Nigerians in Diaspora

Nigerians at home

Foreigners in Nigeria

Foreigners abroad

In  the  Internet  marketplace, Nigerians  in Diaspora will  like  to  shop  for  their  relatives  at home  while still abroad. Also  foreigners in Nigeria will like  to  shop  for  their relatives abroad  while still  in  Nigeria . Nigerians in Diaspora will like to shop in Nigerian marketplaces for their consumption, while foreigners in Nigeria will like to shop for themselves in foreign marketplaces. Lastly, foreigners abroad will like to shop in Nigerian marketplaces for foreigners in Nigeria. The  above classes of  shoppers  will require two distinct  marketplaces, one  floated  from Nigeria and  the other  floated  from abroad, and an  effective  Internet  payment  option to enable the exchange  of  goods  and  services  via the internet. The dominant Internet payment   options are PayPal and credit card.

eBay is an example of a  marketplace  floated  from outside Nigeria.  VTN serves some market places in  Nigeria as  a payment gateway, and it  is floated  from  Nigeria. eBay  and Amazon are  marketplaces  that  in  theory will allow one  to  buy and  sell from  anywhere  in  the  world, but  in practice you  will  find out  that  some  countries have  been blacklisted (Nigeria  inclusive because  of  non-delivery of products and chargeback). This means that these marketplaces have written off the Nigerian Internet space. As  a  country, we  are missing out on opportunities when  the  likes  of  Amazon, eBay, and  clickbank are shutting  their  doors  on  us . These are stakeholders on the Internet. It feels  good  when you order a  John Grisham novel from  Amazon, read  it in a  couple  of days and  place  it  back on  Amazon  to get half of its  selling  price. Last Christmas, the Internet market place recorded about $1 billion sales of petty goods in a single day.  Some of the  market places  like eBay own  their online banks, this  gives  them  power to  easily blacklist  a  country.  Online banks are critical in eCommerce. Online banks like PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Clickbank etc can handle payment efficiently in eCommerce.

Foreigners in Nigeria can effectively pay for goods and services abroad. The problem is   Nigerians in Diaspora and at home shopping   for   products   online. Since  Nigeria  is  a  consumer  nation, we  will buy  more  finished  goods from  foreign   marketplaces. But  foreigners  could  order  for  the  following products  from  Nigerian  marketplaces: Nigerian  home videos, Nigerian  art, books, raw  materials, etc, but   the  problem still  remains  a  reliable  payment option. Foreigners  will hardly  insert  their credit  card  numbers in  Nigerian  floated  websites  for  fear   of abuse, since those  numbers will  be automatically  collated  in a  database of  that  website  or  payment  gateway. On  the  other  side  of the  coin, PayPal   which is now  a  default  payment  option on  the Internet, will  not  accept  membership  directly  from   Nigeria; this  resulted from bitter payment abuses from  Nigerian   buyers. This is possible because from your IP address your location will be visible, and PayPal  will  not partner  with  Nigerian  banks. Even if  you  eventually  circumvent  PayPal’s  protective  barriers, merchant  sites  abroad  will  block  your  IP address  from  transacting  on their  sites, coupled with  the  fact  that  there are  other  features  that  could  give you  away as  a  Nigerian  buyer.

Some Nigerians  go as  far  as relying  on  friends abroad  to  open  PayPal  accounts  for  them  using  their  foreign  addresses, bank  accounts  and phone numbers, this  is  a  serious  security breach since  a third  party  is  involved . To mitigate this risk, some organized ies  for credit card purchases  on foreign  marketplaces. They do this by opening accounts with Nigerian bank.  You  give them  the link  to  your  purchase page, when  you  make  payment  to  them  in Nigeria  they then  help you make  PayPal  or  credit card payments

More so,  online companies like VTN have  partnered with  some  Nigerian  banks,  and  online  banks  like  Graphcard and Clickbank. When  you  deposit  money  in their  partner banks , you  can  export  the  money less commission  charges  into  VTN  and  from VTN to  Graphcard which  will  reflect in   dollars. Graphcard  has  a  facility to  generate VISA card  for  online transactions, grant  check  payments and  sell  virtual  US  phone numbers  and  physical address for  the  creation of  PayPal  accounts. This system works, but is cumbersome with multiple commission junctions at each point of transaction.

Softpay is  an  Internet payment  option in  Nigeria , it  is  a Nigeria’s version of  PayPal  with  a  gateway  to  PayPal where Nigerians  in  Diaspora can send  money to  their  folks  or  make  purchases on  Nigerian  websites that   use  softpay as  their payment gateway, but   very  few  businesses   in   Nigeria  own  websites, and those  that   own  websites   do  not  give room for  online transactions. Kalahari.com which recently disappeared is a Nigerian marketplace operated outside Nigeria, but Nigerians at home could not directly   list their merchandise on the site. Interswitch  is  the  payment  gateway  that  will allow Nigerians   at  home  to  shop  on  Kalahari.com, but  Interswitch  only  operates a debit  card, therefore  they need   to  operate like  PayPal because they  are integrated   with  all  banks  in Nigeria.

