Traffic Shaping a la Bell
Posted on April 8, 2008
Filed Under Internet, Networking | Leave a Comment
In the past few weeks, “traffic shaping” has hit the news with Bell being in the midst of trying to limit peer-to-peer file sharing on its network. Traffic shaping is a technology that limits how much bandwidth (bandwidth can be loosely thought of as the speed of an Internet connection) a certain application can use.
For example, on your computer at home you have Bell High Speed and you browse the web, check your email, and on occasion download MP3 music. All three activities use your Internet connection but the MP3 music downloads use more of that connection than do the email or web surfing.
“So? I have High Speed Internet, who cares if I download a few music files?” you might ask. Well, that question opens a rather large, and particularly ugly, can of worms.
The Internet is at its foundation, an interconnected network of networks. That is, there is no single “Internet” but rather a bunch of networks – many of them privately owned – all connected together. Data on the Internet can travel through individual networks on its way to its destination and while data is traversing an individual network, that networks owner can potentially control how the data moves through his or her network.
That’s what’s happening with Bell. You see, Bell owns the high speed network that many Ontario and Quebec residents directly or indirectly connect to. And, Bell has elected to limit the amount of bandwidth that file sharing programs can use during peak hours on that network. In our case then, while your web browsing and email checking may be happening at the full High Speed as advertised, your MP3 downloads have been throttled back and capped at an artificially low speed.
Interestingly, Bell has been doing this for over a year now. What’s changed is that Bell is now shaping the traffic that smaller ISPs (Internet Service Providers) buy from Bell. ISPs buy bandwidth and resell it to their own customers and until now, Bell hasn’t tampered with the bandwidth they provide them. Some of those ISPs aren’t happy that Bell’s tampering with it now.
Bell claims that the measure is necessary to prevent file sharing programs from overwhelming its network. File sharing does indeed use a lot of bandwidth (comparatively speaking) and Bell claims that if left unmanaged, a flood of downloads by many users could affect the web browsing and email downloading for the rest of the users.
So the question that arises is, should Bell be allowed to arbitrarily decide what Internet traffic should be allowed and what should be throttled?
And that of course is the can of worms; historically the Internet has been a free, for the most part uncensored place. Attempts to censor or shape portions of the Internet have been met with opposition and the principle of “Network Neutrality” or Net Neutrality has grown from them. Google describes Net Neutrality as:
“Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. The Internet has operated according to this neutrality principle since its earliest days. Indeed, it is this neutrality that has allowed many companies, including Google, to launch, grow, and innovate. Fundamentally, net neutrality is about equal access to the Internet…”
Vint Cerf, the CIO of Google and the co-developer of the Internet Protocol (IP) – which is the foundation of Internet communications – takes it one step further by saying:
”Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success…A number of justifications have been created to support carrier control over consumer choices online; none stand up to scrutiny.”
I’m not going to enter the debate – at least not here – but that’s what Bell is doing. Knowing the facts, we can all make up our own minds on its merits.
Security in Depth
Posted on April 7, 2008
Filed Under Business Computing, Internet, Security | Leave a Comment
When people hear the word “security” in the context of a computer, they inevitably think of measures taken to prevent hackers from getting in. The truth of the matter is that security really means the protection of data and equipment as a whole. The idea of a hacker sitting behind a computer screen feverishly scanning the Internet for his or her next victim to attack is also more the reality of a Hollywood script than it is reality in the computing world.
Physical security entails keeping critical systems away from people who might damage them, providing an environment free of dust and high temperatures, and providing clean power that continues even during a blackout. Datacenters for example are typically highly secure buildings with ample air conditioning and generator power as well as uninterruptable power supplies.
As for the question of hackers; most threats from the Internet come in the form of viruses, spyware, or scripts. A “hacker” may find a backdoor into your system but nowadays he or she is more likely to have lured someone into installing malicious software that in turn opened a backdoor and reported back that it’s open. Even then, the hacker likely wouldn’t try to gain access manually.
Nowadays backdoors are more often than not used to load more malicious software that makes the computer a part of a botnet – a network of infected “zombie” computers that are controlled centrally – and uses it to send spam. It once was that viruses were the bane of the PC world, and there still are plenty of them that appear every day, but for all the fun there is for a virus author in creating a new plague, there’s real money to be made in spam and the malware that sends it.
The real trick in keeping a computer secure involves not only keeping hackers out but securing in depth much like dressing in layers in the winter. Some of the things you can and should do are:
Install a hardware firewall at the edge of your network – the “edge’ of a network in most cases is simply where the network connects to the Internet.
Install and maintain an antivirus program – viruses are still a threat and while you need antivirus, it’s not an install it and forget it operation. Antivirus programs need to be continually updated to catch new viruses. Most update automatically but you need to double check now and then.
Install and maintain an antispyware program – just like antivirus programs, antispyware software needs to be updated continually. If your antivirus software doesn’t include antispyware, a good program like Windows Defender (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx) will help protect you from becoming a zombie (grin).
Backup, backup, backup – it’s not a question of if your computer will break, it’s a question of when. Viruses, malware, and accidental deletions can also ruin data. Almost all new computers today come with a CD burner. Give backing up a shot as you never know how valuable your data is until it’s gone!
Update, update, update – you know that little message that pops up every now and then that insists there are updates available and wants to know what you’d like to do about it? Install the updates. They very often fix problems and add security enhancements like the new phishing filter in Internet Explorer 7.
If you don’t trust it beyond a shadow of a doubt, don’t install it – many programs that purport to protect you from spyware for example, install spyware themselves. If you don’t trust it completely, don’t install it.
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