એનએસઇ F & O માં ૧ઃ૩૬ વાગ્યાથી ટ્રેડીંગ બંધ પડયું, જે ૩.૩૦ વાગ્યા સુધી લગભગ બંધ રહ્યું

૧૫થી ૨૦ મિનિટમાં લોગ ઇન કરવા જણાવાયું છતાં ૭૫થી ૮૦ ટકા ટર્મિનલમાં સોદા નહીં ઃ નિફ્ટી ફ્યુચર છેલ્લે ૨૦ ફરકે લે-વેચના સોદા

એનએસઇમાં આજે ફ્યુચર્સ એન્ડ ઓપ્શન્સ (એફએન્ડઓ) સેગ્મેન્ટમાં કહેવાતી ટેક્નીકલ ખામીને પરિણામે એફએન્ડ ઓમાં ખેલો કરનારાઓ અને ડબ્બા ટ્રેડીંગમાં ખેલનારાઓની ‘ગેમ’ થઇ ગઇ હતી. શેરબજારના ઇતિહાસમાં તકનીકિ ખામીથી એફએન્ડઓ સેગ્મેન્ટમાં ટ્રેડીંગ બે કલાક બંધ પડયું હોય અને બજાર બંધ થવા ૩.૩૦ વાગ્યા સુધી ટ્રેડીંગ ફરી શરૃ ન થઇ શક્યું હોય તેમજ આટલો લાંબો સમય ટ્રેડીંગ બંધ રહેવા છતાં ટ્રેડીંગનો સમય લંબાવવામાં ન આવ્યો હોય એવી પ્રથમ દુર્ઘટના ઘટી છે.

એનએસઇમાં એફએન્ડઓમાં આજે ટેક્નીકલ ખામીને લીધે બપોરે ૧.૩૬ વાગ્યે ટ્રેડીંગ બંધ પડયું હતું. કેશ સેગ્મેન્ટમાં ટ્રેડીંગ ચાલુ રહ્યું હતું. ૧.૩૬ વાગ્યાથી એફએન્ડઓમાં બંધ પડેલા ટ્રેડીંગ સમયે સ્પોટમાં નિફ્ટી ૪૯૦૫ નજીક હતી, જ્યારે એફએન્ડઓમાં નિફ્ટી ફ્યુચર પાંચથી છ પોઇન્ટ ડિસ્કાઉન્ટમાં ૪૮૯૯થી ૪૯૦૦ નજીક બોલાતો હતો. એનએસઇએ ટ્રેડીંગ બંધ કર્યાની જાણ કરી પરંતુ ટેકનીકલ ખામી થોડો સમયમાં જ ઉકેલાઇ જવાની હૈયાધારણ ચેનલ થકી આપીને ખેલંદાઓને ઉભા સોદા માટે પેનીકમાં નહીં આવી જવા પરોક્ષ સંકેત આપ્યો. ટ્રેડીંગ ફરી શરૃ થવામાં લાંબો સમય લાગી ગયો, અને એકાએક ટીવી ચેનલ પર ટ્રેડીંગ ૨.૪૦ વાગ્યે ફરી શરૃ થઇ ગયાના ફ્લેશ આવવા લાગ્યા. ટ્રેડીંગ શરૃ થયાની ઉતાવળમાં ખેલંદાઓ અને બ્રોકરોએ ટર્મિનલો શરૃ કરવા પ્રયાસ કર્યા, પરંતુ અનેક બ્રોકરોના લગભગ ૭૫થી ૮૦ ટકા બ્રોકરોના ટર્મિનલ ચાલુ નહીં થઇ શક્યા, અને જેના ટર્મિનલો શરૃ થયા એમાં ૨૦ પોઇન્ટના ફરકે ૪૮૭૫- ૪૮૯૫ ભાવે લે- વેચના સોદા મૂકવા હોય તો મૂકો જેવી મુંઝવણભરી પરિસ્થિતિમાં એનએસઇએ ખેલંદાઓને મૂકી દીધા હતાં.