Other online marketplaces that feature classified ads in Nigeria are:

http://dealfish.com.ng/

http://www.tradestable.com.ng/lagos/

http://dealdey.com/

http://www.google.com.ng/africa/trader/home

http://bestbuynaija.com/

http://www.naijaindex.com/

http://www.mynaijalist.com/

http://www.goodluckadverts.com/

http://www.halanow.com/

http://www.mocality.com.ng/

http://notifynigeria.com/

http://dudomart.com

All these marketplace that  offer  free listing of  product don’t have  payment options  linked  to  them.

In this regard, how do we integrate Nigeria into the online marketplace? First we need to learn to transact and trust our online banks. As entrepreneurs, if we shun Internet payment options due to online scams, then we will be losing on lots of opportunities. When engaging on an online payment scenario, you have to strike a balance between ‘trust’ and ‘distrust’. When we develop good online banks with global ratings, then foreigners will patronize our Internet market places.   Online banks  in Nigeria have to  establish gateways with  foreign banks  to  allow websites abroad  use  local  payment  gateways as a  payment  option. We  want  a  situation  where all eateries  for instance will  accept  payment from  people outside  Nigeria and  delivery can  be made   to people  in  Nigeria.

Mobile Payment System is another payment option that cannot be ignored. By CBN definition and regulations, Mobile Payment System refers to the various components required to deliver person-to-person mobile payment to the banking and non-banking community. The telecom industry plays a critical role in mobile payment system. There are three major models for the implementation of mobile payments services namely;

1. Bank –Focused- Financial Institutions as Lead Initiator

This is a model where a bank delivers banking services to existing and prospective bank customers using the mobile phone as a delivery channel. A licensed deposit-taking financial institution can only deploy this model. Licensed deposit-taking financial institutions, under this model shall include, deposit money banks, microfinance banks and discount houses.

1. Bank Led – Financial Institution(s) and/or its Consortium as Lead Initiator

This is a model where a bank, or a consortium of banks, collaborating with other organizations, jointly seeks to deliver banking services leveraging on the mobile banking system. This model shall be applicable only in a scenario where there exists collaboration between a licensed deposit-taking financial institution(s) and an organization duly verified by the partner bank(s). Licensed deposit-taking financial institutions, under this model shall include, deposit money banks, microfinance banks and discount houses.

1. Non-Bank Led- A corporate organization as Lead Initiator

This model allows a corporate organization that has been duly approved by CBN to deliver mobile payments services to consumers. This model shall be applicable to any organization other than a licensed deposit money bank and telecommunication companies. Corporate organizations, under this model, include switching companies and payments system service providers.

In mobile payment system, money is moved electronically. E-Money is monetary value stored electronically in a centrally held electronic device. It shall possess the following characteristics to be classified as e-money:

• issued on receipt of funds
• accepted as a means of payment by parties other than the issuer
• its value shall be transferable

We  are now  in  the  era  of  IP version 6 with  lots  of  devices  moving on to the  internet and  surfing  independently. It means while you are asleep your  refrigerator  can  order  for milk online  by sending an email  to  your  supplier when  the milk falls  below a  certain level.  It  also  means  your  drug store  accounting  software  can independently  send  an email  to  a  pharmaceutical  company  to  restock  a  particular drug.

The Internet has actually provided us with gazillions of opportunities to transact. But  it  can  be  a  double  edged  sword  because  you can spend  a  long  time  on  the   Internet without achieving anything. That means we need a change of attitude toward the   use of the internet. You find people spending a whole night chatting on Facebook or yahoo messenger searching   for emotions online. It  is  not   good  when  you  find  people  permanently on  Facebook trading  pictures and  love  stories instead of trading  goods and  services to expands  our  markets. A  couple  of  examples  to  show  how  unproductive  people  can  be   on the  internet, try  to  initiate  a  conversation on  Facebook about the  business  strategies employed   by  Dangote and  you get  only three responses, but try  to initiate  a  conversation  about  Dangote’s  latest custom  built  Range  Rover jeep  and  you will  get  four  hundred  responses. Also, try  to initiate  a  critic about  Chimamanda’s  latest  publications  on  Facebook and  you  get  only five responses, but try   initiating  a  conversation about the  dark blue  jeans   Genevieve Nnaji wore during the last KORA award and you will  get  five  hundred responses. This is not a good internet attitude for Nigerians.

There are two kinds of economic people in the world, the patient and the impatient. The patient  people  possess  the  discipline of saving money towards future expenditures, while  the  impatient   people  lack  the  discipline  of  savings. The business  world  is  impatient  in  nature,  that  is  why   the  banking  institution comes in  the game to  help  channel money  from the  impatient   people   to  the  patient people  at  an  interest   charge  which  helps keep them   in  business. The  global  economy  is  dominated by  the  impatient  people who  have   only  their jobs as a  guarantee  for credits. Then,   comes  the   wave  of  technological  advancement   and  the kiss  of  automation that   gave  birth  to  the  credit   card  system  where purchase, authentication, and fund transfer can be  done   instantaneously.  In this regard you can   move with a card without carrying cash.

