Information Technology Skills Are Still In Demand...

Even with the recent decline in technology stocks and the demise of some Internet companies, Information Technology (IT) remains one of the fastest growing fields today, according to the US Department of Labor.

Technology trade magazines such as Information Week and Computerworld have consistently reported (January through March issues respectively) that the economic downturn will probably not impede the number of high-tech projects - or the amount of employees needed to them get them done. However, many companies have indicated that the slowdown may delay previously planned hardware and software purchases. Additionally, while some companies report that they are not currently hiring, most are suggesting plans to increase outsourcing of many IT functions such as: applications development, quality assurance testing, site management and maintenance, Internet security, and tech support, to contractors providing these services. These outsourcing businesses will likely hire more professionals to accommodate this influx of business.

Employers are also concerned that there are not enough potential employees as demand for IT talent - particularly those skilled in Internet, e-commerce and networking - continues to exceed supply. Some analysts are predicting that labor shortages will continue for the next decade. Also, it is estimated that by 2008, the US high-tech industry will have created an additional 5 million jobs, partially reflecting the Internet's appearance as a mainstream technology (SI Review, March/April 2001).

As the number of positions goes up, competition for these skilled workers will intensify. With a major drive to implement Web-enabled CRM programs and applications tied to data warehouses and customer tools, many companies are already seeking candidates with IT experience. These include developers and programmers with experience in Java, Java Servlets, Java Beans, Novell NetWare, Lotus Notes, Linux, Cisco, Adobe, JavaScript, XML, HTML, and DHTML.

With new web-based projects being encouraged by top management and project deadlines nearing, companies need to hire skilled workers. IT may be the most important factor for long-term career success

By: Matt Williams -

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Matt Williams is the webmaster for various education Sites.Search for best online technology school in your area and start today.

Secure E-Mail With Google GMail

This is something I’ve set up myself, recently, to send mail through Gmail without having the unencrypted e-mail stored on their servers.To achieve this, you’ll need a Google GMail account, PGP or GnuPG, Mozilla Thunderbird, and the Enigmail extension.

First, set your Gmail account to allow POP3 access. This can be set in your mail settings within the web interface. The Gmail system will tell you the settings you need to make in Thunderbird in order to use this.

Next, get Thunderbird and the Enigmail extension, and install both, along with PGP or GnuPG. Then, enter your account settings into Thunderbird, as per the Google page.

You’ll need to create a PGP key associated with your e-mail address. In PGP, do this using the GUI interface. With GnuPG, type gpg –gen-key and follow the instructions. You can set the key type, key size (Go with at least 2048 bits. Many people use 4096) and the expiry date. Some people set their keys never to expire, I like a key duration of 6 months, so that I end up recreating keys twice a year, but at least if someone breaks or otherwise acquires my key during that time, they won’t have long to do it, nor to use it, before it gets changed again!

Finally, associate the keypair with your e-mail address, in the Enigmail settings within Thunderbird, and ensure that e-mail defaults to signed and encrypted. Collect public keys from those people with whom you wish to correspond privately, and add those to your PGP or GnuPG keyring. Enigmail will then encrypt e-mail sent to those people, and decrypt e-mail sent from them to you. Mail to a recipient whose key you do not have will not be encrypted, unless GnuPG / PGP can find a key for them on the public keyservers.

Secure e-mail prevents others reading private communications and the signing process authenticates the e-mail message as being from you.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Bryce Whitty owns and runs www.technibble.com”>computer repair website called www.technibble.com”>Technibble.com. A website that provides technical how-to’s for repairing your computer. Technibble also has many guides for getting into the www.technibble.com”>computer business or managing your existing one. We also cover other side topics such as Security and Software.

The beginners guide to safely join and use eBay

I don't think it matters where you are these days, if you mention the name ' eBay ', there is someone there who has either bought an item on it, or who has sold something on it, eBay has become a household name around the world. I started buying and selling on ebay around 7 years ago. There are thousands of people living in the U.S. that make full time living's selling item's on eBay, and thousands more that buy items on it daily.

