Stuxnet free essay sample

Future of Cyber War David Adams Legal and Ethical Issues in Computing CIS 4253 The discovery in June 2010 that a cyber worm dubbed ‘Stuxnet’ had struck the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz suggested that, for cyber war, the future is now. Yet more important is the political and strategic context in which new cyber threats are emerging, and the effects the worm has generated in this respect. Perhaps most striking is the confluence between cyber crime and state action. States are capitalizing on technology whose development is driven by cyber crime, and perhaps outsourcing cyber attacks to non-attributable third parties, including criminal organizations. Cyber offers great potential for striking at enemies with less risk than using traditional military means. It is unclear how much the Stuxnet program cost, but it was almost certainly less than the cost of single fighter-bomber. Yet if damage from cyber attacks can be quickly repaired, careful strategic thought is required in comparing the cost and benefits of cyber versus traditional military attack. We will write a custom essay sample on Stuxnet or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page One important benefit of cyber attack may be its greater opportunity to achieve goals such as retarding the Iranian nuclear program without causing the loss of life or injury to innocent civilians that air strikes would seem more likely to inflict. Nevertheless, cyber attacks do carry a risk of collateral damage, with a risk of political blowback if the attacking parties are identified. Difficulty in identifying a cyber attacker presents multiple headaches for responding. A key strategic risk in cyber attack, finally, lies in potential escalatory responses. Strategies for using cyber weapons like Stuxnet need to take into account that adversaries may attempt to turn them back against us. The discovery in June 2010 that a cyber worm dubbed ‘Stuxnet’ had struck the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz suggested that, for cyber war, the future is now. Stuxnet has apparently infected over 60,000 computers, more than half of them in Iran; other countries affected include India, Indonesia, China, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Malaysia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland and Germany. The virus continues to spread and infect computer systems via the Internet, although its power to do damage is now limited by the availability of effective antidotes, and a built-in expiration date of 24 June 2012. (McMillan, 2010) Stuxnet is a sophisticated computer program designed to penetrate and establish control over remote systems in a quasi-autonomous fashion. It represents a new generation of ‘fire-and-forget’ malware that can be aimed in cyberspace against selected targets. Those that Stuxnet targeted were ‘air gapped’; in other words, they were not connected to the public Internet and penetration required the use of intermediary devices such as USB sticks to gain access and establish control. Using four ‘zero-day vulnerabilities’ (vulnerabilities previously unknown, so that there has been no time to develop and distribute patches), the Stuxnet worm employs Siemens default passwords to access Windows operating systems that run the WinCC and PCS 7 programs. These are programmable logic controller (PLC) programs that manage industrial plants. The genius of the worm is that it can strike and reprogram a computer target. (Garza, 2010) Some media reports mistakenly thought the Iranian light-water power reactor at Bushehr was also a target. Iran confirmed that Stuxnet infected personal computers there while denying that much damage was inflicted. (Yong, 2010) But Bushehr seems an unlikely target, because the plutonium produced by such light-water reactors is not well suited for weapons purposes. The more likely target is Irans uranium-enrichment program. Although most of the 4,000–5,000 centrifuges operating to date at the pilot and industrial-scale fuel-enrichment facilities at Natanz have been producing only low-enriched uranium, the same centrifuges could be put to use to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons. Alternatively, and in a more likely scenario, it is feared that Iran could be operating secret centrifuge facilities to produce highly enriched uranium. The key to the Stuxnet worm is that it can attack both known and unknown centrifuges. Although there is no hard evidence that Stuxnet has exposed Ahmadinejad to public criticism that the government failed to competently defend key installations, cyber can nevertheless be a tool to discredit, destabilize and weaken the authority of adversarial regimes. Cyber also offers great potential for striking at enemies with less risk than using traditional military means. For example, North Korea poses threats other than through its nuclear program. It is involved, for example, in extensive counterfeiting. Cyber attack offers potential options that may prove effective in countering such criminal activity. Cyber is, moreover, less costly than traditional military action. It is unclear how much the Stuxnet program cost, but it was almost certainly less than the cost of single fighter-bomber. Third parties currently working in concert with a state may or may not be held under tight control. Criminal groups are mercenary. They may well sell their services twice. Outsourcing to the underworld is a slippery slope.

