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Archive for January, 2011

The main ” thinking part” of  the modern computer is  called ” microprocessor”. It   is just  of the  size of a shirt button and is  encased in a postage stamp- size frame and  contains millions of submicroscopic  parts called transistors. These transistors can conduct electricity only in one direction and so can be used to switch on or switch off currents  a million times per second. Such a “superfast”  speed is required in modern computers.  Due to logic circuits(mathematical circuits) constructed with these transistors  a computer  can  solve  problems like 2+3=?,10-7=?, 4×5=?,30/8=? at the speed of a million problems in one second!  The newest  computers can do about a thousand million operations per second!

 The reason for such speed is this. Electric currents which flow at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second do the mathematical work in the computers at such terrific speed. A computer’s brain  needs a superfast clock and a superfast switch. The transistor  is that switch   and is also used to assemble tiny ” clock circuits” which can produce extremely accurate clock signals. In coordination with the clock signal which  divides a second into a hundred  million tiny time units  all the mathematical  operations inside computer take place.  The step by step operations  going on in the  electronic parts inside computer fall in line with the pulses of the clock signals  like the movement of soldiers in a military drill( The pulses are produced at the rate of millions of pulses per second).  The transistor can work as a perfect switch because it alows current in one direction only  and stops current when it enters in reverse direction.

 Just as we use bricks to build  walls,rooms, canals,cupboards and  then entire multistoreyed houses we use” transistor” as the brick  to build all the” thinking parts” of the computer. First the parts called “logic gates”  using 20 or 30 transistors are built. . In each logic gate  a ” voltage”(current at a certain fixed level)  designated as “  0 ” or “  1 “  level   can  stay for a long time. This is made possible  by making  the tiny electric  currents circle indefinitely inside the logic gates like water in a  whirlpool.  These “logic gates” are used to build   very fast data- forwarding parts called “registers”.The register contains a row of 8,16,32 or even 64 logic gates like police barracks. If  number of logic gates in a “register”  is large the calculating  power of computer also is large.  The primmary  unit for data storing has eight serial chambers . Millions of such data storage units exist in a  most important part called “main memory” inside the computer..”Main memory “is  like a big township with serial numbers for each data storage unit just like house numbers .

We have noted that the” register” is the smallest unit of data processing and exists in side the “processors”. The processors are the   real decision taking parts and are just big groups of registers .Each register  specalizes in processing a certain category of data  There are many processors inside the “microprocessor” each working like an office or bank .doing specialized service. the registers  dispose off incomoing and outgoing data  within a processor very fast. The register is  like a clerk  in a  bank or office.  In contrast a” processor” containing a few dozen registers  inside  is actually a specialized logic circuit.  It is is like a government office, bank.post office ,hospital,police station etc where a citizen can get a particular type of service. There is   chief   processor called the” microprocessor” overseeing work of all the other processors inside the computer.. This is  just like  a princpal  of a college guiding and controlling other proffessors.Thus we have one ” processor”  for mathematical work,  one for networking of  computers and one for  monitoring the  internal electric circuits of computer every second  etc.

. The   different processors  containing highly specialized registers  can do complcated  mathematical work, move data between different locations, process data for printing , rearrange words ,sentences and paragraphs in a page , adding color and editing color,searching for particular data in a big database etc.   Any of these works is done step by step extremely  accurately at terrific speed at the rate of  millions of steps per second. . The set of standardised  software instructions prepared by expert software enginners  in coded computer languages  are recorded on magnetic and optical discs.Such recorded discs are also sealed inside computer at time of manufacture. Such a bundle of discs sealed inside computer is called   “hard disk”.

These instructions written on discs in specially coded computer language run into tens of thousands of lines or even hundreds of thousands of lines.When we switch on the modern personal computer  and give a special command(i.e. coded language instruction) to it the software which we want is automatically copied from the hard disk to the “main memory”.   The “microprocessor” is the heart and brain of  the modern  computer. It is made of millions of transistors  and is actually a huge city of thousands of  smaller processors( the  decision making units) and millions of data storing units( like houses in a city where data are stored in unit sizes for further processing). This entire “city” exists on a single thin silicon chrystalof the size of a shirt button!

. The tiny transistors on the silicon crystal are  invisible to the naked eye and exist in three dimentional layers in geometrical patterns. Most  of them are interconnected by submicroscopic “wires” which are themselves not real wires but electronic designs also printed in neat geometrical patterns . The “inhabitants” in the rooms(logic gates) of these “memory houses” are the millions and billions of 0′s and 1′s.  (The 0′s and 1′s stay for only a limited time and new 0′s and 1′s come in their place in the next instant.) The “memory houses” too  like real houses have “house numbers” which are recognised by the computer programme .

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But let us think of the times which we can call the” stone age” of computers i.e the period of  the very first electronic computers ( built with  about twenty thousand hot filament diode valves in each calculator)  I used the word “stone age” with great regard and affection for these old electronic wonders which did the mathematical work at hitherto unheard of speeds..The first electronic computer like  ENIAC( 1946),  the EDSAC(1946),  UNIVAC(1951) were no doubt very efficiet giants but were  very   clumsy compared to the cute  little  personal computers  of today. The old computers  faltered every few hours  due to fusing of  dozens of  diodes every hour. Twenty four hour airconditioning was required.

