vpnsite.net

Price : $9.96

Product Description

Virtual private networks (VPNs) based on the Internet instead of the traditional leased lines offer organizations of all sizes the promise of a low-cost, secure electronic network. However, using the Internet to carry sensitive information can present serious privacy and security problems. By explaining how VPNs actually work, networking expert Jon Snader shows software engineers and network administrators how to use tunneling, authentication, and encryption to create safe, effective VPNs for any environment. Using an example-driven approach, VPNs Illustrated explores how tunnels and VPNs function by observing their behavior on the wire. By learning to read and interpret various network traces, such as those produced by tcpdump, readers will be able to better understand and troubleshoot VPN and network behavior.Specific topics covered include: *Block and stream symmetric ciphers, such as AES and RC4; and asymmetric ciphers, such as RSA and EIGamal *Message authentication codes, including HMACs *Tunneling technologies based on gtunnel *SSL protocol for building network-to-network VPNs *SSH protocols as drop-in replacements for telnet, ftp, and the BSD r-commands *Lightweight VPNs, including VTun, CIPE, tinc, and OpenVPN *IPsec, including its Authentication Header (AH) protocol, Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP), and IKE (the key management protocol) Packed with details, the text can be used as a handbook describing the functions of the protocols and the message formats that they use. Source code is available for download, and an appendix covers publicly available software that can be used to build tunnels and analyze traffic flow. VPNs Illustrated gives you the knowledge of tunneling and VPN technology you need to understand existing VPN implementations and successfully create your own.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2006-08-17
VPNs Illustrated is a great book for those wishing to understand network traffic at the packet level. Author Jon C. Snader was inspired by the earlier TCP/IP Illustrated volumes, and tries to reproduce the Tcpdump-style material found in Stevens’ classics. The level of detail found in VPNs Illustrated easily outweighs any problems this book might suffer, so I recommend you read it for in-depth knowledge of VPN traffic.

The book is divided into three parts. Of these, I found Part I ("Background") to be of questionable value. The introduction (ch 1) should not have been a chapter, and ch 2 ("TCP/IP Overview") should be replaced by a reference to existing volumes on TCP/IP. The crypto overview (ch 3) could also be replaced by a reference to other books, although as a non-crypto guy I found it a helpful refresher. The last chapter in part 1 finally gets to more subject-specific information, covering PPP, IP-in-IP, PPPoE, GRE, PPTP, L2TP, and MPLS tunnels. I really liked reading the author’s criticisms of certain protocols like PPTP and L2TP. He should have included Tcpdump traces of MPLS, since the other protocols featured packet data.

Part II included chapters on VPNs (ch 5), SSL (ch 6), SSH (ch 7), and "lightweight" VPNs (ch like VTun, CIPE, Tinc, and OpenVPN. Some of this material is very deep and probably unnecessary for most readers. The author explains messages exchanged by almost all of these protocols, which is information I’ve not seen elsewhere. Some may consider these descriptions obscure, while others (probably researchers and developers) will appreciate the analysis.

Part III covers IPSec. Ch 9 ("IPSec") should be part of ch 10 ("IPSec Architecture"). The remaining sections thoroughly address IPSec (11: AH; 12: ESP; 13: IKE; 14: the future of IPSec). I think chapters 10-13 are the best IPSec material I’ve read. They made more sense than others I’ve seen, although the complexity of IKE made ch 14 difficult to follow.

Throughout VPNs Illustrated, the author is not shy about sharing criticisms of various protocols. This is extremely valuable. He also repeats sound advice on practices to avoid (like static preshared keys) or measures to consider (defeating replay attacks). Because he illustrates so many protocols, he compares and contrasts them to emphasize key points. He also frequently cites authoritative sources like Schneier and Ferguson.

To achieve a fifth star in a second edition, I would like to see the author incorporate my previous suggestions. I would love to see configuration files for all of his examples in the appendices. He can move existing examples out of the main text to improve readability. Every protocol should have a corresponding network trace analysis, and the traces should be posted on a Web site. I would also like to see a summary of his thoughts on what makes a great VPN protocol, and then his ratings for various implementations.

You won’t necessarily be able to implement the VPN software discussed in VPNs Illustrated by simply reading the text. You will gain a great understanding of how they work, or sometimes, don’t work!

