Business, economic development - the unofficial Chamber of Commerce

In my point of view gaming laptops have lost their once held special status. I recall when they were not so popular. Before the lack of sales alleviated by the profit margins. They were the type of notebook everyone wished for but the one they just were unable to afford. People thought they were the best laptop computers and rightly so. Despite the excitement caused I don’t think they were amazing sellers because I don’t believe people would buy laptop computers in place of desktop computers as they were so expensive. The key manufacturers have recently begun taking advantage of massive opportunities in gaming laptops, so that is all altering.

These are definitely big margin items for the international brands and they know it. It’s a splendid chance for them to recover gross markup as the markup on mainstream notebook computers are so tiny these days. Additionally they can use their large marketing spend to entice the public further into parting with their cash or bringing out the credit cards to buy laptop computers like these ones. In my point of view this would extremely hurt smaller retailers if they don’t separate their usp. I think once it gets marketed to the masses it will not have the same appeal. In addition customers just seem to trust bigger brands more.

Surprisingly, the notebooks they are creating are some of the best laptop computers to present. I still think that littler resellers will derive meaningful inspiration from this fact. Configurating the spec is a process all the geek’s prefer. I reckon the guys that buy gaming laptops typically know what they are searching for. Sometimes the specs hold more significance than the aesthetics for these kinds of purchasers.

This is extremely good news from a customers position. In the end, the prices will be dropped even more causing high end technology to be an option that we can buy. Remember that is just my view on the current conditions. I believe technology is becoming increasingly better however the new laptop computers should always remain pricey. Strong Competition normally pushes companies to do more and give increased value so that appears good.

I stumbled upon this site that is selling gaming laptops at rock bottom prices. They seem to be offering a couple of excellent deals. Visit http://www.rizeon.com/gaming_laptops/page.php

Recently the US Military has developed a special set of sensors for water supplies for troops. Any time a base camp is set up it is important to monitor the water supplies and test them. You cannot simply test them when you arrive you need constant monitoring so that insurgents or enemies do not pollute the water or put poison in it. The three most common pathogens of water supplies are; Vibrio Cholerae, e. Coli and Giardia intestinalis and believe me you don’t want any in your drinking water.

Two companies; Phase IV Engineering and Sporian Microsystems both in Boulder Colorado have developed a bio-sensor system which is RFID based. The device, which floats is connected to a Radio Frequency antenna and it is attached to a sensor housing which is submerged which is also connected to an anchor line. These water sensors can detect pollutants up to 1 part per million.

I propose these be used in the United States to protect our rivers and lakes, which contain drinking water. It is also important to have them in our wetlands and areas such as the Bayous in Louisiana and the everglades in Florida. Now then let us look at the efforts of the WHO, UN and World Bank; can we put these in third world nations to prevent waterborne diseases which kill millions of humans annually? If we can get the costs down significantly thru mass buying and economies of scale we are well on our way to eliminating the horrible issues that expanding populations in the third world face from polluted water and waterborne pathogens. As we see more severe and severe droughts in the world we will need to address these issues. We know have technology ready to be transferred thanks to our military expenditures thru DARPA.

We must continue to fund such research and boost such budgets of DARPA so that all of mankind can benefit in the offshoot transfer technologies. Think on this, something must be done.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

The “MICR laser printer” is becoming very popular. Businesses
are discovering that they can save a substantial amount of money
by printing their own checks on plain paper. However, to
successfully do this, a business should have an MICR capable
laser printer, an MICR toner cartridge, security paper and MICR
check printing software.

HP laser printers are by far the most popular. In fact, most of
the current HP models are capable of MICR check printing. MICR
toner cartridges are available from both HP. Many third party
MICR toner suppliers manufacture compatible MICR toner
cartridges at substantial savings. It would take many pages to
review the possible MICR printers offered by HP.