As already mentioned the total  equipment  in each such computer required a dozen or more almirahs and required  a big airconditioned hall  for each computer. But they were magical machines which proved the scientific theory behind electronic computers and could do complicated mathematical calculations in  less than  thousandth of a second. There were hardly half a dozen such huge experimental installations each costing tens of millions of dollars.research on them was commissined only by the U.S.Defence department . The U.S.Army required almost  instantaneous mathematical data for sending american missiles in to the sky to attack incoming enemy rockets and destroy them in the skies.

( Of course radar signals were sent continuosly day and night every day to detect incoming enemy rockets by studying the reflected radio signals.Then the computer calculated within fraction of second the trjectory of incoming rocket,the required trajectory for the outgoing american rocket ,required quantity of fuel,engine speed etc  in thousandth of a second!)

.The diode is the first  electronic devise which could be used as a very fast switching devise required in computers of first generation.. The diode could switch on or switch off small electric currents million times per second! It proved by its fast  switching power that electric currents  can be used to create fast mathematical machines. Each of these electronic giants perhaps looked like the famous  ” Time Machine” of H.G.Wells in science fiction with  hundreds of  switches,red/green/yellow indicator bulbs ,kilometers of  connecting wire,the  beep beep sounds  and blinking lights

. All the inputting of data(sending data to computer’s brain) was  perhaps done with the help of  rows of electric switches  and the outputting  (getting answers out of computer) was done perhaps by decoding with help of photo electric detectors The  output  data punched on  fast rotating paper tape .both the input and output were  in the form of long rows of 0′s and 1′s.  Only expert engineers and mathematicians could decode them. The  bizarre endless strings of “0”  and “1″s confused even the best electrical engineers and mathematicians sitting at the computer..

An interesting fact is that the calculating power of a pocket calculator of today is more than that of any of these ” first generation”  computers! The reason why they are classified as the first generation is that they used the “electronic parts” called  diodes (as in radio and tv)  and not the electro- mechanical parts like mechnical wheels  rotated by electric motors..

But still the computer was a very mysterious scientific device whose secrets were known only to big army generals,proffessors and seniormost engineers. Untill the great “transistor ” was invented and its great potentialities to replace the diode valves in computers were proved by engineers and scientist the computer did not  attract  the attention of ordinary citizens ,college and university students etc

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The invention of” transistor” was indeed a great event in history of computors.It is also the basic buiding block in radios,tvs,recording devices,radars etc.  The transistor is nothing but a tough solid semiconductor chrystal of the size of a sand particle.  After its electronic properties and great potentiality became known it almost entirely replaced the diode volve in computers,radios,tvs and all other electronic eqipment. The  lilliputian Transistor became  the ” brick” and basic building block for the assebly of logic circuits,registers and processors . It completely drove out the big hot filament diode valve in a few years. By 1955 thousands of transistors were connected into the electronic circuits of the computer and they performed exactly like the big hot filament diode valve .

The tiny transistor simply revolutionized the architecture of electronic computers. In the first days single individual transistors were used  to construct the logic circuits,registers and processors in computers just as in radios,tvs and other electronic eqipment.Individually and singly. the “  transistors”  were  connected into the electric circuits  of computers by means of thin wires called “cat’s whiskers” firmly attached to the  transistor and outwardly visible.

Perhaps ten thousand to twenty thousand  big size individual transistors  were used in a computer with outwardly visible wire connections. These  clumsy fully transistorised computers are called the ” second generation computers”. These computers were also quite big  in size though not so big as the unwieldy” first generation” computers of 1950s made from diode valves     We can say that only since the second  generation  the  shape and  standard basic architecture of  the computer became clear and its  great potentiaities   were properly understood. The second generation machine soon attracted the attention of engineers,technicians,mathematicians,  businessmen etc. But it was a clumsy machine by modern standards.

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 At about  1965  other extremely significant and path breaking developments took place in transistor technology.  Entire sets of  transistors along with the electrical parts called  resistances and capacitors  required in every electronic eqipment like radio, tv  and computer were “grown” on a single thin silicon crystal  by chemical and heating processes.Even the electric leads (in place of wire connections) were also “grown” on the silicon crystal base.  This technology is called “integrated circuit” technology. In the begining only a group of ten or twenty transistors arranged in a particular logic circuit and its  electric connections ,resistances,capacitors etc were   ” grown” on a single silicon chip. Such basic units were used to assemble registers,processors etc.

Later  far  bigger sized “integrated circuits “  were grown on a single silicon crystal  successfully   The computers built using  the “integrated circuits”  were very sturdy and also quite small  resembling a  big size tv set. Such computers consumed only low quantities of electrical energy because like telephones they worked on low voltages like 10 volts and 15 volts.They did not heat up during functioning and worked for hours together without any break . What is more , the computing speed and memory capacity increased many times and cost decreased .( because silicon chrystals were very cheap  compared to the hot filament diodes.) . The  technologies  of today can “grow”  upto twenty million  transistors on a sigle silicon chip. This resulted in  increasing the processing capacity hundreds of thousands of times. The new technology showed the potential of a modern transistor based computer.

