E-Book: Introduction To Distributed Systems By Andrew Tanenbaum

Introduction To Distributed Systems – Andrew Tanenbaum

Difference between “Google Analytics” and “Google Webmaster” Tools:

Difference between “Google Analytics” and “Google Webmaster” Tools:

First of all I would like to tell you that both products are from Google, and both products are to support good SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  But for good SEO these two tools are not the only tools to support. But for good SEO other things are also recommended such as Keyword density, Good and related content, Meta tags, Title, Description, Heading, Text/HTML Ratio, Indexed Pages, Social Media Plug-in, Broken links, Back links, www Resolve, IP canalization, Robots.txt, XML Sitemap, Speed Tests and many others. These things you need to keep in mind for better search engine results from your website pages. In simple words you need to optimize your website/ web pages in order to be searched by Google index pages and list them in his database with related keywords.

• GOOGLE ANALYTICS:

Google analytics is one of the most widely used web analytic application that is used to monitor and analyze your website. It gives you the following information.

1. Visitors Report:

• Visitors report is the total number of visitors either new or returning customers.
• The total time that each visitors spend on your website.
• The amount of visitors a user spends on a page.
• The number of visitors who landed on to your website and left immediately, often called bounce rate in programming point of view.

2. Web Traffic Reports: The traffic reports itself says the web traffic that comes to your website, or in other words the number of people that comes to your webpage in order to fetch the required information based on the required keywords. This tool can give you the daily, monthly and yearly basis, and provides traffic status and differentiate them with previous web traffic to your website.
3. Keywords:

• The keywords are a group of alphabets compromising of words. The keywords can be of 3 types. Single keyword (usually single word), Compound Keyword (more than one word) or Complex keyword (Multiple Keywords).
• These keywords are responsible to drag people on to your website related to your content usually called organic search.
• These keywords are responsible to keep visitors on your website for longer time.

4. Content:

• The content is the summary or the text that a website contains.
• Most of the time a user came to extract information from the text given on the website.

• GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS:

Google webmaster tools are used to revel that how your website looks online. This tool is used to fix problems and remove issues related to your websites. This is a service of Google but many search engines have different webmaster tools so that they will index in other web based search engines. Some of the other webmaster tools are as: Bing webmaster tool, Yandex webmaster tool and Alex webmaster tool. These webmaster tools are used to improve the search engine visibility of your website on the search engines. Google webmaster tool gives us the following information in order to improve our search engine visibility.

1. Crawl Errors:

• Google webmaster tool gives you the information about the pages which Google tool is unable to crawl or index to its database.
• This tool is an important tool as if a search engine is unable to crawl your website pages that mean that your search engine visibility may go down by those pages.
• This tool helps us to fix this issue by logging into Google webmasters and add your website to it, and it will show you the error on crawl tab.

2. Search Queries:

• The search queries are those queries which an end user provides to search engines in order to get the results from the search database. The following information is available using webmaster tools.
• Total number of search queries which returned links to your site from search results.
• Your top search queries which returned pages to Google.
• The number of times your page was displayed in Google’s search results.
• The average position of your website for a particular search query.

3. Links: Links are those which redirect from other websites to your website also known as backlinks in programming point of view. These links act as a +1 in Google search that means Google is recommending it.
4. Blocked URL’s: If you have some pages on your webpage’s that you want that the search engine should not index it or you don’t want to show this text to your users. Then use a robots.txt file to specify how search engines crawl your site’s content.
5. Malware: Google webmaster tools detects if there is any suspicious malware on your site.
6. HTML Errors: Google webmaster Tool informs you in case you have any HTML errors on your websites.
7. Fetch as Google: You can use this tool to submit your website content to Google. However Google don’t guarantee ever user that they will index every URL we crawl. When you sign up for Google webmasters, you need to copy a code on to your website, so that Google will index you and list it in the database.

Learn BG works | Motherboard Repairing. 

CYBER LAWS FOR CYBER SECURITY

1.1 WHAT IS CYBER CRIME?

Cyber crime is a generic term that refers to all criminal activities done using the medium of computers, the Internet, cyber space and the worldwide web. Cyber crime means any criminal activity in which a computer or network is the source, Tool or target or place of crime. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines cyber crimes as Crimes committed with the use of computers or relating to computers, especially through internet. Crimes involving use of information or usage of electronic means in furtherance of crime are covered under the scope of cyber crime. Cyber Crimes may be committed against persons, Property and government. The common types of cyber crimes may be discussed under the following heads.

1.1 Hacking – A hacker is an unauthorized user who attempts to or gains access to an information system. Hacking is a crime even if there is no visible damage to the system, since it is an invasion in to the privacy of data. There are different classes of Hackers.

