Sunday, October 27, 2013

Hacking: Security Through Insecurity



Growing up, I have always thought that the term “hacker” had a negative connotation and associated the term with a cyber-criminal. Why? Mainly, it’s because of how the media gives most of its attentions to ‘black-hat’ hackers, people who hack with unethical intentions. Just imagine how shocked I was when I found out that hacking can actually be a good thing and that all hackers aren’t some sort of cyber criminals. Once I learned about the existence of ‘white-hat’ hackers, people who hack in order to improve security, I gained a new appreciation for hackers and learned about the importance of hacking.

What exactly is hacking? Hacking “is the practice of modifying the features of a system, in order to accomplish a goal outside of the creator’s original purpose” and although there are many types of hacking (phone hacking, brain hacking, etc), “computer hacking is the most popular form of hacking nowadays, especially in the field of computer security” (http://whatishacking.org/).

White-hat hackers or ethical hackers are invaluable because they are extremely good at spotting bugs and security holes. They can demonstrate the vulnerabilities in the security of large companies so that it can be fixed. With the rise of cyber-crime, ethical hacking is a great way fight against online threats. Cyber-security is a major issue and there is a growing demand for ethical hackers.

Black-hat hackers or crackers are people who hack with malicious intent without authorization. They “typically want to prove his or hacking abilities and will commit a range of cyber-crimes, such as identity theft, credit card fraud and piracy” (Bodhani.). Recently, Adobe was hacked and millions of customers’ data was stolen. Specifically, their IDs, password, and credit card information was obtained. Because of this attack, the company’s brand was tarnished and many of their customers were negatively affected. This just proves the importance of Cyber-security and the need for white-hat hackers to expose these holes in security to the company.

There are many more types of hackers like grey-hat, blue-hat, Elite hacker and etc. If you would like to learn more about the different types, you can read this informative article. If you want to hack, then stay away from the dark side as there are way too many consequences. 

Works Cited
Bodhani, Aasha. "Ethical Hacking: Bad in a Good Way." E & T Magazine. N.p., 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2012/12/bad-in-a-good-way.cfm>.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Open Source: Why Open Source?



Have you ever heard the term “open source”? Yes? Great! No? Well, put simply, it refers to something that is publicly accessible and can be modified. Based on this definition, open source software is software whose source code is available to everyone for modification and enhancement.

What makes open source so amazing?
Open source software is reliable because it is peer reviewed since all the source code is available. People can view the source code to understand exactly what is happening. They can fix bugs and can contribute to open source software. Furthermore, open source enables anyone to examine software for security flaws by analyzing the code and making it more secure (OSS). The peer review process is essentially the driving force for reliable and secure open source software.

There is also a great deal of flexibility and freedom that comes with open source.  For instance, if you use proprietary software like Microsoft Windows and Office, then you will probably need to keep upgrading to the newer software. On the other hand, open source software allows you run the older versions. Open source software further provides flexibility through freedom in two main ways:
freedom from a single vendor and freedom to modify your software (Benefits of Using Open Source Software). Open source allows other people to keep the project alive by developing it further. Also, open source allows people to choose solutions suitable for their needs. Vendors can go out business or can stop developing a product.

Those are only a few reasons as to why open source is amazing. To view a few more reasons, you can read this article, 10 Reasons OpenSource is Good for Business. Personally, I absolutely love open source software. As a programmer, I find it extremely valuable for learning because I get the chance to look at the source code and learn from it.  Some of my favorite open source software include The Chromium Projects, Ubuntu, LibreOffice and many more. I hope to contribute to many open source projects in the future.

Works Cited
"Benefits of Using Open Source Software." Benefits of Using Open Source Software. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://open-source.gbdirect.co.uk/migration/benefit.html>.
"Open Source for America." Open Source for America. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. <http://opensourceforamerica.org/learn-more/benefits-of-open-source-software/>.
"OSS Watch Provides Unbiased Advice and Guidance on the Use, Development, and Licensing of Free Software, Open Source Software, and Open Source Hardware."Benefits of Open Source Code. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/whoneedssource>.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Agile: Why Being Agile is Important



I didn’t learn about agile until recently when I started working with 9 other people to develop a more functional website for the College of Science at SJSU. So, what is agile? Agile software development is simply a different way of managing IT development teams and projects.

If you have time and money, then feel free to develop software any way you like. Most of the time, it is the case that time or money (usually both) is limited. In this case, using agile development principles and practices can truly be beneficial in developing software in teams. There are numerous benefits to using agile and I would like to primarily focus on two of them: speed-to-market and flexibility/agility.

Speed-to-market
“Research suggests about 80% of all market leaders were first to market” (Kelly) and when you 5 Reasons Why Being Agile is More Important Than Being Perfect by Andy Beal.   
release quickly and regularly, you get the feedback from intended customers. This can then be used to identify any major flaws or feature requests so that you can tweak the project early on. To find out more about speed-to-market, you can read the article

Flexibility/Agility
With agile, the “timescale is fixed and requirements emerge and evolve as the product is developed” so it is important to have an actively involved stakeholder that can make “necessary trade-off decisions, trading existing scope” (Kelly) for a new one. This flexibility allows us to embrace change where the emphasis is on building the right product. One of the most important things to remember is that “Agile means higher risk of not meeting the initial scope of the project but much lower risk of not meeting the goals for the project” (Palmu).

Overall, agile software development is great to use in order to work in teams. I believe everyone should try Agile at least once to see if it’s a good fit for their team.

                                                               Works Cited
Palmu, Vesa. "Why Agile?" Wunderkraut. N.p., 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://wunderkraut.com/blog/why-agile/2012-02-16>.
Waters, Kelly. Allaboutagile. N.p., 11 June 2007. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://www.allaboutagile.com/10-good-reasons-to-do-agile-development/>.