A  credit  card  company  or  a  credit  card  processor like  VISA, MasterCard, American Express etc, establishes  a  network  that  allows  different  banks  to plug into  their    network  and   communicate. Therefore, this is what happens. Your  bank issues  you  with  a  credit  card  displaying your  name, issuing bank, credit card number, expiry date, and  a  verification number. When  you enter a phone store  to buy a  Nokia  phone  that  cost  N10,000 for instance, if  the  store  accept  credit card like VISA. It  means   the  phone  store  has  an  account  with  a bank  called  an  acquirer  bank  that  is  plugged into  VISA network. They  are called  acquirer banks   because   they  acquire retailers   and  authorize  them   to  accept  credit  card payment  by  supplying  them  with  a  swiping machine called Point of  Sale (POS)  or  a  code on their website.

Now  this  is  what  happens, the    phone  store  takes  your  card  and  swipes  it into a  machine (POS). The  machine  sends  the   message   to  the  acquirer  bank, from the  acquirer   bank  to  VISA  network. Visa will  recognize the  card  owner  and  transmit  the  signal  to  the  issuer bank  where  the  buyer  is  maintaining an  account. The issuer bank checks its database in other to okay your transaction.

It is   important   to  realize  that  the issuer  bank  is   only  offering   you  a  credit   which   must  be   repaid   with  an  interest in  a   future  date.  Therefore  if  the   Nokia  phone  cost  N10,000,  there  will  be  a   2-3 percent  commission  deduction  on  the  N10,000  depending on  the processor which will be  shared between  the  issuer  bank, the acquirer bank  and the credit card  company in this  case  VISA. In the   commission  sharing  formula, the  issuer  bank  will  get  about   70  percent  of  the commission,  followed  by  the acquiring bank, and   the  least   percentage  goes to VISA.

Looking at the bigger picture, credit  card  companies  make tremendous  amounts of  money  as  they  handle millions  of credit  card  transactions from  different   banks  on  daily basis. The  70  percent  commission  charge  that  goes  to  the  issuer  bank  is  called  the  interchange  rate  which  is  set  by  the  credit   card  company. Therefore , the  issuer bank  will  transfer N10,000   less the  interchange  fee  to  VISA, VISA then  transfers the remaining  fund less its own  commission  to  the  acquirer bank which also credits  the phone retailers account less its  commission. It  seems  like  a  cumbersome  process,  but  all transactions  are  completed  within   few seconds.

Similarly, when  it  comes  to   making a   purchase  on  the  phone store’s website, the  processes  are  slightly  different. This  is because  the  phone   store  has  a  direct  contact  with  the credit  card  company which  places  a   gateway  on  the  phone store’s website. During  purchase on  the phone  retailer’s  website  the  buyer   is  expected   to choose a  payment   option for  any credit  card  company  on the   phone  retailer’s website. The buyer punches in his  VISA  number  into  a  box on  the retailer’s  website, the  gateway  runs  a  check and display  the  cost  of  the  phone  plus  a  commission charge  to  be deducted . The buyer okays   the deduction and the transaction is completed awaiting delivery or instant download. Both the buyer and   the retailer have an   online dash board they use to manage their accounts.

Some Nigerian  banks have  partnered  with  VISA to  issue debit  cards  for  online payment when  you  run a domiciliary account with such  banks. Banks   like United Bank of Africa could even issue you VISA card (Africard) without having an account with them. The issue is that not all websites and foreign online banks accept those cards.

Below are some popular payment gateways in Nigeria

3Line Card Management Ltd

End-to-end card management firm.e-Payment, eData and eIdentity solutions.

Address: 7a Idejo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Phone: +234 1 4627701, 4627702

Email: info@3lineng.com

Website: http://www.3lineng.com

Cards Technology Limited

Transaction Switching & Processing, Card Printing/Personalization, Cards & e-Commerce Training,

e-Payments Software Solutions, e-Business Consulting

Address: 24A Campbell Street, Lagos Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 2646353, 2646255; Fax: +234 1 2646385

Website: http://www.cardstechnology.com

eTranzact Nigeria Limited

Electronic payment solutions

Address: 25/27, AdeyemoAlakija Street, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 2701162; Fax: +234 1 2701163

Website: http://www.etranzact.com

Intermarc Consulting Limited

Prepayment Solution Platform, RFID and other Identification Solutions, Training and Capacity Building, Consulting Services, e-Fraud & Risk Management Solutions

Address: 2nd Floor, 161B Rafiu Taylor close,    Off Idejo Street, AdeolaOdeku, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Phone: +234 1 4367125, 4721160, 08037420002; Fax: +234 1 2623770

Website: http://www.intermarc-ng.com

InterSwitch Limited

Electronic payment solutions, ATM machines, debit cards etc

Address: Plot 1648C, Oko-Awo Close, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 4739101, 4616300, 4617822; Fax: +234 1 4616299

Website: http://www.interswitchng.com

Smart Switch Nigeria

Payment solutions company .fully integrated payment, switching, settlement and identification system

Address: 19 SakaTinubu Street,, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 2719972, 7612006; Fax: +234 1 2718343, 2719978

Website: http://www.smartswitch.com.ng

VTNetwork Limited

Suite S8 Febson Mall, Plot 2425 Herbert Macaulay Way

Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, Nigeria

https://www.virtualterminalnetwork.com

Tel:  07041911945

SoftPay.Org LTD

788 Finchley Road, London. NW11 7TJ

Nigeria Office: Plot 891 Onitsha crescent, Garki, Area 11, Abuja. FCT.

https://www.softpay.org

Another important part of Internet marketing is Affiliate Marketing; in Affiliate Marketing advertisers hire persons called affiliates to help them with marketing. Often, the advertiser and affiliate do not have a direct relationship. Rather, a company establishes an affiliate network, and the advertiser deals directly with the company instead of the affiliates.