In addition to HP, Troy and Xerox also produce certified MICR
laser printers. The Troy MICR laser printers are quite popular.
Troy produces several different series of laser printers that
are ideal for small workgroup settings. Troy printers provide
high security check printing hardware and software. The Troy
software makes digital signatures and logos a cinch to print on
your personalized checks. Most of the Troy laser printers use
both Troy and HP MICR toner cartridges

For over 20 years, Acom Solutions has provided MICR laser
printers to business organizations for printing MICR laser
checks. These laser printers use blank security check paper,
which provides a huge cost savings and is a real deterrent of
check fraud. Acom has enhanced several Xerox laser printers to
provide MICR check printing at speeds of 26-45 pages per minute.
Acom has been selected as the Xerox vendor of choice for
certified MICR laser printers.

The following chart gives you a comparison of some of the most
popular Troy and Acom MICR laser printers.

A Comparison of Troy and Acom MICR Laser Printers

MICR Laser…… PPM…. Pgs/Mo.. Input Capacity… First Page
Out…. Toner Yield*

PHASER 4500…… 36…. 150,000… 700 sheets….. < 8
seconds…. 18K

DOCUPRINT N4525.. 45…. 250,000… 1050 sheets….. 4 seconds
(ready)…. 30K

Troy MICR 1320… 22…. 10,000… 250 sheets….. < 10
seconds…. 6K

Troy MICR 2420… 30…. 75,000… 250 sheets….. < 10
seconds…. 6K

Troy MICR 4250… 45…. 200,000… 500 sheets….. < 8
seconds…. 12K

Troy MICR 4350… 55…. 250,000… 500 sheets….. < 8
seconds…. 12K

Troy MICR 8150… 32…. 150,000… 1,100 sheets….. < 14
seconds…. 20K

Troy MICR 9050… 50…. 300,000… (2) 500 sheets < 8
seconds…. 35K

* Yields based upon thousand pages per 5% toner coverage on
letter size paper

The Phaser 4500 and DocuPrint N4525 laser printers are available
from Acom Solutions.

The Troy MICR Laser printers are available from Troy group. If
you want to save as much as 75% on the cost of printing checks,
check out an MICR laser printer today.

Whether your company sells products or offers services, you will want to make sure that you use this list as a guide for your website.

1. Define your ‘position’ and communicate it prominently.

   Tell website visitors on your homepage what you do and how you are different from others in your industry. Tell them where you specialize. This can be accomplished either through a combination of your company name and ’slogan’, through text in an introductory paragraph or through a bold, prominently-displayed marketing-type message. Here is an example:

   Cowell eMarketing

   A small and innovative eMarketing firm for businesses seeking new ways to attract and retain customers. Unlike larger eMarketing firms, Cowell eMarketing only accepts a limited number of active clients at a time, which allows us to provide responsive and individual service… the way it used to be.

2. Communicate that others have taken the step to do business with you.

   When people browse your site they wonder if your company is trustworthy. In order for people to feel confident about doing business with you, you need to help them in the trust department. By showing that others have already done business with you, you show that you are a real company with real customers. Here are a few ways to do this:

   1. Quotes/Testimonials - ask your clients for a 1 or 2 sentence quote about various ways in which you have satisfied. Example:

      “Donovan Consulting is the only firm we go to when we need accounting work that must be accurate and on-time.”

   2. Success Stories - compile a short, one paragraph story about how you helped a client overcome an obstacle. Include names of companies and people wherever possible. Also, include factual data to add impact.

      “Susan Smith, Director of Operations at InstaNet, was losing millions of dollars each year in employee overtime and project overruns. With our help, we were able to work with Susan to install ProjectWare and after six months InstaNet reduced employee overtime by 75%. Additionally, project overruns were brought-down to 5% compared to 15% before using ProjectWare.”

   3. Case Studies - a case study is typically a one or two page report (longer in some cases based on topic) that takes the success story even further. A case study will provide detailed information about the client’s challenges, how those challenges affected their business, what options they had for solving those challenges, which option solved their challenge and specific results of how the solution is saving money or producing revenue.

      It is important to use a combination of these tools throughout your website as related links to relevant information.

