Long time since I posted something?? Lol..no, not again…was busy with this year’s symposium…again,my dept symposium churned out more participants than any other….and I believe I played a vital role in it having made contributions to most of the committees…now,now…who else would be that jobless??

And I also had my tour coming up right after the symposium..we went to Kerala and had the time of our lives…it turned to be a lot better than what we expected…kudos to the organizers…the following is an article written by me with Aarthi that got published in my symposium Magazine Exemplar 07….We were offered to choose between a tech article and a non tech one….being passionate about tech stuff,we chose this one related to mobile phone hacking…hope u enjoy bluejacking

What You Ought To Know Before Switching On Your Bluetooth

Wonder what we are trying to say??? Well, how many of you know about Bluejacking or Bluesnarfing. Not many hands go up, do they?? Well that’s what we are going to talk about in this write up.

So what is Bluetooth in the first place? Bluetooth technology enables your digital peripherals to talk to each other without needing wires and cables. Being an ‘open specification’ means that any manufacturer can make a Bluetooth device and it will also allow transfer of data to any other Bluetooth device from any other manufacturer. Bluetooth devices are only designed to operate over short ranges – typically less than 10m (30 feet).

Then so what is this term Bluejacking. Bluejacking is a new term used to define the activity of sending anonymous messages using Bluetooth to other Bluetooth equipped devices (typically PDAs and Mobile Phones) in range of the senders’ device.

Whilst the ability to receive such messages can be disabled or the Bluetooth functionality of the device can be switched off, the fun nature of Bluejacking is likely to encourage people to participate and to enjoy the new phenomenon.

Still wondering what it means. Lets say its analogous to what we use everyday Orkut. It allows us to connect to people whom we never know. Its fun if we use it in the right sense to connect with people, but when it falls in the wrong hands it becomes a medium of criminal activities too. Want to make it even simple. It’s just hacking using Bluetooth (but the techies would obviously disprove us defining it like this)

In today’s scientific world every innovation has a grey side unless we show discretion in using them. Similarly there is also a code of rules that must be mentioned before we go any further.

Bluejacking is meant for FUN! So make sure it is.

No-one has yet written a definitive statement on what is allowed or not-allowed and so we have given you some common sense rules below:

• Don’t send abusive messages
• Don’t threaten anyone
• Don’t put your personal information in a Bluejack message
• Don’t reveal yourself to the ‘victim’
• Do disable Bluetooth if you don’t want to be Bluejacked

Firstly you need to have a Bluetooth enabled Mobile Phone or PDA – if you have then great, if not then you will not be able to enjoy the world of Bluejacking – sorry.Whilst you can choose to “Accept” the message it’s best to avoid doing so.If Accepted then the message will be added into your own Contact Phone Book and that could fill up quite quickly. If the sender has added any additional information into the Contact that they sent you then you can only see this by accepting it and then opening up the new Contact. However as the idea behind Bluejacking is sending simple messages there is nothing to be gained by storing it. Simply choose “Delete” or “Erase” and then get your own back on them The future of Bluejacking holds many interesting possibilities. Especially, to all you marketing savvy’s and Mba’s out there. Bluejacking holds the key to personalised advertising of your product. So good bye to all jingle’s and ad’s. The New Age of publicising has arrived.Best of all this is completely free of charge – no 10p text messages or phone calls and not finding that the other person lives 150 miles away – they are in the same bus/queue/class or train as you are.So the future is blue, not pink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dltjEnrePxc. Wondering if it’s a movie link? No, it just demonstrates how Bluejacking turns to Bluesnarfing when it falls in the hands of real time hackers

So, what’s Bluesnarfing?? Confidential data can be obtained, anonymously, and without the owner’s knowledge or consent, from Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. This data includes, at least, the entire phonebook and calendar, and the phone’s IMEI.The Bluesnarfing is a more detailed elaborate planned attack.First is Data collection. This gives primarily the Bluetooth name, address of mobile, class of mobile, real time clock.Then the blue bug attack. It is to set up covert serial channel to device. In other words with this facility, it is possible to use the phone to initiate calls to premium rate numbers, send sms messages, read sms messages, connect to data services such as the Internet, and even monitor conversations in the vicinity of the phone. Bluetooth access is only required for a few seconds in order to set up the call. Call forwarding diverts can be set up, allowing the owner’s incoming calls to be intercepted, either to provide a channel for calls to more expensive destinations, or for identity theft by impersonation of the victim.