Nisa The Life And Words Of Kung Woman By Marjorie Shostak Essays

Nisa The Life And Words Of Kung Woman By Marjorie Shostak In this paper I am going to discuss the book Nisa The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, by Marjorie Shostak. In doing this I will describe the culture of the !Kung people, a small hunter-gatherer tribe in Africa. Then I will go on with telling about their sociocultural systems that I have read about in this book. To rap things up I will tell my prediction where the !Kung population is headed into the future. I will use explanations from the book to help me describe my prediction. !Kung culture is a very simple culture. The norms in this society are hard to define; norms are shared rules that define how people are supposed to behave under certain circumstances. Take marriage for example In the book Nisa explains how a women can marry more than once in her lifetime, a !Kung girl is actually married several times before she stays with one man. These appeared to me as trial marriages, the women are too young to want the marriage and usually are the ones to end it. Even after long marriage involving children things such as death and divorce/ separation occur and a woman finds a new husband. So as you can see the norms in the !Kung culture are much different than that of our own norms. Even when marriage is involved the idea of having lovers was not shunned. Although some women do not engage in this act, it is a very common thing among the !Kung. The norm here is to have a lover to keep that young playful and loving attraction alive with someone, even after things have began to settle with your husband. Nisa explains, ?Even my mother had lovers. I'd be with her when she met them. But my father, if he had them, I didn't know She recalls many situations like this, as do most !Kung children. ?I remember, when I was still small, seeing my mother with one man. He met her, took her, and made love to her. I sat nearby and waited. When she came back carrying firewood, I thought, ?I am going to tell!? Then I thought, ?Should I tell Daddy or shouldn't I But when we arrived back at the village, I didn't say anything. I thought if I told, my father would kill my mother.? Most children fear their father's beatings, therefore, will not tell on their mothers. Values, standards by which a society defines what is desirable and undesirable, in !Kung society mainly involve things dealing with sex. The sex they value is not the same sex that our society views it. It is not about looks or big breasts or broad shoulders. They place no value on looks, although Nisa does comment on good-looking people, there is no comments made directly towards ugly people. They do not emphasize on people's bad looks; therefore, they do not have to feel self conscious of their looks. When derogatory comments are made it's about peoples genitals. Once when she was too young to have sex she would decline sex play by saying, ?You, Tuma, you've got an enormous penis! I don't want to be with someone like that!? He said, ? We're going to play and have sex with Big-Vagina over there.? He meant me.? They used this as a way of insulting each other. When it comes to sex having big genitals is a bad thing, therefore, the values in the society are much different from our own. The socialization/ enculturation process of a new !Kung child starts at day one. Enculturation is the process of social interaction through which people learn their culture. When the mother is feeling well enough after the birth, which is usually a few days or as soon as the milk comes in, the baby will go gathering with the mother. That there involves a large part of the culture of everyday life. Although not much is expected of the !Kung children their curiosity makes up for it. Children are willing and eager to learn to hunt and gather, as do the adults. Young males are able to learn about hunting

Writing Essay in IELTS General Samples

Writing Essay in IELTS General SamplesYou might have seen that IELTS general samples have gained popularity among students of all ages. This is because the tests are practical as well as educational. These are the best test for a student with an IELTS score, because they are a kind of homework, and your achievement in these tests is a reflection of how good you really are at learning.All students who excel in their IELTS scores are called to write an essay. There are a few kinds of essays in general, and the type that you will be asked to write depends on what it is you want to express. For example, if you wish to express yourself and explore ideas, a personal essay is best suited to you.The right test essay can turn you into a top IELTS student. Remember that writing in English is the most common way to express oneself. If you cannot write effectively and accurately in English, how can you expect to express yourself clearly in another language? It can certainly be a challenge, but w hen you meet the challenge, you will realize that your essay writing in IELTS general samples is not really difficult at all.There are a number of different types of essays that you will need to know about. If you want to write a news story, you need to choose one type of essay from among the ones offered in the book. You can choose from those that deal with history, culture, or the arts, and these are called topical essays.Essays on science are another type of essay you can write. These can go through the different branches of science or provide insight on the scientific process in general.However, if you need to write about the real subjects, you will need to write one on the topic that you wish to concentrate on. The examples provided in the book may help you with this, but you need to be sure that you are capable of addressing this question.Overall, the test in IELTS general samples is one that provides you with the chance to learn about the basics of the English language. This can be a great tool for students who want to be more fluent in their native language.

Definitions of Words essays

Definitions of Words essays Before I can go on to lay out the foundations of my belief system, I think it would be helpful to shed some light on the playing field in which these ideas are to be considered. This playing field is constructed of words and statements, of course, but the precise meaning of "words" and "statements" is often left unclear. I will begin by defining these things as I intend to use them. I will also make a cursury attempt to explain the different types of statements we will encounter, the importance of falsifiablity and the role of faith, in addition to a smattering of other definitions that will become important as we proceed. Statements The ultimate building blocks of any philosophical system are statements. A statement is an attempt to communicate that which is true (or perceived to be true) through the symbolic code (words) of a language. All symbols are, of course, inherently limited. There exist various properties in a symbol's object of reference which cannot be contained within the symbol itself. An obvious example of this is the property of real existence. We may discuss in detail the various properties of a horse and of a unicorn. Considered only from a linguistic standpoint, a horse and unicorn can be assumed to be virtually synonymous. However, the object of the symbol horse possesses the property of real existence while the object of the symbol unicorn does not. The word/symbol horse, though, cannot convey this property because it cannot be contained by the symbol. True knowledge of this property can only be obtained by finding a real horse and touching it, riding it, getting to know it. The consequence of this is the understanding that there exist incommunicable properties of all real objects. These incommunicable properties are no less real than their communicable counterparts. They simply cannot be conveyed by symbols. Knowledge of these properties can only be obtained by direct experience with the object itself. These...

