Commercial cyber spying offers rich payoff
20 Feb, 2013, 1242 hrs IST, AP
This week's report by Mandiant Inc. adds to mounting suspicion that Chinese military experts are helping state industry by stealing secrets from Western companies possibly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Chinese military has denied involvement in the attacks.
BEIJING: For state-backed cyber spies such as a Chinese military unit implicated by a U.S. security firm in a computer crime wave, hacking foreign companies can produce high-value secrets ranging from details on oil fields to advanced manufacturing technology.
This week's report by Mandiant Inc. adds to mounting suspicion that Chinese military experts are helping state industry by stealing secrets from Western companies possibly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Chinese military has denied involvement in the attacks.
British security expert Graham Cluley says the world is in a "new era of cybercrime.''
He says, "We've moved from kids in their bedroom and financially motivated crime to state-sponsored cybercrime.''
Security experts say cyber spies with skills and resources that suggest they work for governments aim at higher-value but better-guarded information.
This week's report by Mandiant Inc. adds to mounting suspicion that Chinese military experts are helping state industry by stealing secrets from Western companies possibly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Chinese military has denied involvement in the attacks.
British security expert Graham Cluley says the world is in a "new era of cybercrime.''
He says, "We've moved from kids in their bedroom and financially motivated crime to state-sponsored cybercrime.''
Security experts say cyber spies with skills and resources that suggest they work for governments aim at higher-value but better-guarded information.
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Six ways to share screens between devices
20 Feb, 2013, 0642 hrs IST, Karan Bajaj & Hitesh Raj Bhagat, ET Bureau
Six ways to share screens between devices
There are many uses for screen sharing. You can use a tablet as an additional, extended screen for your computer, wirelessly display content from your laptop on your TV, collaborate with colleagues on a work project or just ask a geeky friend for remote assistance when you get stuck with a PC problem. ET shows you the easiest ways to get started.
Air Video
Having a second display for your computer does have some undeniable advantages — you could mirror the display to show the same content to more people or simply extend the display, so that you can have multiple windows viewable at a glance.
And now, if you have an Android or iOS phone/tablet, you don't even need to buy an additional display — the phone/tablet becomes the second display — you only need to buy the Air Video app for Rs 550 (a free version is also available, so that you can see how it works).
The developers (Avatron Software) have made a server software available for both Windows (XP, Vista & 7) and MAC (OS X 10.6 or later) on their website — simply install the app on your mobile device, the server software on your computer and connect both devices to the same network. And yes, it is cross platform enabled, which means you can use an Android device as a second display for MAC and an iOS device for Windows.
WiDi
Certain laptops (especially newer Ultrabooks) come with Intel's WiDi or Wireless Display feature. Look for a WiDi sticker or check the specifications of your machine to find out whether it has WiDi.
With WiDi, you can wirelessly connect your laptop to any HDMI capable display — the only catch is that you need to separately purchase a WiDI adapter which receives the signal from the laptop. Adapters are available from brands like Netgear, Logitech, D-link & Belkin, priced at roughly Rs 6,000.
The adapter is what outputs the signal to the display using an HDMI cable — the advantage is that it is small enough to be hidden away and achieves high fidelity transmission without any fuss.
If your laptop has WiDi and a third generation Intel Core processor, WiDi supports mirroring of 1080p full HD video, Blu-Ray playback and transmission of 5.1 channel digital audio.
VNC
VNC (Virtual Networking Computing) is one of the most commonly used methods for screen sharing. Using VNC, you can not only view the screen of a remote computer but also control it. VNC functionality is also available on mobile operating systems (using apps).
In fact, several companies use VNC as the backbone to offer remote tech support to their customers. A typical VNC setup consists of a server and client machine.
The client machine connects to the server and can be granted access to either view or to control the server machine. A single server machine can connect to multiple client machines — useful for collaboration or presentations with multiple users.
With the basics out of the way, you can try it out for yourself. Windows users can get TightVNC (www. tightvnc.com) while OS X users can use Chicken (http://goo.gl/jDBtF). If you are looking for crossplatform VNC software, then TigerVNC (http://goo.gl/pnNAw) is what you need. All of these are free and offer basic password protection for security. If you need enhanced security, you can go for paid software like RealVNC (www.realvnc.com).
Once you have one of the VNC servers installed on your computer, you can access it from your mobile device easily. Just search for VNC in the respective app stores and feed in the details given by the VNC server software.
Wireless HDMI
Normally, a good quality HDMI cable is the best way to connect an HD video source to a TV or projector.
Air Video
Having a second display for your computer does have some undeniable advantages — you could mirror the display to show the same content to more people or simply extend the display, so that you can have multiple windows viewable at a glance.
And now, if you have an Android or iOS phone/tablet, you don't even need to buy an additional display — the phone/tablet becomes the second display — you only need to buy the Air Video app for Rs 550 (a free version is also available, so that you can see how it works).
The developers (Avatron Software) have made a server software available for both Windows (XP, Vista & 7) and MAC (OS X 10.6 or later) on their website — simply install the app on your mobile device, the server software on your computer and connect both devices to the same network. And yes, it is cross platform enabled, which means you can use an Android device as a second display for MAC and an iOS device for Windows.
WiDi
Certain laptops (especially newer Ultrabooks) come with Intel's WiDi or Wireless Display feature. Look for a WiDi sticker or check the specifications of your machine to find out whether it has WiDi.
With WiDi, you can wirelessly connect your laptop to any HDMI capable display — the only catch is that you need to separately purchase a WiDI adapter which receives the signal from the laptop. Adapters are available from brands like Netgear, Logitech, D-link & Belkin, priced at roughly Rs 6,000.
The adapter is what outputs the signal to the display using an HDMI cable — the advantage is that it is small enough to be hidden away and achieves high fidelity transmission without any fuss.
If your laptop has WiDi and a third generation Intel Core processor, WiDi supports mirroring of 1080p full HD video, Blu-Ray playback and transmission of 5.1 channel digital audio.
VNC
VNC (Virtual Networking Computing) is one of the most commonly used methods for screen sharing. Using VNC, you can not only view the screen of a remote computer but also control it. VNC functionality is also available on mobile operating systems (using apps).
In fact, several companies use VNC as the backbone to offer remote tech support to their customers. A typical VNC setup consists of a server and client machine.
The client machine connects to the server and can be granted access to either view or to control the server machine. A single server machine can connect to multiple client machines — useful for collaboration or presentations with multiple users.
With the basics out of the way, you can try it out for yourself. Windows users can get TightVNC (www. tightvnc.com) while OS X users can use Chicken (http://goo.gl/jDBtF). If you are looking for crossplatform VNC software, then TigerVNC (http://goo.gl/pnNAw) is what you need. All of these are free and offer basic password protection for security. If you need enhanced security, you can go for paid software like RealVNC (www.realvnc.com).
Once you have one of the VNC servers installed on your computer, you can access it from your mobile device easily. Just search for VNC in the respective app stores and feed in the details given by the VNC server software.
Wireless HDMI
Normally, a good quality HDMI cable is the best way to connect an HD video source to a TV or projector.
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