Cloud Computing and Data Security

Cloud computing is changing the way IT is delivered to businesses and how businesses can now leverage the technologies to be very nimble and agile, yet large. Cloud is a technology that maintains data and applications by making use of the internet and central remote servers. Cloud computing enables users to run their necessary applications without actually installing the software or hardware. The consumers can access their necessary files at any remote computer having internet access. This technology is handy as it facilitates efficient computing by a central storage, memory, process and bandwidth.

Cloud computing can be broken down into three components:
• "Application"
• "Storage"
• "Connectivity."

Each segment serves a different purpose and offers different products for businesses and individuals around the world.
Cloud computing has two primary deployment models. They are:

• Community cloud - In this concept of Cloud, several organizations from a specific community with common concerns share infrastructure between themselves. They could be managed either internally or by a third-party and the hosting could be internal or external. The costs have are distributed among fewer users.

• Public cloud - This concept of Cloud is established when several organizations having similar requirements and seeking to share infrastructure are concerned. This definitely is more viable in terms of monetary benefit, as the resources (storage, workstations) utilized and shared in the community are used by a huge number of consumers.

The advantages of Cloud Computing offering in IT services include the following:
1. Transformation into on demand IT-as-a-service
2. Greater business agility, on-demand provisioning
3. Self-provisioning & deployment of applications
4. Significant savings in total cost of operations through right sizing and operational efficiency
5. Dynamic capacity on demand to reduce time to market
6. Strategically align the business on long-term opportunities while optimizing on operations

The transition to Cloud however, is accompanied by a number of data security issues that need to be looked into. Most organizations use relational databases to store the most sensitive data, hence the need of data security while moving to Cloud becomes all the more important and imperative. So, as the consumers work on migrating applications to Cloud, they need to be careful about three main attributes involving data security.

1. User access privileges: Any sensitive data that is processed outside the enterprise is prone to an elemental risk. As the services are outsourced, they kind of discount the physical, logical and personnel regulations which the IT departments could exercise over the in-house programs.

2. Server Elasticity: One of the key perks of Cloud computing is flexibility. So, keeping apart the fact about users having knowledge of the exact location of where their data is hosted, the servers hosting the concerned data can be provisioned and de-provisioned regularly to mirror the current requirement capacity. This evolving topology can be a challenge for the technologies banked on today and could be very hard for the management to constantly update configurations fitting to every such change.

3. Regulatory Compliance: Data integrity and data security are but the ultimate responsibilities of the organizations even if it is held by a service provider. The whole system of educating the auditors, demonstrating that their data is safe and secure even when there is no physical control over systems, is challenging. They need to provide them with the quintessential visibility into all activity.

Controlling access and monitoring of cloud administrators is a cutting point to make sure that sensitive data is secure. While the users may want to maintain background checks of their own privileged users and may also enforce significant physical monitoring, even if this be done by their cloud provider - it is a process which is not their own. Therefore that would mean compromising some element of power or control. These individuals may have almost unlimited access to the infrastructure, something they require in order to maintain and check the performance and availability of the cloud resources for all customers.

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Some Of The Special Features From Adobe Computer Software

There is a countless number of special features from Adobe Computer software out there partially because of the fact that Adobe makes so many different kinds of software. They have web design programs available that enable you to create very professional websites. They also make Photo shop and other editing and design software. They also offer different kinds of music creating and editing programs. They offer a great line of products for the more creative and artistic person.

The company is probably best known for their flash player. The flash player is a program that allows you to play and upload video content to your computer. Combined with some of their video editing program options you can create and upload some pretty unique videos. The editing program allows you to add animation and other kinds of things to your videos.

Another one of their programs that can often times be downloaded for free is the Adobe reader program. It allows you to read and translate PDF documents. You can also fill out a lot of printable forms from the reader. Many people use Adobe reader as a standard for delivering documents. If you search the web long enough you are bound to receive information that is opened using the program.