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The great American scientist and mathematicia  Dr.John  Von Neumann  can be called father of modern computer. It was he  who proposed in 1946 construction of “stored program” electronic calculators and proposed a detailed internal architecture consisting of a “main memory” from  which data and instructions(formulas) would go to the registers inside the main processor and necessory mathematical circuits would be switched on and answers  flowed back to a section of main memory.  Every  register played a predesignated role inside the processor. The main processor  processed  data only as per the instruction set loaded by the programmer on the main memory

.After  the incorporation of a seperate part called “main memory” in  the giant electronic calculators of those days,we can say that the modern electronic computer was born. But the entire computer was constructed only with hot filament diode valves. It is wonderful to note that even the latest computers  still  follow the  basic architecture proposed byDr.Von Newmann. The world should be greatly indebted to him. The “main memory” in computer is  a data storing part like a city with millions of buildings and neat streets with each house being alloted a specific house number.  It is also like the black board in a class room used by the maths teacher  to write the formulas,the maths problem,working steps and the answer. When the next group of students come  the teacher  rubs away all that is written for the previous group  on the black board. Then he writes new formula,new problem,new working steps and answer. When this group goes he repeats the procedure for next group.

 In the class room the mathematics problem has generally about ten steps in its working. But in the tough mathematical problems solved by computers there wiill be hundreds or even thousands of working steps. They are collectively called the “stored program” and are written on the part called”main memory” by computer engineers( by typing in data through punched tape or keyboard )in a coded form . The code is in the form of  rows and rows of  0′s and 1′s   and can be understood only by the computer engineer and the ” processors” of the computer.

To understand the meaning of ‘stored program” computer we should first understand  the difference between a computer and a tv (or radio). In radio/TV the far away   programmes are recieved through  radio waves from the far away  radio/TV station.  At the very instant after we hear/see those programmes   the signals disappear from radio/TV  without trace just as water poured into a bucket with a gaping hole flows  out from bottom( as soon water is poured at top).  The data of the just concluded programme disappears from the radio or TV .  But in Von Neumann model  of the computer,   the” computer programme” which is a set of   a few hundreds  mathematical steps  (just like working steps which  the teacher writes on the black board )is recorded in advance  on the black board  called “main memory” .

The” main memory” can also be compared to the white paper  note book which the student uses to write down the steps dictated by the teacher. The student  can read the matter even   a few  months after it is written as it is recorded. In ordinary language the word memory means our brain’s remembering capacity. But incomputer matters the word “memory” represents  ” the device like black board , white paper note book,  we use to record any matter  permanantly  so that we can utilise that  data  at a later time “.

Similarly we can also read old data in computer  even days or months latter by  cheking the part called “main memory” .  However in modern computers all the data lying on “main memory” is copied to files in the hard disk by giving the “save” command on key board. “Save” means “preserve permenantly”.. The main memory is automatically ” wiped clean” when  we switch off the computer.  Next time when we switch on the computer we can give command to computer to bring a particular file to main memory.

   “The commanding and controling part in computer”(the CPU) studies whatever”instructions” from human operator/engineer are recieved (as found on the part called “main memory”) and processes them. The “instructions “given by an engineer to computer are in a  highly coded computer language like “c” or “c++”  with not even an extra comma or full stop permitted. They are actually a kind of mathematical code with “reserved words” which can acess and activate huge central electric circuits inside computer. We can bring  hundreds or even thousands of commands or instructions onto the main memory  from the files in the hard disc  by giving proper commands

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   As already said even before arrival of first generation computers there were a few dozen electricity based calculating machines. They also performed well but could not store any data (like radio/tv )as explained above. What was the idea behind construction of  those old calculators which existed before the first generation machines? Many electrical engineers and mathematicians had  for many decades pursued  an exciting idea. Electricity travels in wires at speeds of 200,000 kilometers per second or more. Electricity has two states i.e “switch on current” and  “switch off current”.  Let us represent “switch on state ” of an electric bulb as “1″ and” switch of state” as “0″.

The electric engineers and mathematicians argued  as follows . Suppose  we  represent  all numbers in a 8-digit code  having different combinations of  “1″s  or “0″s  only.  We have eight independant parallel electric circuits in which only two specified levels of current can flow and these levels are represented as “1′ or “0″. All the eight currents (in only two varieties either “0″ or “1″) are controlled by a single switch i.e.  they start or stop at the same moment . Then can we   make numbers” flow” through electric wires  by giving each number a 8-digit code like “11010101″?.

Such a combination of eight 0′s and 1′s will circulate through the parallel paths seperately but will together represent a number like   0,1,2,3,4,…..9.. If numbers are sent through such binary code (i.e. the 0 and 1 code) and special mathematical circuits are developed  then electricity can be made to solve mathematical problems at speed of flow of electrons through wires i.e. at about 200,000 kms per second. The answer after about six,seven decades of research was the eletronic calculators invented in 1950s.

 (A)Let us consider an example of how a computer  makes mathematical calculations.

Example 4×1000 =?

It is solved by computer as 4+4+4+4+4+…1000 times.

it is done as follows

4+4=8

8+4=12…

12+4=16..and so on for 1000times. At the end it looks as below.

 3988+4=3992

3992+4=3996

3996+4=4000

For us it is a tedious way but for computer it is  a most easy thing. It can do million sums like   8+4=12 in just one second.

(B)  we can  represet numbers(1,2,3,4…etc)  by different combinations of “1″ and “0″ taken in a  groups of eight “1″ or “0″ symbols

ex:    0000 0001=1

        0000 0010=2

         0000 0100=4

         0000 1011=11 and so on

(C)  we can also suggest a code to represent alphabets like a,b,c,d etc or symbols like ?,+, %,& etc.To represent alphabets add two more “0″ or “1″ s to each eight group as a specially coded prefix( indicating a special electric circuit.)

ex:    01  0000 0000=a

         01  0000 0010=b

         01  0000 0100=c   and so on

(D)To represent ” special symbols “  we can add another type suffix(i.e.”10″ instead of “01″)

ex:  10 0000 0001 =”+ “

      10 0000 0010=” ?”