Review date : 2005-12-02
I bought this book aiming to gain indepth understanding of VPN technology, but I was disappointed. The key chapter 4, for example, try to explain tunnel concept left and right, but it mixed the general encapsulation and tunnel, and the verbose wording didn’t make it any clear. Using tcpdump trace to explain some of the field is both a blessing and curse, depending on how you look at it - I think the book is sort of strong in specific details but weak in overall conceptual pictures - however most of those details have been better documented in the RFCs.

Another example - when talking about generic tunnel skeleton using FreeBSD as example (ch 4.8), where some code snippets are presented, I feel some background and detailed illustration of flow/drawing is necessary to clear up the concept and why it correlates prevoius sections, but none given.

It may sound a bit harsh: though the author try to emulate Rich Steven’s style and dedicate the book to him, but it is hard for me to say the end product can really live up to Steven’s standard.

Review date : 2005-11-23
NOTE: This book is not for everyone, if you have not invested at least 40 hours looking at network traffic, I would recommend you pass.

This book is zero fluff, it makes you want to spin up your scratch boxes and follow along. In fact I did just that, I have to switch to a new ISP that requires PPoE and I was always curious how that worked, the book gave me just enough of a clue to interpret what was passing in and out of my house.

The world has a new grandmaster of tcpdump and I have seem some pretty good ones over the years. Once I designed a T-shirt for a SANS conference with the hexadecimal output from a tcpdump; only we flipped it so it was running down the shirt and rendered in green, to resemble the matrix.

The packet was a DNS reply. In the additional records we said good things about SANS; after all, gotta market to eat. There was an error intentionally placed into the shirt and we designated a prize for the first attendee to find the error. A student walked by wearing the shirt and the "4500" in the hex field caught one of the instructor’s eye. She followed him around murmuring, it is sideways, UDP, DNS, a reply, there are additional records, wait a minute that pointer entry is wrong. We watched in amazement, when she was done and looked up, the entire SANS faculty bowed to her. Because a mal-formatted packet can kill a packet analyzer the world needs people like Judy and Jon.

This is not a beginner book and Jon expects you to catch the 4500 stuff pretty fast. However, if you have followed the discipline of tcpdump instead of some packet analysis tool that spells out everything this book can take you to the next level.

VPNs Illustrated is rich in diagrams, including packet headers and state diagrams, examples of network traffic, and cartoons that explain the architecture of the system, or network. It is amazingly well edited, my only nit is on page 93, line 1 spacing off by one character.

The book has a strong linux bias, if you are a Windows person, you will be able to follow along for about 60% of the book using Windump, but you will not be able to use the tools or source.

This is the perfect reference for the person that knows networking and wants to really invest in taking it to the next level.

Finally, the dedication to Rich Stevens was over the top and heartfelt appreciated. I will never forget the man who taught me how to read a packet.

Review date : 2005-11-16
Given the complexity of VPN I was hoping to find a book that could explain key technologies in a concise and an organized manner. "VPNs Illustrated" does contain a wealth of technical information, but it failed on both counts.

The book offers unnecessary detail when trying to explain key concepts. It is so disjointed that the author is reduced to constantly referring the reader to other chapters to find information that is needed to understand a specific topic area. For example, the critical topic of IPSec is first introduced during a discussion of L2TP.

The book contains factual errors such as a typo describing "OC4" when the author meant to say OC48.

Overall, I was very disappointed with this text. It needs to be proofread and completely reorganized.

Take it from a programmer who lost seven days of criminal records. Take it from a game designer who tweaked version 1.0 one time too many. Take it from a Windows XP user who has no idea why Bill Gates likes to freeze PCs for no reason.

Just like living a healthy lifestyle requires discipline, you must develop good backup habits. You already know you should, but here is why you don’t:

• Lazy (It’s the number one killer of productivity)
• Busy (anaerobics are great, but don’t neglect the cardio!)
• Over-Confident (sure, you’re young, now?)
• Clueless (you went to McDonald’s again?)

Now, I realize that you are running a business, so you have specialized software to handle different aspects of your business: contact manager, accounting package, schedulers and database managers. Each of these programs have some kind of backup capability.

However, ask yourself one question: what is easier to replace, contact information, or the 15,000 word article you spent two days researching?