 

          a) White Hat Hackers – They believe that information sharing is good, and that it is their duty to share their expertise by facilitating access to information. However there are some white hat hackers who are just “joy riding” on computer systems.

          b) Black Hat Hackers – They cause damage after intrusion. They may steal or modify data or insert viruses or worms which damage the system. They are also called ‘crackers’.

          c) Grey Hat Hackers – Typically ethical but occasionally violates hacker ethics Hackers will hack into networks, stand-alone computers and software. Network hackers try to gain

Unauthorized access to private computer networks just for challenge, curiosity, and distribution of information. Crackers perform unauthorized intrusion with damage like stealing or changing of

Information or inserting malware (viruses or worms)

 1.2 Cyber Stalking – This crime involves use of internet to harass someone. The behavior includes false accusations, threats etc. Normally, majority of cyber stalkers are men and the majority of victims are women.

 1.3 Spamming – Spamming is sending of unsolicited bulk and commercial messages over the Internet. Although irritating to most email users, it is not illegal unless it causes damage such as Overloading network and disrupting service to subscribers or creates .negative impact on consumer attitudes towards Internet Service Provider.

1.4 Cyber Pornography – Women and children are victims of sexual exploitation through Internet. Pedophiles use the internet to send photos of illegal child pornography to targeted children so as to attract children to such funs. Later they are sexually exploited for gains.

1.5 Phishing – It is a criminally fraudulent process of acquiring sensitive information such as username, passwords and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

1.6 Software Piracy – It is an illegal reproduction and distribution of software for business or Personal use. This is considered to be a type of infringement of copy right and a violation of a license agreement. Since the unauthorized user is not a party to the license agreement it is difficult to find out remedies.

1.7 Corporate Espionage – It means theft of trade secrets through illegal means such as wire taps or illegal intrusions.

1.8 Money Laundering – It means moving of illegally acquired cash through financial and other systems so that it appears to be legally acquired. eg. Transport cash to a country having less stringent banking regulations and move it back by way of loans the interest of which can be deducted from his taxes. This is possible prior to computer and internet technology; electronic transfers have made it easier and more successful.

1.9 Embezzlement – Unlawful misappropriation of money, property or any other thing of value that has been entrusted to the offender’s care, custody or control is called embezzlement. Internet facilities are misused to commit this crime.

1.10 Password Sniffers – Password sniffers are programmers that monitor and record the name and password of network users as they log in, jeopardizing security at a site. Whoever installs the sniffer can impersonate an authorized user and log in to access on restricted documents.

1.11 Spoofing – It is the act of disguising one computer to electronically “look” like another compute, in order to gain access to a system that would be normally is restricted. Spoofing was used to access valuable information stored in a computer belonging to security expert Tsutomu Shimomura.

 1.12 Credit Card Fraud – In U.S.A. half a billion dollars have been lost annually by consumers who have credit cards and calling card numbers. These are stolen from on-line databases.

1.13 Web Jacking – The term refers to forceful taking of control of a web site by cracking the password.

1.14 Cyber terrorism – The use of computer resources to intimidate or coerce government, the civilian population or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives is called cyber terrorism. Individuals and groups quite often try to exploit anonymous character of the internet to threaten governments and terrorize the citizens of the country.

2 What is Cyber Law?

Cyber law is a term used to describe the legal issues related to use of communications technology, particularly “cyberspace”, i.e. the Internet. It is less of a distinct field of law in the way that property or contract are, as it is an intersection of many  legal  fields,  including  intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and  jurisdiction.  In  essence,  cyber  law is  an  attempt  to  apply  laws  designed  for the  physical  world,  to  human  activity  on the Internet. In India, The IT Act, 2000 as amended by The IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 is known as the Cyber law. It has a separate chapter XI entitled “Offences” in which various cyber crimes have been declared as penal offences punishable with imprisonment and fine.

3 Need for Cyber Law?

There are various reasons why it is extremely difficult for conventional law to cope with cyberspace. Some of these are as follows:

1. Cyberspace is an intangible dimension that is impossible to govern and regulate using conventional law.
2. Cyberspace has complete disrespect for jurisdictional boundaries. A person in India could break into a bank’s electronic vault hosted on a computer in USA and transfer millions of Rupees to another bank in Switzerland, all within minutes. All he would need is a laptop computer and a cell phone.
3. Cyberspace handles gigantic traffic volumes every second. Billions of emails are crisscrossing the globe even as we read this, millions of websites are being accessed every minute and billions of dollars are electronically transferred around the world by banks every day.
4. Cyberspace is absolutely open to participation by all. A ten year-old in Bhutan can have a live chat session with an eight year-old in Bali without any regard for the distance or the anonymity between them.
5. Cyberspace offers enormous potential for anonymity to its members. Readily available encryption software and stenographic tools that seamlessly hide information within image and sound files ensure the confidentiality of information exchanged between cyber-citizens.
6. Cyberspace offers never seen before economic efficiency. Billions of dollars worth of software can be traded over the Internet without the need for any government licenses, shipping and handling charges and without paying any customs duty.
7. Electronic information has become the main object of cyber crime. It is characterized by extreme mobility, which exceeds by far the mobility of persons, goods or other services. International computer networks can transfer huge amounts of data around the globe in a matter of seconds.
8. A software source code worth cores of rupees or a movie can be pirated across the globe within hours of their release.
9. Theft of corporeal information (e.g. books, papers, CD ROMs, floppy disks) is easily covered by traditional penal provisions. However, the problem begins when electronic records are copied quickly, inconspicuously and often via telecommunication facilities. Here the “original” information, so to say, remains in the “possession” of the “owner” and yet information gets stolen.