       10 0000 0100=”%” and so on

(note: The examples are hypothetical but computers follow only very similar logic)

The first computers  needed only binary codes(i.e. the 0,1 code)  for numbers.They did not use alphabets (a,,b,c,d .etc)or symbols like( +,-, ?.) They had only electric circuits  for  doing addition,subtraction,multiplication.division etc . They had no need for alphabets and special symbols. We should clearly understand that the first computers were only very fast  mathematical  calculators having no need for alphabets and any other symbols. Only later for electronic printing of textual data by computers and not for any mathematical work the above sbinary codes were standardized.

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 Modern computers  are thousands of   times more powerful than the 1st generation  “stored programs ” computers invented by Dr John Von Neumann. This is because the processor speed , memory capacity,data access speed and data transfer speed all have increased many fold after the silicon chip containing millions of transistors came into use. Modern computers can perform many other tasks like preparing engineering drawings for designing cars,airplanes,ships etc, composing and printing  pages of matter,composing and printing text books, taking a photo or vedeo and printing it instantly, playing films from recorded CDs  etc.Computers connected to Internet can upload or download printed pages, printed text books, photograpphs, audio and vedeo,lengthy  cinema films etc.

 What are calculators?The pocket calculator everbody now uses is   a most advanced  Von Neumann  model computer  doing only mathematical work. A big computer  of  1940s costed millions of dollars but the small calculator avalable with high scool students  costs only a few dollars and has more calculating power!

.What is a cell phone? It is  a very powerful network computer as powerful as personal computers used in banks and offices. It can connect to any cell phone or digital land phone or networked computer any where in world  in a second with the help of  very powerful softwares like TCP/IP.

What is a robot? It is one of the ultimate marvels  in “stored program” computers. It would take  at least three or four  years to load its brain with whole dictionaries,encyclopedias,formulas of mathematics and engineering.Some modern robots can  pour tea into cups,walk a few feet and serve the tea most carefully with out spilling a drop. Some can fight duels on a stage  falling,rising and balancing their bodies and fight.as long as you want.Some dance to recorded music which a guest from outside brings . Some can recieve guests,greet people and give answers . Robots have intelligence of two year old children ,

Malware can take over your computer. I had this happen on Friday. Before I knew it, the Malware had made it impossible for me to get online through Internet Explorer. I would click on the Internet Explorer and the Malware would stop the connection. When I tried to use my virus protection, Malware would block it, and would send up a bunch of pornography threads on to my computer screen. This Malware creature had quickly taken over my computer and my life.

Lucky for me, I had downloaded Firefox the week before. I was having trouble clocking into EBay to sell products. I had a conversation with the representative for two hours. We decided it would be a good idea for me to try out Firefox. Internet Explorer was blocking me from my own eBay account. Why were all these programs trying to take over my life? I clicked on Firefox and got online. The Malware virus was grumpy and kept telling me my computer was infected. Yes, it was infected. You Mr. Malware infected it.

I have a nephew who is a hacker. I do not recommend his line of work as a fifteen year old. However, his expertise is good in a pinch. This is what you do to get Malware out of your computer when you cannot get online. In my case, you find an alternate way to get online, but you still cannot get rid of the Malware. Even if you have Firefox, the virus infection will eventually take over more parts of your computer. You have to get it out.

Shut off your computer. Click on the start button. As your computer is turning on, click on the F8 button constantly. You will be taken to the Mode part of your computer. Use the up/down arrow to highlight safe mode with networking. When your computer allows you to, open up Internet Explorer. Click on the Tools and select Internet Options. Click on the connections tab.  Click on LAN Settings. Now you will see local area network LAN settings window. Uncheck the checkbox labeled; Use a proxy server for your LAN under the proxy server section and press ok.
You are ready to do a virus scan of your computer. Scan the C drive of your computer for viruses with your virus protection. This scan may take two hours. Let the virus protection go through the complete scan. Once the scan is finished, you will remove the virus from your computer. I removed Mr. Malware and now my computer runs good as new. Goodbye, Mr. Malware.

Tips

I was looking for writing sites. Do not use Matrix Mails. This is the writing site where I picked up Mr. Malware.

Once you know you have a virus, do this process immediately. You don’t want Mr. Malware to take up permanent residence in your computer

INTRODUCTION

The “Cloud”               

In the world of computing, clouds have always served a metaphorical – almost mystical role. They have been used traditionally to represent the Internet in a networked environment in diagramming and mapping operations.

Today, there is a new development – “cloud computing.” What is the cloud? The cloud model represents nothing less than a fundamental change to the economics of computing and the location of computing resources. With the growth in Internet usage, the proliferation of mobile devices, and the need for energy and processing efficiency, the stage has been set for a different computing model.