eBay was started by one man named ' Pierre Omidyar '. When Pierre was 28 years old he started writing the programming code that was to become the internet site eBay. The site was launched online on Sep 4, 1995, ' Labor Day ' here in the U.S. At first it wasn't called eBay, but was named ' Auction Web '. Later it was changed to ' ebay ' , which was a short version of a consulting firm Pierre owned named ' Echo Bay '. eBay was free at the start, then it started charging fees to help cover it's internet costs for hosting and other charges. At the time, Pierre was dating a woman that collected PEZ toys, she used the new eBay site in its earliest incarnation to buy and sell rare dispensers. In 1996 Jeffrey Skoll, a Stanford MBA, joined the company and by 1998 eBay had gone public in the stock market, making Omidyar a billionaire. In 2005, Omidyar's 214 million eBay shares were worth around $8 billion. In March 1998, Meg Whitman was brought in as President and CEO of eBay where she serves still today

Let's start by going to the eBay site and joining. Just visit: www.ebay.com and you will be taken to the main page of the website. Once there look towards the top area of the screen and you will see text that says: ' Hello! Sign in or register. ', using the mouse button, click on ' register '. After clicking on ' register ' you will be taken to a screen with a form on it, enter the information about yourself, such as your name, address, telephone number and email address. Next you will be taken to another screen where you must choose a password and ebay user name, the eBay user-name is the ID or Name you will be known by to other ebay bidders and shoppers.

The password should be something that is not common, for instance do not use your first or last name, or some common word such as ' pencil ', or ' computer ', take your time and choose something difficult and a little long, make sure you write this password down and keep it near your computer in case you forget it. I recommend writing your ebay password on a yellow post-it note and hanging it someplace near your computer.

When your done with the username and password screen, you just have to check your email for the confirmation link that eBay sends you, just click on the link as shown in the email to activate your eBay account, now you have joined eBay, and you can start bidding and buying right away, but before you do let me tell you about the different features of eBay and how some things work.

eBay is not just an auction site, I mean you do not have to bid and wait for an auction to end, in order to purchase every item on eBay. In fact many items can be purchased for a set fee, and bought instantly, these are called ' Buy Now ' listings. For an example of how listings differ from each other, let's look at some ebay items. Let's say you and I are looking for a ' singing fish ', the fish that look like their mounted and displayed on a piece of wood, when someone gets near it, it will start singing and move it's mouth and tail, they are often called ' big mouth billy bass '.

To see if eBay has any of the ' singing fish ', we just go to the main ebay page (www.ebay.com) and in the 'SEARCH' area, type in: singing fish, and the screen shows there are currently 60 different items or listings found. I scroll down and select one of the listings, it currently shows the current bid price is $7.00 and it has had 4 bids, with 1 day and 13 hours remaining before the listing or auction ends. If I really wanted this item, and was willing to pay up to $15.00 for it, I would just click on ' Place Bid ', and enter my ebay username and password, if requested to do so. It tells me that I have to enter a bid of at least $7.50, remember I am willing to spend $15.00, so I would now enter $15.00 as my bid price. The item description page would then show that I am the current high bidder, and the amount needed to outpid me would be $8.00 or so, eBay keeps my maximum bid price ($15.00) secret, and automatically bids in increments for me as other folks bid, until reaching my $15.00 limit. If someone bids more than my $15.00 limit, there is no way I can win the item, unless I bid again and set another higher limit, if the item listing time ends with my $15.00 bid as the highest one, I am the winner.

The ' maximum bid ' option is a very neat feature, if you will be away from the computer and can not watch an auction closely while the time remaining is ending, eBay will automatically bid for you until you have reached your maximum bid limit.

Besides bidding, some items have others ways of purchasing them. Now lets go back to the screen that showed the 60 different listings for the ' singing fish ', I scroll down and notice that besides the current price of one fish, it says ' Buy It Now ' and shows a price of $8.99 near it. Clicking on this listing, I see the fish can be purchased instantly for $8.99, by clicking on the ' Buy It Now ' button. If I clicked on the ' Buy It Now ', button I would be taken to another screen where I would confirm that I want to buy it by clicking on the ' Commit to Buy ' button, or I could simply click 'back' on my web browser, or just go to another page to cancel my decision to buy the item. If I did click on the ' Commit to Buy ' button, it would show me other screens, and tell me where to send the payment, etc, all which are explained in simple and easy to understand terms.