Backup Fundamentals

As the previous question should make clear, different files have different anxiety levels attached to them. The first thing you should do is to decide whether it is more important to be able to replicate your current working environment or to be able to retrieve mission-critical files.

Replication

After a total computer failure, the ideal scenario would be to load a few CDs, punch a few buttons, wait about an hour and voil?, your system is ready for you to resume work as if nothing had happened.

There are packages that you can purchase which claim to restore your PC to any particular point in the past. There are also systems for cloning your PC. This whole-earth approach, while effective, is so broad, that it is beyond the scope of this article. At any rate, you’ll still need to recover individual files in a disaster. So, read on.

Mission-Critical Recovery

This dire-sounding phrase (which I made up, because it sounds techno-geek) simply means that you can retrieve your files even after a total disaster. Disasters include mechanical failure, theft, operator error (Oops!), fire, and ? believe it or not ? software upgrades.

Assuming you have decided to focus on mission-critical recovery, your next step is to decide whether the backup plan should revolve around your current working environment and habits, or whether you should adopt new organizational methods to facilitate backups. The choice is up to you. The only thing you should keep in mind is that, if the backup plan is too complicated, you’re not going to bother.

On the one hand, if your work is scattered all over the hard drive and you elect to have a backup plan that revolves around this current plan, it will probably be a time-consuming task to not only set up the initial backup plan, but also to maintain it.

On the other hand, you may have the most efficient organization possible, but if you pair it with an arcane backup plan, you’re probably going to decide it’s too much trouble.

A Plan

In my experience, it has been helpful to take a middle road. My productivity is keyed to my organization, so I can’t just scrap it. However, by researching backup plans and understanding the goals of each solution, I have been able to gradually evolve a plan that works for me. One thing I have never solved to my satisfaction is synchronizing files between workstations. If this is important to you, the best advice I can give is to treat your backup solution as if it were a network drive. This is imaginary, but it helps me to visualize being able to access my files from any computer.

Backups have to solve a host of problems in order to be useful:

• automatic
• archive
• restore
• catalogue and report
• compare
• recycle
• media-independent

Automatic

There is something comforting about knowing your files are backed up on a regular schedule. If you don’t know how to set up task scheduling, it is a good skill to learn.

Archive

In today’s gigabyte world, most backup solutions involve a second hard drive. Even if you can’t imagine ever filling it up with backups, you have to remember, that hard drive is still a mechanical device, subject to failure. Unless it is offsite, it is also subject to the same disasters as the primary drive. You need to archive your backups to a more permanent medium, such as magnetic tape or CD-R.

After you have archived the data, you can reclaim the hard drive space on both drives.

You really should find a place outside of your home to store archives. Use your imagination. I’ve kept backups in a safe-deposit box!

Restore

This is obvious. The most annoying part of restore operations comes when you are attempting to retrieve a file without the original backup software. If the backup is in a popular format such as zip or tar, you may be able to retrieve the needed files. So, keep in mind that proprietary solutions are not the best solutions.

Another aspect of restoration involves the directory structure. Where should the restore file go? You may want to compare versions, so it would be a mistake to overwrite the version on your primary drive. The best solutions leave this choice up to you.

Catalogue and Report

What good is a backup if you can’t find the file when you need it? My all-time favorite is a stand-alone product that has nothing to do with backups. It’s called WhereIsIt and it can store a huge amount of information. No matter where I put a file, if I catalogued it with this package, it will tell me where it is. It has a powerful report generator that can provide all kinds of useful information about catalogued files. Here’s how I use WhereIsIt. Every Saturday, I get a reminder from Outlook to run it. (I believe it has some kind of scripting language with which I could automate the task, but I never bothered. It’s easy enough.) I click the backup button, select the external hard drive and the program does the rest! The catalogue resides on my primary drive for quick access.

Compare

There are many programs that will let you compare two versions of a file. Pick one that will do what you need. As a programmer, I find BeyondCompare to be indispensable. It compares folders to folders or files to files. It allows me to use a built-in FTP program to upload files from my hard drive to the web. (There’s a plan!) The bonus for me is that BeyondCompare will synchronize folders. So, I have set it to automatically backup the contents of My Documents to the external hard drive. This is done once a night, using my infamous Tower of Hanoi backup scheme.