They are also the company that makes the Dream weaver program. This is one of if not the most popular website design programs available. The user can create a professional website with the program. This is nice if you need to create a lot of websites because hiring it out can cost a great deal of money. It is also a very user friendly program.

Photo shop allows the user to edit their images. From small touch ups to picture to blending to pictures together you can do quite a bit with the program. The software also allows you to illustrate as well. It enables you to design images of things you plan on building before you start building the piece. Artists frequently use this program for a number of different things. From subtle editing to doing full drawings the program is very good at working with images.

Sound booth CS5 allows the user to integrate music into their projects. You can easily edit audio to play in unison with your video or other parts of your website. You can also edit the audio. The system allows the user to take out any unwanted sounds in the audio. It will actually display unwanted sounds in the form of sound waves and from there you can go in and remove the unwanted audio noises.

Adobe also has many business solutions to offer. They specialize in web analytic and web development programs. You can also get a lot of different forms through many of their programs. They can help many businesses who are based on the internet. They can help you track and manage as well as organize your company.

As you can see there are a lot of special features from Adobe computer software available. They tend to focus on the creative and more artistic user with some of their programs while focusing more on IT with other programs.

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Why Should You Use Engineering Software

When the technology of electric power supply and the telegraph were introduced at the end of the nineteenth century, the world became truly modern and the body of knowledge in applied electricity eventually became known as electrical engineering. Today, after more than a century of rapid development, this sphere of engineering includes many different fields like electronics, telecommunications, power generation, computers and integrated circuits. With electrical consumption on the rise to meet the requirements of industrial equipments and millions of home appliances like radios, television sets, refrigerators and many others, the importance of electric power generation have surged to great heights placing the career of electrical engineers at the highest level of importance. Engineering technology is greatly needed to keep the engine of the modern world in perpetual running condition.

If one wants to become an electrical engineer today, he has to pursue a Bachelor's of Science Degree majoring in Electrical Engineering which is a four or five year course, depending on where he takes up his studies. After he graduates, he will have to undergo a program to satisfy some requirements before he is finally certified by a professional body of engineers. After he is certified, he is then ready to practice his profession and take his place in society as an electrical engineer. He will probably be hired as an employee in a power plant or in a company that sells electrical equipments.

The present crop of electrical engineers will be not be surprised that computers have replaced many old gadgets like the slide rule and other such gadgets since computers have been around for some time. What will surprise them is the engineering software that is available to make engineering calculations easier and faster. They will wonder at computer software products that contain programs designed to instantly work on engineering applications like power management, ground grid design, transformer operations, power quality assessments, and data exchange which usually takes long hours of tedious work to set-up.

The impact of engineering software on the work of electrical engineers is phenomenal because the different calculation work that takes a team of workers to accomplish can be done faster and more efficiently by an engineer with sufficient knowledge in computer operations. If one really wants to get ahead in his career, he must take interest and learn how to apply the right engineering software to the different applications confronting him in the work place.

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What Is Cloud Computing and What Are Public, Private and Hybrid Clouds?

Cloud computing is considered to be the next big computer trend revolutionising the way existing IT infrastructure is run and developed within companies. But what is it? If you type the term into a search engine there will be a whole host of websites that attempt to answer the question but you will often see that many different definitions come back as everyone seems to have a singular take on what cloud computing means to them and their businesses.

Fundamentally, cloud computing is the way that a company will access software, applications, services and data in the future. It is a way that businesses can store and access data through a shared web browser meaning that a company no longer needs physical hardware onsite to store this type of information. The cloud will be provided by a cloud hosting provider meaning a new delivery model for IT services in businesses where the company can gain from economies of scale and virtualised resources. The cloud is an on-demand technology meaning that it can be accessed when required and companies only pay for what is used. It is also a technology that can be accessed from anywhere on a variety of devices including mobile phones; so offering companies greater flexibility and accessibility.