There has been a suggestion to define the concept using the name “cloud” as an acronym, standing for computing that is: “Common, Location-independent, Online, Utility that is available on-Demand.” The term “cloud computing” has at its core a common element – in that with the cloud model, computing services are delivered over the Internet, on demand, from a remote location, rather than residing on one’s desktop, laptop, mobile device, or even your own organization’s servers. For an organization, this would mean that for a set or variable, usage-based fee – or even possibly for free, it would contract with a provider to deliver applications, computing power and storage via the Web. The cloud can take on various forms, including: SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

The basic idea behind cloud computing is that anything that could be done in computing – whether on an individual PC or in a corporate data center – from storing data to communicating via email to collaborating on documents or crunching numbers on large data sets – can be shifted to the cloud. Certainly, one of the hallmarks of cloud computing is that it enables users to interact with systems, data, and each other in a manner that minimizes the need to be concerned about the underlying technology. According to the Cloud Computing Manifesto: “The key characteristics of the cloud are the ability to scale and provision computing power dynamically in a cost efficient way and the ability of the consumer (end user, organization or IT staff) to make the most of that power without having to manage the underlying complexity of the technology.”

The Growth of the Cloud

   Global IT spending hit .4 trillion in 2008, although the aggregate total is expected to decline for the first time since 2001 in the current year – and perhaps for 2010 as well.  Indeed, across the private sector, IT spending is under fire. In fact, due to the interrelated impacts of the recession and the credit crisis, capital budgeting and credit availability for large IT projects has declined significantly. Thus, the only areas of IT that are growing in the wake of the economic crisis are outsourced IT and IT services. Additionally, as new entrants, many of them tied to cloud services, enter the marketplace, the prices for outsourced IT are likely to decline over the next few years as competition intensifies between larger, entrenched competitors and these upstart firms.

Roughly ten percent of the approximately billion spent on business applications worldwide in 2008 was spent on cloud computing applications.  Many analysts, including Gartner, project growth rates for cloud computing in excess of 20% or more for years to come. The growth rate over the next few years could be as high as 30%, with analysts estimating that the global market for cloud computing services could reach billion by 2012. Gartner sees the cloud computing marketplace as an even larger market, and it predicts that the market for cloud services already surpasses billion today, and that it will grow to over 0 billion annually by 2013.

Why cloud – and why now? According to the results of the 2009 Cloud Computing Survey, surveying over 500 IT decision-makers, the shift to cloud computing can be seen as organizations are increasingly relying on new technologies to cut their IT procurement costs, but not their IT organization’s functionality. Cloud computing is also by no means an “all or nothing” proposition. Indeed, it has been seen in practice that cloud involvement often starts when organizations initially use cloud resources for part of their non-mission-critical applications or as resources for test projects.

Cloud Computing and Government IT             

Many analysts believe that the present economic situation – and its resulting financial strain placed on governments – will only serve to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing in the public sector. This is due to cloud computing’s ROI. Indeed, the benefits are so large that IT organizations have been willing—eager, even—to tolerate the challenges that accompany the technology. Indeed, a July 2009 Computerworld report found that the larger the organization, the greater the likelihood that it would be engaged in using cloud computing.

The economy and the resulting tightness of all governmental budgets – on every level – may indeed speed and heighten the rise of cloud computing. In this budgetary context, the forecast impact of cloud computing on just the U.S. federal government’s IT spending is certainly eye-opening. The public sector market analyst firm, INPUT recently projected that over the next five years, overall federal IT spending will grow at a compound annual rate of 3.5%, reaching billion by 2014. INPUT forecasts that federal cloud computing-related spending will grow almost eight times as fast, with a growth rate of approximately 30% annually over the same time frame. According to INPUT’s projections, federal spending on cloud computing services will triple over the next five years, growing from 7 million in 2008 to 2 million annually by 2013.  This would mean that by 2014, over billion of the federal IT budget would be devoted to cloud computing.  Projections from Market Research Media are even more optimistic, saying that cloud computing represents “a fundamental re-examination of investments in technology infrastructure.” Their market analysis projects a 40% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for cloud computing spending in the federal sector and predicts that cloud spending will top billion annually by 2015.

While there are many significant positives to be gained by the increasing use of cloud computing, the shift raises a whole host of security concerns as well. This article explores the security issues facing public sector IT leaders as they consider shifting increasing data and computing applications to cloud providers.

SECURITY CONCERNS FOR PUBLIC SECTOR IT

Security is indeed a significant issue facing IT executives as they consider shifting data and processing to cloud providers. One of the principal concerns about cloud computing is the reliability question, and this is certainly a case where when a tree falls (i.e. an outage occurs), everyone hears the sound. Unfortunately, worries over cloud reliability and availability – or specifically, the lack thereof when such instances arise – are not just theoretical. There have been well-publicized outages of many of the most popular public cloud services, including Gmail and GoogleApps, Apple’s MobileMe service, and Amazon’s S3 cloud service. When service disruptions do occur, these events tend to paint all cloud services with a broad brush. As one observer characterized the September 2009 Gmail outage: “E-mail is a mission-critical application for business users — period. If customers perceive that Gmail isn’t reliable, they won’t adopt it. Every Gmail outage makes companies think twice before adopting the free e-mail solution.” Indeed, the security of cloud computing is an issue that will inevitably “blow-up” each time data breaches occur in cloud offerings and hit the media.  And, as once commentator astutely pointed-out, when cloud service outages or inaccessibility occur, “most of the risk and blame if something goes wrong will fall directly on the shoulders of IT — and not on the cloud computing service providers.”