Recycle

You do not have unlimited resources to maintain backups indefinitely. At the least, you will run out of shelf space for your CD-Rs. Your cataloguing and report capabilities will become over-whelmed or, they will become so voluminous as to be nearly useless. In more severe instances, your backup media will become too small to hold the data.

Time is the final arbiter of the value of files on your hard drive. When the file is no longer needed, it can be deleted. This will keep it from taking up valuable backup space. However, determining how long to keep archives is more problematic. When I worked at the police department, the CD-Rs were kept for thirty days and then shredded. This was a simple decision, because every backup was a full backup.

Media-Independent

Remember 100MB Iomega Zip disks? As a replacement for floppy disks, these media were the perfect bridge between miniscule storage and expensive (at the time) compact disc technology. However, the computer world continued to scale up its storage demands and the 100MB became as futile as the floppy. A good backup solution should be flexible enough to write to any medium. In addition, the files should be recoverable even without the presence of the original backup software. In other words, proprietary solutions may not be suitable for mission-critical recovery.

Of course, we don’t live in a perfect world. The best backup solution for me is the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium USB key. It has 512MB of storage and several proprietary packages for backing up my critical files. I am willing to put up with it because I don’t rely solely on the key. At 512MB, it is wholly inadequate to be my primary backup solution.

My media-independent solution is ZipBackup. As the name implies, it creates the popular zip file format. I have many choices between full, incremental and differential backups. With task scheduling, I run this program four times a day.

Information Overload!

You don’t need all that stuff. I do. I am not a freelance writer. You are not a programmer (if you are, you need all that stuff!)

The preceding information just helps you to get a grip on the scope of the wonderful world of backups. Now that you have the background, you can wipe all the minutiae from your short-term memory and focus on the following:

If you are using a PC with drag and drop capabilities, you can backup your work!

You spend all day on your computer. I don’t know if you have any idea that you can drag a folder to the icon for your cd writer. It’s not the easiest way to do things, but it works.

A better way to do this (Windows XP) is to select the files, right-click and highlight Send To and choose the cd writer. You can go all over the hard drive, right-clicking and sending files until you have all of them waiting to go. Then, just follow the wizard’s instructions.

After a couple of days of this drudgery, you may decide to rearrange your file organization to accommodate this new right-click backup solution.

At that point, you’re well on your way to understanding the problems and rewards of backing up.

Mitchell Allen is an advocate for cross-networking: synergistically linking multiple social networks in order to increase membership exposure.

He writes for fun and profit at WritingUp.com

He maintains The Vertical Blog Tunnel Network at the social network, http://www.Ryze.com

Price : $29.00

Product Description

The most practical, comprehensive solution to defending your network perimeter. Get expert insight from the industry’s leading voices: Stephen Northcutt and the expertise of the SANS team. Inside Network Perimeter Security is a practical guide to designing, deploying, and maintaining network defenses. It discusses perimeter components such as firewalls, VPNs, routers, and intrusion detection systems, and explains how to integrate them into a unified whole to meet real-world business requirements. The book consolidates the experience of seventeen information security professionals working together as a team of writers and reviewers. This is an excellent reference for those interested in examining best practices of perimeter defense and in expanding their knowledge of network security. Because the book was developed in close coordination with the SANS Institute, it is also a valuable supplementary resource for those pursuing the GIAC Certified Firewall Analyst (GCFW) certification.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2006-03-13
This is a great book for seasoned IT professionals that want to learn how to secure small and medium sized networks.

As others have said, if you want to read only one book, this is the one. The authors did a great job of describing concepts and relevant low level details and tools.

I enjoyed reading most of it, but I skimmed parts that described processes that seasoned engineers have applied countless times.

Highly recommended!

Review date : 2005-09-10
Very, very good.
All the most important subjects of perimeter security, remote access, resources separation are addressed.
TCP protocol details are clearly part of the explanation, therefore the more you know of it the better it is.
Useful links and vendor specific technology references are also included, like Microsoft, Cisco and so on.
Excellent.

Review date : 2005-01-26
Stephen Northcutt, and the various contributing authors, have created a masterful and well rounded guide of the various considerations that go into securing the network perimeter. As a student of Information Technology this book has been instrumental in my education and has earned a permanent place on my bookshelf (when it is not in my hands directly).