There are three things to always check on before buying or bidding on an eBay item, the first is the sellers location. As you use ebay, you will see that some of the sellers live in Canada, or even the U.K. If you are like me and live here in the U.S. you may wish to just buy or bid on items that are here in the same country, to avoid a long delivery time, and large shipping fees. Each ebay item description page, tells the users address, for instance it will say ' Item location: Chatsworth, CA United States ', etc, near the top and middle area of the screen. Another thing to check is what the shipping costs will be. Some folks offer very high shipping, for instance someone may sell a shirt for only $2.00 but have a set shipping fee of $15, so always search the item description page before bidding and buying to find the shipping information. Some item description pages have a box, with a button on them called ' Calculate ', once you click on this button, just enter your zip code, and it will tell you what the exact shipping fees will be. One more thing to always check on is what methods the seller accepts as payment. Some folks only accept PayPal, others only accept Money Orders, or Checks, while some accept all methods. Look for this information on the item description screens also, it's listed usually under the item's description section, in an area called: ' Payment methods accepted ', all three of these things I have told you about, are easy to find and view on any item's description screen.

As you search and look at different items listed on eBay, you will see that a lot of people only accept PayPal as their form of payment. If you are not familiar with ' PayPal ' visit, www.paypal.com. Signing up and joining PayPal is simple and free, and it has great benefits especially for using eBay. PayPal payments are secure, and the money is sent instantly to the seller, it makes eBay a lot more fun to use, when buying items on eBay I use both PayPal payments and money orders.

Now let me just explain a little about ' feedback ' and how it's very important when it comes to buying and selling on ebay. Let's go back to the ebay webpage that shows the listings for the ' singing fish '. As I pick a listing at random, I look under the ' Seller Information ' area of that page, I see the sellers eBay name, and the Feedback Score. The feedback score tells you how many buy/sell transactions a user has made in the past on eBay, and the percentage of the transactions that were positive. This info is a great way to protect yourself from a seller or buyer that may not be very reputable. For example if you were interested in bidding or buying an item, and you noticed the person listing the item had a feedback number of 6 and a positive percentage of 20%, stay away from this person, but if the person had a feedback number of 6 and a positive percentage of 99% or so, they would be a lot safer to deal with.

Now before finishing this article I want to give you two more pointers or bits of information to use to make your eBay experiences good ones. Once you become familiar and can find your way around the different areas, go to your account screen, and find the option to change your password. My eBay password is over 14 characters long and contains letters and numbers in random order. I change my password every month or two, and I recommend you do this also.

The main reason I recommend you change your eBay password every month or two, is because there are a lot of nasty computer viruses and trojan horses floating around on the internet and arriving through email, and the purpose of some of these viruses is to scan your hard drive and seek out your passwords, ebay's included, and to email this info to hackers and other websites, giving folks you don't know access to your eBay account information.

In all of my years using eBay, I have never had one problem, and you should not either if you read and follow my advice and tips in this article, and just use some common sense or internet savy. There is no way I or anyone can guarantee you will never have trouble using ebay or any internet site, but neither can someone guarantee you won't become involved in a wreck while driving a vehicle.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Computer security and encryption becoming more vital

One of the greatest miscalculations a business owner can commit is by not prioritizing how he will protect his computer system from unauthorized intrusions and data theft.

There is a common belief among business owners especially those that do not operate a big business that their small size makes them safe from the malicious intent of computer phreakers and data thieves. They think that in a sea full of big fishes a small fish will be ignored, secure in the fact they are not worth the exertion and computer time for notorious data thieves.

Nothing can be farther from the truth. In fact, smaller businesses are far more vulnerable to internet security threats and all manner of data theft and electronic sabotage. Based on a study made by research firm AMI-Partners, almost half of all small and medium sized businesses have failed to implement even the most rudimentary security precautions – which includes the installation of antivirus and anti spyware programs. This oversight could be the main reason why when the Mydoom worm hit a few years back, one in three small and medium sized businesses were affected compared to just one in six among the larger companies were affected. This was discovered by the Internet Security Alliance, a non profit organization that deals with information security issues.

In fact, now more than ever data and network protection should be given more attention because of the ever evolving sophistication of data thieves. They are now more equipped with the software and hardware necessary to break into security measures instituted by data managers. What could the chance be for a company to weather an attack if the owner forgets or ignores putting in place data security and encryption policies for his business because he thinks it will just be an additional cost? Practically zero and the untold cost to his business would be far more greater.

It is for this reason that data security and encryption should be one of the priorities of a business. Anyone is vulnerable to an attack whether that business is an international conglomerate or a new start up. In fact, a big business will have more chance to recover compared to a small business because a big company will have the read funds available to rebuild the business. A small business, on the other hand, will not have the necessary funding to start the business all over again – making an attack quite catastrophic.