3. Position yourself as a leader.

   As visitors browse your site, they start to form an opinion of your company’s offerings, reputation, etc. One thing people will want to know is your ‘position’ in the industry. Does your company lead the industry? Do they lag behind? Are you a ‘me too’ company? Here are a few examples of information you can provide to establish a position of leadership:

   1. Write articles and white papers on important topics within your industry. Take a stand and give your opinion on the matter. Don’t be afraid of your opinion. If you are passionate about your thoughts and opinions, share them!

   2. Conduct seminars on an important topic in your industry. Teach others how to do something that they otherwise might not know how to do. Depending on your audience, you can offer free seminars or charge for them.

   3. Speak at conferences and other business events where your target audience is likely to be. Apply for as many speaking events as you possibly can!

      Promote your articles, white papers, seminars and speaking engagements on your website. Invite people to hear what you have to say.

4. Provide opportunities for visitors to engage with you at several levels.

   On the web it is sometimes difficult for people to make the leap from ‘just browsing’ to buying. Whether you literally sell online or are a services company that doesn’t ‘do business’ online, you will want to offer your visitors several ways to start a dialogue with your company. By giving people an opportunity to engage your business without a major commitment, you establish your ‘foot in the door’. Once you have your foot in the door, ‘getting the sale’ is easy. Here are some tools you will want to consider to get your foot in the door:

   1. Free reports/white papers - not only do these tools establish your company as thought leaders, they also serve as a great way to get people to interact with you at no cost!

   2. Online calculators - a great example are the ‘mortgage calculators’ that a lot of real estate finance companies offer on their websites. These simple tools provide value with no commitment on the customer’s part.
   3. Trial products - can your product or service be packaged in a ‘try-it-for-free’ scenario? Software companies can offer free 30-day evaluation versions of their software. A products company can send sample sizes of their products at no charge. An online service can offer free access for a limited time or completely free ‘basic’ accounts. Music business can offer one track of several for free. The possibilities are endless!
   4. Newsletters - If you regularly write or have access to fresh articles, you can publish an online newsletter and allow people to sign-up for free. As long as your newsletter is sent on a regular basis and always has new and valuable articles, it will be a hit!

   5. Consultations, Evaluations - Services companies can easily offer free consultations to qualified prospects. The consultations can take place via phone, email or in-person. Either way, you engage your prospects and start a dialogue with them!

5. Sell with emotion and justify with logic.

   You may be thinking that this one doesn’t apply to you because your company does not sell products online, however, all companies have a ’sell’ to make. Whether you are a consultant, lawyer, doctor, landscaper or any other type of service-oriented business, you must sell potential customers on why they should consider doing business with you. So how does one sell with ‘emotion’ and justify with ‘logic’? Let’s first explain why this is important.

   When people decide to spend money, they do so based on how they think the product or service will make them feel. For example, someone who buys a Volvo automobile likes the feeling of safety and security. Safety and security are the emotions. You must know which emotions your product or service cater to. When you know which emotions you must cater to, you can then use words and phrases that will resonate with your customer.

   So if the emotions are why people buy, then what is this other business about ‘justifying with logic’? After a person has the right ‘feelings’ about a purchase, a conversation starts to take place in their head. In this conversation, they convince themselves that they are making a good decision. Your job, after catering to the right emotions, is to provide enough information so they will ‘win’ the argument. Give benefit-related details about your product or service. Get specific with numbers, ratings, percentages, etc. The Volvo buyer buys because of safety and security but convinces themselves with data about the specific safety rating, how many people have survived head-on collisions, the number of airbags, etc.

   Add a guarantee about your product/service and you will have all the right ingredients to sell with the pros!

6. Use imagery of smiling, happy and successful people.

   It’s cliché and maybe a bit corny, but it’s absolutely true. People want to be associated with happy, successful people. Images of business people looking very serious at a meeting table may look professional, but they do not inspire. If you sell products online, show happy people around your product. If you are a consultant, show your customers in front of their businesses or homes, smiling. If you are a landscaper, show your customers and their children enjoying their beautiful yards and gardens.

   Some may think that this technique is for smaller businesses and that larger businesses shouldn’t use this kind of artwork. Nonsense! Don’t ever feel that by showing happy, smiling people somehow diminishes the appearance of company size.

