Author Archives: jnelson

Virtual Servers Offer Power, Convenience, and Savings

Posted on March 16, 2013 by jnelson

As a full-service ISP, Southwest Cyberport offers a complete spectrum of web-publishing services from simple static webpages to highly complex, state-of-the-art interactive content managed sites. But there’s even more to it than that. At one end of the range are free personal webpages we offer to all our broadband and dial-up customers. At the high end are dedicated colocated webservers owned and operated by corporate clients that access the Internet directly from our secure, access controlled machine room. In between, SWCP offers web-hosting services in three different strengths: Starter, Basic, and Professional. But now, we are happy to offer a new upper tier of web-publishing service that gives the isolation and independence of private servers without the steep costs of owning and colocating hardware. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) here at SWCP balances convenience and cost to allow website owners and administrators to run their own web-publishing software just the way they want to. A virtual machine is software on a device that emulates the functions of an entire computer. This allows many virtual servers to run simultaneously on one “real” server, all hidden from each other. Less hardware is required, space is conserved, and resources are shared more efficiently than with purely dedicated servers. Virtualization is already common and is spreading quite rapidly through data centers particularly because of its usefulness in cloud computing. These economics make virtual servers much less expensive to operate than racks of dedicated devices … Continue reading →

Posted in Online Tools, Resources | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is Cyberwar the New Normal?

Posted on February 22, 2013 by jnelson

The Internet these days is often compared to the Wild West. It, too, is a wide open frontier with endless possibilities, loose rules, limited government controls and not a few rustlers and bandits lurking along its trails. But unlike other frontiers, the Net seems to steadily becoming more dangerous, not less. And there are now armies on the move. Hackers aren’t just computer whiz kids, online scam artists, or even criminal networks any more. Hacking has become a weapon of war. Stunning accusations in a recent report by Mandiant, a US online security firm, provide insights of just how persistent threats from government hackers working for certain enemy states have grown. The company has been investigating security breaches at hundreds of organizations around the world since 2004. Their tracking of threats has allowed them to identify more than 20 hacking groups within China. The largest of these, which they called APT1, for “Advanced Persistent Threat” has conducted vast hauls of information from hundreds of organizations since 2006. Madiant’s detective work on over 150 corporate victims for over 7 years paid off. They were able to identify APT1 as a unit of the People’s Liberation Army of China with a code designation of Unit 61398, precisely located its facilities in the middle of Shanghai, and even named three key developers. They watched APT1 compromise 141 companies in 20 industries, and studied in detail APT1’s sophisticated methodology – in one case, as … Continue reading →

Posted in How the Net Works, Interesting Items, News, Security | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Right to Internet Access

Posted on January 29, 2013 by jnelson

How essential is the Net? How vital is access to the Internet at all times? Does being cut off impair or maybe even threaten modern life? If you’re one of the many who would argue that yes, the ability to get online is absolutely basic to life, work, society, and entertainment, you’re not alone. And in a landmark ruling, the highest court in Germany agrees with you. Recently, the German Federal Supreme Court ruled that consumers can demand damages – financial compensation – for service outages. The case involved a suit by a man who lost his DSL connection for 2 months. For Germans, the decision places Internet access in the same small class of assets protected because they are necessary to survive and function in modern society. These  include homes, telephones, and automobiles. Consider that: loss of Internet access is deemed as big an inconvenience as losing a car! This means that sanctions denying access may not be applied. German Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said, “The judgment of the Federal Court shows that for an informed life, the network has become  fundamental. It is a realization that the use of the Internet is a civil right.” This is not the first time a government had declared Internet access is a basic human right. France was first to do so back in 2009. Finland went even further later that year when it declared it would provide each citizen with … Continue reading →

Posted in How the Net Works, News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment