Ever Since The Days Of The Pony Express, People Have Looked To Getting

Ever since the days of the Pony Express, people have looked to getting information, whether personal or business, to its intended receiver as soon as possible. The computer has evolved as a communications super-tool, enabling people to do just that. Networking has given individuals the power to transfer ideas, reports, and files quickly and efficiently. Networks also grant the power to business professionals and families to conference with voice and video from their individual offices or homes. These abilities have made networking invaluable to many people in many different areas; however, networking can be limited to a small geographic region or even a single building and still have tremendous benefits. A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network of interconnected workstations sharing the resources of a single processor or server within a relatively small geographic area. LANs can be found in offices, schools, throughout whole buildings, and even dispersed throughout several buildings. Throughout these local networks, people are able to share files of information, communicate, and connect different departments to maximize efficiency. A LAN is comprised of several pieces of hardware that enable connectivity of the network; these include network interface cards, servers, bridges, repeaters, and hubs. A LAN can be comprised of all of these parts and more, but can also be constructed of less hardware. The hardware components of a specific network depend on the needs of the network. A network interface card physically connects a computer to a transmission medium used on a network and controls the flow of information from the computer to the network. A network interface card has its own unique hardware address that is embedded upon its manufacturing. The hardware address is used to identify each NIC when information is being sent or received over a network. These cards are installed directly into the expansions slots of a computer and in the case of portable computers require a specialized device called a network adapter. Network interface cards have ports that are used to connect the card to the transmission medium used throughout the network. Different types of cards are designed to accept a certain type of transmission medium or network cable, which in turn determines the amount of information and the speed at which that information can be sent. The NIC also contains a transceiver, which converts the computer output signal into a signal that can be transmitted over cable. In some instances a network interface card may also contain a boot chip, which enables a drive-less computer to access a network. Different cards are designed for different purposes, one type of card can be used by a client workstation solely to connect that computer to a network, while others are used by network servers that are specifically designed to transfer large amounts of information. A hub is a device used to concentrate and organize network wiring. There are two basic types of hubs, active and passive. A passive hub is simply a device that allows wiring connections in an orderly way. It requires no power, and does no processing or regeneration of the traffic coming through it. Another type of hub is an active hub, which contains circuitry that can filter, amplify and control the traffic going through it. Hubs may also contain additional utilities, such as bridging, manageability, and repeaters. Active hubs are based on an extension of the network repeater. It does this by accepting network traffic on its input side, and then amplifying the signal on its output, allowing it to travel farther. A hub is a multi-port repeater. Physically, it appears as a box with one input port and a number of output ports that are typically wired to end-user workstation connections, although servers and other devices can be attached as well. Signals on any port are transmitted to all the other ports. Although a basic hub provides a way to organize cable wiring, it does not segment or organize network traffic in any way. Hubs are used in the design and implementation of a coherent and easily managed network cabling system. In a typical design, a company may run cabling from a wall plate in each user's cubicle to a central wiring closet on each floor of the building. These cables, known

