Human Resources Planning, Recruitment & Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HR Planning, Recruitment and - Essay Example The conversation will likewise diagram different issues that can influence HR arranging at arrangement level inside the association. It additionally looks to talk about the measures that can be actualized inside the following five years so as to impact a powerful HR arranging system. In any association, HR the board (HRM) plays a significant capacity to its endurance and feasibility. All things considered, this report is essentially worried about plotting a basic examination of the utilization of inside and outside conditions of an association inside the setting of HR arranging. The report will concentrate on the activities of JBS Australia Pty Ltd which is an outside possessed privately owned business claimed by Brazilian-based JBS SA, the universes biggest meat processor. The report begins by laying out the outline of the organization and this will be trailed by clarification of key ideas. Inward just as outside elements will be clarified in detail just as the measures that can be set up inside the following five years so as to improve the activities of the association with respect to its HR capacities. As indicated by IBISWorld (2009), â€Å"JBS Australia Pty Ltd is an outside claimed privately owned business possessed by Brazilian-based JBS SA, the universes biggest meat processor. Quick Australia creates most of its pay from the preparing and dispersion of meat and its by-products.† This organization is situated in Riverview, Queensland and it utilizes more than 4,000 individuals. JBS Australia is liable for preparing and dispersing meat items, for example, hamburger, sheep, sheep, Veal and offal just as other side-effects, for example, stows away, skins, blood and bone among others. The organization works the accompanying brands: King Island Beef, Swift Premium Beef, Tasmanian Premium Beef, Friboi Beef and Beef City Black. Arranging with respect to HR the executives (HRM) is essentially worried about characterizing the objectives, setting up system, and creating plans to facilitate exercises

Bust the Budget

Question: A diagram of your chose issue from both an inward Australian perspective AND how the issue might be seen by somebody found abroad. How is the point of view liable to appear as something else. Answer: 1. Outline of the issue and the view of the issue The financial condition and circumstance of Australia has been very steady for over 2 decades. This has come about into an expansion in the expectations for everyday comforts for the individuals, which is an accomplishment. Nonetheless, there are sure issues that can affect the steadiness of the economy. They are identified with the components that can legitimately or by implication sway the financial arranging of the nation. According to the money related specialists, the proportion of speculation on many mining divisions has enormously expanded. This has contributed towards the financial advancement of the nation. The interest in the mining segments has expanded from 2 percent to 8 percent of the GDP of the nation. This has influenced the capital load of the mining business. Such a blast has decidedly affected the presentation of the organizations and the monetary state of the nation. The blast has likewise expanded the business proportion for the individuals of the nation. As of l ate it was seen that in excess of 180,000 staffs have been utilized in this area. This has expanded the profit proportion for the individuals of the nation. Regardless of such positive signs, the costs of numerous items had arrived at its top in the year 2011, which had raised a worry for the specialists of the nation. This was one reason that the capital speculation had passed its top around the same time. The other explanation that has contributed towards an expansion in the monetary condition is the expansion in the creation exercises and fare amount of different items including organic products. This is one reason; the specialists of the nation hope to confront certain difficulties that are identified with change of the previously mentioned factors (Arnold, 2008). So as to hold the accomplishment of the monetary condition, it is very basic to present viable spending which will deal with the necessities of the individuals and the nation. This is additionally done to understand the transient monetary real factors that can legitimately affect the presentation of the nation. So as to accomplish the set objective, the government specialists of the nation have presented a compelling financial union, which will deal with the difficulties that are associated with this procedure. It additionally remembers for presenting the auxiliary changes that would contribute towards building the financial versatility, which is viewed as fundamental for the advancement of the nation. In this procedure, the help efficiency is additionally dissected and the correct advances are taken to deal with the difficulties that are engaged with the procedure. The prime goal of the administration has been to enhance the ways of life for the individuals. For this, it is fundamental to accumulate the help of the private parts that would create the enough business open doors for the individuals. This is required for enhancing the pay development for the individuals of the nation. Rules are drafted to help the less advantaged individuals by giving the tax collection strategies (Arulampalam, Devereux, and Maffini 2009). One of the difficulties that sway the monetary improvement of the individuals is the taxation rate, which has been vigorously demanded upon business houses and people. It is very essential to charge a considerable lot from various substances. Aside from this, the assets gathered from various sources must be utilized in a reasonable way. The difficulties that impacts the spending development and execution are referenced underneath 1. Expulsion of the obstacles, including disincentives like sponsorships and others. Such charges impacts the presentation of little and medium estimated business houses and poor acquiring pay assembled people. 2. Plans to put shrewdly in the improvement of the foundation must be done in a powerful manner.This will assist the specialists with saving on target and the time that is put resources into the procedure. 3. Powerful plans should be actualized for lessening the costs or costs that are associated with the presentation of the administration. Through such a technique, it is conceivable to build the proficiency of the administration which is an unquestionable requirement for improving the exhibition of the nation. 4. Through the planning technique, an endeavor must be made to enhance the financing framework, which is viewed as fundamental for executing changes in the state plan. This likewise incorporates giving foundation to dissecting the future needs that will provide food the desires for the individuals and the country.In this procedure, the specialists endeavor to present a powerful framework through which the obligations and the jobs can be improved. This is very significant for the effective ramifications of the guidelines for the financial turn of events (Auerbach, 2010). Open doors for getting the progressions The moves identified with supporting of the spending meeting must be sifted through in the correct way. Such factors can help in improving the presentation of the nation. Aside from this, the difficulties related with the efficiency can be likewise overwhelmed. Such advances should be dealt with in a powerful way, as this will help in improving the efficiency for the nation and the individuals. The administration has a chance to deal with the issues that are identified with adaptability, effectiveness and different variables that are identified with the means that must be followed for development in the market. The means that are planned to be followed must be broke down by the opposition approach audit board of trustees. This would help in getting the progressions that will contribute towards the monetary advancement of the country. In this technique, the specialists likewise progress in the direction of improving the law and giving reasonable chances to the individuals. Through suc h procedure, the specialists endeavor to progress in the direction of understanding the chances and moving in the direction of the approach settings (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2000). How is such change seen by remote countries? The nations that are aligned with Australia vouch decidedly on the financial turn of events and steadiness of the country. Because of consistence in execution, the country has better point of view towards the country and this is viewed as the positive sign. 2. Rundown of the issue The financial advancement of the nation significantly relies on the change programs that have been attempted by the specialists of the nation. This incorporates actualizing changes in charge arrangements, presenting white papers, and others that would contribute towards the monetary improvement of the nation. The progressions must be executed with the goal that reasonable open doors are given to the individuals, which are viewed as essential for the monetary turn of events. The arrangement for changes has been spoken with the individuals, and the progressions have been wanted to be presented by the government specialists by 2015. Such changes have been proposed to be presented, in the wake of dissecting the difficulties that are engaged with the procedure. In this procedure, the duty framework must be changed as of now it has been exaggerated. This is done to put the open funds in the correct way, so the adjustments in the change program can be presented by the specialists. Additiona lly, the procedure that should be followed for demanding immediate and backhanded assessments must be arranged. This will assist the specialists with collecting the expenses and use them in the most ideal way. Assets gathered from various tax assessment techniques must be utilized for actualizing changes in the change programs. This will help in actualizing the progressions that is required for sharing of the income and different elements that will contribute towards the effective business activities. The income must be expanded as the assets can be utilized for presenting the change programs that will balance out the financial turn of events (ACMA, 2009). 3. Progress Financial advancement for the nation is a serious significant factor and can't be ignored by the legislature. So as to present the changes, it is fundamental to dissect the progressions that would be required for improving the financial improvement of the country. In this procedure, it is basic to break down the present duty assortment procedure and actualize the most ideal advance through which the assets can be utilized in the correct way. Aside from this, the adjustments regarding change program and others must be dissected, as this will assist the specialists with introducing the progressions that will profit the individuals and the country. The tax assessment system must be straightforward as this will help in gathering the assets and utilizing them in the correct way. other than this, the means that are proposed to be trailed by the country must be spoken with various specialists, as this will help in executing the progressions that is required for arranging the improvement of the country. A portion of the means that should be followed in this procedure incorporates Presenting the best arrangement for change changes Dissecting the difficulties that are remembered for the way toward presenting the progressions engaged with the technique (AER, 2008). Actualizing changes through which the speculations of the framework can be improved. Presenting successful strides for gathering charges that would profit the country. 4.Stakeholders The partners are The government specialists Individuals of the nation Universal merchants who do the business with the countries Tax assessment divisions. The issues related with the framework and speculation should be arranged and executed in the correct way. This will help in investigating the difficulties and actualizing the correct strides through which the progressions can be presented (ANAO, 2008). 5. Current issue The present issue is with the procedure that has been received by the administration to enhance the beneath referenced elements

What is Academic Writing Style

What is Academic Writing Style? Courtesy: unsplash.com Academic writing doesn’t have a single definition. You’ll see forms of it in different areas of academia and research. The goal stays the same to prove a theory or hypothesis. Writers dissect thoughts, question reasoning, and support conclusions. Academic writing differs from other forms of writing because it looks at a topic from an impersonal, research-driven angle. The language is formal, and vocabulary and structures are concise. Academic writers analyse a topic from a neutral standpoint. A judge, for instance, is objective. They examine evidence without bias and then pass judgement. You won’t use the pronoun ‘I’ in academic essays often because your opinion on a topic isn’t necessary. A question may ask for your opinion, but you present an argument from an impersonal angle in most cases. Consider: I think traffic is very bad in some big cities. Traffic congestion is a serious problem in big cities. Whether you think it’s bad or not doesn’t change the fact that traffic congestion is a problem in big cities. Nouns and noun forms make effective impersonal subjects. In the example above, ‘traffic congestion’ is a compound noun. Other popular forms include: Adjectives + nouns: Extreme weather contributed to Adverbs + participles + nouns: Recently discovered fossils reveal... Compound adjectives + nouns: Car-free days promote