Commission Junction is one of the largest companies that oversee an affiliate network. There are different ways to conduct affiliate marketing. The affiliate bids on keywords related to an advertiser’s product and develop the language for an impression. To a consumer, the impression appears to be direct links to an advertiser’s website. When a user clicks on that affiliate’s impression, the user is seamlessly taken through a number of websites before reaching the advertiser’s website.

This process enables Commission Junction to determine which affiliate generated the ‘click,’ so that commissions can be properly paid. In the other way, an affiliate establishes its own website. When a consumer clicks on an impression, the consumer is taken to the affiliate’s website, which contains links to an advertiser’s website for product purchases. At times, an affiliate’s website will contain advertisements from competing companies to present the consumer with different choices.

Advertisers who use the Commission Junction network enter into a Commission Junction Access Advertiser Service Agreement (the “CJ Advertiser Agreement”). The agreement authorizes the use of the advertiser’s web links, trademarks, and service marks for the purpose of promoting the advertiser.

These rights are then sub-licensed to affiliates.  The agreement also authorizes advertisers to terminate an affiliate who fails to comply with an advertiser’s program details or who breaches an advertiser’s intellectual property rights. The termination only precludes the affiliate from working on the advertiser’s account. It does not terminate the affiliate from the Commission Junction network.

The CJ Advertiser Agreement further specifies that the parties to the agreement shall be independent contractors and nothing in the business dealings shall be construed to make them joint ventures or partners with each other.

In turn, affiliates who join the Commission Junction network enter into a Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement (the “CJ Affiliate Agreement”). Under this agreement, the affiliate agrees to abide by an advertiser’s program details. It agrees that none of its promotional materials will contain objectionable content.

The affiliate further warrants that its website will not infringe another’s rights under any promotional methods. The affiliate also agrees that it shall remain solely responsible for any and all Web sites owned and/or operated by [it] and all of [its] promotional methods.

After positioning your website as stated above, the following Google tools can enhance your business online:

Google AdSense

The Google AdSense program enables websites in the Google Network of content sites to automatically serve text and image ads that are precisely targeted to site content – so well matched, in fact, that readers actually find them useful. Targeting can be based on search results or on web content. The revenue generated from these ads is shared with partner publishers. Most of the websites that make up the Google Network sign up online, and some are directed to sites with significant traffic, under agreements that vary in duration. For network members, Google offers:

• AdSense for search. This enables websites of any size to generate additional revenue by serving relevant AdWords ads targeted to search results.

• AdSense for content. This program enables website publishers to generate revenue from advertising by serving relevant AdWords ads targeted to web content. Automated technology analyzes the meaning of web content and serves relevant advertising. AdSense for content can help websites offset publishing costs or even become a primary revenue stream. There is no charge for websites to participate in this program. Using automated sign-up process; web sites can quickly display AdWords ads on their site. Majority of the revenues generated from clickthroughs are shared on these ads with Google network members that display the ads.

Google AdWords as stated above is a global advertising program that enables advertisers to reach the people who are interested in their products or services. Advertisers use automated tools, often with little or no assistance from Google, to create ads, place bids to serve their ads, select the types of sites where they would like their ads to appear, and set daily spending budgets. AdWords features an automated, low-cost online signup process that enables advertisers to implement campaigns that can go live in 15 minutes or less.

AdWords ranks ads for display in one of two ways: either by CPM (Cost Per Thousand) or a by combination of the maximum cost per click (CPC), which is set by the advertiser, together with clickthrough rates and other factors used to determine the relevance of the ads. This process favors the ads that are most relevant to users, improving the experience for both the person looking for information and the advertiser looking for interested customers. AdWords has many features that make it easy to set up and manage ad campaigns for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Google Analytics

This tool is Free to all advertisers, publishers, and site owners, Google Analytics helps you identify the keywords, ads, referrals, and campaigns that contribute the most to your bottom line. Recently redesigned, the program can reveal even more about where visitors come from and how they interact with your site. Using Google Analytics can lead to better ads, strengthened marketing initiatives, and websites that convert more effectively.