When a cloud provider sees a data breach or service failure occur, this calls into question the efficacy of storing files and information online, causing huge security concerns for all affected users and not just the target cloud provider, but indeed, the whole cloud computing universe, which could be painted with a broad brush in such security matters.  Yet, as one computer security analyst recently observed, “Perfect security on the cloud is an illusory goal…and the vulnerabilities of the cloud will have to be weighed against (its) benefits.” Indeed, many security experts believe that the notion of putting more data and more applications on the Internet via the cloud model could present vast new opportunities for criminal activity through identity theft and misappropriating intellectual property, hacking, and other forms of malicious activities.

The degree to which any organization engages in cloud computing – whether outside or inside its own “four-wall” environment – will certainly depend on its need for security. Yet, some will see the risks of moving data outside their own four walls too great to ever consider a cloud-based option. For private sector IT executives, there is a reluctance to shift core, mission-critical data storage or applications to public cloud environments, even if the cost savings and efficiency arguments are there, over concerns about the reliability and security of cloud offerings. Take for instance the case of the Princeton, New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the SAT and other standardized tests. While ETS uses SaaS platforms for non-core functions, the firm’s CIO, Daniel Wakeman, recently expressed his reluctance to shift data storage and processing for the tests themselves to a cloud environment. This is in spite of the fact that due to the highly cyclical nature of test administrations, scoring, and reporting around specific testing schedules throughout the year, ETS has an average server utilization rate of just around eight percent, making the firm a prime candidate for acquiring computing resources on-demand. Wakeman simply stated that due to security issues which have yet to be worked-out in what he and other perceive to be an “immature market,” ETS will monitor developments in the cloud marketplace and “not (be) putting anything up there that we really care about.”

The security debate is perhaps even more intense when it comes to public sector IT. Take for instance the stance of Chiu Sai-ming, who serves as the Chief Assessor at Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department. While Mr. Sai-ming believes it vital to take advantage of new technologies, he believes that the very notion of housing taxpayer data outside of his ministry is “out of the question.” Many in public sector IT will echo the concerns expressed by Ray Roxas-Chua, who serves as the Chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) for the Government of the Philippines. Cabinet Minister Roxas-Chua recently stated that: “The ‘inherent risks’ of cloud computing need to be addressed before government embraces it is a viable way of managing information.”

Certainly, how to make cloud computing secure is one of the biggest issues for making it viable for the federal government – or for any government agency. As with prior shifts in information technology with the advent of the Internet and the Web, the introduction of e-mail, and the explosion of social media, their growth and adoption rates have been slowed by initial fears – some justified and some very unjustified – over security concerns and the loss of control over data and operations. Certainly, privacy and security questions will need to be addressed as public data and applications move into a cloud environment. As Adrienne Thomas, who is the Acting Archivist of the United States, plainly stated recently “It’s a very big issue for government in terms of someone else to have control of our stuff.” Yet, as Arun Gupta observed, in order to succeed today, “You have to have the confidence to say, ‘I don’t need to control everything.’ That’s very much a Web 2.0 mentality.” Linda Cureton, NASA’S CIO, urged IT decision-makers in government that it is imperative when considering a cloud-shift: “Don’t confuse control and ownership with security and viability.”

The widely-held perception that cloud computing and SaaS applications are less secure and less reliable than applications housed on an organization’s own network appears to be nothing less than a “myth.” Indeed, cloud offerings may be significantly more reliable that an organization’s internal offerings. The difference is that when a company’s email server crashes or a power outage disrupts operations at its data center, these internal failings do not make media headlines, as is the case anytime there is an outage or data breach with a Google, an Apple, or an Amazon cloud offering. Indeed, large-scale cloud providers are often-times more secure than a government agency’s or private sector company’s internal IT operations simply because they have the “talent, resources and focus” that their customers – and their smaller counterparts – do not have. Still, IT executives stridently believe that their own, hosted systems are far more secure than cloud-based resources, and public sector IT managers stridently believe that their internal operations are more secure than a private sector vendor could provide.

   One public sector expert recently characterized the need to retain control and protection of sensitive, private data – in an age of information sharing – the “Catch-22” for government IT in regards to cloud computing. However, Ron Ross, NIST’s Director of Security, observed that it is important to consider the sensitivity of the data in question and develop and employ “a range of security controls (that) will be appropriate for differing levels of data sensitivity.” Data security questions then are dependent on the nature and sensitivity of the data involved. Major Larry Dillard, a program manager in the Army’s Office of the Chief Marketing Officer, recently commented on overcoming the security concerns of his superior by stating: “All data is not created equal…(and) all the challenges we’ve faced have been self-imposed. We’re not putting nuclear launch codes on Salesforce.com, we’re putting the street addresses of 17-year-olds.”

One of the complicating factors in the shift to a cloud computing environment will be federal requirements for agencies to certify the security of their IT contractors’ systems – with no cloud-specific security standards in place. From the perspective of NIST’s Peter Mell: “Compliance is going to be tricky in the cloud space for several reasons, but one reason is that clouds are likely to use new security technologies that aren’t well understood or widely adopted, and that will make it difficult to prove the required level of security to auditors and to authorizing officials.” Some have questioned whether the federal government would be precluded – from a regulatory standpoint – from using cloud-based services for such reasons.  In fact, it has been commented that: “For many agency applications, stringent compliance requirements in areas such as privacy, financial controls, and health information will preclude use of public clouds, regardless of the actual security controls of the provider.” Analysts have already voiced concern that cloud providers methods of logging activities and document reads/access are presently insufficient for meeting the needs of government agencies to assure their compliance through audit controls.