4 What is Hacking?

Hacking is  not  defined  in  The amended IT Act, 2000 Hacking means  unauthorized  attempts  to bypass  the  security  mechanisms  of  an information  system  or  network.  Also, in simple words Hacking is the unauthorized access to a computer system, programs, and data and network resources.  (The term “hacker” originally meant a very gifted programmer. In recent years though, with easier access to multiple systems, it now has negative implications.) Law  &  Punishment: Under Information Technology  (Amendment) Act,  2008,  Section  43(a)  read  with section  66  is  applicable  and  Section  379 &  406  of  Indian  Penal  Code,  1860  also are  applicable.  If  crime  is  proved  under IT  Act,  accused  shall  be  punished  for imprisonment, which may extend to three years  or  with  fine,  which  may  extend  to five lakh rupees or both. Hacking offence is cognizable, billable, and compoundable with permission of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending by any magistrate.

5 What is Data Theft?

Data Theft is a growing problem, primarily perpetrated by office workers with access to technology such  as  desktop  computers  and  handheld  devices,  capable  of  storing  digital information  such  as  flash  drives,  iPods and  even  digital  cameras.  The damage caused by data theft can be considerable with today’s ability to transmit very large files via e-mail, web pages, USB devices, DVD storage and other hand-held devices. According  to  Information  Technology (Amendment)  Act,  2008,  crime  of  data theft  under  Section  43  (b)  is  stated  as  – If  any  person  without  permission  of  the owner  or  any  other  person,  who  is  in charge  of  a  computer,  computer  system of computer network – downloads, copies or extracts any data, computer data base or information  from  such  computer, computer  system  or  computer  network Including information  or  data  held  or stored in any removable storage medium, then it is data theft. Law  &  Punishment: Under Information  Technology  (Amendment) Act,  2008,  Section  43(b)  read  with Section 66 is applicable and under Section 379,  405  &  420  of  Indian  Penal  Code, 1860  also  applicable.  Data Theft offence is  cognizable,  bailable,  compoundable with permission of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending and by any magistrate.

 

6 WHAT IS CYBER SECURITY?

Cyber Security is information security as applied to computers and computer networks. The field covers all the processes and mechanisms by which computer-based equipment, information and services are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, change or destruction. Computer security also includes protection from unplanned events and natural disasters.

 

Identity theft is considered the fastest-growing financial crime. It occurs when a thief assumes the victim’s identity in order to apply for credit cards, loans or other benefits, in the victim’s name, or uses this information to access your existing accounts. The thief will accumulate massive debt or deplete your current assets and then move on to another stolen identity.

 

The victim, meanwhile, may end up thousands of dollars in debt, with a ruined credit history or with an empty bank account. Until cleared up, this can make it difficult to find a job, buy a car or home, obtain a student loan, or engage in other activities that depend on the use of your own good name.

 

To understand the technique for securing a computer system, it is important to first understand the various types of “attacks” that can be made against it. These threats can typically be classified into one of these seven categories:

• BACKDOORS:
• MALWARE:
• PHISHING:
• DENIAL OF SERVICE:
• DIRECT ACCESS ATTACKS:
• EAVESDROPPING:
• INDIRECT ATTACKS:
• SOCIAL ENGINEERING AND HUMAN ERROR:

6.1 BACKDOORS: A backdoor in a computer system is a method of bypassing normal authentication, securing remote access to a computer, obtaining access to plaintext, and so on, while attempting to remain undetected.

6.2 MALWARE: “Malware,” or “malicious software,” refers to programs designed to invade and disrupt victims’ computers. Malware might be used to delete and destroy valuable information; slow the computer down to a standstill; or spy on and steal valuable personal data from the victim’s computer.

The best-known types of malware are viruses and worms, which infect computers, replicate, and spread to other computers. They might be transmitted via email or across networks. Another type of malware is the Trojan horse. Like its namesake from Greek legend, a Trojan horse looks like a gift – but when you click on it, you’re downloading a hidden enemy.

Spyware is a type of malware that collects information without the victim’s knowledge. Some forms of spyware gather personal information including login accounts and bank or credit card information. Some may redirect your browser to certain websites, send pop-up ads, and change your computer settings.

6.3 PHISHING: Attacks like this are a form of phishing. Through phishing and social engineering, computer hackers trick victims into handing over sensitive data or downloading malware without thinking twice.

6.4 DENIAL OF SERVICE: Denial of Service attacks are not used to gain unauthorized access or control of a system. They are instead designed to render it unusable. Attackers can deny service to individual victims, such as by deliberately entering a wrong password three consecutive times and thus causing the victim account to be locked, or they may overload the capabilities of a machine or network and block all users at once. These types of attack are, in practice, very hard to prevent, because the behavior of whole networks needs to be analyzed, not only the behavior of small pieces of code.