The Controversy of Medical Marijuana - 626 Words

Marijuana, this plant brings up a lot of controversy. After the legalization of medical marijuana in California, it seems like the legalization is the biggest topic up for debate. Around the world, there are people are against it and many who strongly support the legalization. Personally, I am for the use of medical marijuana. There are more pro’s then con’s when it comes to using marijuana as a medicine. This brings up the question, are you for or against the use of medical marijuana? When it comes to medical marijuana, there are many different views on the good and the bad of having it and what it can cause if you do it. A factor that plays a roll in this is the side effects caused by marijuana. It is said that some patients experience drowsiness, or the desire to sleep. Excessive thirst or â€Å"cotton mouth†, reddening of the eyes, short-term memory loss, anxiety or while smoking it some people experience respiratory problems. With all these side effe cts though there are ways to avoid them or an explanation on why this isn’t that bad. When it comes to sleeping, if you have insomnia this is not a problem but a benefit. If you do not have that well lower your dosage and the drowsiness should lessen. When it comes to cotton mouth, it is very minor and won’t interfere with your day and as the marijuana effects wear off so does the dry mouth feeling. The reddening of the eyes are temporary, pain less, wears off later and can be lessened with eye drops. Short-termShow MoreRelatedThe Controversy Of Medical Marijuana2376 Words   |  10 PagesThe topic of medical Marijuana brings much controversy when discussing amongst people that are for it or against it. Medical Marijuana has been the heated topic of discussion for the past few years now mainly for it’s medical benefits and the fight to decriminalize the herb. There have been many miracle stories that support the idea of legalizing it for its medicinal purposes. One story that brought much attention to the issue was how the strand, ‘Charlotte’s Webâ„ ¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, that is increasingly changingRead MoreMedical Marijuana Legalization and Controversy2129 Words   |  9 PagesMedical Marijuana Legalization and Controversy Emily Gilbert COM/170 February 15, 2013 Dr. Mary Morriss University of Phoenix Medical Marijuana Legalization and Controversy Legalization of Marijuana has become a controversy in the United States. Medical marijuana has many benefits although recreational marijuana cannot yet be controlled. Many important medical improvements will be gained when marijuana is legal. There will be a time, within the near future, when it is legal federallyRead MoreEssay on Medical Marijuana Should NOT Be Legal For Minors1019 Words   |  5 Pages With the major and ongoing controversy of the legalization of marijuana, medical marijuana has been thrown into the limelight as an excuse as to why marijuana is â€Å"good.† But with medical marijuana’s supposed advancements, more and more doctors are prescribing it to anyone who claims to have a headache and now they are moving their clientele base to young children and teens who are not even old enough to know the long-term damage of the â€Å"medicine† their doctors are so willingly prescribing. WhileRead MoreLegalizing marijuana1092 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Legalizing Marijuana The issue of legalizing marijuana, also known as Cannabis Sativa, has been controversial for a long time, and has become even more so in recent years. Cannabis Sativa is a plant that has been used for a variety of purposes by many cultures for thousands of years. Not only does the Cannabis Sativa plant produce Marijuana, it also produces Hemp. Hemp was used to make food, clothes, shoes, ropes and paper, making it a very useful cash crop. Legal up until 1937, Marijuana was usedRead MoreThe Miracles of Cannabis Essay example957 Words   |  4 Pagesadvancements being made in the medical field with cannabis. Cancer patients are finally receiving some relief from nausea, among other symptoms, with this much known and popular drug. Also, our soldiers and veterans returning from the war overseas can get relief from the posttraumatic stress depression they are burdened with on a daily basis. Some even say that if they use it with the onset of a migraine, it prevents the migraine complete ly. Cannabis has more medical value then some people realizeRead MoreMedical Marijuana Should Be Legal1053 Words   |  5 PagesMedical marijuana, also called cannabis, is used in some places as a medication to treat diseases and symptoms. Many people consider it helpful and harmless making it the most used illicit drug in North America. With legalizing medical marijuana people can alleviate some health problems and help ease physical pain, but it also can bring many concerns, questions, and responsibility. Legalizing cannabis can help many people with their health conditions. There are some advantages to taking medicalRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1311 Words   |  6 PagesCannabis, otherwise known as Marijuana, is illegal in most parts of the world including the United States. However, the drug is now gaining acceptance worldwide as evidenced by the number of countries that are reducing or lifting penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana. In the United States, there are a growing number of Americans demanding that marijuana be legalized medically. Although the federal government is presently opposed to legalizing marijuana, its legal status is changingRead MoreThe Use of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes Essay966 Words   |  4 PagesThe use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has long been at the centre of much controversy. Some studies have shown results that the benefits of using marijuana for medicinal reasons far outweigh the negative health matters that may be associated with its use, and therefore should be an accepted method of treatment for some patients who are suffering with illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS, and eating disorders (Okie, 2005). Still, other studies have proven that there is not enoughRead MoreMarijuana Should Be Banned Marijuana944 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout the history of agriculture, the marijuana plant, also known as cannabis or hemp has been extensively used as a source of medicine, fiber, and intoxicant. In the ancient folklore and writings of China and India, the earliest known descriptions of cannabis are evident. According to historians, marijuana was mostly used a ritual intoxicant and later on, it found significance in folk medicine. The practice of smoking of marijuana has only appeared recently. There has been a lot of literatureRead More The Many Benefits of Medicinal Marijuana Essay827 Words   |  4 PagesMedicinal Marijuana When the religious leaders of Nicholas Copernicus time excommunicated him for his radical studies, they ignorantly dismissed a brilliant idea. The idea that the earth revolved around the sun inherently brought controversy upon the traditional styles of science. A controversy our leaders need to examine is the medical use of marijuana. Instead of banning marijuana and ignoring the public voice, our representatives need to examine the facts and effects of marijuana for medical

My Favorite Time of Year Essay - 596 Words

MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR My favorite time of the year is naturally the time when I have the most fun. To me, that time of the year falls during the December holidays, or rather, it starts during the last term of school. It may sound strange of me to include the period of examinations. But I like the way teachers leave us, students, by ourselves to do our own revision. There is hardly any homework to be done but there is a lot of studying to take up our time. Finally, when the examinations are over, we can all heave a joyful sigh of relief and look forward to the seemingly eternal holidays stretching out before us. Just before school breaks up for the holidays, there are a host of post-examination activities, among which is mass dancing†¦show more content†¦Orchard Road is illuminated with colorful lights for Christmas. I usually view these lights twice; once before Christmas and once after, sometimes cruising along Orchard Road with my neighbor’s family in a rented van, alongside an ordered mass of other slow-moving vehicles. We usually have a good time on these trips, joking and laughing. Programs based on Christmas are also shown on television to add more joy to the season. I never tire of watching the animated cartoons or motion pictures of classics like â€Å"A Christmas Carol† by Charles Dickens. Finally, after Christmas, I have to start buying my school-books for the new academic year. These books have â€Å"off the press† smell which makes me feel that I have to work hard the following year and make good use of these brand new and precious books which no one has ever used before. The last day of the holidays is the end of my favorite time of the year and school starts the following day. I fell excited, but I also know that once school starts I would be caught up with work. However, I do know that the days will fly by so fast that I shall experience my favorite time of the year all overShow MoreRelatedMy Favorite Time Of The Year1266 Words   |  6 PagesMy favorite time of the year was coming to an end, as I had to say goodbye to those worry-free, beach-bum summer days. Summer had passed before my eyes and it was now the start of my sophomore year in college. I was enrolled in a couple psychology classes for my major and a Geology class that would count towards my GE. The semester before was not the best, as it had a negative impact on my grade point average. So here I am again, another semester hoping the same thing does not happen again. I wakeRead MoreMy Favorite Time Of The Year2221 Words   |  9 PagesIt was my favorite time of the year, autumn. I stood in the student section at one of our football games as a gust of wind brushed through my curly blonde hair. The aroma of my friend’s hot chocolate carried its way towards me. For a moment I closed my eyes and let my thoughts disperse with the chilly breeze. When I looked up the sky was particularly clear, the stars were shining down on the field unlike any other night. My friend Rose and I decided to walk back over to the concession once half timeRead MoreMy Favorite Time Of The Year1103 Words   |  5 Pageswalked through the archway into the kitchen, I saw the table set, candles lit and the aroma of cooked turkey hit me. It s thanksgiving, my favourite time of the year. I sit next to joey, everyone can tell he s about to jump out of his chair like a cricket if he doesn’t eat soon. My mum then says â€Å"Now what are you all thankful for?†, they all spoke. It was my turn, â€Å"I’m thankful to be a part of this wonderful family, food on our plates and having a great life†. Before I could continue the sirensRead MoreChristmas : My Favorite Time Of The Year1660 Words   |  7 PagesChristmas in Toronto was my favorite time of the year. The night sky was always illuminated by lit windows of skyscraper offices and the blindingly bright lights of hotel signs, but during the holidays the festive displays are unmatched. Bright red poinsettias cover every inch of the Centennial Park Conservatory, the bridges of the Waterfront, lined with thousands of kaleidoscopic LED lights, and of course the radiance of the Christmas Tree in Nathan Phillips Square, producing a city of colored spectacleRead MoreMy Most Favorite Time Of The Year At The Best Place851 Words   |  4 PagesAs August approaches, excitement runs through my veins. â€Å"It’s that time of year...† I think to myself, â€Å"My most favo rite time of the year at the best place.† Mac’s Landing Resort in Michigan is the hot spot for my family and friends to have a great week of fun. The whole week is consumed with tubing, riding the jetski, swimming, and relaxing on the beach at Arbutus Lake. This resort was my very first vacation ever. I was only two weeks old the first time I went, and I don’t remember a smidge of itRead MoreMy Favorite Essay787 Words   |  4 Pagesclassify things as â€Å"Our Favorite†. Whether it be food, school, or even colors, everyone is bound to possess a â€Å"favorite† something. In my case, I have three favorites. The first one, basketball, is by far my favorite out of the three favorites I have. I have played since I was in fourth grade and I had been watching the sport even earlier. My second favorite is football. I played one year of flag football, in which I played the center position, and I was truly awful. As the years went by, I grew a fascinationR ead MoreMy Favorite Sport877 Words   |  4 PagesEssay #1 - Explain how your favorite sport reveals who you are. My first essay of this unit is about my favorite sport. The question for this essay was to explain how your _________ reveals who you are. I decided to put my favorite sport because not only is it fun but it is my favorite hobby also. My favorite sport is the amazing game of baseball. I like it because it is the one sport that whenever I watch it on television I actually know who the players are and I know the techniques of theRead MoreMy Favorite Toys Growing Up1598 Words   |  7 Pages Chapter 1: My Favorite Toys Growing up Growing up, I went through many phases of toys.One of the first toys I liked were With Nerf Guns. My uncle bought me a huge gun for my birthday, and I didn t really use it that much since the gun was as just as tall as me at the time. I went to the store and saw a lot of guns , so I bought some smaller guns that I could actually hold. At home I would play with my dad and friends and we would just shoot each other and run aroundRead MoreMy First Day Of Grade At Springfield Essay1249 Words   |  5 PagesI remember my first day of 4th grade at Springfield local. I was nervous, the teacher who would be teaching me was known to have made students do a lot of writing. Of course I have written out small sentences an d maybe some alphabetical practice on paper before, but I have never written thoughts or ideas that coursed through my nine year old brain. We were advised to bring a journal to keep all year throughout the class, to write about whatever topic the teacher desired to assign to the classroomRead MoreThanksgiving Is A Day Of Giving Thanks1203 Words   |  5 PagesWe all have our favorite time of the year; it might be summer, spring, fall or even winter. The holidays are a time for celebrations, decorating and heartwarming love. The holidays are just a joyous time of the year. They are also a time for family, friends, and great food and let s not forget a break from work. But my overall favorite time of the year is the holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas and the family traditions that brings out the holiday spirit. To start with, Thanksgiving is a