ડિઝાસ્ટર રીકવરી સાઇટના શનિવારે પરીક્ષણ કરતું એનએસઇ ટેકનીકલ ખામી ૩.૩૦ વાગ્યા સુધી કેમ ઉકેલી ન શક્યું?
નિફ્ટી સ્પોટ અને ફ્યુચર વચ્ચે તાજેતરના દિવસોમાં ભાવ ફરક સામાન્ય રીતે પાંચથી છ પોઇન્ટનો રહેતો હતો, આજે પણ બપોરે દોઢ વાગ્યા સુધી નિફ્ટી સ્પોટ ૪૯૦૬ નજીક હતો, ત્યારે નિફ્ટી એપ્રિલ ફ્યુચર એ સમયે ૪૮૯૯થી ૪૯૦૦ પાંચથી છ પોઇન્ટ ડિસ્કાઉન્ટમાં બોલાતો હતો, જે છેલ્લે ૨૬ પોઇન્ટ ડિસ્કાઉન્ટમાં ફ્યુચર ૪૮૮૧ હતો. નિફ્ટી સ્પોટ છેલ્લે બંધ ૪૯૦૭.૮૦ હતો. એનએસઇમાં એફએન્ડઓમાં ટ્રેડીંગ ૧.૩૬ વાગ્યે બંધ થયા બાદ બધાને લોગ ઓફ કરી દેવા કહેવાયું અને ૧૫થી ૨૦ મિનિટ બાદ ફરી લોગ ઇન કરવા જણાવાયું, પરંતુ અનેકના ટર્મિનલ ચાલુ થયા નહીં, અને જેના થયા એના ટર્મિનલમાં ૧૮થી ૨૦ ફરકે સેલર- બાયર ૪૮૭૫-૪૮૯૫ જેવા ભાવે સોદા બતાવાતા હતા. આમ ખેલંદાઓ માટે મુંઝવણ ભરી પરિસ્થિતિ સર્જાઇ હતી. ઘણા ખેલંદાઓ આક્રોશ ઠાલવતા જણાવી રહ્યા હતા, કે એનએસઇ સહિતના શેરબજારો અવારનવાર શનિવારે તેમની ડિઝાસ્ટર રીકવરી સાઇટના પરીક્ષણ માટે કલાક-દોઢ કલાકનું ખાસ ટ્રેડીંગ સત્ર યોજતા હોય છે, છતાં આજે બે કલાક સુધી ટેકનીકલ ખામીને કેમ સંપૂર્ણપણે ઉકેલી શકાઇ નહીં? અને શા માટે આટલા ફરકે સોદા છતાં એનએસઇએ પારદર્શક્તા નહીં બતાવી બ્રોકરોને અંધારામાં જ રાખીને કોઇ વ્યવસ્થિત સ્પષ્ટતા નહીં કરી?

એનએસઇ ફરી અલ્ગો ટ્રેડીંગનો ભોગ બની? અસ્વીકાર્ય મોટો સોદો ફંડો ફીટ કરી સિસ્ટમને જામ કરી દીધી?
ઉલ્લેખનીય છે કે તાજેતરમાં એનએસઇમાં નિફ્ટીમાં ત્રણ સેકન્ડમાં ૮૫૦ પોઇન્ટ જેટલી ઉથલપાથલ થઇ ગઇ હતી. અને અલ્ગો ટ્રેડીંગ પ્રણાલીનો ઉપયોગ કરીને કોઇ ફંડે મોટી ઉથલપાથલ મચાવીને તેજી-મંદીના અનેક ખેલંદાઓને ડબ્બામાં લઇ લીધા હતા. બજારના અમુક વર્તુળો આજે પણ એનએસઇ એફ એન્ડઓમાં ટ્રેડીંગ બંધ પડવા પાછળ અલ્ગો ટ્રેડીંગના ઉપયોગની જવાબદાર હોવાની શક્યતા બતાવી રહ્યો હતો. અલ્ગો ટ્રેડીંગમાં કોઇ ફંડે એફએન્ડઓમાં ખોટા અસાધારણ-અસ્વીકાર્ય ભાવે નિફ્ટી હોય કે સ્ટોક ફ્યુટર્સમાં જંગી સોદો ફીટ કર્યો હોય અને આ અસ્વીકાર્ય સોદો પ્રાઇસ ફ્રીઝમાં જતાં જાય ત્યાં નવો મોટો અસ્વીકાર્ય સોદો ફીટ કરીને એનએસઇની સિસ્ટમ લૂપ થઇ જાય – જામ થઇ જાય એવી પરિસ્થિતિ સર્જી દેવાઇ હોય, જેને ઉકેલતા લાંબો સમય લાગી જાય અને મોટા ભાવ ફરકે એ પછી સિસ્ટમમાં સોદા ગોઠવાઇ જાય. આમ એક શક્યતા એનએસઇ અલ્ગો ટ્રેડીંગનો ભોગ બની હોવાની અને એની પાછળ બ્રોકરો-ખેલંદાઓના સર્વર બંધ પડી જવાની પરિસ્થિતિએ આજે અનેકને મુંઝવણમાં મૂકી દીધા હોવાનું ચર્ચાઇ રહ્યું હતું.