7. Prominently post a phone number and contact information.

   Post your contact information prominently on your site. If you can’t incorporate the contact information into your site’s ‘look and feel template’, make sure the link to the page that contains this information is prominently displayed. There are too many websites on the Internet that seem very anonymous because you don’t know where they are or how to get in touch with them. This small bit of information will give potential customers a sense of security, knowing that they can easily get in touch with your company if they need to.

8. Incorporate a professional, crisp and clean design.

   This is a touchy subject. Some people love animated images, Flash, ‘roll-over’ menus and anything else that they think is ‘cutting edge’. Web features such as these have their place, but should be used sparingly. Nobody will ever do business with you because you use these features and your competition doesn’t. Nobody. Remember that the web is most like the experience of reading a magazine and not like watching TV. Keep your website design simple and clean and use these web features sparingly!

9. Promote and address privacy.

   If you collect information from people for the purpose of selling goods, sending out newsletters, etc., you will want to ease their minds by letting them know that you value their personal information. Post a page on your website called, ‘Privacy Policy’. On this page inform visitors that their information will not be shared or sold (if that is the case) and that their information is safe. Look at other sites on the Internet that have privacy policies and use those as a guideline for yours. According to the Customer Respect Group, a large and well-known organization that monitors and reports-on how online businesses treat customers’ personal information, a privacy policy is a must-have!

10. Follow-up with respondents immediately.

    Nothing is more disappointing than completing a ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Request More Information’ form and not getting a call back in a timely manner. Worse yet, a large number of business, for whatever reason, completely ignore the communication altogether! This negligence can completely undermine your credibility and a customer’s confidence in the web, in general. Make it a policy to religiously follow-up with visitors who contact you within 48 hours. A reply within 24 hours is recommended and even better. You should also consider employing technology to give an immediate automated response to people who complete these online forms. An automated reply coupled with a 24 hour personal reply will provide a sense of reliability about your company.

About the Author

Frank Cowell is a Certified eMarketer (as certified by the International eMarketing Association) and President of Cowell eMarketing. Cowell eMarketing provides website and eCommerce solutions, eMail Marketing services and Search Engine Marketing services.

Are you selling online? You are maybe looking for some solutions how to succeed in your business. There are several ways how to get more clients and earn more money. In this article I will introduce you some of them.

1. Affiliate marketing:
Affiliate marketing consist in relationship between web site owners and merchant. Web site owners put merchants advertisement (usually text link or banner) on their page and merchant pays commission from each deal to the site owner. The advantage of this promotion method is the fact that you can never loose your money for inefficient advertising because you pay only in case you earn some money. If you want to start your own affiliate program you can buy one of many available scripts or use some of affiliate networks like Link Share or Commission Junction.

2. Search engine optimization (SEO):
Search engine optimization is one of the most effective (and one of the hardest) ways how to get the large number of very good targeted customers. If you are a search engine optimization specialist, make a SEO analysis and optimize your web site for some effective keywords. If you know nothing about SEO try to find some basic information on Internet and optimize for easy keywords or hire some SEO company. The advantage of search engine optimization is the fact that you get the visitors who want to buy the goods (or services) which you offer. The disadvantage is the long time necessary for successful optimization.

3. Pay per click (PPC):
There are several search engines offering pay per click program. Advertiser choose the keyword and the bid. If the visitor search for this keyword, advertisements targeted for this keyword are displayed. If more advertisers select the same keyword the advertisements are sorted by the bid (except google AdWords, there the advertisement position depends on the bid and click rate). The big advantage of pay per click system is the fact that you can start your campaign during a few minutes.

4. Banner exchanges:
You include a HTML code to your web site and each time somebody visits the site where the HTML code is placed a banner will be displayed and you get some credits (usually 1/2 - 1 credit depending on the exchange ratio). For each credit you “earn” your banner will be displayed on another banner exchange members page. This type of promotion is good for branding but it will increase your traffic just about 0,1 - 1 % only (depending on click rate of your banner) so always combine this method with another strategies.