Thirdly the Backdoor attack, it involves establishing a trust relationship through the “pairing” mechanism, but ensuring that it no longer appears in the target’s register of paired devices. In this way, unless the owner is actually observing their device at the precise moment a connection is established, they are unlikely to notice anything untoward, and the attacker may be free to continue to use any resource that a trusted relationship with that device grants access to.

Finally, we have the Snarf attack. It is possible, on some makes of device, to connect to the device without alerting the owner of the target device of the request, and gain access to restricted portions of the stored data therein, including the entire phonebook and any images or other data associated with the entries, calendar, real-time clock, business card, properties, log, International Mobile Equipment Identity (which uniquely identifies the phone to the mobile network, and is used in illegal phone ‘cloning’).

This is normally only possible if the device is in “discoverable” or “visible” mode, but there are tools available on the Internet that allow even this safety net to be bypassed.

So, how do u Bluejack?? Well, it’s pretty simple once you have downloaded the tools from one of the following links…once you have opened the application, all you have to do is scan for Bluetooth devices and select one of the devices and (type and send the message) attack them

http://www.bluejackingtools.com/

http://www.mobiluck.com/

http://www.youtaggedme.com/

http://trifinite.org

I think now you got what we tried to say in the title. Bluejacking is fun, if within the limits. Just don’t try to use it to spam or abuse people even worse don’t snarf them.

So how do we protect one against blue snarfing? Well, there are no fixes till now though some brand of mobiles claim to have plugged the holes to make it safe against backdoor attacks. But hey we never know. So for now to permanently remove a pairing, and protect against future BACKDOOR attacks, it seems you must perform a factory reset, but this will, of course, erase all your personal data.

However, Bluejacking is a completely different ball. It’s now being accepted abroad as what we can call a social networking tool. Do we want it? Doesn’t really matter, because, if you don’t then simply switch off the Bluetooth. “just say no”.

Me, I can’t wait! And for those who after reading this have got hooked on to Bluejacking, GO AHEAD! But hey remember play it safe.

In case it all goes wrong:

If you manage to identify your victim and they are looking angry rather than puzzled & confused, our advice is to run, not walk, in the opposite direction! Have fun.

P.S : Special thanks to Bharathi for allowing us to test bluejacking and bluesnarfing on her (although dumb??! :p ) mobile

hmmm….a whole semester without a single post! this semester has been terrible with the kind of subjects am having and personally too…even without touching my books until now,i have had my hands full with something…Now,the exams are jus ahead..hopefully,i will do them well…I will be updating after my exams…So…See you!

P.S: All the best for my friends!!

First,it was my Industrial Visit to B’lore(Bengaluru??!)! Had a great time there with my friends…lol…though it was called an industrial visit…a tour would have been a better name for it(having done nothing in the company except for having a lunch!)…visited lots of places at B’lore and my travelogue on it wwas lost as already told…can’t forget the trip.. loads of experiences and new things learnt with total fun! NO doubt B’lore rocked with its excellent roads and incredible climate..but it definitely wasn’t better than Good old Chennai!

Next,after i returned from B’lore, it was my department(CSE) symposium that kept me busy…named Paradigm…we worked very hard for it… inspired by our seniors,we worked all the more harder…I was in the Sponsorship committee and the Software Debugging committee…I still remember when a small mistake in the input at 2:30AM made us believe that there was a major flaw in the debugging software(the day b4 our symposium)…lol…it was a great success garnering more participants (3268,to be exact!) than the rest of the departments put together!

Then,it was other college symposiums that kept me busy…I along with some of my friends started participating in other college symposiums.. although it was disappointing,we enjoyed that time…and also we(here I mean, myself and Arunkumar) had done what could be done with no preparation….met loads of my old and new friends there…

After that it was the practical exams…and then the theory exams… don’t want to tell anything about them now..I don’t want to spoil my holidays unnecessarily…. and now it has been 9 days since my exams have got over….and man its good to be BACK! not even a minute of the holidays has been boring and I have found myself craving for more time…so,what have I been doing during these days…visited lots of friends’ places…then to all branches of Landmark..lots of times to the spencer’s branch infact …then to a few more bookshops…then saw 6 movies(Mummy Returns,LOTR Trilogy, ,Jillunu Oru Kadhal,Sandakozhi)..read 2 novels(How OPal Mehta Got Kissed,Got Wild and Got a Life,Tyrannosaur Canyon)… then finished 2 games(Quake,Unreal) and playing another(Need For Speed Most Wanted) and then been surfing the net the rest of the time….and the best thing during the hols is that I got my dad’s bike(Splendour+ blu) for myself, most of the time…so have been roaming the city a lot(making up for the lost days??!..lol!)….. the holidays are on in a Full Throttle!
Again,itz good to be BACK!Happy Hols!