Organisations taking part in the most ambitious expansion of the Internet so far will find out next week whether their applications for new domain names could have been viewed by competitors as a result of a software bug. The US non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which operates the Internet’s naming system, has been inviting organisations to apply to own and run their own domains, for example .apple, .nyc or .gay, instead of entrusting them to the operators of .com, .org and others.

But the system hit a problem earlier this month, just as a three-month window for applications was about to close, when a software glitch was discovered that allowed some applicants to see user or file names of other applicants. Organisations had been careful not to reveal the domain names they were applying for, fearing the knowledge they were applying for a generic domain like .food would encourage rivals to compete for that domain and drive up the price. “We’re very apologetic for the inconvenience to any applicants,” ICANN chief executive Rod Beckstrom told Reuters.

“Clearly, we’re going to take every step that we can to make sure that no one takes advantage of any information they may have obtained,” he said in a telephone interview, declining to detail exactly what steps could be taken.

The domain-name expansion programme had been opposed by some influential trademark owners who feared they would have to spend large sums of money simply to protect their brands online, despite protections built into the system.

Critics have also complained about conflicts of interest as some past and present ICANN board members stand to benefit financially from the programme. Peter Dengate Thrush, who was chairman of ICANN when it gave the go-ahead for the expansion, went on to become executive chairman of Top Level Domain Holdings, to acquire and operate the new domains. Beckstrom said he was confident the glitch in the system had been caused by a software bug rather than an attack. “We have absolutely no reason to believe it’s a hack. We have been able to find some of the instructions in the software that caused the issue,” he said. Beckstrom added that ICANN had captured every keystroke made by applicants.

Providing branded output has been one of the biggest priorities in marketing in the past two years or so, but are brands over-estimating how much content consumers want?

As brands continue to pour forth websites, magazines, ad-funded TV programmes and co-creation campaigns, many consumers are struggling to wade through the rising tide of content. Some brands are reporting that feedback indicates they should actually produce less content; the amount of material can be a distraction, and many consumers would prefer it if companies cut to the chase. The question marketers must answer is: how much branded content is too much?

Fashion house Burberry has taken a fascinating approach to the content conundrum with its Art of Trench site, where people can upload pictures of themselves wearing the label’s coats. The co-creation campaign has been widely praised in the fashion and marketing industries for its role in forming a community of fans. However, Burberry would not comment when asked whether the campaign has been a success in driving sales.

Measuring the impact of branded content on sales is difficult, and marketers tend to see content creation as part of general brand-building, rather than as a sales driver. It is something that is easy for marketers to misjudge; outlined below, then, are the seven sins of branded content.

1. KEEP IT SHORT
Keeping website cop y to the point is something brands often str uggle to achieve. Users tend to pr efer photos and videos , and shun long-text f orms. Fashion retailer Mywardrobe.com, which has used the services of former Grazia editor-in-chief Fiona McIntosh as a consultant, has ax ed much of the editorial on its site after r esearch found that customers had little inter est in reading it, vie wing it as a hindrance to pur chase . Sarah Curran, the site’s chief executive, says customers found the volume of editorial on the site the equi valent of having someone stand in fr ont of them at a department store and give a long explanation about the products, when they wanted simpl y to quickly find what they needed and pa y for it. After all, the site’s users often shop during a lunch break, for example, curtailing the time they ha ve to devote to content on the site pla Fur tf ther orm mor for e long , gro cop wing y. numbers ar e shopping via mobiles , which are an unsuitable . “They are already surrounded by editorial from their favourite fashion editors and blogs (that inspires them to shop),” adds Cur ran. “A lot of retailers out there are leading with editorial content, w hen the beauty of retail is that it is for people who want to just click and buy.” There are exceptions though. Curran adds that users do like editorial they cannot get elsewhere, such as profiles of up-and-coming f ashion designers.