Economic and Environmental Assessment †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Economic and Environmental Assessment. Answer: Introduction Contemporary business organizations initiate attractive and hygienic packaging in order to enhance the attractiveness of the product as well as extending the lasting life of the products. This is due to the reason that, in the fast moving consumer goods it is necessary for the business organizations to package their products in such a way that it will have more extended life for the customers and they can store it for a long time (1). Moreover, in the present era of marketing, attractiveness is also important for the products, which cane b further enhanced by packaging. The first product is the plastic container for the skimmed milk. It is been packaged in a hard plastic container due to the reason that it is being offered in 2 litre pack, which cannot be carried with other soft materials. Moreover, the skimmed milk will not be used by the consumers at a time; rather they will use it periodically (2). Thus, this hard plastic container will help to store it conveniently. In addition, the packaging will help to have all the information in the body about the products along with the branding. Thus, brand will be more exposed to the market. On the other hand, the banister downs fresh milk is being provide in a pouch packet. This packet is being designed for more often use by the customers. Thus, pouch packet will help to carry in one hand without having any extra weight (3). Moreover, it can be kept in refrigerators without having the issue of space crunch. It also helps the organizations in branding and designing attractively the packet to enhance the customer awareness. Use of plastic material For the skimmed milk, the packet is of 2 liter and thus a handle to hold and carry is being provided with the container. This facility cannot be possible in any other forms of packaging. On the other hand, plastic container will have very negligible weight of its own. Thus, it will add convenience in the process of transportation (4). A metal container can also be provided with handle, however, being having edible drinks inside, the metal can react in contact with the milk and degrade the quality. Moreover, metal container will have some weight along with increase in involved cost. Thus, plastic container will be durable, cost effective and convenient. In the case of the banister downs fresh milk, the pouch packet will only add to more convenience to the customers. This due to the reason that, the quantity of the product is small and it is for single time consumption only. Thus, involvement of hard plastic or metal will only involve more cost and weight (4). The pouch pack can be stored in any small spaces, which is not possible in the case of hard container. Plastic pouch will have no risk of breaking in case of falling. It will be easy for the consumers to tear it and consumes compared to other forms of packaging. Thus, use of the plastic material in packing both the products is having multiple benefits. For the plastic packaging, environmental implications are the key area of concern. This is due to the reason that, plastic is harmful for environment and it cannot be easily decomposed. However, in the case of packing these two products, degradable plastics will be used in order to reduce its environmental implications (6). The plastic will be manufactured from organic source such as sugarcane. It will ensure that the plastic container can get decomposed without having any negative implications to the soil. Old plastic containers will also be recycled for the new ones; however, it will be kept in mind that the quality of the container should pass the food grade (5). The pouch packet will be above 40 micron and thus will have less environmental impact. The color to be used in the packaging will be organic and food graded in order to ensure their decomposition after use. Labeling the products Packaging has been done on the products and now its time to label the products with all the necessary information. Required information to be provided are the brand name, picture related to the product, product quantity, chart for ingredients, chart of nutritional value, manufactures registered address, customer care contact details, price, year of manufacturing and year of expiry. This primary information will provide the customers with meet all the criterion that they have prior to the initiation of buying decision (7). However, in the packets of both the product, there are some key information which is missing. These include not having any details other than the nutritional chart on both the products. Moreover, in bannister downs fresh milk, the front part of the packet is also not having the product quantity. This will add to inconvenience to the consumers. Price, year of manufacturing, year of expiry, address and customer care contact details are also not being provide. This will create issues in reliability among the consumers. Health claims are being given in the packets with having the nutritional value chart. This will have implication on the labeling requirement due to the reason that, prior to buying, consumers will have the knowledge about the health or nutritional benefits that they can have from the product. Conclusion According to the Australian guide to healthy eating, milk is being made mandatory for all age groups for daily consumption. Children below 2 years are being advised to have milk with natural fat quantity. Thus for them bannister downs fresh milk will be suitable (8). For the above age groups, skimmed milk will be perfect with reduced fat quantity. It is being recommended that for age groups of approx 25 years, 2.5 times servings (each servings equals to 250ml) should be consumed. Milk is being recommended mostly in breakfast. Thus, the portable packaging of these products will enable the consumers to store the products for long use and pouch packs will help them to maintain the average servings in anytime and anywhere. Reference Robertson, G.L., 2016. Food packaging: principles and practice. CRC press. Ebnesajjad, S. ed., 2012. Plastic films in food packaging: materials, technology and applications. William Andrew. Chiu, H.T., Chang, C.Y., Pan, H.W., Chiang, T.Y., Kuo, M.T. and Wang, Y.H., 2012. Characterization of polyurethane foam as heat seal coating in medical pouch packaging application. Journal of Polymer Research, 19(2), p.9791. Raheem, D., 2013. Application of plastics and paper as food packaging materials-An overview. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, 25(3), p.177. Accorsi, R., Cascini, A., Cholette, S., Manzini, R. and Mora, C., 2014. Economic and environmental assessment of reusable plastic containers: A food catering supply chain case study. International Journal of Production Economics, 152, pp.88-101. Adrados, A., De Marco, I., Caballero, B.M., Lpez, A., Laresgoiti, M.F. and Torres, A., 2012. Pyrolysis of plastic packaging waste: A comparison of plastic residuals from material recovery facilities with simulated plastic waste. Waste Management, 32(5), pp.826-832. Janssen, M. and Hamm, U., 2012. Product labelling in the market for organic food: Consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay for different organic certification logos. Food quality and preference, 25(1), pp.9-22. Australian Guide to Healthy Eating | Eat For Health [Internet]. Eatforhealth.gov.au. 2017 [cited 2 October 2017]. Available from: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating

Public Trust free essay sample

Charlton III Social Environment of Business Short Paper: Public Trust May 05, 2013 Professor: Patrick Mcgowan Public Trust Me: Mr. Edelman, I have a few questions for you. When did you start the trust barometer? Mr. Edelman: I started the trust barometer in 2001 Me: What was your purpose behind the trust barometer? Mr. Edelman: I started this trust barometer after our economy started to decline and we were on the brink of a financial collapse and had many trust violations in our country from corporations and CEO’s. The barometer shows the statistics worldwide and it goes to show for this year that the US is dropping very low. Me: Do you see the US climbing back to the top of the charts anytime soon? Mr. Edelman: Absolutely, I believe the US will Gradually climb up towards the top of the statistics! The trust barometer is getting much needed attention and I think that more businesses are taking my key points and pointing them into play with their businesses and institutions. We will write a custom essay sample on Public Trust or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Report on the State of Public Trust It seems as if public trust is becoming more and more of a topic of interest in todays society. Mr. Edelman, creator of the trust barometer, shows on a global perspective key findings and statistics in public trust. We sat down with Mr. Edelman and asked him a few questions earlier this week. Here is a list of the questions we asked him. â€Å"When did you start the trust barometer? What was your purpose behind the trust barometer? Do you see the US climbing back to the top of the charts anytime soon? † In which he stated, â€Å"I started the trust barometer in 2001. : I started this trust barometer after our economy started to decline and we were on the brink of a financial collapse and had many trust violations in our country from corporations and CEO’s. The barometer shows the statistics worldwide and it goes to show for this year that the US is dropping very low. Absolutely, I believe the US will Gradually climb up towards the top of the statistics! The trust barometer is getting much needed attention and I think that more businesses are taking my key points and pointing them into play with their businesses and institutions. † It was great getting to sit down with Mr. Edelman and ask him these questions. References 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer: Global amp; Country Insights. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. slideshare. net/EdelmanDigital/edelman-trust-barometer-executive-findings-668923 Key Findings [Video file]. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=rwHzqHhQRtY