5. Promotional coupon codes:
Everybody is happy for a free gift or some discount and a lot of online marketers take advantage of this fact. So why don’t make your customers happy too? There are many promotional coupon code directories on Internet. Put your coupon code to most of these web sites. Try combination of promotional coupon codes strategy and affiliate marketing. Give away to your publishers promo codes or special affiliate link. If the visitor click this link he gets some discount, free gift, free shipping or another benefits.

About the Author

Author is the owner of Promotional Coupon Code directory at http://www.promotional-coupon-code.com .

The buying of large-screen TVs has absolutely skyrocketed lately. It seems that everyone wants one - and with good reason. The large-screen TV has come a long way from those faded-out behemoths of old that took up half your living room and never really produced a picture of decent quality. Now, however, especially in combination with HDTV, you can get not only a nice, large picture, but a crisp, clean one too.

Once you decide that you’re ready for a large-screen TV, you quickly discover that you only really have two main options - a plasma TV or an LCD TV. Plasma TVs were first on the scene, but the recent mass production of LCD TVs by major manufactures has put LCD TVs pretty much on equal footing with plasmas. That said, you will still have to make a choice.

If you’re like most people, you not only have no idea how the two differ, you don’t even know the areas you should be considering in order to determine how they differ. But they do indeed differ, and knowing the difference is extremely important if you’re going to get the TV that’s right for you.

You can essentially boil the differences between plasmas and LCDs into twelve basic points. In some areas, plasmas will win out. In other areas, LCDs will win out. In yet other areas, it will depend on your own personal taste in order to decide who wins out.

The twelve ways plasma TVs and LCD TVs differ are the following:

1. The first is a technical issue, and may seem a little boring, but it really does affect other areas. Plasmas TVs are made of chemical compounds called phosphors. LCD TVs use millions of liquid crystals.

2. The next section is related to how big the TVs are and the availability of larger sizes. You have a wider selection of larger-size TVs with plasmas (though LCDs are catching up).

3. The next section is “small size,” which is also important. Plasmas don’t come in smaller sizes, which you will need for places like the kitchen.

4. Next is viewing angle. Plasmas tend to have a wider viewing angle (though, again, LCDs are catching up).

5. Although the manufacturers may not like to admit it, each “can” suffer from certain problems. Plasmas can suffer from burn-in effect; LCDs don’t.

6. Another problem area, but for LCDs, is “delay.” LCDs can produce a jagged figure when in motion. Plasmas tend to do better. HDTV improves this dramatically for both.

7. The next area is life span. You can replace the light source with an LCD, thereby bringing your original picture back. With plasmas you can’t.

8. In the next few sections, the theme of “picture quality” is considered. First, color: LCDs produce sharp, lively colors. Plasmas produce warmer and more accurate colors.

9. Next is brightness levels and the TVs ability to handle different lighting. LCDs tend to do better in bright-light conditions.

10. Also related to picture quality is “black levels.” Plasmas tend to produce blacker blacks.

11. Another area to consider is contrast range. Plasmas, “technically,” produce a higher contrast range.

12. Last, and certainly not least, is price. At the moment, plasmas tend to run a little cheaper, but this is changing rapidly as LCDs flood into the market. By the time you read this, in fact, there may be no difference at all.

Essentially, which one is right for you will all comes down to taste: What potential negatives will you not really notice? What positives do you want more of? What do you really want the TV for - movies, sports, news, regular TV shows? Both plasmas and LCDs have strong advocates in their corners. Both have deliriously happy customers. But those happy customers are only happy because they knew what they wanted before they made their purchase. If you want to make the right choice, you’ll have to decide what it is you want and which of the two TVs can best give you that.

Plasma vs. LCD TVs: To learn more about these two technologies and how your own personal tastes and viewing habits will affect your choice, read the full report at www.plasma-vs-lcd.com . You might also be surprised to learn that plasma TVs are like peanut butter and LCD TVs are like jelly. Yes, really. Read the report.