2. USE MEDIA OPTIMALLY
Brands can be guilty of losing sight of their objectives by overloading their marketing with content. Hugh Fletcher, national digital manager for Audi, oversees the car brand’s online content. “As businesses we overcomplicate the content and think it has to be break-through and innovative every time,” he says. “But the most important thing is that it simply has to answer a need.” He argues that many web pages tend to be copy-heavy, when what is actually being sought are quick, easy-to-understand explanations.

A recent usability study for Audi revealed that many people wanted to know how to link their mobile phone to their car, but found the online explanations too long. “I don’t think that as a society we are losing the reading bug, but what we are reading has to be shorter and supplemented with other content,” adds Fletcher. “In the past, we explained in long copy how to link your phone to your car, but now we realise our users want copy and video.” Audi, he says, is lucky because it has cars that interest people and which they are prepared to go online to discuss, so there is a ready audience for branded content. “I believe it requires encouragement from brands for people to send in their content,” says Fletcher. He accepts, however, that it can be tough for many brands in sectors that don’t generate the levels of interest of the automotive or fashion industries to get consumers to contribute or participate in social-media commentary.

3 .PEOPLE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR BRAND VALUES
Eurostar launched its in-train magazine Metropolitan, in 2010. The publication is used as a brandbuilding tool, intended to boost customer loyalty, says Reuben Arnold, Eurostar’s head of commercial development. It features articles in English, French and Flemish, targeting visitors to London, Paris and Brussels, and aims to espouse the values of a lifestyle, newsstand magazine. Arnold contends that many airlines’ inflight magazines are boring because they are too promotional, with a focus on ‘selling’, and pay little heed to whether travellers are interested in the content.

“It is about being able to talk about the things your brand stands for, but you can’t ram those brand values down people’s throats,” he explains. “We do it subtly, using content to reinforce what we are as a brand. Rather than have a one-page piece saying we are environmentally conscious, we might instead feature a business in Paris that’s doing something interesting about sustainability. That is a far more powerful way of communicating our environmental values. Passengers probably don’t care much what Eurostar’s values are, but you can get them interested in the issues with the right editorial.”

4 . UNDERESTIMATING PUBLIC’S SCEPTICISM ABOUT BRANDS
Many people, especially in the UK, see brand messages as necessarily self-serving and dubious, so trust has to be fought for, warns David Murray, joint head of planning at ad agency RKCR/Y&R. “There is a natural suspicion of corporate propaganda prevalent in the UK, where we tend to be sceptical of the motivations of brands.

Branded content is seen as a bit grubby and desperate,” he adds. “Anything that whiffs of short-termism and opportunism is on shaky ground.” Murray cites Eurostar’s funding of the Shane Meadows film Somers Town as a good example of a subtle use of content that refrained from overtly promoting the brand.

Elsewhere, beer brand Beck’s sponsorship of independent art projects also carries a sense of altruism and aspiration, he argues; the branding is understated, and many people don’t think twice about the sponsorship at art festivals. Murray points, too, to Red Bull’s backing of extreme sports and motorsport and Levi’s use of music in its ads as powerful examples. Murray adds, however, that for everyday household brands, the brand story needs to be based on the values of the product, which can be hard to achieve through sponsorship, film or other content.

“A beer would struggle to build longform content around the subject of refreshment,” he says. Such brands need to construct an interesting story from the outset if they want to create intriguing content. Murray identifies Lynx as a brand that has achieved this by attaching itself to the ‘mating game’.

5. BELIEVING CO-CREATION IS FOR EVERYONE
If a brand is in a low-interest sector, it can scarcely hope to follow Nike, BMW or Burberry by enticing consumers into co-creation. Some packaged grocery brands have tried to imitate the success of the leaders in branded content, and been criticised by industry experts. One example was K i n g s m i l l ‘ s ‘Confessions’ c a m p a i g n , created by M&C Saatchi in 2009. It encouraged people to go online and own up to stealing others’ ‘delicious’ sandwiches.