Conventions of Academic Writing Essays

Conventions of Academic Writing Essays Conventions of Academic Writing Paper Conventions of Academic Writing Paper Writing Research Papers, A Complete Guide. 2010 Thirteenth Edition (3-8)

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Marketing - Essay Example This eventually resulted to creating a need for a good financial market for banking and finance in which the bottom line would be to stimulate needs for certain product or service offerings. This area has become so competitive in which the resulting activity leads to the creation of competitive rivalry. In short, it is important to consider that the presence of new market entrants, power of supplier and buyer and advancement in technology has significantly created an essential force leading to competitive rivalry (Ireland et al., 2007; Hitt et al., 2009). Porter therefore is right on specifying some factors that may essentially lead to the creation of competitive rivalry. Thus, he emphasised that there is a need to go for competitive strategies. This is what the financial market has essentially applied to the extent that there is a point to include economic policy measures just to minimise the presence of competition in the market (Lindbeck, 1973; Lancaster and Reynolds, 2005). The b uilding societies and banks The Building Societies Association (2011) presents some major differences between building societies and banks which include building societies as mutual institutions, are not companies run by their shareholders, and the issue on the limit of proportion of funds. These differences bring forward to some major advantages and even shown in some studies revealing that building societies have outperformed banks implying that mutual organisations may outweigh those stock organisations (Valnek, 1999). There are underlying reasons for this and one of the most significant is the inclusion of rights and privileges for members to receive the right information they deserve to have. The next most important thing about building societies is that they are not considered companies which are highly controlled by shareholders who are influential to maximise profits for increase amount of dividends. The point of this is that there will be low operating cost and other signif icant privileges that will ensure advantage on opportunity cost. In fact, it was found that building societies remain to have constant rates in deposit and mortgage (Heffeman, 2005). This emphasises that building societies are indeed not under pressure of its stakeholders which means further that the needs of consumers are greatly catered to the fullest. The limit of proportion of funds on the other hand would mean further that compared to banks, building societies are highly secured for investment and this is an opportunity for consumers or investors to go. Harpenden Building Society Harpenden’s company website revealed some of important information about its operation which leads to having a better view at its current trends in the market (Harpenden Building Society, 2010). Harpenden is known for its place in the UK building societies. It significantly belongs to the rank of 52 renowned UK building societies because of its 20,000 members having more than 25,000 accounts. As ide from this, Harpenden has no debt because it eliminates its chance for borrowings on the money market. Another good thing about the financial performance of Harpenden is the upward spiralling growth of its deposits and mortgages. Harpenden is also recognised by

Intellectual Disabilities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Intellectual Disabilities - Research Paper Example Moreover, intellectual disabilities affect individuals during aging. Understanding intellectual disability is critical in education to help students having this condition (Woodcock & Vialle, 2010). This paper will discuss the definition of intellectual, its characteristics and its impacts on intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. Moreover, strategies to assist students in this disability category will be described. Defining Intellectual Disability World Health Organization describes intellectual disability as the significant reduction of the ability to comprehend new information and in learning and applying new skills. The American Association of Intellectual and Development Disability (AAIDD) explain that intellectual disability is not usually an isolated disorder. AAIDD offers a three dimensional definition of intellectual disability and this is the most widely acknowledged definition (Barrett, 2011). According to the AAIDD, intellectual disability is a disorder that begin s before one gets to the age of 18 years that is characterized by great limitation in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. Intellectual functioning refers to various aspects of life such as learning, reasoning, problem solving (Barrett, 2011). On the other hand, adaptive behavior touches on a range of practical and social skills in areas of self-care, communication, self-direction, health, safety leisure and work. Intellectual disability has been introduced as a replacement to mental retardation that was previously used (Jellinek, Patel & Froehle, 2002). The prevalence of intellectual disability in America is relatively high with about one in every ten families affected. However, the estimated prevalence varies based on the criteria used in diagnosis, study design and ways of ascertaining (Barrett, 2011). For instance, when intelligent quotient (IQ) is used in diagnosis, the prevalence of intellectual disability is estimated at 3 percent but when applying the AAIDD defini tion, national prevalence stand at 1 percent. Prevalence of intellectual disability is higher among males and the male to female ration is about 1.5 to 1 (Barrett, 2011). Diagnosis and Assessment of ID Assessment of intellectual disability involves a multidisciplinary team comprising of psychiatrists, pediatricians, psychologists and clinical geneticists. The assessment is usually comprehensive where intellectual ability, adaptive behavior and medical and family history of the patient is assessed (Garbutt, 2010). DSM-IV-TR offers standardized criteria used in the diagnosis of the disorder and this is used among children and adults. Intellectual is characterized by below average intellectual functioning. The characteristics of intellectual disability include the fact that disorder begins before the age of 18. DSM-IV-TR requires that all the symptoms of intellectual disability must have begun before the age of 18 (Garbutt, 2010). However, this does not limit diagnosis after 18 years. Nevertheless, children who have not reached the age of two years should not be subjected to intellectual disability diagnosis. This may however be conducted in case a child demonstrates severe symptoms related to intellectual disability for instance Down syndrome (Garbutt, 2010). The other characteristic of intellectual disability is poor adaptive functioning. Adaptive functioning is described as the effectiveness of an individual to functioning in tandem with