The Background of The Flavor Industry

The Background of The Flavor Industry Free Online Research Papers Flavours provide taste to a large number of foods and beverages such as sweets, meat and savory products, soups, beverages, alcoholic liqueurs, dairy products, etc. Flavours and flavourings are concentrated mixtures of flavouring substances and some formulations may contain a considerable number of different ingredients. They are prepared by mixing the following: Natural aromatic raw materials Natural flavour concentrates Flavouring substances with a defined chemical structure and flavouring properties. These substances are subdivided into natural substances, directly obtained from natural sources, nature-identical substances, which are naturally occurring substances that are produced by synthetic means and artificial substances. Major participants in the flavor industry The figure shows the market share of the competitors of different geographical areas in the world flavor industry Asia-Pacific, North America and Western Europe are the major flavor export countries in the world ,accounting for 26%,32% and 25% of the total market respectively. The biggest competitor is from Japan, which export their monosodium glutamate to South Africa as well. As the production way is different from ours, their cost of production is more than ours. Owing to the cheaper price, our product is always prevailing in the market, dominating the majority of the market. 2002 2006 Sales Volume of Flavor Fragrance Industry participants ( Millions) .. Company 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 Rank .. =US $ Market Share1 =US $ Market Share1 =US $ Market Share1 =US $ Market Share1 Source 1 Givaudan $2194.1 13.5% $2,346.9 13.3% $2,108.9 13.2% $2,387.9 13.3% Givaudan 2 IFF $1901.5 11.7% $2,033.7 11.5% $1,993.4 12.5% $2,100.0 11.7% IFF 3(3) Firmenich $1596.9 9.8% $1,782.1 10.1% $1,752.1 11.0% ~$1999 (est.) 11.1% Firmenich 4 Symrise $1462.2 9.0% $1540.3 8.7% $1,360.2 8.5% $1,623.0 9.0% Symrise 5 Quest International $987.5 6.1% $1,101.6 6.2% $963.4 6.0% $1,151.8 6.4% ICI 6(4) Takasago $897.7 5.5% $985.1 5.6% $898.3 5.6% ~$945.8 (est.) 5.3% Takasago 7(6) Sensient Flavors $452.0*** 2.8% $499.2*** 2.8% $516.4*** 3.2% $565*** 3.1% Sensient Technologies 8(5) T. Hasegawa $433.8 2.7% $490.4 2.8% $405.7 2.5% $394.4 2.2% T.Hasegawa 9 Mane SA $310.2 ~1.9% $345.1 2.0% $311.4 1.9% ~$366.8 2.0% Mane SA 10 Robertet SA $254.7 1.6% $275.7 1.6% $245.1 1.5% $291.8 1.6% Robertet Top Ten Totals $10,554.70 64.75% $11,469.4 64.96% $10,555.0 66.0% $11,825.4 65.7% All Others $5,745.3 $6,188.0 35.04% $5,445.0 34.0% $6,174.6 34.3% Total Market $16,300 $17,657.4 $16,000 .. .. 10/11 Frutarom $139.3 0.9% $196.8 1.1% $243.8 1.5% $287.2 1.6% Frutarom 12 Danisco ~$318.8 ~2.0% ~$345.1 2.0% ~$238.0 1.5% ~$269.3 (est.) ~1.5% Danisco 13 Cargill Flavors (formerly Degussa) ~$258 ~1.6% ~$274.7 1.6% ~$230.9 ~1.4% ~$269.3 (est.) ~1.5% Cargill Top 12/13 Totals $11,206.7 68.8% $12,201.6 69.1% ~$11,267.7 ~70.4% ~$12,651.2 ~70.3% It can be seen from the table that at Givaudan, IFF and Firmenich are the top 3 companies in the flavor industry in the world with large sales. Givaudan is one of the foremost innovators, creators and suppliers of flavour and fragrance ingredients. IFF was formed in 1958, through the merger of two small companies. Its annual revenues have grown almost fifteenfold since the early 1970s, and it currently has manufacturing facilities in twenty countries. The position of Wu Yi company in the flavor industry Critical success factors of Wu Yi company in flavor industry Innovation The flavor is a commodity in the food industry in the past, however, now it becomes differentiated as consumers are more concerned about the different tastes and nutrition of the flavor. Therefore , constant improvement of technology will update the taste and deliver more value-added products to the consumers. Quality The quality of the flavor depends on the taste of the products . High quality can bring better taste to the consumers and they can function as a delicious addictive to the food . High quality addictive are likely to be accepted by the restaurants . Brand Now with an increasing number of companies which enter the flavor industry,consumers are more concerned about the brand of the flavor. Many companies register them own brand which helps to build the brand image for them, ultimately creating the customer loyalty . The flavor industry step into a high development level. In 2006 , the sales revenue of the flavor industry amounted to 42.78 billion RMB , growing 22.29% compared with last year . The total profit is 2.13 billion RMB , growing 22.41% compared with last year . The total consumption reached 62 billion RMB last year, the sales revenue reaches as high as 20 billion RMB, in the future, the market will be furthered developed and the competition will become even more intensive . During recent years, the growth rate in South Africa reaches as high as 27.9%, constituting the fastest growing sector in the food industry. The food industry become more focused and it begin to denominate the market. In the future , people will become more focused on the quality and taste of the flavor with the continuous improvement of people’s living standard. The food agency carry out more and more food requirements which will increase the input of the flavor. There is also a trend that an increasingly strict requirements of flavor targeted the higher end market. The diversification and specialization will become more and more obvious in the future. There are many competitors who produce delicious seasoning in the market , some of the companies specialize in a specific flavor market because after specialization , the taste and the quality become much better . The catering industry is the major channel for the development of flavor industry . According to the national statistics , the retail volume amount to 748.6 billion RMB , net gaining increase 133 billion RMB , 21.6% of growth compared with last year of the same period . At the same time , the flavoring industry and enterprises gain enormous development for 14 years . The following diagram shows the trends in the catering industry , which brings enormous opportunity of development in the flavor industry . International Influence in the Flavor Industry Economic factors South Africa is a developing country. The GDP of the country contains 20 percent of whole Africa. These years South Africa has become wealthier because of the abundant of trade. To China, South Africa is the biggest and most important country for trade in Africa. As to Africa, China is also one of the biggest countries for trade. The two countries both have a large opportunity and return from mutual trade. According to the custom of China, the amount of trade is up to 9856 million dollars, which increases 36 percent from last year. There is a good prospect for the further trade of China and South Africa. Social-cultural factors In South Africa, when eating bread, people are likely to use monosodium glutamate as the additive .Almost all of the South Africa people like to eat food with it. They eat it just like eating candy; therefore the consumption of monosodium glutamate is large. Many people are aware of flavors used in different parts of the world, opening up new possibilities in the flavor industry. For instance, if someone experiences a taste they enjoy in an ethnic food they sample when they are on vacation, they may want to find a sauce or a flavoring that will make it relatively simple for them to make a similar dish when they return home. Likewise, seeing someone else utilizing lots of herbs and spices on television make these items more familiar to consumers, who may be more likely to try foods that boast flavors similar to the foods they have seen prepared, even if they have never actually tasted them before. Industry experts have also found that consumers are often more apt to find a new flavor pleasing if it is associated with a food that is already familiar to them. Technological factors Some of the most important advances in flavor manufacturing are now occurring in the field of biotechnology. The leading firms in the industry spend a lot of money in RD. In addition ,more and more advanced technologies are used in producing them. TOP FLAVOR RD ISSUES issue importance* High-temperature stability of flavors 79% Certification of natural flavors 69% Microwavable flavor development 44% * percent of processors indicating that this is a very to extremely important issue to them, Source: 2005/Prepared Foods Processor Survey Political factors Since Jan.1th, 1998, South Africa had established the diplomatic relationship with China .After that ,the two countries work together to ensure rapid integrated development .The former chairman Jiang accepted the invitation to visit South Africa in April 21, 2007.In 2004,the two countries had developed a strategic partner relationship on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Local regulations The government encouraged the foreign investment in South Africa and welcomes the exported commodities from the world. There are no quotas on monosodium glutamate. Customer There are many immigrants in South Africa , the flavoring products are popular for almost all of the Africa because of the special food habits. When eating bread, people are likely to use different flavoring as the additive .Almost all of the South Africa people like to eat food with them. They eat MSG just like eating candy; therefore the consumption of monosodium glutamate is large. So do other flavoring products. While in global market, the situation is not like that. Most eastern countries like the monosodium glutamate to combine with their food. So the consumption of that is a need in their usual life. On the contrary, the western country rarely uses the MSG to add into their food. For those reasons, the preference decides largely the consumption of the addictive. We must advertise our product first before most competitor’s action. Thus we could seize the market urgently. The population of South Africa is about 46.9 million. And they have several different cultural customs, as well as their flavoring preference. It is researched that the customers’ distribution of flavoring market between global and South Africa is shown below. It is shown as percentage. (We assume there are 100 man in both market, the number means the people like the flavoring.) Location The location of the market is not better for production and store for the MSG. Because the climate there is rainy in summer and dry in winter. Rice , the major raw material of MSG , is not suitable for growth in South Africa . Only one thing is that MSG should not put in a humidity environment for a long time in case of the deterioration. Supplier Because the MSG is a resource-based product and the production place has rich resource for production. So the quality of the MSG is competitive in global market when comparing with other flavorings. There is less question of lack of raw material or other problems. So the question is only whether the supplier could supply the resource on time. While the other flavorings have some difficulties in supply as following example, some flavorings’ resources are different from MSG, so the cost and business cycle is totally different. Just like soy, it needs rice and other raw material. It often lacks enough resource to produce. So it’s advantageous of MSG to prevail in the market because of the abundant of supply. Distributors The distribution channel in South Africa is combined by a variety of supermarkets and small retail stores. The distribution network is relatively mature in urban areas while small retail stores are the main distribution channel in rural areas. Retailing in much of South Africa, particularly among emerging markets with large rural population ,poor infrastructure ,and low incomes, is dominated by traditional grocery and other shops. Much of the value of goods transacted in South Africa is through traditional retailers such s roadside stalls ,small, semi-permanent shed-type stores who employ movable carts to sell their wares, and street hawkers who peddle goods to cars stuck in traffic or waiting at traffic lights. Therefore, the most amount of distributor in flavoring market is retailers, because of their low scale of economy. It’s a challenge for MSG, because advertisement should be offered to let those retailers to be familiar with MSG to publicize it, or there is less chance to expose MSG more than other flavorings. Wal-Mart in South Africa as well as other large chain stores are popular. However, It is very difficult to enter those large chain stores in South Africa independently considering the experience of the firms and the barrier of entry. In the global market, the situation is not like that, the addictive market mostly sells on the large supermarket. All the flavorings are over there and competed serious directly in that distribution. STP strategy for Wu Yi company Market segmentation analysis The market segmentation criteria are mainly by preference of customers for the addictives. In this country, the traditional food doesn’t use MSG as their addictive. Until recently, the people there have begun to taste it, the increasing demand for MSG indicating that it has a good prospect. While other addictive also has such good prospective, the sweet addictive is especially popular there. So the market is segmented separately by many addictives. The market share of the flavoring market in South Africa is shown below by the percentage. Target market selection Because market mainly consisted of several addictives, the MSG market is relatively higher than the other flavorings. The MSG market seems prospective in the market. Another reason is that this is a increasing industry in South Africa, it is accepted by more and more people. The production and transportation is also convenient. So it is the target of the flavoring market. Position of the company Customer characteristics In this segmentation, the customers are the ones who have stable income to purchase the addictive, and prefer the fresh and delicious taste. The people in this segmentation often use it to cook their dishes or eat it directly with bread, etc. The price will not be high so that every one could afford it. Therefore, stable and smooth consumption of MSG is need, and it should be the necessity of every meal for everyone, preferring to MSG as their addictive in their meals. Customer needs and wants Customers will need it for meal. So they could taste it every day. According to the need, different production line or diversification may be considered to develop MSG in this market. Research Papers on The Background of The Flavor IndustryDefinition of Export QuotasMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaGenetic EngineeringBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfTwilight of the UAWInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaOpen Architechture a white paperThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use

Attendance System Using Fingerprint

Attendance System Using Fingerprint The project entitled â€Å"ATTENDANCE SYSTEM USING FINGERPRINT† is to provide an authentified attendance system for Roots Industries Limited. This software provides various information, which is useful for user as well as administrator. This software can be used as a whole in organization, or can partly used as separate modules, whenever needed. The project deals with capturing the thumb impression of the employee through the thumb scanner and authenticates with the already registered impression. Attendance will be marked for the matched employee. With the in-time and out-time, the total hours worked by the employee in a day and days worked for the month is calculated. The salary is calculated from loss of pay, basic pay, allowances, and deductions. One of the main advantages of this software is its user friendliness and validation can be done for each and every employee entered. New entries can be registered very easily and if not needed then it can be deleted from the softw are. The environments being used are VB.NET as front end and SQL Server as back end. This project is developed in the Operating System, Microsoft Windows XP. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter contains the problem definition, about the system environment and the organization profile which gives details about the company. PROBLEM DEFINITION OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE The main objective of this project is to do the following operations Thumb impression Comparisons Attendance Calculation Payroll Calculation The scope of the project is to capture and verify the thumb impression of the employee. And also provide effective means to calculate attendance and payroll for the employee by using thumb impression. This project would greatly help in simplifying the manual attendance calculation and payroll calculation. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION This project makes use of fingerprint to authenticate the employee. This project makes use of the physical hardware device, the thumb scanner to capture the t humb impression of the employee. The Administrator registers the details of new workers. He also registers the unique thumb code of the employee generated by the Thumb scanner. This thumb code is generally an alphanumeric code and it is stored in the database. The employee uses the thumb scanner when he enters and leaves the work place for attendance marking. The generated code is matched with the stored thumb code in the database. The attendance is marked for the corresponding employee where thumb code matches with the generated ones. If there is no match with the thumb code then the administrator will take in charge to check whether the person is a new employee or not. The time duration between intime and outtime is calculated and it is stored as hours worked by the employee. Each time when the outtime is marked the duration is calculated and hours worked (field) is updated. The employee may take leave. The leave taken by the employee is calculated as loss of pay for him. It will be used to calculate net pay for the employee in the payroll calculation. During salary calculation the monthly attendance of the employee, loss of pay, the allowance such as HRA, DA and deductions such as PF, LIC are considered.

The Benefits of the Universitys Agricultural Patents Article

The Benefits of the Universitys Agricultural Patents - Article Example The cell line defends stops the growth of mycotoxins. Within the global food environment, Mycotoxin-infected agricultural products precipitate economic losses (DAR, 2006). University of Illinois (2013) offers Agriculture-based courses for farm enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. With the ARS and-University of Illinois patent partnership, the outcome is the improvement of our nation’s agriculture product outputs. The partnership ensures there is abundantly safe top quality food on the American people’s tables. The service helps its citizens, communities, and entities generate economic gains from agriculture transactions. The service scientifically conducts research to solve the nation’s agricultural problems. Solving includes protecting the agricultural products from identified pests (DAR, 2006). The purpose of the patent is to improve the nations’ agricultural food product scene. The improvement includes reducing the economic loss from infected agricultural food products. The research finds ways to reduce or eliminate the harmful effects a certain aflatoxin strain. Aflatoxin reduces the agricultural food products’ quality (DAR, 2006). Further, the ARS partners with University of Illinois to create anti-toxin defenses. Certain fungi produce mycotoxins. The mycotoxins crop up and develop on certain plant types. The plant types include barley, corn, wheat. Aflatoxin is one type of mycotoxin, a toxin (having ill effects) substance (DAR, 2006). The patent has many future applications. The patent will ensure an increase in farm plant outputs. With the anti-toxin patent, the University of Illinois and the United States Governments Agricultural Research Service increases the supply of plant food. With more food, the U.S. Governments hunger statistics is reduced. More food supply contributes to the reduction of farm food prices.  