It’s been a long time since i updated my blog i guess…will follow up with a post to explain why.
first thing i should say is that i won’t be updating my blog as i had said i would….from now i will just try to post two posts a month…that’s it
Happy Holidays!

“Life is like a novel.It’s filled with suspense.You have no idea what is going to happen until you turn the page.Don’t close it too soon and miss all the excitement that could happen to you on the next page-the page you’re going to write”

-Sidney Sheldon

I sorted out my thoughts & opinion on fantasies and scribbled them onto a paper when I was in my XI std…..I studied in D.A.V Matriculation H.S School and this article was published in my school magazine…..Don’t blame me if it is not very matured….look at it as an article by a 15-year old boy!(as i wrote it at that time)….

THE WORLD OF FANTASY

To you the world of fantasy may look completely different from our world, yet they both share the same objective and some resemblances .Evil powers are rising and spreading like fire everywhere. Only the good have the ability and heart to put an end to them. Fantasy, once was considered childish magic stuff by the adults of India.

However nowadays it is accepted by them especially due to books like the Lord of the Rings and some authors like J.R.R.Tolkien and J.K.Rowling. Now let us enter the world of fantasy and compare it with the present world using 2 fantasy books (or series) namely the Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling and Stravaganza-The City of Masks (which is also a series,trilogy,though we will be seeing the first part alone) by Mary Hoffman which are completely different from each other.

Well, let us see the objectives first. As you must know both the stories have the same objective:

A war between the good and the evil. In the Harry potter series it is a war between the famous Harry Potter and the dark wizard Lord Voldemort along his many followers like Lucius Malfoy.In Stravaganza it is a war between the young boy Lucien and the di chimicis headed by Ronaldo di chimici. Of course the evil is crushed by the good at last in both the books.Harry Potter has a magical wizarding world and a muggle(Non-Magical) world (which is actually the present or normal world) while Stravaganza -The City of Masks has a 16th century world and a 21st century world(which is actually the present or normal world).In Harry Potter ,the main attraction is the magic stuff that is the wizarding world especially Hogwarts (the school of witchcraft and wizardry ) Stravaganza-The City of Masks main attraction is the art of Stravaganza through which you may travel to the 16th century world if you are in the 21st century world and vice versa.

There is a way to enter the other than normal worlds in both the stories .In Harry Potter the entry to the magical world is a wall between platform 9 and 10 in London’s Paddington station and in Stravaganza you can enter the 16th (or the 21st) century if you have a talisman which is usually an object that is brought from the other world.

There, of course, is always a difference in clothing, food, customs, and living beings and even in games, between the normal world and the fantasy world. In Hogwarts, the students and wizards wear long cloaks and tall hats (One that speaks and thinks and even reads your mind!!!) while in the 16th century world in Stravaganza-The City of Masks people wear different types of weird masks We find that in Hogwarts the food is very different ( and some magical too!) with Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts’ Every Flavored Beans etc., Lucien’s friend of the 16th century is amazed to hear about the present day dishes like pizzas , burgers, etc.,

Fantasies usually have fantastic beasts and creatures. Harry Potter is no exception to that. It has weird beasts and creatures like three headed dogs, basilisks, dragons, unicorns, goblins etc. Stravaganza – The City of Masks is an exception. Both the fantasies have Divination as a part of them.

Although the games they play are very strange (and interesting), they do have some resemblances. In Harry potter a part of the game Quidditch resembles basketball. While the chess they play is almost the same except the coins move like real men.

Though the author’s imagination is worthy of praising it is to be noted that the author’s ability and quality is proved by the way they have made the seemingly incredible things believable.

Fantasies are a runaway hit in foreign countries, if they are really good. Harry Potter alone has made its author richer than the Queen of England. However, apart from making the publisher’s and authors a lot of money, they make a huge impact on all our minds, particularly the young ones. True Friendship, Bravery, Helping others is some thing that they normally teach. They are normally filled with huge suspense while the young minds are left to think about the future.

So, fantasies particularly the HP, do have a huge impact on the society, after all a billion readers can’t be fools!

From this, we can conclude that although fantasies seem childish to some (or many) they do have a good (and important) objective along with giving us a lot of pleasure. So let us appreciate them and hope that the present world’s objectives are attained just like in the fantasy world.

The year 2002 has been unofficially known as the year of Mobile Revolution!It’s not shocking to see even a vegetable vendor have a (sometimes costly!) mobile phone….no,am not blaming him…honestly speaking,he needs it more and has more use to it than me.