Therefore, put succinctly, cloud computing is the move to make IT management and provision of data, applications and information a service. This service will be run for businesses by their chosen cloud computing provider over the Internet on a consumption-based model.

The security of a company's data is an important factor in their IT related activities and cloud computing can offer different levels of security to suit business types and needs as data can be held within public clouds, private clouds and hybrid clouds. But what do these terms mean?

Public Clouds
A public cloud as it suggests is information that is held over the Internet for use by the general public in applications such as Gmail and Hotmail. The user of these applications doesn't know where the data is stored and if the cloud has any downtime it means that the user experiences this downtime as well with no understanding of when applications will be up-and-running again. These types of clouds do not offer any guarantees or service level agreements (SLAs) so are more suited to companies that don't have business critical applications.

Private Clouds
A private cloud is a cloud service offered to a limited number of people behind a private firewall in a data centre. This type of cloud technology does come with guarantees and SLAs to ensure that data and applications are always available and that there minimal downtime (if any) for a company. This type of cloud is more secure to protect the safety of information.

Hybrid Clouds
A hybrid cloud is an amalgamation of public and private clouds. For example, a business may choose to provide some resources internally (as they have spent money setting-up their existing IT infrastructure) while choosing to outsource some externally.

It can be seen that cloud computing is changing the way that applications and data is both delivered and accessed. When looking for a provider you should look for a company with renowned experience and one that you can fully trust with your businesses software, data and applications.

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A Brief Introduction to Information Security Engineering

Information security engineering is a very new field of study and it deals with providing security in the world of Information Technology. It deals with the analysis of vulnerability, the risk, threat and protecting the integrity of the next-functional logic (software) of a computer system and data contained in or exchanged in a communication with a user. This protection is achieved through organizational and technological measures aimed at ensuring that only authorized users have access to the database of the organization. This is mainly achieved by following a process of authentication, which verifies the credentials of the individuals before providing them with data access.

Information security has become a major concern in most industries, especially those which are heavily dependent on Information technology. The IT and ITES industries have over the years, started hiring Information Security engineers to help them with securing their database and the transfer of information between centers. These professionals work in large multinational companies and help them in improving their security parameters. Database security depends on several factors that interfere between the users and the system, such as robustness of the software and the basic application etc. The information security engineers utilize many tools to provide maximum data security.

They have to create safety programs which can help different companies in protecting their database and the flow of information. The fundamental concepts of information security are as follows:

Safety - ensuring that the database of an organization, along with the software and application used by the organization, is safe and secured;

Reliability - to make sure that the data is reliable by preventing events that can produce any serious damage to the database.

If there is any problem with the software used in any organization, of if there is any breach of security, it can lead to the following possible effects (in ascending order):

• No effect


• Negligible risk


• Significant risk


• High risk


• Catastrophic risk

This is why, the engineers and security experts take necessary steps to prevent any damage or loss caused by software failure or security breach.

Main techniques of defense used by the information security engineers

Antivirus: an anti-virus is a program which protects computers against attacks by malicious software known as viruses. A good antivirus should be constantly updated to have continuously running scan functions in real time. The security experts in an organization will regularly use the anti-virus to scan the hard disks, CDs, DVDs and floppy disks, to detect the presence of viruses, worms, malwares etc. To prevent the spread of virus, the antivirus will also check all the files that are received or sent via emails to verify that they are safe.

Anti-Spyware: it is a software which is very effective in the removal of "spy files", or spyware that can steal information about the user's online activities and send them to an organization that will use them for profit. An anti-spyware application can go a long way in protecting the intellectual property of an organization.

Firewall: a firewall protects the computer network in an organization against outside hacking attacks and blocks any programs on the computers attempting to access the Internet without the user's permission. A firewall installed and well configured system provides compile access control by monitoring all traffic that passes through it.