UK's Fastest Growing Companies Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

UK's Fastest Growing Companies - Dissertation Example Leadership is an important element of businesses in our modern era. Leadership in entrepreneurship involves the building of teams with complementary talents that can enable a business to attain its objectives (Timmons and Spinelli, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚   In essence, financial leadership is entrepreneurship in its own right. This is because entrepreneurship is about the combination of factors of production for the best results for the owners of a business   Ã‚  Ã‚   This suggests that a strong leadership is an indispensable tool for businesses. This is because the kind of leadership structure it has creates the framework for the pooling of resources for the attainment of a specific goal. In the era of privatization and the optimization of resources, leadership is central and essential in every business venture.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Timmons and Spinelli (2006) identify five main attributes of a leader in a business venture which include self-concept, intellectual honesty, pacemaking, courage, and communication. Self-concept is about a vision and a realistic approach to division of power for the attainment of results. Intellectual honesty suggests trustworthiness and high standards of integrity that a person in a leadership position has and encourages his/her followers to build and observe. Pacemaking refers to the ability to inspire and drive the attainment of set standards and visions.

Hemingway’s In Our Time (CRH) Essay -- Hemingway In Our Time Essays

Hemingway’s In Our Time (CRH) In Our Time was accepted with great critical acclaim upon its publication in 1924. Widely lauded and recognized as the work of a rising literary star, as Herschel Brickell said, â€Å"Mr. Hemingway’s book carries on its dust-covers the enthusiastic recommendations of nearly everybody,† and, â€Å"The men who praise In Our Time know good work when they see it.† It was both a continuation of certain literary trends that had begun to develop themselves as well as something possessed of itself, original, striking, and new. The work of Sherwood Anderson and others had begun to shift literary perspective toward the more dirty and real, but as Louis Kronenberger wrote of the book in the Saturday Review of Literature, â€Å"It has sound merit of a personal, non-derivative nature; it shows no important affinity with any other writer, and it represents the achievement of unique personal experience.† His style, from the overall presentation of the book to the ways in which he constructed phrases, thoughts, perspectives, were seen as fresh and interesting. The stories themselves were met with a kind of lingering uncertainty. â€Å"Of ‘stories’ in the commonly accepted sense of the word there are few,† Brickell wrote, â€Å"Most are psychological episodes, incidents, sketches.† Or as the New York Times Book Review put it, â€Å"Not so much short stories, as preludes to a mood.† His style was described as â€Å"an attempt to get at minds and souls and what goes on within.† Also as â€Å"oblique, inferential, suggestive rather than overt, explicit, explanatory.† And yet somehow, â€Å"Mr. Hemingway can pack a whole character into a phrase, an entire situation into a sentence or two.† ... .... Ashley later mentions, â€Å"In Our Time is admittedly a slight and fragmentary enterprise. It is, however, a promise, almost an assurance of richer and more important things to come.† And perhaps Time said it best, â€Å"Make no mistake, Ernest Hemingway is somebody; a new, honest, un-‘literary’ transcriber of life—a writer.† Bibliography Herschel Brickell. â€Å"Tales Galore by Writers From Lands Far and Near.† New York Evening Post Literary Review, October 17, 1925, p. 3. New York Times Book Review, October 18, 1925, p. 8. Paul Rosenfeld. â€Å"Tough Earth.† New Republic, 45 (November 25, 1925), 22-23. Schuyler Ashley. Kansas City Star, December 12, 1925, p. 6. Time, 7 (January18, 1926), 38. Louis Kronenberger. â€Å"A New Novelist.† Saturday Review of Literature, 2 (February 13, 1926), 555. www.davidgagne.net/hem/ www.hemingwaysociety.org/virthem.htm