The campaign was supported by a TV ad about a woman who stole a sandwich from her husband. It contained the line: “He is convinced he is going cuckoo.” Six months in, fewer than 20 ‘Confessions’ videos had been uploaded to YouTube; the campaign ended in late 2010.

Other questionable attempts include OXO’s drive to encourage people to upload home-made versions of the brand’s ads on YouTube. The executions received a few thousand views each on YouTube. A similar campaign by Dolmio asked people to make their own version of the ‘Papa Dolmio’ ad and upload it; most of the entries attracted fewer than 1000 views.

6. FOCUS ON A MEASURABLE RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Brands should refrain from putting too much emphasis on return on investment from the branded content they produce, says Audi’s Fletcher. “Working out return on investment from content is not linear,” he adds. “The way to think about whether it sells cars is to consider the way we use different channels to buy a car. You don’t just watch a TV ad and go out and buy one; you go online, read information and watch content. It gives you a better picture of the cars and brands.” Meanwhile, Arnold says Eurostar’s Metropolitan pays for itself through advertising, but adds: “It is not designed to make a sale; it is not just a fancy form of advertising. It gives us a voice to communicate with customers.”

7. TECHNOLOGY AS A SAVIOUR
Aaron Nicholls, business development director at customer publisher Redactive, says brands must think carefully about the technologies and platforms that they use. “Don’t use technology for its own sake, just to appear clever,” he explains. “It has to work. For our business-to-business clients and brands that don’t have vast budgets, it is about choosing what is effective.”

A company’s domain name is one of its most valuable assets, yet businesses do little to protect them from being hijacked. As DNS hijacking becomes more prevalent, IT leaders need to understand how they can protect their companies from the damages domain hijacking wreaks.

4 Ways to Protect Your Domain
Domains wouldn’t be nearly as easy to hijack if the companies that owned and registered them better protected them, says Harvey. Fortunately, IT managers can take a few simple steps that will go a long way toward preventing their companies’ domains from getting hijacked.
1. Pick an enterprise-class domain name registry. Some domain name companies target consumers and small business. Consequently, they don’t offer the security protections that corporate focused domain registrars provide.
“Companies often make a decision to go with the lowest-cost provider or with someone who’s offering a special,” says Mohan. “It may cost you $20, but the actual cost when your domain is hijacked is far greater.”

Adds Harvey, “When you’re running millions of dollars through your website, you should have another level of security.”
He notes that Coach.com was maintained at Network Solutions, a domain name registrar and hosting provider that, according to its website, targets small businesses. CIO.com tried to contact Network Solutions for this article; a PR person for the company said that corporate representatives couldn’t speak with CIO.com in time for its deadline.
Some specific security practices you should seek out in a domain name registrar:
Two-factor authentication or call-back authentication. Harvey says most hijacks his company has seen would have been prevented if the domain registrars had enhanced authentication in place.

The capability to place various locks on your domain. Harvey says to make sure registry locks and registrar locks are on. Mohan says businesses can have their actual domain name locked down. Some registrars also offer lock downs to protect against domain hijacking, he adds.

A registrar that automatically locks people out after entering, say, three invalid passwords and doesn’t send log-in credentials to any email address.
2. Keep up-to-date with security patches. Make sure you apply the latest security patches to your web servers so that hackers can’t exploit known software vulnerabilities. “If you don’t,” says Mohan, “you’re asking for trouble. In that case, it’s not a matter of if [your domain will get hijacked], it’s a matter of when,” as his client learned by not applying the latest MySQL patch.
3. Monitor where site traffic is going. If you see that traffic to your website is mysteriously going to a server in the Ukraine, as it was in the CheckFree case, you know something is wrong. Very wrong.
4. Request DNSSEC from your registrar. DNSSEC—which adds security extensions to your Domain Name System—won’t prevent domain name hijacking, but it’s the only technology known to guarantee that once a user clicks on a link to your website, he or she won’t be hijacked between the time they click and the time they reach your site, says Mohan.