Digital Signature Encryption: information security engineers protect sensitive documents and data from unauthorized access by using specific security mechanisms such as encryption, digital signature, and the use of digital certificates and cryptographic algorithms to identify the certifying authority i.e. a site, a person or software.

Backup: security experts create backup of the company database as it helps them to recover lost or damaged files. In any organization, creating backup of the database is very important because if the organization loses important data, it might even have to face lawsuits from the clients. It will also find it difficult to conduct day to day operations.

Honeypot: a honeypot is a system or piece of hardware or software used to "trap" or "bait" for protection against attacks by hackers. Usually consists of a computer or a site that seems to be part of the network and contain valuable information, but in reality is quite isolated and has no critical or sensitive content. It could also be a file, a record, or an unused IP address.

Causes of Data Loss

The probable causes of loss of data in computer systems may be multiple, but are generally grouped into two events: Adverse events and Accidental events.

Adverse Events

Between the two events mentioned above, the unwanted ones are mostly unexpected, although it is prudent to expect anything. One should also expect the so-called attacks by unauthorized users to steal valuable data. Adverse events are often caused by unauthorized users who would try to access different computers and systems without taking permissions from any required authorities.

Hacking attacks

The hacking attacks are controlled by the hackers through the internet network, by using special software, sometimes created by them; they sneak in by hacking the system, achieving full control of the machine, to manage resources and data without the proper permissions. They often steal vital information and then use it for their own benefit, causing harm to the company which has been hacked.

Access to systems by unauthorized users

This type of attack is substantially similar to the previous one, but has a different shape. This attack involves unauthorized use of systems and data, but unlike a hacker attack this time the system itself is used for the attack and not the network.

Effects

The hacking and unauthorized usage of company information can cause a lot of loss to the company. If vital data is lost, the customers can even sue the company for large amount of money and can even take legal action. The company may also find it difficult to meet its professional responsibilities.

Accidental events

The accidents do not refer to an attack by a third party, but they refer to events caused accidentally by the employees of the organization, like installation of incompatible hardware parts, unexpected failures, etc. All these events however, compromise system security.

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Life Cycle for Software Development

A software development process is a making and development process of a software program and it is popularly known as software development lifecycle process. It is also called software process, and shortly as SDLC. SDLC has several models and each of them is used for different types of tasks for different levels of activities which get incorporated in between the development process. However, there are several instances where the life cycle models are accounted as a generic term and specifically the term software development process is applied as more specific term in aspect of new implementation, renovation, and modification of existing modules related to business or for some other purpose.

In short SDLC describes different phases of software cycle and the orders in which these developmental phases are executes either in individual way or by some series of developmental ways. Although there are countless options for SDLCs these models vary from one to another but despite their discrepancies, the models maintain a great implicit similarity in between.

A general model is described by the phases it involves in its development process. The requirements are converted in different modules of designs. Different types of codes are produced at the time of implementation while it is being driven by design. Proper and methodical testing process decides the appropriateness of the designs in accordance to the proposed structure of the system and the deliverability of the designs also are judges in this developmental phase.

In nutshell the SDLC model is made of four steps like analyzing the requirements, planning the design as per the requirements, implementation of designs for the accommodation of the requirements, and then it needs proper testing of the designs and requirements in order to justify the programming and ultimate arrangements.

In SDLC designing holds a significant role; and the design is implemented from the root level of basic requirements of the development process. The focus of the developers remain high on this phase because designing phase is the foundation work of the whole developmental plan on which the whole structure of development is introduced in step-by-step format. The end product of this SDLC foundation process is communication, UML, architecture, and relevant development of hardware and software etc.

Implementation process is the second phase which comes after designing. It is one of the longest design phases in the course of SDLC. In This phase the codes are generated and thus it holds a significant role in implementing the whole process of development; however in some course, the steps are followed in automated process.

Testing is the last phase of SDLC; in this phase the balance between the requirement, designing, and coding are back-checked and verified from the point of functionality. Unit tests are used for checking specific components while system check deals with the complete system's functionality.