In conclusion, I can categorically say that Internet marketing is no longer an option for a commercial organization. Whoever  is not advertising  on  the Internet  is actually  living  in  the  past, because  Internet advert can  be  location  specific. It is too cheap and effective to be ignored. A Nike sneaker shoe of about $100 that was advertised on Facebook during the world cup got close to 10 million ‘clicks’. Nike needed only 5 % of those clicks (though they got more) to make $50 million. This  is  just  one  product, then tell me  why Nike won’t spend $10 million annually  to advertise with Google. High end companies ranking  on Google’s top 10 sponsored  links   like AT&T, eBay etc spend  close to $3 million  monthly  on  Google  ads alone, and  those ads translate  into  profit.  Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=jc%20penny&st=cse

We  now  have  a  new  economy, institutions  and  products  are fast adapting to  the  new  economy. In this 21st century, because  of  the  flexibility  of  the  institutions  in  our  markets, it  is  very  difficult  for  the intrinsic  value  of  a product  to project its market  value. Value as we know is divided into two, the brand value and the image value. The brand value  or  the intrinsic  value is  actually   what  the  product can offer, and  the image value  is what  you tell the  market  the product  can  offer. In this  modern  technological age, it  is  the  Internet  that can  project  the  image value   of  a  product to the  market. Remember if you are not advertising on the Internet, it means your marketing strategy is outdated

Internet Marketing is a growing marketing technique and helps business owners to grow their businesses in an effective way. These days many Internet marketing techniques are available which open a new door for business on the Internet. Without advertisement, a company cannot stand competition in this challenging modern market, and hence prepares a ground for the disappearance of its product.

According to a YouTube statistics, 200 billion emails are sent through the Internet every day and 90 % are spams (illegal advertisements). Facebook in December 2006 had 12 million users, but now it has 500 million.

Facebook + YouTube + MySpace get 250 million unique visitors each month, and none of these site existed more than 6 years ago. Also, in the last 5 years online newspaper readers grew by about 30 million as there  was  a  cut  of about 7 million newspaper circulation over  the  last 25  years.

The number of  videos that was uploaded on YouTube  in the  last  two  months alone exceeded what ABC + CBS+ NBC  news  agencies combined had  been  airing  since  1948. eBay gets about 500, 000 listed products  each  day, and the  owner of  Amazon sold  his  first  book in 1995, by now he has  sold items  worth about $5 trillion (source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8). All these are trying  to  tell us that  if  you are not  advertising  online, you better have a  rethink, because  the  Internet has  altered  every  known  business theory.

In this era of Internet, the craze of Internet marketing is continuously growing. In current business scenario every business wants to do the Internet marketing. The number of people using the Internet keeps growing day by day, since the Internet has become the major choice for searching, shopping, selling, and advertisement. Therefore only having a website and doing online business is not enough in current dynamic market.

The website must be having latest features in your industry, putting the right  keywords in text, writing more interesting web content, and appealing light graphics so visitors can find your website a valuable one. Your website should be easily visible on search results; this means that you should have a search engine friendly website. In addition, your website should have other Internet marketing scope inbuilt like email subscription mechanism features, well connected with social Media websites etc.

Internet Marketing contains a vast range of marketing techniques including Paid Search, Organic Search engine optimization, Email marketing, affiliate marketing, Social Media marketing, banner advertising, viral marketing etc. Here I elaborate some of Internet marketing techniques which help business owner to get more sales/leads:

Paid Search:

One of the major traffic sources on the Internet is search engine. The job of a search engine is to find web pages that are interesting to people, and it does that job by using a lot of robots with models about what’s interesting. Using paid search program you can get traffic from search engines with many of your industry related keywords instantly from your targeted geographical area. Companies battle to maintain No. 1 on sponsored links because about 34 percent of Google’s traffic goes to the No. 1 result, about twice that percentage goes to No. 2. Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter are major paid search program today.

Organic SEO

This is another effective Internet marketing technique which helps to get search engine traffic in low cost. If your website is well optimized for Search engines, your website will show on Search engine ranking pages for free. There are no geographical limitations and no time limit. In addition, you need to pay for every click on your link. Therefore, you need to optimize your website for effective search engines appearance.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is emerging trends of Internet marketing. Today Social media websites are getting huge traffic towards their website. Using Social media website you can generate targeted traffic towards your website and make more sales.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another Internet marketing technique to retain your old customer and get new customer as well. You can keep posted your existing customer about newly added products and service, discounts, bonus etc and encourage them to buy your product /services.

Internet marketing helps business owners to increase their business in a very low cost. That is why Internet marketing is growing in leap and bound. Therefore start Internet marketing for your business as soon as possible.

Google is one of the most important and cost effective marketing tool online, with about one billion queries each day. The first thing you need to do is to inform Google search engines on the web about your website or your products, this can be done manually or automatically by adding your website to the search engine. The next important thing to do is to regularly get links pointing to your websites. Let your site be linked to popular sites like forums, article databases, online directories, social networking sites, and e-groups.

The content of your website should have targeted keywords that are highly optimized by the search engines. Highly optimized keywords are those keywords that the search engines can quickly add to their index. You will have to consider the words or phrases people are likely to type into the search engines in other to see your business. This can be done by doing keyword research. Ensure you add fresh contents containing those keywords to your site regularly.

Google is an Internet company that owns and operates one of the world’s most utilized Internet search engines. A search engine is a computer program that allows web users to search the World Wide Web for websites containing particular content.