Analysts have stated that one of the benefits for small companies is that they may, in fact, be able to raise the level of their computing security by moving more data and applications to the cloud. This is simply because cloud providers will have more resources to spend on security for their operations than most individual firms. Plus, their investments in security can be spread over their entire present – and prospective – clients (perhaps hundreds or thousands of firms), producing far greater results in improving computer security than individual firm’s investments in such efforts. The same principle will hold true for government clients as well, especially those at the state and local levels. Yet, analysts have said that this may also be true even at the federal level, as large cloud providers – whose business depends on secure operations – may provide better security than internal federal operations.

What are the other benefits of cloud computing in the security area? One of the best ways to improve security is to have a single-point of access, controlled by the organization, and mandating users follow their procedures and policies for access privileges. However, while such access controls return power to the client, they may well serve to defeat some of the robust advantages for remote access fundamental to the cloud computing model. A recent study from researchers at the University of Michigan showed that by shifting virus protection from individual PCs to the cloud that connected them by raising the level of protection to the network, significantly improving the ability of antivirus software to detect viruses and malware.

Cloud computing is also a relatively quick and easy solution to the significant problem of laptop theft, which poses a very real, intransigent security and financial headache for IT managers. This is because should a user lose his or her laptop, there would be no security threat, simply because the data would reside in the cloud, rather than on the machine itself. In fact, some have said this would actually mean that cloud storage would increase security for the federal government by reducing the security risk inherent with the hundreds of thousands of laptops in employee possession both inside and outside of federal facilities.

   Cloud providers have been characterized as addressing such security concerns by going “over the top” with their physical and data security measures. For instance, SaaS-provider Salesforce.com’s data center employs “five levels of biometric hand geometry scanners and even ‘man trap’ cages designed to spring on those without the proper clearances.” This is evidence that cloud providers are very much aware of and attune to both their clients’ concerns in the security area and the legal and regulatory risks that are being taken on by both the client and their firm by accepting a sizable portion of the client’s IT operations.

   There are signs that there is some backlash against cloud providers to improve their security safeguards and practices. For instance, in response to a data breach that occurred with Google Docs, The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Google’s privacy and security measures for Gmail and Google Apps. Likewise, the Constitution Project, concerned that a user’s personal information has weaker privacy protections in the cloud than when contained on a single device, has called for the cloud computing industry to set privacy standards and for the Congress to examine the privacy issues as well.

And for the concerns about security and privacy, centralizing operations in a cloud environment may not just make computing more secure, but make compliance easier – and cheaper – as well. From the viewpoint of Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, “When you look at security, it’s easier to secure when you concentrate things than when you distribute them across the government.”

Yet, as Bernard Golden recently observed, those who view cloud computing as too risky may be “overly optimistic” in their view on how well there own security and risk management efforts work – both in reality and in comparison to the cloud model. He remarked that: “This attitude reflects a common human condition: underestimating the risks associated with current conditions while overestimating the risks of something new. However, criticizing cloud computing as incapable of supporting risk management while overlooking current risk management shortcomings doesn’t really help, and can make the person criticizing look reactive rather than reflective.”

As ever-greater amounts of governmental and private sector firms’ work is shifted to cloud computing, could this shift in the locus of computation indeed be creating a national security risk? Ruven Cohen noted that: “Cyber-threats against the country and the government are growing exponentially, and the desire to connect agencies and make government open, transparent and interoperable makes it easier for hackers to carry out their attacks  — (thus) will openness and interoperability make us as a nation less secure?” He went on to note that government will have significant interest in protecting cloud resources for the private sector and individuals as well, noting the huge economic impact and disruption that can occur if a major cloud resource, such as Gmail, were to go down for an extended period of time or be lost forever. Such risks are not without precedent, as the government of Estonia was hit by a well-coordinated denial-of-service attack – suspected to be Russian in origin – during a period of tension between the two nations in 2007, and just this summer, several agencies in the U.S. government and sites in South Korea were cyberattacked by what was widely believed to be a scheme conducted by the North Korean government. Such a risk has led Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, to label this as the threat of a “Cold War 2.0” – and it is certainly an area where federal policymakers need to be concerned.

Conclusion

Security is undoubtedly a hard metric to quantify. And, all too often, the IT community has a somewhat damaging tendency to treating all risks – whatever the real nature of them – as the very worst case scenario and not judging the true impact – and likelihood – of their occurrence.

Analogies have been drawn between the advent of cloud computing today with the introduction of wireless technologies a decade ago. As Ron Ross, NIST’s Director of Security recently observed, “When wireless came along, we didn’t really know a lot about how to protect it, but we developed that understanding as we went forward, and now we do a pretty good job of protecting wireless.” However, Wyatt Kash recently warned that the shift to cloud computing could be slowed by what he termed as “a darker cloud of Internet security vulnerabilities.” John Garing, who serves as the CIO and Director of Strategic Planning for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), characterized the cloud computing security dilemma as the classic case of the “irresistible force versus immovable object,” where “the irresistible force is the incredible thirst for collaboration and information-sharing that Web 2.0 tools and many young people have brought on board and the immovable object is security.”

It is likely that governments at all levels will be a significant part of the cloud computing market, as the inherent advantages of cloud models, combined with economic pressures, will drive more and more IT procurement to cloud-based resources. As the cloud model advances, it will be incumbent on government IT leaders – and well as vendor executives – to be mindful of the unique security challenges facing the public sector use of cloud computing resources. Certainly, there are a whole host of legal, privacy and workforce issues that will need to be dealt with as well. Thus, the governmental IT marketplace will be an important focus for much activity – and discussion – for the next decade.