On the night of Monday, January 23, the hacktivist group UGNazi hijacked Coach.com, the Internet domain name of luxury goods manufacturer Coach. For several hours, fashionistas who wanted to ogle Coach’s new Willis handbag on Coach.com or get a deal on its Penelope shoulder bag at Coachfactory.com were redirected to UGNazi’s cryptic website. Imagine the confusion—and frustration—the redirect must have caused in their coiffed little heads—not to mention the wear and tear on their manicured nails as they typed and retyped coach.com and coachfactory.com into their browser windows.

Coach’s website before hackers hijacked it on Monday, January 23, 2012.

Coach was lucky that its hackers’ motives were political rather than financial. UGNazi targeted Coach because the company, whose exclusive products are heavily counterfeited, supports the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). If UGNazi wanted to do more harm to Coach and its customers, it might have taken control of incoming email to Coach.com or redirected customers to a phishing website. UGNazi stated on its website, “We don’t steal users’ data, only here to make them aware [of the dangers SOPA, PIPA and ACTA pose to the Internet].”
A spokeswoman for Coach told CIO.com that the domain (or DNS) hijacking had a “de minimus impact on our business.”

Coach’s glossy, colorful, gorgeous website redirected to UGNazi’s dark, mysterious site for several hours on Monday, January 23, 2012.
Other companies that have had their domains hijacked haven’t been so lucky. In 2008, for example, when hackers hijacked CheckFree.com, they redirected traffic to a website in the Ukraine that downloaded malware on CheckFree customers’ computers. (The malware was designed to steal usernames and passwords.) CheckFree customers weren’t the only individuals vulnerable to the attack. Also susceptible were customers of small banks that had partnered with CheckFree to provide online bill payment services, since their sites directed to the checkfree.com domain, says Lars Harvey, CEO of Internet Identity, a security company based in Tacoma, Wash.
Domain hijacking is also serious because it puts sensitive corporate information at risk. It compromises all of the normal ways by which confidential information is shared by giving the hacker access to all of the company’s incoming email, says Ram Mohan, CTO of domain registrar Afilias.
Mohan says he knows of a company that had its domain hijacked for nearly five months without even knowing it. The company didn’t realize its domain had been taken over because the hackers were so subtle: Instead of redirecting visitors to another website, they sent users to the intended domain, but they “listened” to all the traffic, he says. During that time, all of the company’s website traffic and emails were routed through a set of servers that the hackers had set up.
“It was a major compromise,” says Mohan, who is also a member of ICANN’s board of directors and co-authored an article on domain hijacking for the organization in 2005. “That’s one of the worst cases because it’s disguised and hidden and nobody knows unless you notice where the address is going.”
Domain Hijacking: A Rising Threat
Harvey and Mohan say that domain hijacks are growing more prevalent because they’re so damaging, because so much commerce is moving online and because they can be so easy to execute.

“Criminals have figured out that the value of hijacking a [domain] name is far greater than many other forms [of attack],” says Mohan. “Hackers have now effectively done the online equivalent of identity theft. They’ve taken over an organization’s online identity and the organization’s brand is now solely in the hacker’s control.”

Mohan adds that his company has seen the number of domain hijackings triple since 2005. In fact, the rate at which domain hijacking has grown has outpaced the growth of domain names. In 2005, says Mohan, fewer than 100 million domain names populated the Internet. By the end of 2011, there were more than 220 million.

Despite the damage domain hijacking can unleash, many companies neglect to adequately protect their domains from attack, says Harvey. He suspects this may be due to the fact that domain registrations have traditionally been the responsibility of corporate legal departments rather than security departments.

Mohan adds that even when someone in an IT department has to purchase a domain name, they may decline all protections the provider has to offer either because they don’t want to spend extra money or because they don’t realize they need it.

“Companies need to treat domains as the valuable assets they are and the vulnerable assets they are,” says Harvey.

Some Domain Registrars Make for Easy Exploits

Hackers can employ a number of techniques to hijack a domain. One way is to enter through a company’s domain registrar. If the registrar has poor security and allows an invalid password to be entered any number of times, says Mohan, a hacker who knows the administrator’s name can “brute force” his way into the system by trying different user name and password combinations.

“Something secured by username and password is not that secure” adds Harvey. “Username and password can be socially engineered out of the person who had it with a spear phishing email. That happened at Comcast. For a determined bad guy, it’s pretty easy.”