When a search term is entered, the search engine compares the term against its databases and applies a formula or algorithm to produce a search-results page that lists the websites that may relate to the user’s search terms. There are two different kinds of searches on search engines — informational and commercial. If you search for ‘kidney problem’, this is an informational search. But when you search for ‘low price restaurants’, then this is a commercial search.

This means that there is a distinction between the money side of search engines from the knowledge search side. The former has zero influence on the latter. The company with the biggest Search Engine Optimization budget always ranks the highest. Google’s search engine has a “natural or organic system that lists results in order of objective relevance to the search terms input into the search engine, with the most relevant websites appearing near the top of the web page. In addition, the search-results page lists paid advertisements above or to the right of the organic search results. These paid advertisements are referred to as sponsored links.

Google’s AdWords program is the keyword-triggered advertising program that generates the Sponsored Links section on the search-results screen. Advertisers bid on certain words or phrases, known as “keywords. When a user’s search term matches an advertiser’s keyword, a sponsored link appears for that advertiser. The order and location of the sponsored link depends on the amount of bid for the keyword and the quality of the advertisement.

Consequently, the advertiser does not pay to be listed in a specific order on the search-results page. When bidding on a keyword, an advertiser may specify whether keywords should be applied as a broad match, phrase match, exact match, or negative match. When an advertiser designates a keyword as a broad match, its sponsored link will appear anytime, a search is conducted for that keyword, its plural forms, its synonyms, or phrases similar to the word.

When an advertiser designates a keyword as a phrase match, its sponsored link will appear when a user searches for a particular phrase, even if the user includes other terms before or after the phrase. When an advertiser designates a keyword as an exact match, then its sponsored link will appear only when the exact phrase bid on is searched on Google. In contrast, when an advertiser designates a keyword as a negative match, the advertiser ensures[s] that its link [will] not appear when certain terms are searched.

For instance, a phone seller may specify that its link should not appear when the phrase “phone lists” is entered. This means if a keyword generates a sponsored link, but the Internet user does not click on that link, the advertiser does not pay for its link appearing on the search-results page.

The appearance of an advertiser’s link on a user’s computer is called an impression. An advertiser selects the language used in the impressions it generates. The language can be important in capturing a user’s attention so the user will click on the link to an advertiser’s website. An advertiser can gauge the success of an impression by calculating how many impressions occur in comparison to the number of clicks. It is undisputed that many more impressions occur than clicks. It also is undisputed that not every click results in a sale. When a click does result in a sale, it is called a conversion.

The nice part about doing the Cisco certification is that the information from there can be applied to so many other certifications. Even though it’s a vendor specific cert, the skills you gain will serve you well in thousands of situations. CCNA training allows you the ability for installations and operation of LAN, WAN, and dialup access services for small networks with 100 nodes or less.

The CCNA course includes, but not limited to use the different networking protocols such as Ethernet, Access Lists, Serial, IP, IGRP, Frame Relay, IP RIP, and VLANs. Cisco’s CCNA Prep Center Pilot offers simulations and sample questions, besides the e-learning modules and laboratories. Computer training includes also valuable tips from CCNA professionals, in addition to expert advice, and encouragement through CCNA certification success stories.

 CCNA training does not require any prerequisite and makes available many other resources to help students with the preparation of their CCNA certification exams. CCNA course, exams and recommended training include the Introduction to Cisco Networking Technologies (INTRO), the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices (ICND) or both. CCNA training and additional training, probably cover most of your career path expectations.

However, Cisco’s CCNA certifications are valid for 3 years, so it is necessary for additional computer training to re-certify. This is achieved by either passing the current CCNA exam at the moment of the original certification’s expiration, passing the ICND exam, passing the 642 professional levels. Presently, Cisco has introduced CCNA voice, CCNP voice, CCIE voice with also the security and wireless elements to the certification so as to encourage specialization.

After CCNA training your can also re-certify by passing the Cisco Qualified Specialist exam, excluding the Sales Specialist exams, or passing a CCIE written exam, which is a re-certify form valid for individual who had a CCNA certification starting from October 1, 2004. Cisco CCNA online training certification program, offers the same value, knowledge and skill earned on a traditional CCNA course, and it is a nationally recognized certification. With computer training online, you will gain knowledge of switched LAN Emulation networks, which are made up of Cisco original equipment. CCNA training online focuses the coverage of Cisco router configuration procedures, mapped to exam objectives in order to prepare you for Cisco Exam 640-801, in partnership with major universities and colleges offering as well CCNA certification.

I was privileged to under study in a Cisco academy in Zaria(Nigeria) together with some other medical doctors. These days as the voice technology is gaining ground , you can now obtain CCNA voice, CCNP voice or CCIE voice specializing in call centre set and stuffs like IP telephony. The Computer training program online consists of 2 sections; “Introduction to Network Engineering”, allowing the student to understand the world of network engineering, learning fundamental facts of data network theory and current technologies making the Internet tick.

The second section of the online CCNA course, “Practical Network Engineering”, is an approach to some of the most powerful networking technologies, involving extensive work on switches, Cisco routers, and firewalls in a simulated network environment, preparing students to earn the CCNA certification.

