| Objects | Objects are passive entities between which information flows under the direction of active entities called subjects. Objects could thus include directories/folders, files, fields, screens, keyboards, memory, magnetic storage, printers and so on.
An object is effectively, therefore, data or a data container. It is effectively a system resource. Access to an object implies access to the data contained by the object. |
| Open relay | An open relay is a mail server that does not limit its services to a closed list of registered users - it is open for use, or abuse, by anyone. An open relay doesn't check the source IP of the sender, and does not append the IP to the 'Received:' field of the mail header.
When you send an e-mail, your mail server (such as your ISP) forwards (or relays) your mail to the server of the intended recipient. Usually, it will only do so if it recognizes your e-mail address; that is, if you are already a registered user of the server/relay.
However, there are many mail servers connected to the Internet that perform no such checks. Some are there by design, some are there simply because their owners don't realize that they are open.
If the world were a better place than it is, this would be no bad thing - it would allow anonymity when anonymity is sought. Unfortunately, this anonymity is sought today by spammers who use open relays for mass junk mailings (spam) with little chance of being discovered and stopped.
If you receive spam via an open relay there is virtually no chance of locating or dealing with the spammer without the help of the administrator of that open relay - and there is often little hope of this. For this reason there are several published databases of known open relay mail servers, and many ISPs set their servers to block, reject or at least highlight mail originating from an open relay. |
| OpenSSL | OpenSSL is an open source software (OSS) version of SSL. It is not strictly a product, but a combination of a cryptographic library and an SSL toolkit. It is derived from an earlier work, SSLeay, originally written by Eric A Young and Tim J Hudson in 1995. Development of SSLeay ceased in December 1998, and the first version of OpenSSL (0.9.1c) was released.
OpenSSL is the only full-featured version of SSL currently available for C and C++, and works across all major platforms. |
| Operating System | The operating system is a Translator. It translates complex and ambiguous human intentions into the simple logical commands that the computer can understand, and obey.
The operating system is a Traffic Cop. It controls and directs the flow of data traffic between the hardware and software components of your computer.
The operating system is an Area Controller. It is responsible for how everything works within its area (the computer).
The operating system is a Customs Officer It has total control over what can pass from the human world to the computer world, and back again.
In short, the operating system is the life-blood of the computer. It is the environment within which all of your software applications, from games to accounts, from Internet browsing to word processing, operate. But it's fickle, weak and not very loyal. Break it, and the computer won't work. Injure it, and only the uninjured parts will work. Let it be captured, and it (and all of your software that runs within it) will obey the commands of its new owner...
And that's what hackers try to do. They try to capture the operating system without you knowing about it - so that it will do their bidding whenever they want, without you knowing about it. They try to injure it with viruses and worms so that it no longer behaves in the way you expect.
If they succeed, your computer has been 'compromised'; or in the vernacular, 'hacked', 'rooted', 'owned' or 'infected'. Nothing on the computer, unless it is encrypted, is safe: your confidential letters, credit card numbers, bank account details are all available to the hacker. Your very identity can be stolen.
That's why you must defend the operating system with a firewall, an anti-virus system and an anti-spyware system. But you must also behave in a safe and secure manner - and above all, you must apply the first aid 'patches' that the vendor will regularly make available. If you don't look after your operating system, sooner or later you will be hacked, rooted, owned or infected. |
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