The future of biometrics holds great promise for law enforcement applications, as well for private industry uses. By measuring facial geometry, surveillance systems can identify suspects against characteristics stored in the security system’s database. “There is a popular tendency to regard biometric products as sci-fi mythology, but the reality is that biometrics is the future of the security industry and is quickly becoming recognized as the most accurate identification technology in the market,” claims Don Mihae who was recently hired by JAD Communication & Safety Systems (JADCS) to lead its security division.

Biometrics’ future will include e-commerce applications for extra security on the checkout page, and biometrics will guard against unauthorized access to cars and cell phones. In the future, biometric technology will further develop 3-D infrared facial recognition access control, real-time facial recognition passive surveillance, and visitor management authentication systems. Already A4Vision, a provider of 3-D facial scanning and identification software uses specialized algorithms to interpret the traditional 2-D camera image and transfer it into a 3-D representation of a registered face. This makes it almost impossible to deceive the biometric system with still photos or other images.

Strengthening existing biometric innovations for future growth

All of these security innovations will make biometric technology more accurate and make its usage more widespread.

• Access control facial recognition — Biometric technologies will permit authorized users entry to a property or to specific location in a building. Today, A4Vision uses a 3-D infrared facial recognition system to project subdued light onto a subject’s face for optimal identification. But in the future, this biometric technology will be strengthened so that the subject will not have to be a just few feet away from the video surveillance cameras.

• Facial recognition passive surveillance — Hidden surveillance cameras will be set up to monitor an entranceway of any type of building to accurately identify a potential suspect or terrorist against a database of millions of images in less than one second. Alerts will then transmitted to security personnel in real time.

• Alert management — This is a fully customizable command center to guard against potential security breeches. The center uses real-time technologies to deliver security alerts to multiple locations through PDA (personal digital assistant) devices, and other mobile technologies.

As the need increases for government bodies and large firms to deploy hi-tech security systems to solve crimes or protect employees, biometric technology will improve, as investor confidence increases. Once the consumer confidence is evident, biometric research will provide further innovations, which will in turn strengthen future performance, and this cycle will continue to build in a positive direction.

But for the biometric technology field to grow, industry standards must exist so that there is the greatest compatibility between applications and hardware. The ISO/IEC JTC1 is the governing body of international biometric standards, but this standardization is still in progress. In the future, fixed biometric standards will be in place to guide vendors and developers in the areas of biometric application profiles, interfaces, and system performance.

With such a young technology, biometric and identification technology has everything to gain with improved standards and accuracy. In probably a short time, biometric developers will surpass the quality of their current product so that the future of the biometric field will be assured in the hi-tech marketplace.

Copyright © 2005 Evaluseek Publishing.

About the Author

Alice Osborn is a successful freelance writer providing practical information and advice about everything related to digital video security and related topics. Her numerous articles include tips for saving both time and money when shopping for video surveillance products; equipment reviews and reports; and other valuable insights. Increase your knowledge about wireless surveillance cameras and CCTV camera systems when you visit Video-Surveillance-Guide.com today!

If you don’t know what MMORPG stands for, don’t worry–you’re
not alone. MMORPG stands for massive multiplayer online role
playing game…and now you can see just why MMORPG is shortened!
It sounds fascinating and it is, players play in a constantly
evolving virtual world online simultaneously with other online
gamers.

The Internet age has brought us so much that’s available
instantaneously right in our fingertips, MMORPG’s aren’t like
Nintendo’s or even PlayStation’s because there is far much more
interactive things going on. When a player plays one of the
traditional forms of gaming like the Nintendo and etc., it’s not
the same because you’re only limited to your environment and you
can’t tell anyone if no one is home plus who cares if you beat a
machine?

MMORPG’s are played head to head against real people, real
competitors and relationships are formed via Internet to talk
about it or players can write user reviews about the games
they’ve played. The bottom line is, it’s fun!

MMORPG’s have showed the gaming industry what players want. Will
MMORPG’s be the future of gaming?

In this paper we will cover the basics on Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Media Access Control Addresses (MAC), Wireless (WiFi), and layer 2 communications. I hope to explain how a “Man in the Middle Attack” works. The common name for this is ARP poisoning, MAC poisoning, or Spoofing. Before we can get into how the poisoning works we need to learn about how the OSI model works and what happens at layer 2 of the OSI Model. To keep this basic we will only scratch the surface on the OSI model to get the idea of how protocols work and communicate with each other.