Fake FBI Warning Email Scam

Fake FBI Warning Email Scam Beware of messages purporting to originate from the FBI (or CIA) accusing you of visiting illegal websites. These emails are unauthorized and arrive with an attachment containing the Sober virus. This virus-bearing email with a malicious file attached has been circulating since February 2005. Make sure your antivirus software is up to date and your computer is scanned regularly. Another variant of the message comprises the users computer with a virus that can install itself when clicking on a compromised website. A window pops up indicating that the user’s Internet address was identified by the FBI or the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as associated with child pornography sites. To unlock their computer, users are informed they have to pay a fine using a service for prepaid money cards. How to Handle a Fake FBI Email If you receive a message like this, dont panic - but do delete it without clicking on any links or opening any attached files. Attachments to these emails contain a worm called Sober-K (or a variant thereof). Though these messages and others similar to them purport to come from the FBI or CIA and may even show return addresses like policefbi.gov or postcia.gov, they were not authorized or sent by any U.S. government agency. FBI Statement on the Message Containing a Virus FBI ALERTS PUBLIC TO RECENT E-MAIL SCHEMEEmails purporting to come from FBI are phonyWashington, D.C. - The FBI today warned the public to avoid falling victim to an ongoing mass email scheme wherein computer users receive unsolicited emails purportedly sent by the FBI. These scam emails tell the recipients that their Internet use has been monitored by the FBIs Internet Fraud Complaint Center and that they have accessed illegal web sites. The emails then direct recipients to open an attachment and answer questions. The attachments contain a computer virus.These emails did not come from the FBI. Recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the FBI does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited emails to the public in this manner.Opening email attachments from an unknown sender is a risky and dangerous endeavor as such attachments frequently contain viruses that can infect the recipients computer. The FBI strongly encourages computer users not to open such attac hments. Sample Fake FBI Email Heres email text contributed by A. Edwards on Feb. 22, 2005: Dear Sir/Madam,We have logged your IP-address on more than 40 illegal Websites.Important: Please answer our questions! The list of questions are attached.Yours faithfully,M. John StellfordFederal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2130Washington, DC 20535(202) 324-3000 Sample Fake CIA Email Heres email text contributed anonymously on Nov. 21, 2005: Dear Sir/Madam,We have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.Important:Please answer our questions! The list of questions are attached.Yours faithfully,Steven AllisonCentral Intelligence Agency -CIA-Office of Public AffairsWashington, D.C. 20505phone: (703) 482-06237:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., US Eastern time Sources and further reading: FBI Alerts Public to Email ScamFBI press release, February 22, 2005

Ethical Dilema Drug Tesing in Nigeria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ethical Dilema Drug Tesing in Nigeria - Essay Example There was evidence that using Trovan could lead to problems with joints, tendons and bones, and even perhaps cause liver damage. Led by Scott Hopkins, the team developing Trovan were anxious to carry out controlled clinical trials of the drug on children, in order to conclude whether it could safely be marketed as a treatment for diseases in children. While they believed that further refinement of the drug would make it much safer for children, they would need firm evidence in order to obtain approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for it to be marketed. At around the same time, in February 1996, there was a serious outbreak of meningitis in the area around Kano, a major city in northern Nigeria. Soon, over a hundred children were being brought to the basic local hospitals every day, and by March 3, 1,273 deaths had been reported, with some accounts putting the total at closer to 10,000 (Spar and Day, 2006, p.11). As most of the children infected with menin gitis would certainly die if given no treatment, Hopkins looked upon the outbreak as ‘a unique opportunity to test Trovan pills on children’, and ‘since Nigeria had both a raging epidemic and a distinct absence of personal injury lawyers, a drug trial there would be far more efficient’ than in the United States (Spar and Day, 2006, p.2). Meningitis outbreaks are fairly common across a large area of sub Saharan Africa during the dry season, when cold weather, malnutrition, and urban overcrowding can lead to the disease spreading rapidly among children. Epidemics of meningitis are caused by a particular strain of the bacteria, and the Trovan researchers had reason to believe, after extensive testing, that their new drug would be effective against that strain. It is worth understanding the processes which a drugs company needs to complete if it intends to market a drug in the United States, because, as we will see, it is questionable whether the situation at K ano provided an opportunity to carry out a satisfactory trial of Trovan on children. When a new compound is being developed, the pharmaceutical company responsible for it lodges an investigational new drug application, or IND, with the FDA. Having obtained this, the company is authorised to begin conducting clinical tests, which may be rolled out to many scenarios and over thousands of patients before a drug seeks FDA approval to be marketed. While such approval is sought within the United States, or from the appropriate authorities in other countries, it does not preclude a pharmaceutical company from carrying out clinical trials overseas. Indeed, it is even possible for a drugs company to conduct all of their clinical testing overseas, and only when the research gathered has shown the drug to be both safe and effective, for it to be submitted to the FDA for approval. In the case of Trovan, the new drug already had an IND, had already been subject to extensive clinical trials withi n the US, and so the team developing it were perfectly entitled to add a trial in Kano to its IND, or, alternatively, to carry out the tests in Nigeria and, if the results were positive, submit this data to the FDA subsequently. Pfizer would also have to meet some conditions under Nigerian law