Hackers can also try the old “forgot password” trick, says Mohan. To obtain a password, they can pretend they’re a registered user who doesn’t remember it. They click the “forgot password” link on the registrar’s website, and if the registrar allows them to enter an email address where the registrar can either send the password or reset instructions (as opposed to sending it to the email address it has on record or asking for greater authentication), a hacker can easily take control of a domain that way.

A third method is to exploit known security vulnerabilities of the servers on which the websites are running. Mohan says that just last week an Afilias client’s website was hijacked because the tech department forgot to upgrade to the latest MySQL patch. The hackers obtained the username and password for the domain name and got access to the entire site by exploiting a weakness in the client’s MySQL database.

more details on http://www.cio.com/article/699206/4_Ways_to_Prevent_Domain_Name_Hijacking_?page=3&taxonomyId=3089

For most people, searching the web is limited to just entering a bit of text into a search box. Hitesh Raj Bhagat & Karan Bajaj show you how to search faster, more accurately and have some fun while doing it to

Google

Launched in 1997, this search engine with a minimalist design has grown in a way that a few would have imagined. It is adopted by multiple browsers as the engine for their top search bar and is also used as a homepage by various browsers.

Tips, tricks and easter eggs
1. Search in Klingon — If you’re a Star Trek fan, head to http://google.com/intl/xx-klingon to view Google in Star Trek’s Klingon language.
2. Search as Elmer Fudd — Looney Tunes fans can view Google in the way Elmer Fudd speaks by vis iting http://google.com/intl/xx-elmer.
3. Play Pacman in Google — http://google.com/ pacman has a mini version of the game to play.
4. Experimental Google – http://google.com/experimental will show you options to enable keyboard shortcuts for a faster web search.

Yahoo

Although Yahoo has been in the search business since 1994, they have recently entered into a deal with Microsoft for their search engine to be powered by Bing. The transition is expected to be complete sometime during 2012.

Tips, tricks and easter eggs
1. Yahoo Yokel — Open www.yahoo.com (not the Yahoo India site) and click on the exclamation mark in the Yahoo logo on top to hear the Yahoo yokel.
2. Compose email from search box — In the search box type “!mail abc@xyz.com” (where abc@xyz.com is a complete email ID) to directly compose a mail with that email ID in the ‘to’ field (You need to be signed in to Yahoo for this to work).
3. Search within a website — Yahoo allows you to search within other sites from its search page. Just type “!sitename query” (for example !wiki Vegas).

Bing

Bing has been through its share of transitions right from when it started off as MSN Search in 1999. Over the years it was changed to Windows Live Search and Live Search before Microsoft finally settled on Bing in 2009.

Tips, tricks and easter eggs
1. Get the full version of Bing — The localised version of Bing’s search page shows a trimmed down version. Go to www.bing.com/worldwide.aspx and set your language to US-English to see the en tire interactive search page.
2. Get search results as RSS feeds — You can subscribe to search results as RSS feeds by adding “&format=rss” to the search results page URL.
3. Results for linked files — You can search a specific site for linked files by adding “contains:filetype” in your query (for eg site: bing.com contains:doc).

Search Engines for Specific Needs

For Music

Use Midomi to discover new music, listen to samples or just sing/hum into your microphone to find the name of a song you’ve heard before. They also offer free iOS & Android apps.
www.midomi.com

Deep Web Search

Dogpile combines most relevant search results of your query from Google, Yahoo & Bing to deliver results faster. You can even add it to your browser or get a toolbar.

www.dogpile.com

For Images

Bookmark PicSearch to search for images from all over the web. It offers easy ways to streamline your search plus image dimensions & file size are clearly mentioned upfront.

www.picsearch.com

Medicine Related

Probably the largest medical resource on the internet, WebMD can check on symptoms, offer food advice, tips on parenting and pregnancy and lists common names for drugs.

www.webmd.com

For Videos

Blinkx has over 35 million hours of video stored — all searchable, but you can also view categories, ask it to show you current news, entertain you or create a custom channel.

www.blinkx.com

Automatic Search

Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine; it’s a computational knowledge engine. Use it for conversions, stats, fact finding or just enter anything that you want to know about in the search box.

www.wolframalpha.com

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