The OSI (open
Systems interconnection) model was developed by the International Standards
Organization (ISO) in 1984 in an attempt to provide some standard to the way
networking should work. It is a theoretical layered model in which the notion of
networking is divided into several layers, each of which defines specific functions and/or
features. However this model is only general guidelines for developing usable network
interfaces and protocols. Sometimes it may become very difficult to distinguish between
each layer as some vendors do not adhere to the model completely. Despite all this the
OSI model has earned the honor of being “the model” upon which all good network
protocols are based.

The OSI Model

The OSI Model is based upon 7 layers (Application layer, Presentation Layer, Session
Layer, Transport Layer, Network Layer, Data Link Layer and the Physical layer). For our
proposes we will review layer 2 (data link layer), Data Link layer defines the format of
data on the network. A network data frame, aka packet, includes checksum, source and
destination address, and data. The data link layer handles the physical and logical
connections to the packet’s destination, using a network interface. A host connected to an
Ethernet network would have an Ethernet interface (NIC) to handle connections to the
outside world, and a loop back interface to send packets to itself.

Ethernet addressing
uses a unique, 48-bit address called its Ethernet address or Media Access Control (MAC)
address. MAC addresses are usually represented as six colon-separated pairs of hex
digits, e.g., 8A:0B:20:11:AC:85. This number is unique and is associated with a
particular Ethernet device. The data link layer’s protocol-specific header specifies the
MAC address of the packet’s source and destination. When a packet is sent to all hosts
(broadcast), a special MAC address (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) is used. Now with this concept
covered we need to explain what APR is and how is corresponds to the MAC address.

The Address Resolution Protocol is used to dynamically discover the mapping between a
layer 3 (protocol) and a layer 2 (hardware) address. ARP is used to dynamically build and
maintain a mapping database between link local layer 2 addresses and layer 3 addresses.
In the common case this table is for mapping Ethernet to IP addresses. This database is
called the ARP Table. The ARP Table is the true source when it comes to routing traffic
on a Switch (layer 2 device).

ARP Table

Now that we have explored MAC addresses and APR Tables we need to talk about
poisoning. APR Poisoning; also referred to as ARP poison routing (APR), ARP cache
poisoning, & spoofing. A method of attacking an Ethernet LAN by updating the target
computer’s ARP cache/table with both a forged ARP request and reply packets in an
effort to change the Layer 2 Ethernet MAC address (i.e., the address of the network card)
to one that the attacker can monitor.

The Attack

Because the ARP replies have been forged, the target computer sends frames that were
meant for the original destination to the attacker’s computer first so the frames can be
read. A successful APR attempt is invisible to the user. Since the end user never sees the
ARP poisoning they will surf online like normal while the attacker is collecting data from
the session. The data collected can be passwords to e-mail, banking accounts, or
websites. This kind of attack is also known as “Man in the Middle Attack”. This kind of
attack basically works like this: attackers PC sends poisoned ARP request to the gateway
device (router), The gateway device now thinks the route to any PC on the subnet needs
to go though the attackers PC. All hosts on the subnet thinks the attackers IP/MAC is the
gateway and they send all traffic though that computer and the attacking PC forwards the
data to the gateway. So what you end up having is one PC (attacker) sees all traffic on the
network. If this attach is aimed at one user the Attack can just spoof the victims MAC to
his own and only affect
that MAC on the subnet. Keep in mind that the gateway (router)
is designed to have lager routing tables and many sessions connected to it at once. Most
PC’s can not handle too many routes and sessions so the attackers PC has to be a fast PC
(this depends on the volume of traffic on the subnet) to keep up with the flow of data. In
some cases a network can crash or freeze if the attacker’s PC is unable to route the data
effectively. The network Crashes because the number packets dropping due to the fact the
Attackers PC is unable to keep up with the flow of data.

Wardriving Anyone?