6.5 DIRECT ACCESS ATTACKS: Someone who has gained access to a computer can install different types of devices to compromise security, including operating system modifications, software worms, key loggers, and covert listening devices. The attacker can also easily download large quantities of data onto backup media, for instance CD-R/DVD-R, tape; or portable devices such as key drives, digital cameras or digital audio players. Another common technique is to boot an operating system contained on a CD-ROM or other bootable media and read the data from the hard drive(s) this way. The only way to defeat this is to encrypt the storage media and store the key separate from the system.

6.6 INDIRECT ATTACKS: An indirect attack is an attack launched by a third-party computer. By using someone else’s computer to launch an attack, it becomes far more difficult to track down the actual attacker. There have also been cases where attackers took advantage of public anonymous systems, such as the tor onion router system.

 6.7 SOCIAL ENGINEERING AND HUMAN ERROR: A computer system is no more secure than the human systems responsible for its operation. Malicious individuals have regularly penetrated well-designed, secure computer systems by taking advantage of the carelessness of trusted individuals, Eg: by deliberately deceiving them, sending messages that they are the system administrator and asking for passwords. This deception is known as social engineering.

The Solution: Build Your Defense!

 

1. Virus protection tools: Use and maintain reputable antivirus software. Good antivirus software packages recognize and protect your computer against most known viruses. Once you have installed an antivirus package, you should use it to scan your entire computer periodically. Find a package that includes antispyware tools.
2. KEEP ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE UP TO DATE: Install software patches and security updates for your antivirus software on a regular basis. They will help protect your computer against new threats as they are discovered. Many vendors and operating systems offer automatic updates. If this option is available, you should enable it.
3. INSTALL OR ENABLE A FIREWALL: Firewalls protect against outside attackers by shielding your computer or network from malicious or unnecessary Internet traffic. They are especially important for users who rely on “always on” connections such as cable or Digital Subscriber Line modems. Some operating systems include a firewall; if yours has one, you should make sure it is enabled. If not, consider purchasing a hardware- or software-based firewall.
4. USE ANTISPYWARE TOOLS: Many antivirus software packages are sold with antispyware tools included. Many vendors produce antivirus software. Deciding which one to choose can be confusing. All antivirus software essentially perform the same function, so your decision may be driven by recommendations, particular features, availability or price.
5. IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO INSTALL TOO MANY TYPES OF SECURITY SOFTWARE: Too many programs can affect the performance of your computer and the effectiveness of the software itself. Finally, beware of unsolicited emails or pop-up ads that claim to contain antivirus software. Don’t open them or click on their links or attachments. These are often Trojan horses, waiting to infect your computer.
6. CHECK YOUR WEB BROWSER’S PRIVACY AND SECURITY SETTINGS: Almost all computers and smart phones come already installed with one or more web browsers (such as Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome or others). The browsers come with default settings that seek to strike a balance between keeping your computer secure, and allowing you to get the functionality you expect from most websites.
7. USE SMART PASSWORDS: Don’t use passwords that are based on personal information a hacker can easily access or guess; and don’t use words that can be found in the dictionary. One method for creating passwords is to rely on a series of words and memory techniques, or mnemonics, to help you remember

Cyber Laws in INDIA?

In India the Information Technology Act 2000 was passed to provide legal recognition for transactions carried out by means of electronic communication. The Act deals with the law  relating  to  Digital  Contracts,  Digital  Property,  and  Digital  Rights  Any  violation  of  these  laws  constitutes  a  crime. The Act     prescribes very high punishments for such crimes. The Information Technology (amendment)  Act,  2008(Act  10 of  2009), has  further enhanced the punishments. Life imprisonment and fine up to rupees ten lakh may be given for certain classes of cyber crimes. Compensation  up  to  rupees  five  cores  can  be  given  to  affected  persons  if damage is done to the computer, computer system or  computer network by the introduction of  virus, denial of services etc.(S. 46(1-A)).Sections  65-74the Act specifically deal with certain  offences, which can be called Cyber Crimes.

8.1 Tampering with any computer source code used for a computer, computer programme, computer system or computer network, is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or with fine which may extend up to two lakh rupees, or with both. “Computer source code” means

the listing of programmers, computer commands, design and layout and programme analysis of computer resource in any form.

8.2 Hacking with computer system: It is to be punished with imprisonment up to three years, or with fine which may extend up to five lakh rupees, or with both.

8.3 Sending offensive or false information through computer or a communicative device: it is punishable with imprisonment up to three years and with fine.

8.4 Receiving or retaining stolen computer resource or communication device: It is an offence punishable with imprisonment up to three years and fine up to one lakh or with both. The same punishment is prescribed for fraudulent use of electronic signature, password etc of any other person and for cheating using computer, cell phone etc.

8.5 Capturing Transmitting or publishing the image of a private area of any person without consent: It is punishable with imprisonment up to three years and with fine up to two lakh or with both.

8.6 Punishment for Cyber terrorism: may extend to imprisonment for life.

 8.7 Publishing transmitting information which is obscene  in  electronic  form: Shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.