Review date : 2005-01-24
Stephen Northcutt has done a great job! this is the most comphrensive book on the subject. I particularly found the part on access lists very helpful. Niloufer Tamboly, CISSP

Review date : 2004-03-02
Fairly decent overview of perimeter security. If your a security professional you may learn a thing or two, if your a network administrator and your idea of security is a firewall then this book is meant for you. Its a fairly easy read, but some of the examples of the commands to enter in configuring routers and hosts could be eliminated. I felt the author was just taking up space with these examples. (not a big deal but I’m taking a star away on principal) I also felt the author could have gone into a little be more detail in the VPN chapter, especially when dealing with encryption, PKI, and authenication which I felt was glossed over. (again not a big deal, but when you call yourself the definitive guide, be more definitive and save the ‘commands’ for the user guides")

I?m eighty-one years old and I bought my first computer six years ago. When I bought it I hardly knew how to turn it on. I consider myself still a Newbie as I?ve barely scratched the surface of computer technology. I have successfully built about a dozen computers for family, friends and myself. I have even sold a couple of them.

This study is confined to Desk Top Computers Laptops and Notebooks do not lend themselves to to ? Do it yourself ? projects.

Building a computer doesn?t require a high degree of technical skill, however it does require a little mechanical aptitude. Building may not be the proper term, assemble would be more appropriate. That?s actually what you do, you assemble the right components then install an operating system which is the only phase of the project that requires any technical ability.

Building your own has several advantages, for one you can save some money. But don?t get the idea that you can sell them at a profit. There?s too much competition at the low end. All the major manufacturers have budget models, most of which you can buy with substantial rebates and good warrantees

You have a number of options, you can build from scratch or you can build from a barebones kit. I recommend the latter for your first attempt. You also have the choice of using all new components or using some recycled parts.

If you have a reasonably up to date PC that died the are probably a number of parts that you can re-use, and you can buy a lot of good used components from bay and other online sources. Refurbished parts are a good option.

The first thing you have to do is determine your requirements. If you?re going to just surf the Internet, do e-mail and a bit of printing, go for the cheapest you can buy. You will still have plenty of capacity for simple tasks.

Next you have to decide whether to go with a barebones kit or do a complete build. Kits are recommended because generally that?s the most economical way to go, and it?s definitely easier. Installing a mother- board can get dicey for the uninitiated. There are a lot of little wires to connect that can give you grief if they aren?t in the right place.

Barebones kits come in many iterations. The most basic consists of a case, motherboard and power unit. Some have on board video and audio cards, others include modems and cable connections and some even sport keyboards, mice and speakers. Read the specs carefully because some of the components are expensive to buy separately.

Make a list of all the components that you require. Check off the ones that are included in the kit. This establishes what other parts you need. If you have see parts that you can use, check them off. Now you know what you have to buy. For in-depth detailed instructions on how to do this visit the computer page on: http://caveatemptorus.com/

Often times it?s less expensive to buy all the component you require from the vendor of the kits because of shipping charges, which are part of your over-all cost. But sometime parts you can buy at auction can be so inexpensive that it?s worthwhile to pay the shipping charges.

All barebones kits come with an instruction manual and a phone number where you can get technical support. Neither is very good. People who don?t understand English very well write the manuals and the technical support is like most free things. Actually, it?s not free, they are toll numbers. And are almost always busy. However most manufacturers have very good web sites where you can obtain information and trouble shoot if you have a problem.

Vendors that sell barebones kits usually have a thirty-day return policy. Try to do your building before it expires because if you go beyond that limit then you have to deal with the manufacturer which can be a hassle. It?s much easier and may avoid expensive shipping charges if you deal with the seller while still within the term of their return policy.

When you select the components you require be sure that you procure compatible parts. Hard drives have different interfaces. Memory comes in many variations; some memory only works in specific motherboards. If you use the wrong type your machine won?t work.

Once you have everything assembled, and your PC boots, you can install your operating system. This can be the most difficult part of the operation. If you are using a new hard drive it?s fairly easy. It will come with instructions and software for installing the OS. If you?re using a used HD, then you have to format it. The best way to do this is to look at the hard drive and get the manufacturer and model number of the unit. Then you can download the instructions and software to perform this task.

Even if you don?t save a fortune, you can end up with the computer that you want and have a sense of accomplishment.

Written by: George W. Cannata the publisher of the web site : http://www.caveatemptorus.com July 8, 2005.

