’t keep much of secured data in such systems .As discussed , the use of anonymous web browsing services will definitely benefit an user in working as proxy servers, and hence security is ensured.

Recent development in the field of Web security includes the introduction of Secure Sockets layer. It uses a cryptographic protocol for sending information over the web. Using this technology , comes to its best when used with web pages :https://…… Browsers will tell whether the current page/ document is “secure”. This would be helpful for those who use credit cards for booking flights etc., since they can understand the potential threat behind the web pages utilizing this SSL technology.

Now on getting professional to computer science and engineering field, we have secured encoding and decoding process. Use of symmetric key for encoding and decoding the content is highly recommended. The availability of large number of possible keys makes it difficult to crack. Further this encoding ensures high level of secrecy. For instant,

Using an 80 – bit key, and assuming that 1 million kegs per second can be searched out, it will take approximately 38 billion years to try all keys. This is something out of human capability and hence so secured.

The common algorithms used for this purpose include DES, Blowfish, RC2, RC4, and RC5.

Another recent introduction into the field of web security is Secure Electronic Transactions (SET).This is an open encryption and security specification designed to protect credit card transactions on the internet. This has highly been useful for e-marketing and hence transactions can be securely satisfied. Using this technology, many of the important threats to web security is solved, including Confidentiality of Information, Cardholder account authentication, Merchant authentication.

In spite of all these available technology now a days , still we can see plenty of hackers and crackers attacking the cyber community, creating a lot of troubles , looting of money from banks, corporate transactions been freeze, creation of new virus and such junk mails been increasing in today’s scenario. This ensures a statement ‘There is no perfect security.’ But it doesn’t mean we can be safe, still, we can be aware of the security risks, and of some of the ways to improve security.

3. REFERENCES

1. Computer Science And Engineering Archive- Amrita Digital Library

http://vidya/cs/main/computer/

2. An overview on c++ ,Sumita Arora

3. IP Security: A Brief Survey, Raj jain

4. www.wikipedia.org

5. www.google.com

6. Authentication and Access Control

7. National level Technical Symposium, kancheepuram