8.8 Publication and transmission  of  containing  sexually  explicit  act  or  conduct:  is   to  be punished with imprisonment up to five years and fine up to ten lakh rupees and for second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment for a term  up to seven years and fine up to ten lakh rupees. The same punishment is prescribed for child pornography.

8.9 Penalty for Misrepresentation: Whoever makes any misrepresentation to, or suppresses any material fact from, the Controller or the Certifying Authority  for  obtaining  any  license  or  Digital  Signature  Certificate,  as  the  case may be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.

8.10 Penalty for Breach of Confidentiality and Privacy : Any person who  has  secured  access  to  any  electronic  record,  book,  register,  correspondence, information, document or other material without the consent of the person concerned discloses such electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information, document or other material to any other person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.

8.11 Punishment for disclosure of information in breach of contract is imprisonment for a term up to three years or with fine up to five lakh rupees or with both.

8.12 Punishment for publishing  Digital  Signature  Certificate  false  in  certain  particulars.

1. No person shall publish a Digital Signature Certificate or otherwise make it available to any other person with the knowledge that the Certifying Authority listed in the certificate has not issued it; or
2. The subscriber listed in the certificate has not accepted it;
3. The certificate has been revoked or suspended,

 

Violation of the above provision is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.

8.13 Publication for Fraudulent Purpose: Whoever knowingly creates,  publishes  or  otherwise  makes  available  a  Digital  Signature Certificate for any fraudulent or unlawful purpose shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.

 

In  addition  to  the  prescribed  punishments  Any  computer,  computer  system,  floppies,  compact disks, tape drives or any other accessories related to the crime shall be liable to confiscation of the Act makes it clear that the provisions of this Act are applicable to any offence or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality if the act or conduct  constituting  the  offence  or  contravention  involves  a  computer,  computer  system  or computer network located in India.

Cyber Crimes- Indian Cases:

1. Pune Citibank Emphasis Call Center Fraud:

It is a case of sourcing engineering. USD $350000 from City bank accounts of four US customers were dishonestly transferred to bogus accounts in Pune, through internet. Some employees of a call centre gained the confidence of the US customers and obtained their PIN numbers under the guide of helping the customers out of difficult situations. Later they used these numbers to commit fraud. Highest security prevails in the call centers in India as they know that they will lose their business. The call center employees are checked when they go in and out so they cannot copy down numbers and therefore they could not have noted these down. They must have remembered  these  numbers,  gone  out  immediately  to  a cyber  café  and  accessed  the  Citibank accounts of the customers. All accounts were opened in Pune and the customers complained that the  money  from  their  accounts  was  transferred  to Pune  accounts  and  that’s  how  the  criminals were  traced.  Police  has  been  able  to  prove  the  honesty  of  the  call  center  and  has  frozen  the accounts where the money was transferred.

 

2. The Bank NSP Case:

The  Bank  NSP  case  is  the  one  where  a  management  trainee  of  the  bank  was  engaged  to  be married. The couple exchanged many emails using the company computers. After some time the two broke up and the girl created fraudulent email ids such as “Indian bar associations” and sent email to the boy foreign clients. She used the banks computer to do this. The boy’s company lost a large number of clients and took the bank to court. The bank was held liable for the emails sent using the bank’s system.

3. Parliament Attack Case:

Bureau of Police Research and Development at Hyderabad had handled some of the top cyber cases,  including  analyzing  and  retrieving  information  from  the  laptop  recovered  from  terrorist, who attacked Parliament. The laptop which was seized from the two terrorists, who were gunned down when Parliament was under siege on December 13 2001, was sent to Computer Forensics Division of BPRD.

The laptop contained several evidences that confirmed of the two terrorists motives, namely the sticker of the Ministry of Home that they had made on the laptop and pasted on their ambassador car to gain entry into Parliament House and the fake ID card that one of the two terrorists was carrying with a Government of India emblem and seal. The emblems (of the three lions) were carefully scanned and the seal was also craftily made along with residential address of Jammu and Kashmir. But careful detection proved that it was all forged and made on the laptop.

 

4. Andhra Pradesh Tax Case:

The owner of a plastics firm in Andhra Pradesh was arrested and Rs. 22 crore cash was recovered from his house by the Vigilance Department. They sought an explanation from him regarding the unaccounted cash. The accused person submitted 6,000 vouchers to prove the legitimacy of trade, but after careful scrutiny of vouchers and contents of his computers it revealed that all of them were made after the raids were conducted. It was revealed that the accused was running five businesses under the guise of one company and used fake and computerized vouchers to show sales records and save tax. Thus the dubious tactics of the prominent businessman from Andhra Pradesh was exposed after officials of the department got hold of computers used by the accused person.

Email Reveals Steve Jobs’s Secret Plans

In October 2010, Steve Jobs sent an email to Phil Schiller with the subject line “Top 100 – A.”