Now a lot of people think there safe because there home network is inside there house.
Well this is not true you first should always have a firewall on any internet connection.
An attacker can just as easy spoof the ISP’s devices (Cable modem or DLS router) to get
all your out bound data. If you are using wireless remember to setup encryption or you
have just invited Attackers into you home with no firewall to block them. I have drove in
many cities with my wireless card on seeing over 60% of all AP’s open with no security.
There is a sport called Wardriving witch involves driving in your car with a wireless
network card to find wireless networks. Most Wardrivers do not get onto the networks
they find but they do document them (normally with GPS). The idea behind Wardriving
is just to see how many AP’s you can find and this sport has caught on big in the US. It
would be very easy to get an IP on a Wireless network and then ARP Poison the subnet.

This can be done in less than 2 minutes on an open wireless access point. Once the
attacker is on your subnet they can start receiving all your data so if you buy anything
online the attacker now has you credit card info. There are ways to prevent this kind of
attack but most switches are vulnerable to this kind of attack. To prevent ARP Poisoning
you need a Switch that supports security features and most vendors’ equipment can
handle this but theses kinds of switch devices normally cost more money. Keep in mind
that there are many free tools on the internet that perform ARP Poisoning/Spoofing. It is
not hard to use the tools and with more and more home users going wireless the risk of an
attacker getting you data keeps rising. The best thing to do for protection is to understand
the basics of your network and if you want wireless make sure you have WEP enabled.

The Good Guys

So far we have covered how attackers use APR Poisoning to intercept user’s data but
there are also good reasons to ARP Poison a network. Most network engineers need to
sniff the protocols on a network to make sure the data is flowing correct. The problem
with sniffing on a switch network is that you can only see data bound to your interface
and broadcast traffic. On unmanageable switches there is no way to see all host traffic to
inspect it. With ARP Poisoning you can now divert all traffic to pass though the sniffers
interface and see all data on the network and analyze the traffic for possible issues.

Admins & Engineers maybe trouble shooting speed issues on a subnet and need to see all
the traffic. Once you spoof the subnet to sniff the traffic you will be able to see if viruses
or a bad NIC card is causing a broadcast storm on the subnet. With any tool there are
always good and bad uses and the thing to remember is be careful of what you do online
line because anyone could be monitoring you. If you have any question about poisoning
feel free to send me an e-mail at slimjim100@gmail.com.

By Slimjim100 (Brian Wilson)

http://www.middlegeorgia.org
http://www.middlegeorgia.info

#1 - Summer Computer Travel
Holiday travelers should be on alert when arriving home from long weekends, such as the Fourth of July, a popular time for computer viruses to spread.

Most computer users have a tendency to turn off their computers when away on trips, which means you’re not getting newly-released anti-virus patches or anti-spyware updates; the two most common areas that cause computers problems. We recommend you update anti-virus and anti-spyware scans before opening e-mail or going online after an extended absence.

We consistently see an increase in calls for virus related problems immediately following long weekends. Avoid the problems altogether by updating your security software before using your computer. For a free listing of viruses, spyware threats and trends, visit: www.VisitingGeeks.com/downloads.htm

#2 — Should You Leave Your Computer Running?
One question we hear frequently is, “Should I leave my desktop computer on or turn it off?”

There are 2 schools of thought…
Turning it on and off numerous times during the day subjects the microcircuits to flexing and fatigue due to change in temperatures. Over time this could lead to a break in the circuitry and result in system failure.

Leaving the computer on all the time puts excess wear on the mechanical components (the hard drive spindle motor and cooling fans).

Best compromise. First user in the morning turns it on; last user turns it off.

We leave our desktops on all the time allowing for scheduled utility tasks to run during overnight hours. We also restart the systems (to flush the RAM and reset the operating system) on a regular basis and routinely remove the case covers to clean out any dust that may have accumulated, especially around the fans and screens.

#3 — Stop Popups!
Never click inside the window of a popup. Instead, close it by clicking on the X in the upper right corner. Many people are fooled into installing spyware applications by popups that promise to clean their system. If you receive a message saying it can help, assume it’s spyware and don’t click!

About the Author

Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron at http://www.SharronSenter.com