Nowadays,mobile phones are not used just for talking – they are used for lots of purposes like Audio & Video player,Video Camera,Office documents etc.,

Although I believe that mobile phones are given more importance than they really deserve, i am a gadget lover and know that it will be one thing that I will always have with me when I own it. The mobile revolution has also started a mad race among the companies to bring out the most successful model….they reduced the dimensions,the weight,even the price,increased the features,gave away gifts and so on to lure the customers(& potential customers!) Motorola is known for having very low thickness & very high fragility! Nokia is the most popular brand in India…Sony Ericsson mobiles normally have loads of features but they need to be serviced often..Samsung is appropriate for those who are show-offs It just looks good…exactly contrary to what I wanted-I didn’t care much about whether my mobile looked great or not…I just wanted it to have loads of features,yet,yesterday,(finally!) I got a mobile with good looks….15 days,after asking for one,my Dad got me the model I wanted- a Nokia 6670 with a Datacable and a 512 MB memory card….It is probably the second time that I took a lot of time to make a decision-spent a full day for that…the first time was the selection of Dept in Engineering where I had to choose between between my passion and my parents’ wish…….both the times I have made decisions,I know I won’t regret forever….I was about to buy a Nokia 3230 when I learnt from the Shop Owner who was a relative of mine and one of my best friends that it often became too slow and got stuck!

So I went in for a 6670…It costed almost the same as a 3230,but had less number of features than a 3230.It doesn’t have FM,IR and EDGE which a 3230 has! It has a 1 megapixel camera while a 3230 has a 1.3 megapixel camera….despite all this i preferred it!I know that I will use my mobile only occasionally for talking ,though I don’t even know to operate it properly,as of now,not having used a mobile(particularly one like mine!) Don’t remember keeping it on the floor…(ooooh! what if it gets damaged?! – it’s now using my bed!you see,am like King Paari! :p)….I will keep it down only on friday when I get a case for my mobile!

I won’t forget my first Non-Airtel message…..when I received it, I didn’t realise that it was my cellphone….hehe…..then when everyone around me started staring at me….i understood

The Broker by John Grisham

Author :John Grisham

Country : United States

Language : English

Genre : Thriller

Publisher : Double Day

Released : January 11, 2005

Media Type Print : (Hardcover, Paperback)

Pages : 419(Paperback),368 (Hardcover)

ISBN : 0385510454

Price : Rs.237

Bottom line : Masterly suspenseful

Conclusion : Worth reading, but disappointing for Grisham fans!

Rating : 5.5 / 10

Buy it http://shopping.sify.com/shopping/book_detail.php?prodid=14953476&cid=2

The latest best seller by John Grisham to hit the stands, The Broker starts off in a great way by maintaining the suspense right from the first page itself. This is the first novel that Grisham has located outside his country(United States). It is almost fully located at Italy describing its beautiful places often. Those who enjoy traveling to new places will like this book for sure. The whole story around just one man- the hero who is on the run after being pardoned by the president under questionable conditions and creates a controversy. He is chased by the police and intelligence agencies of many countries and Grisham has maintained the suspense throughout the book. What happens to the hero is the climax. The book has many similarities with The Firm and The Client. Particularly, it looks a lot like The Firm’s climax enlarged to a whole book. Despite all this, it is a book worth reading. Grisham has not lost his touch- his style and language are as good as ever. However, his fans will be highly disappointed, but even they should not miss this because….well, they are Grisham fans . For a man whose second novel is The Firm it is not up to the mark, but it certainly is not among the not-so-good books of Grisham. It keeps you wondering, how Grisham has criminal for a hero, but you know when you finish the book, Grisham didn’t fail you. Believe me, you won’t regret reading this book!

]]> http://martianrulerspeaks.wordpress.com/2006/07/26/the-broker-book-review/feed/ 5 martianruler http://martianrulerspeaks.wordpress.com/2006/07/16/hello-friends/ http://martianrulerspeaks.wordpress.com/2006/07/16/hello-friends/#comments Sun, 16 Jul 2006 11:32:00 +0000 ArunBalachandran Ganesan http://martianrulerspeaks.wordpress.com/2006/07/16/hello-friends/ ]]>

I am a student of an Engineering College located near Chennai with Computer Science as my major. Here, I will be writing my opinions,my reviews,about my passions and lots more!

I don’t write impressively…but I love writing and that’s why am here

I look forward to your replies,opinions,comments,tips etc.,Most important of all! If you want me to write on some topic, do let me know!

My mail address : 411abc@gmail.com

Bye……