Price : $129.48

Product Description

This ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 8 offers wired and wireless connectivity and business class protection for small office and remote/branch office users. It combines five functions in a single, compact package - Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, 802.11g wireless access point, IPSec Virtual Private Network (VPN) appliance, NAT router, and eight-port Fast Ethernet switch. Powerful and standards-based, it delivers both 10 and 100 Mbps connections for wired devices, plus 802.11b/g devices and speeds up to 108 Mbps. This complete solution offers high-performance features in a space-saving, easy-to-use design.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2007-09-21
Hello, I am not happy at all with this product, with Amazon, or the seller. As I purchased this item to setup my wireless internet at home. It sat in the box for 40 days as it took that long for my wireless company to get my satelite to me and setup. Then on the day to set it up I’m told by the Tech that this item is not compatible and I could not use it. When I asked the seller to refund my monie - they indicated it was over 30 days and they could not, nor would Amazon help me….so I am very unhappy as I am a long time customer that has spent my fair share of monies on Amazon and the first time I need help everyone jumps ship…so I rate this over all experience very poor, with poor customer service….and just over all BAD. Thanks but no thanks.

Review date : 2007-06-12
Bought this to add to my wireless-wired home network. I have used a Netgear FWAG114 along with a Netgear WG302 access point, and several D-Link gaming adapters to connect 7 computers running a variety of systems along with a Slingbox and 2 laptops. Sytems include Vista, XP Pro, Win2000, Win2000 Server and Suse 10.2 (linux). I like the Netgear Pro series as they seem to be more robust and are fairly easy to configure and handle security really well.

Connected the FVW318, logged in and set up the WPA security, set my rules for VNC (Windows and one for Linux), HTML, FTP, Slingbox and opened the ports. Set security for the highest level of WPA I could. I can have as many as 15 different wireless systems in my neighborhood broadcasting at any given moment so security and ability to connect to my wireless is very important to me.

I replaced the FWAG114 with the FVG318 and after configuring it, it connected immediately. My WG302 is on the lower floor and is connect by POE. Once I booted both up the connection has been flawless for the last 48 hours. I am on Comcast and my connection is at a blazing 19,880 kbs (2485 KB/sec) down and 2485 kbs (196.9 KB/sec) up.

I have read many reviews that rate this router as bad. User became easily frustrated with all the dropped connections and poor performance. But I have found that configuring it right the first time is the most important step in getting it to work.

Configuration was easy and straight forward. Of, course, you must know how to configure your rules and set the ports. Some probably buy this router thinking it is plug and play and it is not. First thing I did was download the current firmware from Netgear and install it before doing anything. Bugs are generally eliminated with upgrades.

I must be lucky with my Netgear products. I started years ago with the Netgear RT314 router and now use Netgear exclusively. I have family that come to visit in their motor homes and I assign them logons and they can connect wirelessly from around 75 feet away.

I give this router 5 stars as it has performed flawlessly so far. I run Rosetta@Home (shared computing helping to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases) on all of my computers and a good connection 24/7 is of most importance to me, plus, I love wireless computing.

If you buy the FVG318 read the manual that is on the CD thoroughly before you start the configuration. I will post a follow up review after a month or so to let you know if I still really like my FVG318.

When I think about all the tasks I do on the internet and all the great services that I use on a day to day basis, I have realized that my name and information is scattered all over the place. I have decided to try and organize and professionalize my online persona. This article is about my experience with different services and web sites that allow you to do just that. I am sure that there are all kinds of other services that will allow you to show off your stuff but the following sites our my favorite. If you think that I have missed any good services, please post them in the comments.

Organize Yourself

It is often hard to tell whether or not the person who goes by Cory on one website or service is the same Cory that you know from another website or service because it is not always possible to use the same user name for every service. For example, the username ?coryholt? might be avalible on flickr but not on a forum that I frequent. It is always better for websites to use your email address as your user name for convience but not all sites are perfect. This is where you run into the problem of using multiple services, but having a long list of usernames.

So after doing a little research, I came across a great website that helps you do just that: keep track of your online persona. In short, ClaimID lets you track and share all the information on the internet that is about you. For example, my ClaimID profile shows links to all of my various pages such as this blog, Teen Tech Talk, and my flickr account as well as all of my profiles that I use such as my LinkedIn resume and my MySpace page.