From: Steve Jobs
Date: October 24, 2010 6:12:41 PM PDT
To: ET
Subject: Top 100 – A

Here’s my current cut. Steve

1. 2011 Strategy – SJ
– who are we?
– headcount, average age, …
– VP count, senior promotions in last year
– percent new membership at this meeting
– what do we do?
– pie chart of units/product line and revenues/product line
– same charts with tablets + phones merged together
– Post PC era
– Apple is the first company to get here
– Post PC products now 66% of our revenues
– iPad outsold Mac within 6 months
– Post PC era = more mobile (smaller, thinner, lighter) + communications + apps + cloud services
– 2011: Holy War with Google
– all the ways we will compete with them
– primary reason for this Top 100 meeting – you will hear about what we’re doing in each presentation
– 2011: Year of the Cloud
– we invented Digital Hub concept
– PC as hub for all your digital assets – contacts, calendars, bookmarks, photos, music, videos – digital hub (center of our universe) is moving from PC to cloud
– PC now just another client alongside iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, …
– Apple is in danger of hanging on to old paradigm too long (innovator’s dilemma)
– Google and Microsoft are further along on the technology, but haven’t quite figured it out yet – tie all of our products together, so we further lock customers into our ecosystem
– 2015: new campus

2. State of the Company – Peter & Tim
– FY2010 recap
– FY2011 plan
– where is our business – geo analysis (NA, Euro, Japan, Asia, possibly break out china) (present on map)
– key milestones, trends & future goals
– comparisons with Google, Samsung, HTC, Motorola & RIM

3. iPhone – Joz & Bob
– 2011 Strategy:
– “plus” iPhone 4 with better antenna, processor, camera & software to stay ahead of competitors until mid 2012
– have LTE version in mid-2012
– create low cost iPhone model based on iPod touch to replace 3GS
– Business & competitive update
– show Droid and RIM ads
– Verizon iPhone
– schedule, marketing, …
– iPhone 5 hardware
– H4 performance
– new antenna design, etc
– new camera
– schedule
– CONFIDENTIAL
– cost goal
– show model (and/or renderings) – Jony

4. iPad – Bob, Jony, Dan Riccio, Michael Tchao ,Randy Ubillos, Xander Soren, Roger Rosner – 2011 Strategy: ship iPad 2 with amazing hardware and software before our competitors even catch up with our current model
– Business & competitive update – Michael
– Apps, corporate adoption, …
– show Samsung, HP(?) anf iPad ads
– 2011 Product Roadmap – Bob, Dan & Jony
– iPad 2
– new ID, H4, UMTS + Verizon in one model, cameras, … – EVT units & cases
– HDMI dongle (use for projection of demos below?)
– iPad 3
– display, H4T
– DEMOS:
– PhotoBooth (Michael?)
– iMovie (Randy)
– GarageBand (Xander)
– text book authoring system (Roger)
– working display for iPad 3 (during break)

———-

5. iOS – Scott, Joz
– Strategy: catch up to Android where we are behind (notifications, tethering, speech, …) and leapfrog them (Siri, …)
– Timeline of iOS releases from first until Telluride, including Verizon
– Jasper tent poles
– Durango tent poles (without MobileMe)
– Telluride tent poles (with “catch up” and “leapfrog” notations on each one)
– DEMOS:
– Jasper: AirPlay to AppleTV – video from iPad, photos from iPhone, ??
– Durango: ?? (without MobileMe features)
– Telluride: Siri, ?

6. MobileMe – Cue, SJ, Roger Rosner
– Strategy: catch up to Google cloud services and leapfrog them (Photo Stream, cloud storage) – Android
– deeply integrates Google cloud services
– way ahead of Apple in cloud services for contacts, calendars, mail
– 2011
– Apple’s year of the cloud
– tie all of our products together
– make Apple ecosystem even more sticky
– Free MobileMe for iPhone 4, iPad and new iPod touch
– Jasper
– Sign up with Apple ID, Find My iPhone
– Durango
– Find My Friends, Calendar, Contacts, Bookmarks, Photo Stream
– April
– iWork cloud storage
– Telluride
– cloud storage for third party apps
– iOS backup
– new iDisk for Mac
– Growth
– projected growth, cost/user
– plan to scale to 100 million users
– transition plan for paid members
– what about email?
– DEMOS:
– Find My Friends
– Calendar
– Photo Stream
– iWork cloud storage (Roger Rosner)

7. Mac – David Moody, Bob, Craig Federigi, Randy Ubilos & ? – Hardware roadmap
– Lion plan
– Mac App Store
– Final Cut Pro DEMO (Randy & ?)

8. Apple TV 2 – David Moody, Jeff Robbin
– Strategy: stay in the living room game and make a great “must have” accessory for iOS devices
– sales so far, projections for this holiday season
– add content:
– NBC, CBS, Viacom, HBO, …
– TV subscription?
– where do we go from here?
– apps, browser, magic wand?