The CCNA is a starting point to do the more advanced Cisco courses such as CCNP (more advanced networking), CCSP (security, i.e. firewalls, VPNs, IDS, etc.), and then you get things like VoIP.

The CCNP exam is highly regarded and consists of 4 (if I remember correctly) exams, covering switching, routing, support and remote access, plus a few more topics. After getting your CCNA then you have to decide whether to major in design, implementation routing and switching which is the CCNP or major in security which is heavily theoretical and analytical like CCSP which I will discuss later or CCVP(voice).

 CCNP new modules will comprise of : 642-901 BSCI: Building Scalable Cisco Inter-networks ISR routers, updates to Cisco IOS? Software 12.4 routing protocol, routing authentication security, multicast routing, IPv6 642-812 BCMSN Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks High availability, new wireless LAN fundamentals for Airspace thin-client, voice, and Cisco IOS switch security 642-825 ISCW Implementing Secure Converged Wide-Area Networks Cable and DSL broadband access, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)/MPLS VPN fundamentals Cisco IOS Security featuring S2S VPN (IPsec and generic routing encapsulation/IPsec [GRE/IPSEC]), Cisco Easy VPN, Cisco IOS Firewall, Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), Cisco AutoSecure, Role-Based CLI Access, and Cisco Security Device Manager (SDM) 642-845 ONT Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks Voice over IP (VoIP) fundamentals, techniques to address VoIP challenges, concepts and implementation methods for quality of service (QoS), wireless security standards, and Cisco wireless LAN (WLAN) networks Note combining a CCNP and an MSCE will make you a hot cake in the field of IT.

Start your CCNA then follow it up with the MCSE tracks one after the other and then round up with a CCNP. At risk of sounding arrogant, I believe CCIE (Cisco Certified Network Executive) is the mother of all certifications (You know you can’t go wrong with Cisco in networking).

And currently there are just barely over 13000 CCIE holders in the world. CCIE is very expensive and it is only given in selected locations. You pay $300 for the test and $1250 per lab for the lab test which is an 8 hours test .

You also needs a certain amount of experience to take the test and the test is multiple choice and hands on. What they do with the hands on, apparently, is to put you in a room with a bunch of devices and give you a scenario.

You are then supposed to create the network based on this scenario. When you are about half way through, they send you out of the room and then mess up what you have done and you are now supposed to troubleshoot the problem and fix it.

 Also, the certification is only valid for two years. When you are preparing for your CCIE, your neighbors will think you have gone crazy, just don’t let that bother you as you will be talking to yourself a lot. Even your wife may start suspecting something; just hold on- till you get there.

Once again, before taking any certification adventures make sure you are equipped with your COMPTIA A+ and N+ they are very easy to pass, from there anything can happen.

The CCNA tracks are very demanding and practical oriented. When the Cisco academy took off in ABU Zaria a lot of people fought for the forms including some few cute ladies in my batch studying drama. They were under the mistaken impression that since Cisco is a hot cake IT certification, Cisco certified personnel we be working in well ironed presidential suites wearing garish looking neck ties. But to their surprise we were always carrying cables, pliers, LAN tester and dusty patch panels around, and after our first module, two third of the class ran away. When you are working in an open standing switch or an open Linux box you use for routing, your neck tie could get trapped in a rolling fan.

 When I started working with my organization, I had the opportunity of designing and implementing a multi-floor LAN. At the site me and my crew were working parallel with welders, practitioners and some carpenters, you could hardly differentiate us, except if you look closely to figure out my original made washout Armani jeans or my Bruno Mali made shoes or probably if I am answering my black berry from time to time.

This is true of careers as well, including yours. Where do you want your IT career to be in one year? Do you want to have earned several IT certifications in that time, therefore advancing your IT career, or do you want to be in the exact same place you are today? The only person who can make this decision is you. And I can speak from experience that when you begin putting your career into motion – the possibilities are unlimited. But you have to get started – today.

Before going around asking experts on what IT career path to take or what IT certification to pursue, first the only person you should ask that question of is yourself. Whether you want to start an IT career or jumpstart your current one, make the decision to move forward in your career – and then follow through on that decision. Because the goal of getting a job is less important than the goal of getting a job that you like. You have to have passion for what whatever you are doing if not you won’t do it very well, so try to get a job that you like, pay the whole of your attention on it and then allow nature to carry you along its path.

Other than the obvious passion for computers and technology, salary and job growth potential are excellent reasons to consider computer careers. Diversity of computer skills adds to marketability in the workforce. A lawyer that is a Microsoft Certified Professional is having an added value internationally than a lawyer without an MCP. Many employers do not have time to train workers on basic skills and expect employees to be more than familiar with computers. If you have an aptitude or interest in math, science or art, and have strong problem solving and analytical skills you are a perfect candidate for a computer related career. Computer careers can be solitary work, but often require good communication skills. Systems administrators must know how to relay information to clients and coworkers in order to maintain order and efficiency in the system.