The Art of War

Sun-Tzu Wu is the reputed author of the Chinese classic Ping-fa (The Art of War), written approximately 475-221 B. C. Penned at a time when China was divided into six or seven states that often resorted to war with each other in their struggles for supremacy, it is a systematic guide to strategy and tactics for rulers and commanders. In doing business on the Internet during this time of rampant computer viruses and hacker attacks it may be wise for us to follow some of his tactical principles in order to insure the safety of ourselves and our future clients. Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle. In a chilling article entitled Big Brother is Watching Bob Sullivan of MSNBC recounts a tale during a recent visit to London: Only moments after stepping into the Webshack Internet cafe in London†s Soho neighborhood, â€Å"Mark† asked me what I thought of George W. Bush and Al Gore. â€Å"I wouldn†t want Bush running things,† he said. â€Å"Because he can†t run his Web site.† Then he showed me a variety of ways to hack Bush†s Web sites. That was just the beginning of a far-reaching chat during which the group nearly convinced me Big Brother is in fact here in London. â€Å"I don†t know if he can run the free world,† Mark said. â€Å"He can†t keep the Texas banking system computers secure. So-called â€Å"2600† clubs are a kind of hacker â€Å"boy scout† organization – there are local 2600 chapters all around the globe. It is in this environment, and this mindset, that London†s hackers do their work. They do not analyze computer systems and learn how to break them out of spite, or some childish need to destroy: Mark and friends see themselves as merely accumulating knowledge that could be used in self-defense if necessary. They are the citizen†s militia, the Freedom Fighters of the Information Age, trying to stay one step ahead of technology that could one day be turned against them. Jon-K Adams in his treatise entitled Hacker Ideology (aka Hacking Freedom) states that hackers have been called both techno-revolutionaries and heroes of the computer revolution. Hacking â€Å"has become a cultural icon about decentralized power.† But for all that, hackers are reluctant rebels. They prefer to fight with code than with words. And they would rather appear on the net than at a news conference. Status in the hacker world cannot be granted by the general public: it takes a hacker to know and appreciate a hacker. That's part of the hacker's revolutionary reluctance; the other part is the news media's slant toward sensationalism, such as, â€Å"A cyberspace dragnet snared fugitive hacker.† The public tends to think of hacking as synonymous with computer crime, with breaking into computers and stealing and destroying valuable data. As a result of this tabloid mentality, the hacker attempts to fade into the digital world, where he-and it is almost always he-has a place if not a! In his self-conception, the hacker is not a criminal, but rather a â€Å"person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities.† Which means that he is not necessarily a computer geek. The hacker defines himself in terms that extend beyond the computer, as an â€Å"expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker† (Jargon File). So in the broadest sense of his self-conception, the hacker hacks knowledge; he wants to know how things work, and the computer-the prototypical programmable system-simply offers more complexity and possibility, and thus more fascination, than most other things. >From this perspective, hacking appears to be a harmless if nerdish enthusiasm. But at the same time, this seemingly innocent enthusiasm is animated by an ideology that leads to a conflict with civil authority. The hacker is motivated by the belief that the search for knowledge is an end in itself and should be unrestricted. But invariably, when a hacker explores programmable systems, he encounters barriers that bureaucracies impose in the name of security. For the hacker, these security measures become arbitrary limits placed on his exploration, or in cases that often lead to confrontation, they become the focus of further explorations: for the hacker, security measures simply represent a more challenging programmable system. As a result, when a hacker explores such systems, he hacks knowledge, but ideologically he hacks the freedom to access knowledge. Political hackers are another group considering themselves modern freedom fighters. â€Å"Hacktivists† have officially moved from nerdish extremists to become the political protest visionaries of the digital age, a meeting at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London was told on Thursday. Paul Mobbs, an experienced Internet activist and anti-capitalist protestor, will tell attendees that the techniques used by politically minded computer hackers — from jamming corporate networks and sending email viruses to defacing Web sites — has moved into the realm of political campaigning. Mobbs says that the term â€Å"Hacktivism† has been adopted by so many different groups, from peaceful Net campaigners to Internet hate groups, that it is essentially meaningless, but claims that Internet protest is here to stay. â€Å"It has a place, whether people like it or not,† says Mobbs. Steve Mizrach in his 1997 dissertation entitled Is there a Hacker Ethic for 90s Hackers? delves into this subject in great detail. He describes the divergent groups of hackers and explains their modus operandi: I define the computer underground as members of the following six groups. Sometimes I refer to the CU as â€Å"90s hackers† or â€Å"new hackers,† as opposed to old hackers, who are hackers (old sense of the term) from the 60s who subscribed to the original Hacker Ethic.  § Hackers (Crackers, system intruders) – These are people who attempt to penetrate security systems on remote computers. This is the new sense of the term, whereas the old sense of the term simply referred to a person who was capable of creating hacks, or elegant, unusual, and unexpected uses of technology. Typical magazines (both print and online) read by hackers include 2600 and Iron Feather Journal.  § Phreaks (Phone Phreakers, Blue Boxers) – These are people who attempt to use technology to explore and/or control the telephone system. Originally, this involved the use of â€Å"blue boxes† or tone generators, but as the phone company began using digital instead of electro-mechanical switches, the phreaks became more like hackers. Typical magazines read by Phreaks include Phrack, Line Noize, and New Fone Express.  § Virus writers (also, creators of Trojans, worms, logic bombs) – These are people who write code which attempts to a) reproduce itself on other systems without authorization and b) often has a side effect, whether that be to display a message, play a prank, or trash a hard drive. Agents and spiders are essentially ‘benevolent' virii, raising the question of how underground this activity really is. Typical magazines read by Virus writers include 40HEX.  § Pirates – Piracy is sort of a non-technical matter. Originally, it involved breaking copy protection on software, and this activity was called â€Å"cracking.† Nowadays, few software vendors use copy protection, but there are still various minor measures used to prevent the unauthorized duplication of software. Pirates devote themselves to thwarting these things and sharing commercial software freely with their friends. They usually read Pirate Newsletter and Pirate magazine.  § Cypherpunks (cryptoanarchists) – Cypherpunks freely distribute the tools and methods for making use of strong encryption, which is basically unbreakable except by massive supercomputers. Because the NSA and FBI cannot break strong encryption (which is the basis of the PGP or Pretty Good Privacy), programs that employ it are classified as munitions, and distribution of algorithms that make use of it is a felony. Some cryptoanarchists advocate strong encryption as a tool to completely evade the State, by preventing any access whatsoever to financial or personal information. They typically read the Cypherpunks mailing list.  § Anarchists – are committed to distributing illegal (or at least morally suspect) information, including but not limited to data on bombmaking, lockpicking, pornography, drug manufacturing, pirate radio, and cable and satellite TV piracy. In this parlance of the computer underground, anarchists are less likely to advocate the overthrow of government than the simple refusal to obey restrictions on distributing information. They tend to read Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC) and Activist Times Incorporated (ATI).  § Cyberpunk – usually some combination of the above, plus interest in technological self-modification, science fiction of the Neuromancer genre, and interest in hardware hacking and â€Å"street tech.† A youth subculture in its own right, with some overlaps with the â€Å"modern primitive† and â€Å"raver† subcultures. So should we fear these geeky little mischief-makers? The New York Post revealed recently that a busboy allegedly managed to steal millions of dollars from the world†s richest people by stealing their identities and tricking credit agencies and brokerage firms. In his article describing this event Bob Sullivan says, â€Å"Abraham Abdallah, I think, did us all a favor, for he has exposed as a sham the security at the world†s most important financial institutions.† The same two free e-mail addresses were used to request financial transfers for six different wealthy Merrill Lynch clients, according to the Post story. Merrill Lynch didn†t notice? Why would Merrill accept any transfer requests, indeed take any financial communication seriously at all, from a free, obviously unverified anonymous e-mail account? I†m alarmed by the checks and balances that must be in place at big New York brokerage firms. Rather than being a story about a genius who almost got away, this is simply one more story of easy identity theft amid a tidal wave of similar crimes. The Federal Trade Commission has received 40,000 complaints of identity theft since it started keeping track two years ago, but the agency is certain that represents only a fraction of real victims. This is a serious problem, long ignored by the industry. If fact, just last year the credit industry beat back a congressional bill known as The Identity Theft Protection Act, claiming it would be too expensive for them. â€Å"Clearly there has to be more leveling of the playing field. We have to hold banks and credit unions accountable.† Last month the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was again warning electronic-commerce Web sites to patch their Windows-based systems to protect their data against hackers. The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) has coordinated investigations over the past several months into organized hacker activities targeting e-commerce sites. More than 40 victims in 20 states have been identified in the ongoing investigations, which have included law enforcement agencies outside the United States and private sector officials. The investigations have uncovered several organized hacker groups from Russia, the Ukraine, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe that have penetrated U.S. e-commerce and online banking computer systems by exploiting vulnerabilities in the Windows NT operating system, the statement said. Microsoft has released patches for these vulnerabilities, which can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site for free. Once the hackers gain access, they download proprietary information, customer databases, and credit card information, according to the FBI. The hackers subsequently contact the company and attempt to extort money by offering to patch the system and by offering to protect the company's systems from exploitation by other hackers. The hackers tell the victim that without their services they cannot guarantee that other hackers will not access their networks and post stolen credit card information and details about the site's security vulnerability on the Internet. If the company does not pay or hire the group for its security services, the threats escalate, the FBI said. Investigators also believe that in some instances the credit card information is being sold to organized crime groups. Defend yourself when you cannot defeat the enemy, and attack the enemy when you can. Scott Culp in a detailed list of security precautions on Microsoft†s Web page suggests that there are ten immutable laws of security. Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore. It's an unfortunate fact of computer science: when a computer program runs, it will do what it's programmed to do, even if it's programmed to be harmful. When you choose to run a program, you are making a decision to turn over control of your computer to it. That's why it's important to never run, or even download, a program from an untrusted source – and by â€Å"source†, I mean the person who wrote it, not the person who gave it to you. Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it's not your computer anymore. In the end, an operating system is just a series of ones and zeroes that, when interpreted by the processor, cause the machine to do certain things. Change the ones and zeroes, and it will do something different. To understand why, consider that operating system files are among the most trusted ones on the computer, and they generally run with system-level privileges. That is, they can do absolutely anything. Among other things, they're trusted to manage user accounts, handle password changes, and enforce the rules governing who can do what on the computer. If a bad guy can change them, the now-untrustworthy files will do his bidding, and there's no limit to what he can do. He can steal passwords, make himself an administrator on the machine, or add entirely new functions to the operating system. To prevent this type of attack, make sure that the system files (and the registry! , for that matter) are well protected. Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore. He could mount the ultimate low-tech denial of service attack, and smash your computer with a sledgehammer.  § He could unplug the computer, haul it out of your building, and hold it for ransom.  § He could boot the computer from a floppy disk, and reformat your hard drive. But wait, you say, I've configured the BIOS on my computer to prompt for a password when I turn the power on. No problem – if he can open the case and get his hands on the system hardware, he could just replace the BIOS chips. (Actually, there are even easier ways).  § He could remove the hard drive from your computer, install it into his computer, and read it.  § He could make a duplicate of your hard drive and take it back his lair. Once there, he'd have all the time in the world to conduct brute-force attacks, such as trying every possible logon password. Programs are available to automate this and, given enough time, it's almost certain that he would succeed. Once that happens, Laws #1 and #2 above apply  § He could replace your keyboard with one that contains a radio transmitter. He could then monitor everything you type, including your password. Always make sure that a computer is physically protected in a way that's consistent with its value – and remember that the value of a machine includes not only the value of the hardware itself, but the value of the data on it, and the value of the access to your network that a bad guy could gain. At a minimum, business-critical machines like domain controllers, database servers, and print/file servers should always be in a locked room that only people charged with administration and maintenance can access. But you may want to consider protecting other machines as well, and potentially using additional protective measures. If you travel with a laptop, it's absolutely critical that you protect it. The same features that make laptops great to travel with – small size, light weight, and so forth – also make them easy to steal. There are a variety of locks and alarms available for laptops, and some models let you remove the hard drive and carry it with you. You also can use features like the Encrypting File System in Windows 2000 to mitigate the damage if someone succeeded in stealing the computer. But the only way you can know with 100% certainty that your data is safe and the hardware hasn't been tampered with is to keep the laptop on your person at all times while traveling. Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to upload programs to your web site, it's not your web site any more. This is basically Law #1 in reverse. In that scenario, the bad guy tricks his victim into downloading a harmful program onto his machine and running it. In this one, the bad guy uploads a harmful program to a machine and runs it himself. Although this scenario is a danger anytime you allow strangers to connect to your machine, web sites are involved in the overwhelming majority of these cases. Many people who operate web sites are too hospitable for their own good, and allow visitors to upload programs to the site and run them. As we've seen above, unpleasant things can happen if a bad guy's program can run on your machine. If you run a web site, you need to limit what visitors can do. You should only allow a program on your site if you wrote it yourself, or if you trust the developer who wrote it. But that may not be enough. If your web site is one of several hosted on a shared server, you need to be extra careful. If a bad guy can compromise one of the other sites on the server, it's possible he could extend his control to the server itself, in which case he could control all of the sites on it – including yours. If you're on a shared server, it's important to find out what the server administrator's policies are. Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security. The purpose of having a logon process is to establish who you are. Once the operating system knows who you are, it can grant or deny requests for system resources appropriately. If a bad guy learns your password, he can log on as you. In fact, as far as the operating system is concerned, he is you. Whatever you can do on the system, he can do as well, because he's you. Maybe he wants to read sensitive information you've stored on your computer, like your email. Maybe you have more privileges on the network than he does, and being you will let him do things he normally couldn't. Or maybe he just wants to do something malicious and blame it on you. In any case, it's worth protecting your credentials. Always use a password – it's amazing how many accounts have blank passwords. And choose a complex one. Don't use your dog's name, your anniversary date, or the name of the local football team. And don't use the word â€Å"password†! Pick a password that has a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, number, punctuation marks, and so forth. Make it as long as possible. And change it often. Once you've picked a strong password, handle it appropriately. Don't write it down. If you absolutely must write it down, at the very least keep it in a safe or a locked drawer – the first thing a bad guy who's hunting for passwords will do is check for a yellow sticky note on the side of your screen, or in the top desk drawer. Don't tell anyone what your password is. Remember what Ben Franklin said: two people can keep a secret, but only if one of them is dead. Finally, consider using something stronger than passwords to identify yourself to the system. Windows 2000, for instance, supports the use of smart cards, which significantly strengthens the identity checking the system can perform. You may also want to consider biometric products like fingerprint and retina scanners. Law #6: A machine is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy. Every computer must have an administrator: someone who can install software, configure the operating system, add and manage user accounts, establish security policies, and handle all the other management tasks associated with keeping a computer up and running. By definition, these tasks require that he have control over the machine. This puts the administrator in a position of unequalled power. An untrustworthy administrator can negate every other security measure you've taken. He can change the permissions on the machine, modify the system security policies, install malicious software, add bogus users, or do any of a million other things. He can subvert virtually any protective measure in the operating system, because he controls it. Worst of all, he can cover his tracks. If you have an untrustworthy administrator, you have absolutely no security. When hiring a system administrator, recognize the position of trust that administrators occupy, and only hire people who warrant that trust. Call his references, and ask them about his previous work record, especially with regard to any security incidents at previous employers. If appropriate for your organization, you may also consider taking a step that banks and other security-conscious companies do, and require that your administrators pass a complete background check at hiring time, and at periodic intervals afterward. Whatever criteria you select, apply them across the board. Don't give anyone administrative privileges on your network unless they've been vetted – and this includes temporary employees and contractors, too. Next, take steps to help keep honest people honest. Use sign-in/sign-out sheets to track who's been in the server room. (You do have a server room with a locked door, right? If not, re-read Law #3). Implement a â€Å"two person† rule when installing or upgrading software. Diversify management tasks as much as possible, as a way of minimizing how much power any one administrator has. Also, don't use the Administrator account – instead, give each administrator a separate account with administrative privileges, so you can tell who's doing what. Finally, consider taking steps to make it more difficult for a rogue administrator to cover his tracks. For instance, store audit data on write-only media, or house System A's audit data on System B, and make sure that the two systems have different administrators. The more accountable your administrators are, the less likely you are to have problems. Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as the decryption key. Suppose you installed the biggest, strongest, most secure lock in the world on your front door, but you put the key under the front door mat. It wouldn't really matter how strong the lock is, would it? The critical factor would be the poor way the key was protected, because if a burglar could find it, he'd have everything he needed to open the lock. Encrypted data works the same way – no matter how strong the cryptoalgorithm is, the data is only as safe as the key that can decrypt it. Many operating systems and cryptographic software products give you an option to store cryptographic keys on the computer. The advantage is convenience – you don't have to handle the key – but it comes at the cost of security. The keys are usually obfuscated (that is, hidden), and some of the obfuscation methods are quite good. But in the end, no matter how well-hidden the key is, if it's on the machine it can be found. It has to be – after all, the software can find it, so a sufficiently-motivated bad guy could find it, too. Whenever possible, use offline storage for keys. If the key is a word or phrase, memorize it. If not, export it to a floppy disk, make a backup copy, and store the copies in separate, secure locations. Law #8: An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all. Virus scanners work by comparing the data on your computer against a collection of virus â€Å"signatures†. Each signature is characteristic of a particular virus, and when the scanner finds data in a file, email, or elsewhere that matches the signature, it concludes that it's found a virus. However, a virus scanner can only scan for the viruses it knows about. It's vital that you keep your virus scanner's signature file up to date, as new viruses are created every day. The problem actually goes a bit deeper than this, though. Typically, a new virus will do the greatest amount of damage during the early stages of its life, precisely because few people will be able to detect it. Once word gets around that a new virus is on the loose and people update their virus signatures, the spread of the virus falls off drastically. The key is to get ahead of the curve, and have updated signature files on your machine before the virus hits. Virtually every maker of anti-virus software provides a way to get free updated signature files from their web site. In fact, many have â€Å"push† services, in which they'll send notification every time a new signature file is released. Use these services. Also, keep the virus scanner itself – that is, the scanning software – updated as well. Virus writers periodically develop new techniques that require that the scanners change how they do their work. Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn't practical, in real life or on the web. All human interaction involves exchanging data of some kind. If someone weaves enough of that data together, they can identify you. Think about all the information that a person can glean in just a short conversation with you. In one glance, they can gauge your height, weight, and approximate age. Your accent will probably tell them what country you're from, and may even tell them what region of the country. If you talk about anything other than the weather, you'll probably tell them something about your family, your interests, where you live, and what you do for a living. It doesn't take long for someone to collect enough information to figure out who you are. If you crave absolute anonymity, your best bet is to live in a cave and shun all human contact. The same thing is true of the Internet. If you visit a web site, the owner can, if he's sufficiently motivated, find out who you are. After all, the ones and zeroes that make up the web session have be able to find their way to the right place, and that place is your computer. There are a lot of measures you can take to disguise the bits, and the more of them you use, the more thoroughly the bits will be disguised. For instance, you could use network address translation to mask your actual IP address, subscribe to an anonymizing service that launders the bits by relaying them from one end of the ether to the other, use a different ISP account for different purposes, surf certain sites only from public kiosks, and so on. All of these make it more difficult to determine who you are, but none of them make it impossible. Do you know for certain who operates the anonymizing service? Maybe it's the same person who owns the web site you just visited! Or what about that innocuous web ! site you visited yesterday, that offered to mail you a free $10 off coupon? Maybe the owner is willing to share information with other web site owners. If so, the second web site owner may be able to correlate the information from the two sites and determine who you are. Does this mean that privacy on the web is a lost cause? Not at all. What it means is that the best way to protect your privacy on the Internet is the same as the way you protect your privacy in normal life – through your behavior. Read the privacy statements on the web sites you visit, and only do business with ones whose practices you agree with. If you're worried about cookies, disable them. Most importantly, avoid indiscriminate web surfing – recognize that just as most cities have a bad side of town that's best avoided, the Internet does too. But if it's complete and total anonymity you want, better start looking for that cave. The Art of War Sun-Tzu Wu is the reputed author of the Chinese classic Ping-fa (The Art of War), written approximately 475-221 B. C. Penned at a time when China was divided into six or seven states that often resorted to war with each other in their struggles for supremacy, it is a systematic guide to strategy and tactics for rulers and commanders. In doing business on the Internet during this time of rampant computer viruses and hacker attacks it may be wise for us to follow some of his tactical principles in order to insure the safety of ourselves and our future clients. Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle. In a chilling article entitled Big Brother is Watching Bob Sullivan of MSNBC recounts a tale during a recent visit to London: Only moments after stepping into the Webshack Internet cafe in London†s Soho neighborhood, â€Å"Mark† asked me what I thought of George W. Bush and Al Gore. â€Å"I wouldn†t want Bush running things,† he said. â€Å"Because he can†t run his Web site.† Then he showed me a variety of ways to hack Bush†s Web sites. That was just the beginning of a far-reaching chat during which the group nearly convinced me Big Brother is in fact here in London. â€Å"I don†t know if he can run the free world,† Mark said. â€Å"He can†t keep the Texas banking system computers secure. So-called â€Å"2600† clubs are a kind of hacker â€Å"boy scout† organization – there are local 2600 chapters all around the globe. It is in this environment, and this mindset, that London†s hackers do their work. They do not analyze computer systems and learn how to break them out of spite, or some childish need to destroy: Mark and friends see themselves as merely accumulating knowledge that could be used in self-defense if necessary. They are the citizen†s militia, the Freedom Fighters of the Information Age, trying to stay one step ahead of technology that could one day be turned against them. Jon-K Adams in his treatise entitled Hacker Ideology (aka Hacking Freedom) states that hackers have been called both techno-revolutionaries and heroes of the computer revolution. Hacking â€Å"has become a cultural icon about decentralized power.† But for all that, hackers are reluctant rebels. They prefer to fight with code than with words. And they would rather appear on the net than at a news conference. Status in the hacker world cannot be granted by the general public: it takes a hacker to know and appreciate a hacker. That's part of the hacker's revolutionary reluctance; the other part is the news media's slant toward sensationalism, such as, â€Å"A cyberspace dragnet snared fugitive hacker.† The public tends to think of hacking as synonymous with computer crime, with breaking into computers and stealing and destroying valuable data. As a result of this tabloid mentality, the hacker attempts to fade into the digital world, where he-and it is almost always he-has a place if not a! In his self-conception, the hacker is not a criminal, but rather a â€Å"person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities.† Which means that he is not necessarily a computer geek. The hacker defines himself in terms that extend beyond the computer, as an â€Å"expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker† (Jargon File). So in the broadest sense of his self-conception, the hacker hacks knowledge; he wants to know how things work, and the computer-the prototypical programmable system-simply offers more complexity and possibility, and thus more fascination, than most other things. >From this perspective, hacking appears to be a harmless if nerdish enthusiasm. But at the same time, this seemingly innocent enthusiasm is animated by an ideology that leads to a conflict with civil authority. The hacker is motivated by the belief that the search for knowledge is an end in itself and should be unrestricted. But invariably, when a hacker explores programmable systems, he encounters barriers that bureaucracies impose in the name of security. For the hacker, these security measures become arbitrary limits placed on his exploration, or in cases that often lead to confrontation, they become the focus of further explorations: for the hacker, security measures simply represent a more challenging programmable system. As a result, when a hacker explores such systems, he hacks knowledge, but ideologically he hacks the freedom to access knowledge. Political hackers are another group considering themselves modern freedom fighters. â€Å"Hacktivists† have officially moved from nerdish extremists to become the political protest visionaries of the digital age, a meeting at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London was told on Thursday. Paul Mobbs, an experienced Internet activist and anti-capitalist protestor, will tell attendees that the techniques used by politically minded computer hackers — from jamming corporate networks and sending email viruses to defacing Web sites — has moved into the realm of political campaigning. Mobbs says that the term â€Å"Hacktivism† has been adopted by so many different groups, from peaceful Net campaigners to Internet hate groups, that it is essentially meaningless, but claims that Internet protest is here to stay. â€Å"It has a place, whether people like it or not,† says Mobbs. Steve Mizrach in his 1997 dissertation entitled Is there a Hacker Ethic for 90s Hackers? delves into this subject in great detail. He describes the divergent groups of hackers and explains their modus operandi: I define the computer underground as members of the following six groups. Sometimes I refer to the CU as â€Å"90s hackers† or â€Å"new hackers,† as opposed to old hackers, who are hackers (old sense of the term) from the 60s who subscribed to the original Hacker Ethic.  § Hackers (Crackers, system intruders) – These are people who attempt to penetrate security systems on remote computers. This is the new sense of the term, whereas the old sense of the term simply referred to a person who was capable of creating hacks, or elegant, unusual, and unexpected uses of technology. Typical magazines (both print and online) read by hackers include 2600 and Iron Feather Journal.  § Phreaks (Phone Phreakers, Blue Boxers) – These are people who attempt to use technology to explore and/or control the telephone system. Originally, this involved the use of â€Å"blue boxes† or tone generators, but as the phone company began using digital instead of electro-mechanical switches, the phreaks became more like hackers. Typical magazines read by Phreaks include Phrack, Line Noize, and New Fone Express.  § Virus writers (also, creators of Trojans, worms, logic bombs) – These are people who write code which attempts to a) reproduce itself on other systems without authorization and b) often has a side effect, whether that be to display a message, play a prank, or trash a hard drive. Agents and spiders are essentially ‘benevolent' virii, raising the question of how underground this activity really is. Typical magazines read by Virus writers include 40HEX.  § Pirates – Piracy is sort of a non-technical matter. Originally, it involved breaking copy protection on software, and this activity was called â€Å"cracking.† Nowadays, few software vendors use copy protection, but there are still various minor measures used to prevent the unauthorized duplication of software. Pirates devote themselves to thwarting these things and sharing commercial software freely with their friends. They usually read Pirate Newsletter and Pirate magazine.  § Cypherpunks (cryptoanarchists) – Cypherpunks freely distribute the tools and methods for making use of strong encryption, which is basically unbreakable except by massive supercomputers. Because the NSA and FBI cannot break strong encryption (which is the basis of the PGP or Pretty Good Privacy), programs that employ it are classified as munitions, and distribution of algorithms that make use of it is a felony. Some cryptoanarchists advocate strong encryption as a tool to completely evade the State, by preventing any access whatsoever to financial or personal information. They typically read the Cypherpunks mailing list.  § Anarchists – are committed to distributing illegal (or at least morally suspect) information, including but not limited to data on bombmaking, lockpicking, pornography, drug manufacturing, pirate radio, and cable and satellite TV piracy. In this parlance of the computer underground, anarchists are less likely to advocate the overthrow of government than the simple refusal to obey restrictions on distributing information. They tend to read Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC) and Activist Times Incorporated (ATI).  § Cyberpunk – usually some combination of the above, plus interest in technological self-modification, science fiction of the Neuromancer genre, and interest in hardware hacking and â€Å"street tech.† A youth subculture in its own right, with some overlaps with the â€Å"modern primitive† and â€Å"raver† subcultures. So should we fear these geeky little mischief-makers? The New York Post revealed recently that a busboy allegedly managed to steal millions of dollars from the world†s richest people by stealing their identities and tricking credit agencies and brokerage firms. In his article describing this event Bob Sullivan says, â€Å"Abraham Abdallah, I think, did us all a favor, for he has exposed as a sham the security at the world†s most important financial institutions.