These facts are not lost on many software providers who are now coming up with many types of solutions that guarantee the safety of data in an office’s network. There are also software that bring security to a higher level by incorporating encryption technology in order to safeguard not only sensitive data but also to make it harder for hackers to get into networks or intercept data being transmitted from the corporate network to devices outside of the network. Encryption technology can, in fact, be seen as one of the highest levels of protection that a business can employ in order to ensure the integrity of its data and its computer network.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Resources.eu.com is an online resource centre covering many topics including computers and security and encryption.

Password Protection Tips for Online Shoppers

Online shopping was once seen as quirky and impractical, but it has proven that not only is it a viable consumer option, it is also a mega pipeline for billion dollar businesses. In fact, many experts expect to see the growth of the online shopping industry increase in ways that will eventually make offline shopping somewhat obsolete. Already we see that during peak shopping months like December, online sales statistics sometimes top the revenue figures for brick and mortar stores.

And this phenomenon has not been ignored by the bad guys, particularly those who make their money by computer-aided theft, fraud, and hacking. If you are concerned about whether or not your online shopping transactions are safe and secure, you are in good company. Even the experts on the subject say that it is a matter of concern, and they advise ways to remain vigilant in protecting our critical personal data. By being aware of the potential for criminal exploitation of our online shopping experiences, we can defend ourselves against such things, and our stress and worry can be transformed into a healthy awareness of our modern need to take reasonable security precautions.

The biggest vulnerability of all is that we have special words and codes we use to identify ourselves, since we are not involved in old-fashioned face-to-face business transactions. That means that it is easy to pretend to be someone else, if we have someone else’s personal passwords. Just as covert operators like secret agents do during wartime, thieves can discover our secret passwords and then use them to cross over into territory where they can easily attack us and wreak havoc, plundering our well-guarded assets. The trick to outwitting these crooks is to have codes that are impossible – or next to impossible – to decipher.

Password protection is a serious business, and we should take it just as seriously as we do the practice of locking our doors at night or walking on well-lighted streets instead of darkened alleys. Experts recommend that we do not use passwords related to information that could be found out about us easily. For instance, your birthday, street address, and dog’s name are probably not well protected. Anyone with the determination to research those things could find out such personal info about you, and if you are using those dates or names for passwords, they can hack your accounts. It is better to use more obscure and random passwords that have no other relevance to your personal identity.

And when creating a password, use a random mix of both numbers and letters. Some computer programs used by culprits will automatically try all combinations of numbers, for instance, to find the one that opens your account. By tossing in a few random letters, you can scramble these attempts and thwart them. Another important piece of advice is to update your passwords regularly, by changing them to new ones. Don’t use the same password on more than one account, and change your passwords on a regular basis, at least a few times each year.

Once you’re sleeping peacefully in the knowledge that you have done everything possible to protect yourself online, you can shop the Internet with confidence and reassurance.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Jeff Lakie is a contributing writer at the Uk Loan online. We offer you great rates on secured loans and can compete with top lenders like Halifax and still offer you a great rate.

Protect yourself from brute-forcers

Today, I recieved an email from my server notifying me that someone was actually trying to brute-force into the server so I thought I’d make a tutorial how to protect yourself or your server.

First, you’ll need APF to be installed, I’m not going to go in details on how to setup the firewall, but you’ll simply need it install so that BFD (brute force detector) can block the IP from trying to “brute force”.

Installing APF
cd ~
wget http://www.rfxnetworks.com/downloads/apf-current.tar.gz
tar -xvzf apf-current.tar.gz
rm -f apf-current.tar.gz
cd apf-*
sudo sh install.sh

Installing BFD
cd ~
wget http://www.rfxnetworks.com/downloads/bfd-current.tar.gz
tar -xvzf bfd-current.tar.gz
rm -f bfd-current.tar.gz
cd bfd-*
sudo sh install.sh

Configuring BFD
Use your favorite text editor (I prefer nano) to edit the configuration file, /usr/local/bfd/conf.bfd

Find
ALERT_USR="0"
and replace it with
ALERT_USR="1"

Find
EMAIL_USR="root"
and replace it with
ALERT_USR="your.email@webserver.com"

Save your modifications and exit your editor, start BFD using the line
/usr/local/sbin/bfd -s