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Microsoft Dreamspark Gives Tech Students Free Visual Studio Software!

I absolutely refuse to write a misleading title just to get you to read my article, so I made sure to clarify the "free" Visual Studio software is for students.

Students interested in a future as an IT tech or computer support specialist require skills in Microsoft technologies. Training for these technologies are intense and constantly updated. Purchasing all the necessary Microsoft tools can also be quite expensive especially for students who don't already have a career.

Fortunately, Microsoft offers free licensed versions of Visual Studio, Expressions, SQL and other great software to college students through DreamSpark. DreamSpark is a website that provides professional-level developer and design tools to students and educators around the world at no charge. These Microsoft tools help IT professionals in training advance their learning and skills through technical design, technology, math, science, and engineering activities.

While this free software offer isn't new - every time I mention it to students enrolled in a Microsoft bootcamp, almost everyone lights up with surprise. So, if you know someone in college - surprise them by sharing this incredible gift. Signing up is quick and easy. When registration is complete, you will be given access to download the software. Pretty cool.

Programming technology changes at a pace faster than books can be published which make tools like this indispensable. If you're looking for additional training or Microsoft certifications on Visual Studio 2010 or other Microsoft technologies then look into some of the online Bootcamps available. As for achieving the Microsoft MCPD Certification it is important to look for a Microsoft Bootcamp that has a very high first time success rate for students passing the exam.

The majority of successful Microsoft Bootcamps are successful for two very simple reasons; smaller classes and the best instructors. If you search online you will quickly see dozens of Microsoft Certification camps that boast high volumes of students. Look for class sizes limited to 12 students per instructor for the best learning environment. When you're investing this much into your training - you deserve better than 30+ students in your class.

It's a great idea to jumpstart your IT education by signing up for Free software and taking advantage of these tools of the trade. To make the most of your education and training, and to ensure you start your career on the right track, be sure to enroll in a program that offers smaller classes for technical training, new equipment, more workspace and one that has a proven higher test pass success rates by your instructors.

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Custom Software Developments And Other Services

When one talks about custom software developments, a professional developer comes to mind. This concept is actually very true and there are many different companies that offer these services, among others, to their clients. Establishing these services becomes increasingly more important in a world that relies mainly on computers and the Internet. Many firms and companies are in dire need of customized solutions that are very specific to their needs and preferences. Many pioneers of this field have realized this need and they have tried successfully to fill it.

Services

Professionals from several fields provide custom software developments. People with skill in engineering, marketing, management and research and development are usually tapped for such jobs. They are well versed in searching for solutions based on what they have found out regarding specific needs and preferences of their client. It is important that they meet these needs and preferences in order for their clients to be happy and satisfied with their results.

Other services that may be included in this field are integration with existing systems, customer support and internal processing. Many of the clients who approach development companies often have old systems that still work well and are currently in use in their company. It is important that the new processes developed will be able to merge well and coordinate with the older or current ones. This integration will ensure that there will be little or no hiccups when it is time to launch the new programs. Custom software developments also include making sure that the clients are satisfied with their interaction with the system. Customer support is important in the sense that this will help the clients with their interaction with the company. Internal processing is also another important aspect of the field. Here, the developers need to make sure that there is transparency when it comes to the systems in the entire company of their client. This transparency will bring to light any problems or issue which may affect the integrity of the system. The management of inventory and human resources are among the top aspects that need to be managed well internally.

The functionality of a program is necessary in order for it to be fully appreciated by the people who use it in the company and by those who use it externally. Both the customers and the workers need to be able to understand and do things that are necessary for their interactions in daily life. The custom software developments may seem more expensive than off the shelf programs that are readily available for any company. In reality, the customized programs are more streamlined and specific for each firm and company that orders them. This means that needs and preferences are met with a perfect fit that only comes from customized jobs. The developers can do tweaking when necessary but usually before it is launched.

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