Other uses include linking to places in which you are referenced for you work such as on a news site or even a CSS design gallery such as CSS Vault.

Now, with this innovative idea comes a new form of plagiarism or a kind of identity theft. Since ClaimID lets you link to pages that you claim to be owned by you or about you, anyone could simply add a link on thier ClaimID profile to teentechtalk.com and suddenly they are now a part of it; or atleast according to ClaimID. That is where MicroID comes in. MicroID is a standards-based way to claim a page that?s yours. Basically, in order to verify that a link is genuinely yours, you must paste a block of code somewhere on the page.

Then you just tell the site that you have indeed pasted the code somewhere on your page, and withen an hour or so, the Mirco ID ?Ninjas? will search your page looking for that code. Once your page is verified, you?ll see a ?Verified? mark show up next to your link in your claimID page. So, in the eyes of ClaimID, if you have write access to the page that you are linking to, then you must be the owner of it. Now, that is all fine and dandy, but what about a reference to you on another site that you feel like linking to. Well, there really isn?t an answer to that? or atleast not yet.

Other problems that I have run into when trying to verify my various sites and profiles, is that if you are trying to verify your MySpace profile, for example, you are out of luck. When you paste the code that MicroID gives you, MySpace?s horrible standards and code strips out important parts of that block of code, making it impossible for you to verify your profile. Also, other services like LinkedIn will not work because they do not allow you to insert the specific HTML tags that are needed for ClaimID to verify your page.

An Online Resume

Resumes have always been one of the most important things you need in order to get a decent job. People focus so much on their resumes because that one peice of paper (or more) is what determines whether or not you are even eligible to get the job that you are applying for. It is the first thing that employers/clients look at before even meeting you, so you want to get it right. Earlier in this post, I mentioned something I called my LinkedIn profile. As of now, it is my official proffesional online resume. LinkedIn is a great service focusing on more than just a plain online page with your experience, education, and what-have-you.

It also allows you to connect with other people that you may have worked with in the past. Once these people are connected with you, they can write endorsements or testimonials about you. According to LinkedIn, people with endorsments from people such as former managers, colleagues and co-workers, customers and clients, and business partners are up to 3x more likely to be found in searches. Not only do they help you get out there and found, but they also make your resume look good.

The only con that I can find with LinkedIn?s method of endorsements is that in order for someone to write an endorsement for you, they must have a LinkedIn account for themself. They can?t simply send an email or use some other method as I have seen on other online resume websites.

Conclusion

So, as I have said in this article, there are all kinds of great and innovative services out there to get yourself out there and stay organized with who is you and who is not. If you know of any other great services like the ones mentioned above, please leave a link to them in the comments. Thanks for reading.

For more articles like this, please read my blog linked below:

Cory Holt cholt.net

Price :

Features

• Remote Access - Supports 25 concurrent tunnels and is tailored for the Small and Mid-Sized businesses.
• Provides browser based secure access to your corporate network; no client required on the users laptop for remote access.
• Uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) a protocol popular in the world of e-commerce.

Product Description

Cost-effective secure and easy to use, NETGEAR ProSafe SSL VPN Concentrator provides clientless, secure remote access for mobile and remote users. It offers small and mid-sized businesses three key benefits: it provides secure remote access to corporate resources using standard web browsers thereby eliminating organization’s administrative headache of distributing and managing VPN clients; supports up to 25 concurrent SSL VPN connections, at industry’s most cost effective price point and comes with an easy-to-use interface, using one of the strongest encryption methods to ensure privacy of data across the Internet.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-09-18
Very easy to setup. Not a entrprise class vpn solution but works great for a small office.

Review date : 2007-07-12
Since they first came out, I have set up several of these for customers. This one happened to be for my office. Once set up, they are great. The biggest problem is the tech support people. Slow to respond, foreign accent, and bad attitudes. Figure on 4 to 6 hours between hold time and the time necessary to work through any issues with the tech support people. The documentation is useless. I have never been able to get some of the features to work such as remotely running Word or Excel. I might be able to figure it out if I had the time, but I really don’t.

They have also been somewhat unreliable. I suggest that you immediately register the product before installing it. Then when you do have to call tech support to set it up, it will be somewhat easier. When you register you are offered an extended service plan. BUY IT! If your device fails, you get overnight delivery of a replacement. It also provides access to better tech support, and you get tech support for several years instead of 90 days.