Now, whenever BFD will detect a bruteforce, it will email you at the email set above & BFD will run the command /etc/apf/apf -d the.attackers.ip

The emails you will usually recieve look like this:

Jul 29 08:22:40 yourhostname sshd[21642]: Invalid user manfred from the.attackers.ip
Jul 29 08:22:40 yourhostname sshd[21643]: Invalid user michi from the.attackers.ip
Jul 29 08:22:42 yourhostname sshd[21642]: Failed password for invalid user manfred from the.attackers.ip port 48215 ssh2
Jul 29 08:22:42 yourhostname sshd[21643]: Failed password for invalid user michi from the.attackers.ip port 48223 ssh2
Jul 29 08:22:44 yourhostname sshd[21646]: Invalid user michi from the.attackers.ip
Jul 29 08:22:47 yourhostname sshd[21646]: Failed password for invalid user michi from the.attackers.ip port 48322 ssh2
Jul 29 08:22:47 yourhostname sshd[21647]: Failed password for postgres from the.attackers.ip port 48329 ssh2

Oh, and one thing I have done after I recieved the attack, I immeditaly changed the default SSH port. Use your favorite text editor (nano again!) to edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find
#Port 22
And uncomment the line (Remove the #) and replace the 22 by the port you want SSH to use (Max. port number is 49151 so make sure you don’t put anything past that. Afterwards, restart SSH. Usually on CentOS it is service sshd restart and in other operating systems, it is /etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd restart

After getting attacked, I did a WHOIS on the IP (Run whois the.attackers.ip). You’ll usually see one of the emails something like abuse@somedomain.com.

Make sure to send them an email including the logs from the email, your server IP and the attackers IP.

Thanks alot for reading
VexxHost Web Hosting Team

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

VexxHost Web Hosting Team: Quality, affordable webhosting. As low as $2.55 and as much as 10GB space with 300G transfer, With Free domains and Free setup fees. visit us at vexxhost.com
Article Submission made possible by: www.articles-submit.com
Courtesy of:vexxhost web hosting

Where You Can Learn About The Latest In Online Security

The almost flawless convergence of personal computers and the internet brings convenience to a whole new level in the 21st century. Not having to leave the comfort of your own home to purchase the latest novel by your favorite author or getting your hands on that rare collectible via Amazon.com is the ultimate in convenience. Shopping online just beats having to sit through traffic and standing in line to pay for the goods that you want. Online banking is another example of the advantages that we have today that did not exist a few years back.

Banking through the internet enables us to make transactions like checking our account balances, making bill payments and fund transfers without having to deal with unfriendly or overly friendly bank employees. In utilizing our computers for performing the tasks mentioned, we tend to forget that vital personal information has been stored in our computers or in the database of the site where we make our virtual shopping sprees. It has become part of our daily lives, a routine, that we become oblivious to the basic fact that our computers hold a significant amount of data that translates into the who, what, how and where of our being.

Malicious individuals with even the most basic programming knowledge can make use of complex codes to violate your personal space online. Siphoning off personal information from your computer with your participation through phishing or without your involvement through remote access is a common practice among internet scam artists and hackers. The data they’re usually after are credit card or bank account information, social security numbers and other personal details.
A slighter kind of intrusion can annoy you with harmless yet irritating programs or make your life really complicated by trashing your system with a malevolent virus.

Trojans, worms and other malicious software abound in cyberspace and there is no shortage of nasty characters to use or create them either. Loathing these people after the fact is common but that will soon be replaced with a feeling of inadequacy as you begin to blame yourself. You’ll ask yourself why you didn’t take time to download the latest security patch for your operating system or updated the virus definitions of your antivirus software. There really is only one thing you can do to combat data theft or electric incursions and that is arming yourself with the right information at the proper time.

Knowledge about your system’s security issues, vulnerabilities and fixes will get you far with regards to data protection and “wellness” of your machine. Therefore, information will be your primary ammunition against various attacks whether they are specific assaults or just random annoyances. Information about computer security of any kind can be had in an instant in the net. Blogs and websites offer advice and tips for free, so there’s really no excuse for us not to be vigilant. It is our responsibility to be in the know when it comes to plugging security holes in our system. Read up and you’ll be on your way to a trouble free and more secure computer system.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Tom Takihi is the owner of the IT Security Blog. To get the latest news and tips on online security, please visit : www.IT-Security-Blog.com