If you see large sums of money disappearing from third world banks and the usual graft and corruption do not appear to be the culprits, then know that you have seen a practice run.

I used to think that the left was serious when they said their ultimate goals were to  destroy capitalism and install communism.  Then I noticed that Al Gore and Maurice Strong are going to get filthy rich off of that communist plot known as Cap and Trade.  It was then that it hit me.  The dictatorship of the proletariat may occur but only as a secondary outcome.  The real objective is to loot the world and stick the money into the hands of  the Global Warming, Climate Change and Progressive crowd.   They want to make sure they are the dictators and the rest of us are the proletariat.  They will loot all our money first by controlling health care, banks, car companies, oil companies and even our thermostats.  After they have stolen so much from us that we can no longer even feed ourselves, they kill at least a quarter of us and make the rest into Marxist slaves.

Cap and Trade, the American Power Act, or whatever the communists in congress are calling it these daze, is and example of  Marxist Thieves coming in the front door.  By the way, the notion behind Cap and Trade is a another way to make communists reveal themselves.  Ask someone if they support Cap and Trade.  If they support it, even if they are registered Republicans, they have just outed themselves as communists.  The “R” was just a scam to fool the voters.

Meanwhile, back to the banks.   Cap and Trade is the polite way of stealing half your money.  The other half will be stolen in a decidedly impolite way.  Programmers and system administrators who used to work at banks (think of the Harrison Ford movie Firewall) will join forces with spammers, virus makers, belligerent foreign governments, communists, spies and thieves and perform an electronic run on the bank.  They haven’t been breaking in and stealing all those passwords and logins for their health.  They will take one fateful day, maybe a holiday like Christmas day, maybe a day like Sept 11, 2010 or 10/10/10 and loot everything everywhere that has money in it.  Everything from banks to brokerage firms will be emptied.

The forgoing has been a fictional prediction.  I am not saying that it will happen and I have no knowledge that anyone is trying to do it.  I just saying, if you suddenly see a run on poorly run banks with rotten security, your spider senses should tingle.  Now you know why some of the rich and famous are hoarding gold coins.  Gold coins would have to be physically stolen from them.  By the way, the government will confiscate all the gold they “know” about so act accordingly.

Should you put all your money under the mattress–probably not.  President Barry Soetoro is even know turning your dollars into toilet paper by printing trillions of dollars.  Every time he raises the debt ceiling or sends an unbalanced budget to congress he has just shrunk the value of that mattress money.    I am not sure what you should do.  Probably you should turn paper money into something real before Chairman Obama turns it into something fake.  Buy something real that Obama can’t trash.

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101010,10/10/10,10-10-10,Digital Doomsday,Cyber Apocalypse

Prediction for 10/10/10

Prophesy for Oct 10, 2010

It will be discovered that almost all of the Maoists and communists let into the White House by President Barry Soetoro, aka Chairman Barack Hussein Obama,  colluded with foreign nations to bring down the US economy using an internet attack planned for Oct 10, 2010.

In some respects the attack will be not unlike an episode of the TV series “24.”  Only this time, Jack Bauer will torture anyone who does not help with topple the  capitalistic “Great Satan.”

One of the means that will be used to attempt to collapse of the US are digital zombies and cyber zombies.  There have been many probes of every conceivable security system on the internet.  Some probes of large organizations have yielded a treasure trove of logins and passwords.  But there have also been innumerable break-ins to small accounts and email systems.  Some of the accounts and email addresses have been used as zombies to launch denial of service attacks or to spread computer viruses.

Today’s fictional prediction is that on Oct 10, 2010, people who were hired by the Obama administration will use stolen government and industry information as well as information hacked all over the web to launch a coordinated internet attack to loot every bank and brokerage account on the internet and siphon the money into offshore accounts…..

Prediction for 09/11/10

Prophesy for Sept 11, 2010

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Digital Zombies, Cyber Zombies, Digital Cyber Zombies

When is the last time you changed any of your passwords on the internet?  If the answer is never, don’t be surprised if you wake up one day and all your accounts are empty.  This is especially true if you made your passwords easy to remember.

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Digital Death Penalty

Digital Death

7 Deadly Cyber Sins

Digital Death Penalty

How to Avoid 7 Deadly Cyber Sins

How to Commit Cyber Suicide

Hoaxes and Frauds

Zeitgest:  Zombie Bankers steal your money and eat your Face!

Sham Wow:  The Snuggee Warrior

Dick Cheney as FUtus of BORG

Dictionary of Dreams

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Online Job Search

Government Work

Job Search

Job Search for the Older Worker

Dressed as Lady Gaga

Monster Ball

Ultimate Costumer

Becoming Gaga

Gagging on Gaga

Sexy

Which witch to twitch?

Prepare to go Gaga

A Hottie does GaGaWeen right

Rush Limbaugh

How to find a Government Job

How to make Money

It is better to Drunk than Wasted

Job Search for the Older Worker

Alternative Job Hunt

Get Free Stuff

MARXIST MEDICINE

COMMIE CARE

ENEMY OF THE STATE

YouTube Lady GaGa Bad Romance

Amy Leaks?

090909

Avoid a fat head

It is better to be drunk than wasted

How to Travel Naked

Beer Alert

A Constellation of Idiots

It is Better to be Drunk than Wasted

Texas Toast

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