———-

9. Stores Update – Eddy, Patrice
– Music
– Strategy: Leap even further ahead of Google in music
– Beatles
– iTunes in the cloud
– App Store
– Strategy: Leap even further ahead of Google in discovering great new iOS apps

10. iAds Update – Andy Miller

11. Retail Update – Ron Johnson

EXPERT SYSTEMS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Expert Systems

are computer programs that are derived from a branch of computer science research called Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI’s scientific goal is to understand intelligence by building computer programs that exhibit intelligent behavior. It is concerned with the concepts and methods of symbolic inference, or reasoning, by a computer, and how the knowledge used to make those inferences will be represented inside the machine.

Of course, the term intelligence covers many cognitive skills, including the ability to solve problems, learn, and understand language; AI addresses all of those. But most progress to date in AI has been made in the area of problem solving — concepts and methods for building programs that reason about problems rather than calculate a solution.

AI programs that achieve expert-level competence in solving problems in task areas by bringing to bear a body of knowledge about specific tasks are called knowledge-based or expert systems. Often, the term expert systems is reserved for programs whose knowledge base contains the knowledge used by human experts, in contrast to knowledge gathered from textbooks or non-experts. More often than not, the two terms, expert systems (ES) and knowledge-based systems (KBS), are used synonymously. Taken together, they represent the most widespread type of AI application. The area of human intellectual endeavor to be captured in an expert system is called the task domain. Task refers to some goal-oriented, problem-solving activity. Domain refers to the area within which the task is being performed. Typical tasks are diagnosis, planning, scheduling, configuration and design. An example of a task domain is aircraft crew scheduling, discussed in Chapter 2.

Building an expert system is known as knowledge engineering and its practitioners are called knowledge engineers. The knowledge engineer must make sure that the computer has all the knowledge needed to solve a problem. The knowledge engineer must choose one or more forms in which to represent the required knowledge as symbol patterns in the memory of the computer — that is, he (or she) must choose aknowledge representation. He must also ensure that the computer can use the knowledge efficiently by selecting from a handful of reasoning methods. The practice of knowledge engineering is described later. We first describe the components of expert systems.

The Building Blocks of Expert Systems

Every expert system consists of two principal parts: the knowledge base; and the reasoning, or inference, engine.

The knowledge base of expert systems contains both factual and heuristic knowledge. Factual knowledge is that knowledge of the task domain that is widely shared, typically found in textbooks or journals, and commonly agreed upon by those knowledgeable in the particular field.

Heuristic knowledge is the less rigorous, more experiential, more judgmental knowledge of performance. In contrast to factual knowledge, heuristic knowledge is rarely discussed, and is largely individualistic. It is the knowledge of good practice, good judgment, and plausible reasoning in the field. It is the knowledge that underlies the “art of good guessing.”

Knowledge representation formalizes and organizes the knowledge. One widely used representation is the production rule, or simply rule. A rule consists of an IF part and a THEN part (also called a conditionand an action). The IF part lists a set of conditions in some logical combination. The piece of knowledge represented by the production rule is relevant to the line of reasoning being developed if the IF part of the rule is satisfied; consequently, the THEN part can be concluded, or its problem-solving action taken. Expert systems whose knowledge is represented in rule form are called rule-based systems.

Another widely used representation, called the unit (also known as frame, schema, or list structure) is based upon a more passive view of knowledge. The unit is an assemblage of associated symbolic knowledge about an entity to be represented. Typically, a unit consists of a list of properties of the entity and associated values for those properties.

Since every task domain consists of many entities that stand in various relations, the properties can also be used to specify relations, and the values of these properties are the names of other units that are linked according to the relations. One unit can also represent knowledge that is a “special case” of another unit, or some units can be “parts of” another unit.

The problem-solving model, or paradigm, organizes and controls the steps taken to solve the problem. One common but powerful paradigm involves chaining of IF-THEN rules to form a line of reasoning. If the chaining starts from a set of conditions and moves toward some conclusion, the method is called forward chaining. If the conclusion is known (for example, a goal to be achieved) but the path to that conclusion is not known, then reasoning backwards is called for, and the method is backward chaining. These problem-solving methods are built into program modules called inference engines or inference procedures that manipulate and use knowledge in the knowledge base to form a line of reasoning.

The knowledge base an expert uses is what he learned at school, from colleagues, and from years of experience. Presumably the more experience he has, the larger his store of knowledge. Knowledge allows him to interpret the information in his databases to advantage in diagnosis, design, and analysis.

Though an expert system consists primarily of a knowledge base and an inference engine, a couple of other features are worth mentioning: reasoning with uncertainty, and explanation of the line of reasoning.

Knowledge is almost always incomplete and uncertain. To deal with uncertain knowledge, a rule may have associated with it a confidence factor or a weight. The set of methods for using uncertain knowledge in combination with uncertain data in the reasoning process is called reasoning with uncertainty. An important subclass of methods for reasoning with uncertainty is called “fuzzy logic,” and the systems that use them are known as “fuzzy systems.”

Because an expert system uses uncertain or heuristic knowledge (as we humans do) its credibility is often in question (as is the case with humans). When an answer to a problem is questionable, we tend to want to know the rationale. If the rationale seems plausible, we tend to believe the answer. So it is with expert systems. Most expert systems have the ability to answer questions of the form: “Why is the answer X?” Explanations can be generated by tracing the line of reasoning used by the inference engine (Feigenbaum, McCorduck et al. 1988).