† The same two free e-mail addresses were used to request financial transfers for six different wealthy Merrill Lynch clients, according to the Post story. Merrill Lynch didn†t notice? Why would Merrill accept any transfer requests, indeed take any financial communication seriously at all, from a free, obviously unverified anonymous e-mail account? I†m alarmed by the checks and balances that must be in place at big New York brokerage firms. Rather than being a story about a genius who almost got away, this is simply one more story of easy identity theft amid a tidal wave of similar crimes. The Federal Trade Commission has received 40,000 complaints of identity theft since it started keeping track two years ago, but the agency is certain that represents only a fraction of real victims. This is a serious problem, long ignored by the industry. If fact, just last year the credit industry beat back a congressional bill known as The Identity Theft Protection Act, claiming it would be too expensive for them. â€Å"Clearly there has to be more leveling of the playing field. We have to hold banks and credit unions accountable.† Last month the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was again warning electronic-commerce Web sites to patch their Windows-based systems to protect their data against hackers. The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) has coordinated investigations over the past several months into organized hacker activities targeting e-commerce sites. More than 40 victims in 20 states have been identified in the ongoing investigations, which have included law enforcement agencies outside the United States and private sector officials. The investigations have uncovered several organized hacker groups from Russia, the Ukraine, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe that have penetrated U.S. e-commerce and online banking computer systems by exploiting vulnerabilities in the Windows NT operating system, the statement said. Microsoft has released patches for these vulnerabilities, which can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site for free. Once the hackers gain access, they download proprietary information, customer databases, and credit card information, according to the FBI. The hackers subsequently contact the company and attempt to extort money by offering to patch the system and by offering to protect the company's systems from exploitation by other hackers. The hackers tell the victim that without their services they cannot guarantee that other hackers will not access their networks and post stolen credit card information and details about the site's security vulnerability on the Internet. If the company does not pay or hire the group for its security services, the threats escalate, the FBI said. Investigators also believe that in some instances the credit card information is being sold to organized crime groups. Defend yourself when you cannot defeat the enemy, and attack the enemy when you can. Scott Culp in a detailed list of security precautions on Microsoft†s Web page suggests that there are ten immutable laws of security. Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore. It's an unfortunate fact of computer science: when a computer program runs, it will do what it's programmed to do, even if it's programmed to be harmful. When you choose to run a program, you are making a decision to turn over control of your computer to it. That's why it's important to never run, or even download, a program from an untrusted source – and by â€Å"source†, I mean the person who wrote it, not the person who gave it to you. Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it's not your computer anymore. In the end, an operating system is just a series of ones and zeroes that, when interpreted by the processor, cause the machine to do certain things. Change the ones and zeroes, and it will do something different. To understand why, consider that operating system files are among the most trusted ones on the computer, and they generally run with system-level privileges. That is, they can do absolutely anything. Among other things, they're trusted to manage user accounts, handle password changes, and enforce the rules governing who can do what on the computer. If a bad guy can change them, the now-untrustworthy files will do his bidding, and there's no limit to what he can do. He can steal passwords, make himself an administrator on the machine, or add entirely new functions to the operating system. To prevent this type of attack, make sure that the system files (and the registry! , for that matter) are well protected. Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore. He could mount the ultimate low-tech denial of service attack, and smash your computer with a sledgehammer.  § He could unplug the computer, haul it out of your building, and hold it for ransom.  § He could boot the computer from a floppy disk, and reformat your hard drive. But wait, you say, I've configured the BIOS on my computer to prompt for a password when I turn the power on. No problem – if he can open the case and get his hands on the system hardware, he could just replace the BIOS chips. (Actually, there are even easier ways).  § He could remove the hard drive from your computer, install it into his computer, and read it.  § He could make a duplicate of your hard drive and take it back his lair. Once there, he'd have all the time in the world to conduct brute-force attacks, such as trying every possible logon password. Programs are available to automate this and, given enough time, it's almost certain that he would succeed. Once that happens, Laws #1 and #2 above apply  § He could replace your keyboard with one that contains a radio transmitter. He could then monitor everything you type, including your password. Always make sure that a computer is physically protected in a way that's consistent with its value – and remember that the value of a machine includes not only the value of the hardware itself, but the value of the data on it, and the value of the access to your network that a bad guy could gain. At a minimum, business-critical machines like domain controllers, database servers, and print/file servers should always be in a locked room that only people charged with administration and maintenance can access. But you may want to consider protecting other machines as well, and potentially using additional protective measures. If you travel with a laptop, it's absolutely critical that you protect it. The same features that make laptops great to travel with – small size, light weight, and so forth – also make them easy to steal. There are a variety of locks and alarms available for laptops, and some models let you remove the hard drive and carry it with you. You also can use features like the Encrypting File System in Windows 2000 to mitigate the damage if someone succeeded in stealing the computer. But the only way you can know with 100% certainty that your data is safe and the hardware hasn't been tampered with is to keep the laptop on your person at all times while traveling. Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to upload programs to your web site, it's not your web site any more. This is basically Law #1 in reverse. In that scenario, the bad guy tricks his victim into downloading a harmful program onto his machine and running it. In this one, the bad guy uploads a harmful program to a machine and runs it himself. Although this scenario is a danger anytime you allow strangers to connect to your machine, web sites are involved in the overwhelming majority of these cases. Many people who operate web sites are too hospitable for their own good, and allow visitors to upload programs to the site and run them. As we've seen above, unpleasant things can happen if a bad guy's program can run on your machine. If you run a web site, you need to limit what visitors can do. You should only allow a program on your site if you wrote it yourself, or if you trust the developer who wrote it. But that may not be enough. If your web site is one of several hosted on a shared server, you need to be extra careful. If a bad guy can compromise one of the other sites on the server, it's possible he could extend his control to the server itself, in which case he could control all of the sites on it – including yours. If you're on a shared server, it's important to find out what the server administrator's policies are. Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security. The purpose of having a logon process is to establish who you are. Once the operating system knows who you are, it can grant or deny requests for system resources appropriately. If a bad guy learns your password, he can log on as you. In fact, as far as the operating system is concerned, he is you. Whatever you can do on the system, he can do as well, because he's you. Maybe he wants to read sensitive information you've stored on your computer, like your email. Maybe you have more privileges on the network than he does, and being you will let him do things he normally couldn't. Or maybe he just wants to do something malicious and blame it on you. In any case, it's worth protecting your credentials. Always use a password – it's amazing how many accounts have blank passwords. And choose a complex one. Don't use your dog's name, your anniversary date, or the name of the local football team. And don't use the word â€Å"password†! Pick a password that has a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, number, punctuation marks, and so forth. Make it as long as possible. And change it often. Once you've picked a strong password, handle it appropriately. Don't write it down. If you absolutely must write it down, at the very least keep it in a safe or a locked drawer – the first thing a bad guy who's hunting for passwords will do is check for a yellow sticky note on the side of your screen, or in the top desk drawer. Don't tell anyone what your password is. Remember what Ben Franklin said: two people can keep a secret, but only if one of them is dead. Finally, consider using something stronger than passwords to identify yourself to the system. Windows 2000, for instance, supports the use of smart cards, which significantly strengthens the identity checking the system can perform. You may also want to consider biometric products like fingerprint and retina scanners. Law #6: A machine is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy. Every computer must have an administrator: someone who can install software, configure the operating system, add and manage user accounts, establish security policies, and handle all the other management tasks associated with keeping a computer up and running. By definition, these tasks require that he have control over the machine. This puts the administrator in a position of unequalled power. An untrustworthy administrator can negate every other security measure you've taken. He can change the permissions on the machine, modify the system security policies, install malicious software, add bogus users, or do any of a million other things. He can subvert virtually any protective measure in the operating system, because he controls it. Worst of all, he can cover his tracks. If you have an untrustworthy administrator, you have absolutely no security. When hiring a system administrator, recognize the position of trust that administrators occupy, and only hire people who warrant that trust. Call his references, and ask them about his previous work record, especially with regard to any security incidents at previous employers. If appropriate for your organization, you may also consider taking a step that banks and other security-conscious companies do, and require that your administrators pass a complete background check at hiring time, and at periodic intervals afterward. Whatever criteria you select, apply them across the board. Don't give anyone administrative privileges on your network unless they've been vetted – and this includes temporary employees and contractors, too. Next, take steps to help keep honest people honest. Use sign-in/sign-out sheets to track who's been in the server room. (You do have a server room with a locked door, right? If not, re-read Law #3). Implement a â€Å"two person† rule when installing or upgrading software. Diversify management tasks as much as possible, as a way of minimizing how much power any one administrator has. Also, don't use the Administrator account – instead, give each administrator a separate account with administrative privileges, so you can tell who's doing what. Finally, consider taking steps to make it more difficult for a rogue administrator to cover his tracks. For instance, store audit data on write-only media, or house System A's audit data on System B, and make sure that the two systems have different administrators. The more accountable your administrators are, the less likely you are to have problems. Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as the decryption key. Suppose you installed the biggest, strongest, most secure lock in the world on your front door, but you put the key under the front door mat. It wouldn't really matter how strong the lock is, would it? The critical factor would be the poor way the key was protected, because if a burglar could find it, he'd have everything he needed to open the lock. Encrypted data works the same way – no matter how strong the cryptoalgorithm is, the data is only as safe as the key that can decrypt it. Many operating systems and cryptographic software products give you an option to store cryptographic keys on the computer. The advantage is convenience – you don't have to handle the key – but it comes at the cost of security. The keys are usually obfuscated (that is, hidden), and some of the obfuscation methods are quite good. But in the end, no matter how well-hidden the key is, if it's on the machine it can be found. It has to be – after all, the software can find it, so a sufficiently-motivated bad guy could find it, too. Whenever possible, use offline storage for keys. If the key is a word or phrase, memorize it. If not, export it to a floppy disk, make a backup copy, and store the copies in separate, secure locations. Law #8: An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all. Virus scanners work by comparing the data on your computer against a collection of virus â€Å"signatures†. Each signature is characteristic of a particular virus, and when the scanner finds data in a file, email, or elsewhere that matches the signature, it concludes that it's found a virus. However, a virus scanner can only scan for the viruses it knows about. It's vital that you keep your virus scanner's signature file up to date, as new viruses are created every day. The problem actually goes a bit deeper than this, though. Typically, a new virus will do the greatest amount of damage during the early stages of its life, precisely because few people will be able to detect it. Once word gets around that a new virus is on the loose and people update their virus signatures, the spread of the virus falls off drastically. The key is to get ahead of the curve, and have updated signature files on your machine before the virus hits. Virtually every maker of anti-virus software provides a way to get free updated signature files from their web site. In fact, many have â€Å"push† services, in which they'll send notification every time a new signature file is released. Use these services. Also, keep the virus scanner itself – that is, the scanning software – updated as well. Virus writers periodically develop new techniques that require that the scanners change how they do their work. Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn't practical, in real life or on the web. All human interaction involves exchanging data of some kind. If someone weaves enough of that data together, they can identify you. Think about all the information that a person can glean in just a short conversation with you. In one glance, they can gauge your height, weight, and approximate age. Your accent will probably tell them what country you're from, and may even tell them what region of the country. If you talk about anything other than the weather, you'll probably tell them something about your family, your interests, where you live, and what you do for a living. It doesn't take long for someone to collect enough information to figure out who you are. If you crave absolute anonymity, your best bet is to live in a cave and shun all human contact. The same thing is true of the Internet. If you visit a web site, the owner can, if he's sufficiently motivated, find out who you are. After all, the ones and zeroes that make up the web session have be able to find their way to the right place, and that place is your computer. There are a lot of measures you can take to disguise the bits, and the more of them you use, the more thoroughly the bits will be disguised. For instance, you could use network address translation to mask your actual IP address, subscribe to an anonymizing service that launders the bits by relaying them from one end of the ether to the other, use a different ISP account for different purposes, surf certain sites only from public kiosks, and so on. All of these make it more difficult to determine who you are, but none of them make it impossible. Do you know for certain who operates the anonymizing service? Maybe it's the same person who owns the web site you just visited! Or what about that innocuous web ! site you visited yesterday, that offered to mail you a free $10 off coupon? Maybe the owner is willing to share information with other web site owners. If so, the second web site owner may be able to correlate the information from the two sites and determine who you are. Does this mean that privacy on the web is a lost cause? Not at all. What it means is that the best way to protect your privacy on the Internet is the same as the way you protect your privacy in normal life – through your behavior. Read the privacy statements on the web sites you visit, and only do business with ones whose practices you agree with. If you're worried about cookies, disable them. Most importantly, avoid indiscriminate web surfing – recognize that just as most cities have a bad side of town that's best avoided, the Internet does too. But if it's complete and total anonymity you want, better start looking for that cave.