Review date : 2006-12-21
This is a good product and works as advertised - with one small flaw. If you’re an Apple Mac user, you’ll only be able to use it if you’re running a PowerPC Mac. Due to a compilation problem in the VPN client Java library by Netgear, the SSL VPN client will not run on an Intel based Mac (even through Rosetta).

If you’re planning to use this with an Intel Mac - wait for a firmware upgrade from Netgear otherwise you’ll just be staring at a useless blue box with a flashing green light!

BizTech 2.0 is an entrepreneur education program offering business assistance to students over 13. The program teaches business, information technology and life skills to young people via the Internet. It reinforces math learning, reading and critical thinking skills.

The program was launched by The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, an organization located in New York City that was set up from the need for a program for preventing failure and dropout of disadvantaged students from low-income communities. It does this by helping them develop entrepreneurial skills and eventually enhance their economic productivity and improve the quality of their lives and their academic and business skills.

BizTech 2.0 is flexible, user friendly, utilizing the latest technology. It is built of 25 units divided into three levels: basic, intermediate and advanced. It allows on-line learning of how to develop your own business connecting students and teachers.

Students have the advantage of the interactive graphics that reflect the progress through each level.

The program is teacher-led and teachers are permitted to choose the most appropriate work mode for the class or student from: Full Curriculum Mode or BizPlan Only Mode. Both modes result in teaching kids how to write a business plan in a complex, well drawn manner.

What is really helpful and confers the program maximum productivity is the fact that it is designed in such a pleasurable manner that students learn valuable, complex business and entrepreneurship information and enjoy it, as it is known that kids learn most by playing and that’s exactly what they do when working with BizTech 2.0.

The program partially answers the social problems of potential problem-children from low-income urban backgrounds who are usually prone to quitting school and finding ways that are not always righteous to make money. But not only this category of kids can benefit from such a program, as it was proven by a study that NFTE graduates possess 20 times more knowledge on basic business concepts and are 30 times more likely to start up their own business.

Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.businessplanning.ws where you can find more information about what is a business plan
Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared.
Contact:lauracio@gmail.com

Price :

Features

• Remote Access - Supports 25 concurrent tunnels and is tailored for the Small and Mid-Sized businesses.
• Provides browser based secure access to your corporate network; no client required on the users laptop for remote access.
• Uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) a protocol popular in the world of e-commerce.

Product Description

Cost-effective secure and easy to use, NETGEAR ProSafe SSL VPN Concentrator provides clientless, secure remote access for mobile and remote users. It offers small and mid-sized businesses three key benefits: it provides secure remote access to corporate resources using standard web browsers thereby eliminating organization’s administrative headache of distributing and managing VPN clients; supports up to 25 concurrent SSL VPN connections, at industry’s most cost effective price point and comes with an easy-to-use interface, using one of the strongest encryption methods to ensure privacy of data across the Internet.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-09-18
Very easy to setup. Not a entrprise class vpn solution but works great for a small office.

Review date : 2007-07-12
Since they first came out, I have set up several of these for customers. This one happened to be for my office. Once set up, they are great. The biggest problem is the tech support people. Slow to respond, foreign accent, and bad attitudes. Figure on 4 to 6 hours between hold time and the time necessary to work through any issues with the tech support people. The documentation is useless. I have never been able to get some of the features to work such as remotely running Word or Excel. I might be able to figure it out if I had the time, but I really don’t.

They have also been somewhat unreliable. I suggest that you immediately register the product before installing it. Then when you do have to call tech support to set it up, it will be somewhat easier. When you register you are offered an extended service plan. BUY IT! If your device fails, you get overnight delivery of a replacement. It also provides access to better tech support, and you get tech support for several years instead of 90 days.

Review date : 2006-12-21
This is a good product and works as advertised - with one small flaw. If you’re an Apple Mac user, you’ll only be able to use it if you’re running a PowerPC Mac. Due to a compilation problem in the VPN client Java library by Netgear, the SSL VPN client will not run on an Intel based Mac (even through Rosetta).

If you’re planning to use this with an Intel Mac - wait for a firmware upgrade from Netgear otherwise you’ll just be staring at a useless blue box with a flashing green light!