The most important ingredient in any expert system is knowledge. The power of expert systems resides in the specific, high-quality knowledge they contain about task domains. AI researchers will continue to explore and add to the current repertoire of knowledge representation and reasoning methods. But in knowledge resides the power. Because of the importance of knowledge in expert systems and because the current knowledge acquisition method is slow and tedious, much of the future of expert systems depends on breaking the knowledge acquisition bottleneck and in codifying and representing a large knowledge infrastructure.

Knowledge engineering

is the art of designing and building expert systems, and knowledge engineers are its practitioners. Gerald M. Weinberg said of programming in The Psychology of Programming: “‘Programming,’ — like ‘loving,’ — is a single word that encompasses an infinitude of activities” (Weinberg 1971). Knowledge engineering is the same, perhaps more so. We stated earlier that knowledge engineering is an applied part of the science of artificial intelligence which, in turn, is a part of computer science. Theoretically, then, a knowledge engineer is a computer scientist who knows how to design and implement programs that incorporate artificial intelligence techniques. The nature of knowledge engineering is changing, however, and a new breed of knowledge engineers is emerging. We’ll discuss the evolving nature of knowledge engineering later.

Today there are two ways to build an expert system. They can be built from scratch, or built using a piece of development software known as a “tool” or a “shell.” Before we discuss these tools, let’s briefly discuss what knowledge engineers do. Though different styles and methods of knowledge engineering exist, the basic approach is the same: a knowledge engineer interviews and observes a human expert or a group of experts and learns what the experts know, and how they reason with their knowledge. The engineer then translates the knowledge into a computer-usable language, and designs an inference engine, a reasoning structure, that uses the knowledge appropriately. He also determines how to integrate the use of uncertain knowledge in the reasoning process, and what kinds of explanation would be useful to the end user.

Next, the inference engine and facilities for representing knowledge and for explaining are programmed, and the domain knowledge is entered into the program piece by piece. It may be that the inference engine is not just right; the form of knowledge representation is awkward for the kind of knowledge needed for the task; and the expert might decide the pieces of knowledge are wrong. All these are discovered and modified as the expert system gradually gains competence.

The discovery and cumulation of techniques of machine reasoning and knowledge representation is generally the work of artificial intelligence research. The discovery and cumulation of knowledge of a task domain is the province of domain experts. Domain knowledge consists of both formal, textbook knowledge, and experiential knowledge — the expertise of the experts.

Tools, Shells, and Skeletons

Compared to the wide variation in domain knowledge, only a small number of AI methods are known that are useful in expert systems. That is, currently there are only a handful of ways in which to represent knowledge, or to make inferences, or to generate explanations. Thus, systems can be built that contain these useful methods without any domain-specific knowledge. Such systems are known as skeletal systems, shells, or simply AI tools.

Building expert systems by using shells offers significant advantages. A system can be built to perform a unique task by entering into a shell all the necessary knowledge about a task domain. The inference engine that applies the knowledge to the task at hand is built into the shell. If the program is not very complicated and if an expert has had some training in the use of a shell, the expert can enter the knowledge himself.

Many commercial shells are available today, ranging in size from shells on PCs, to shells on workstations, to shells on large mainframe computers. They range in price from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, and range in complexity from simple, forward-chained, rule-based systems requiring two days of training to those so complex that only highly trained knowledge engineers can use them to advantage. They range from general-purpose shells to shells custom-tailored to a class of tasks, such as financial planning or real-time process control.

Although shells simplify programming, in general they don’t help with knowledge acquisition. Knowledge acquisition refers to the task of endowing expert systems with knowledge, a task currently performed by knowledge engineers. The choice of reasoning method, or a shell, is important, but it isn’t as important as the accumulation of high-quality knowledge. The power of an expert system lies in its store of knowledge about the task domain — the more knowledge a system is given, the more competent it becomes.

Bricks and Mortar

The fundamental working hypothesis of AI is that intelligent behavior can be precisely described as symbol manipulation and can be modeled with the symbol processing capabilities of the computer.

In the late 1950s, special programming languages were invented that facilitate symbol manipulation. The most prominent is called LISP (LISt Processing). Because of its simple elegance and flexibility, most AI research programs are written in LISP, but commercial applications have moved away from LISP.

In the early 1970s another AI programming language was invented in France. It is called PROLOG (PROgramming in LOGic). LISP has its roots in one area of mathematics (lambda calculus), PROLOG in another (first-order predicate calculus).

PROLOG consists of English-like statements which are facts (assertions), rules (of inference), and questions. Here is an inference rule: “If object-x is part-of object-y then a component-of object-y is object-x.”

Programs written in PROLOG have behavior similar to rule-based systems written in LISP. PROLOG, however, did not immediately become a language of choice for AI programmers. In the early 1980s it was given impetus with the announcement by the Japanese that they would use a logic programming language for the Fifth Generation Computing Systems (FGCS) Project. A variety of logic-based programming languages have since arisen, and the term prolog has become generic.

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