Computer education is available in many varieties; from certifications, certificate programs, associate’s degree programs, and bachelor’s and even master’s degree programs. Many professionals in Nigeria receive degrees in computer science and related fields, but still cannot produce in the local and international IT markets therefore, they are required to have specific certifications (for example MCSE-Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, CCNA or MCSA-Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) and some hands on experience to fit in. In fact, it is better to have a good hand on experience without having the certifications than having the certifications without knowing the equipments. 

The acceptance of computers into business has created a great demand for IT professionals. Almost every industry has a need for IT pros for marketing, client retention and daily operations. Industries such as banking, insurance, hospitals and utilities absolutely rely on them. The information age has created a wealth of career opportunities for computer specialists, elevating their status as knowledgeable professionals and compensating them well financially. If you’re a computer specialist, or would like to become one, a career in the IT professions can be obtained in less than a year of study with the current spring of various IT certifications.

A lot   of  people these days are crazy about get IT certifications attached  to their  foundation degrees or   other basic  knowledge because certification credentials will definitely enhance their knowledge and also, the IT industry are now requiring those  certifications as  a proof   of  sound  understanding  of IT principles . There are over 400 certifications out there for you among which are:

A+ 2003, CCDA, CCNA voice, CCNA security, CCNP voice, CCNP security, CCIE, CEH, CSSP, CISSP Linux+, LPIC2 Linux Junior Level, LCPI2 Linux Intermediate Level, Master CIW Administrator, Master CIW i-Accelerate, MCNE, MCSA 2000, MCSA 2003, MCSE 2000,MCSE 2003, NetWare 5 CNE, NetWare 6 CNE, Network+, RHCE, RHCT,SCE, SCM,SCP, Security+,  Server+, Solaris 8 SCNA, Solaris 9 SCNA, Solaris 9 Security TICSA and a host of others, but the   issue is  what certification do you start ? And after then what to do next?

There are various schools of thoughts regarding how   to go about your IT certifications, and one can daisy-chain these schools to be able to bring out a suiting profile of certifications. Do you want to be a programmer, a network engineer, a security advisor, an animator, a graphic artist, system engineer, a hardware engineer, a database administrator, a movie / picture editor or a statistical analyst?

Firstly, I would recommend that you first consider your foundation degree or any basic know-how you have acquired and see what IT skill can enhance it, then you certify on that IT course. If you are a  structural engineer, an architect, a builder, surveyor or a planner, before thinking of any IT certification you have  to think of obtaining a certification on AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max or some sort of  animation certifications. This will definitely add speed, color and effects to your designs because the era of paper and pencil design has been long forgotten.

Unfortunately, even the educators teaching these courses in Nigerian universities don’t understand these technologies not to talk of the transferring it to the students. Come to think of this, an architect who is good in animations in 3D Studio Max or similar packages can fit in the advertisement industry or the fast growing Nollywood. These sectors relies a lot on animations and pay good money them. 

Also, if you are an economist, or in the administrative discipline or any related discipline, obtaining a certification in the statistical packages  or Econometric View will do you a lot of good as your will be involved in a lot of predictions from past or real-time data and running data a lot.

Despite the reality of the above school of thought, people now venture more and more into how the computer functions like networking and system support as computers have now flooded every nook and cranny of the world and they need support. Popular certifications in this section include MCSE, CCNA CCIE and a host of others.

The idea is based on the fact that people make projections as regards to the sectors where investment are moving to, so they prepare themselves through certifications to exploit those sectors in future, and IT is the place to go.

Also, if you are a trained anthropologist or archeologist and the society doesn’t need your service for now, you can retrain in less than a year in IT certifications to transform into a hot cake labor.

I am a trained economist but I am working as a network support engineer in the organization  which I work, always carrying cables, crimpers and laptops to test routers and  switches – yeah, I feel happy even though it makes me  the dirtiest personnel among  my colleagues. So, majority in IT requires starting with A+ and N+ then  any other thing can  happen.

In addition, it contained too many features that I found insignificant to basic web browsing. Sometimes I use Safari on the Mac and see no problems with it. I especially love its Private Browsing feature that can easily be enabled. Let  me  see  whether  I  can  do  some  numeric  listings  below:

1. Web form texts are reserved automatically if they are not passwords- and it is not just the login names, the whole forms are saved. For the most part, this is very useful to me. However, this can indeed include security/privacy risks if not handled properly. The good thing here is that all private data can be cleared with a click of a button, or chosen to auto clear once the browser is closed.

2. Built-in auto correction/dictionary while you type-a very important feature for me.

3. The Foxmarks add-on seamlessly synchronizes my bookmarks on machines I use.

4. The PlainOldFavorites add-on is a very cool feature in IE.

5. NoScript: This Firefox staple disables active content from sites you do not trust. Unless you tell NoScript to trust a given site or domain, it prevents JavaScript, Java, and other executable content from running. You can still use NoScript either way. It is a great security addition to Firefox, but it can block content, such as the videos and polls on some sites, unless configured properly.

6. Morning Coffee: This is for those of us who start nearly every day opening the same group of Web sites- whether cruising through favorite news sites or tapping into an array of Web-based admin tools. This extension allows you to create a group of sites that will open- each in its own tab – with the click of a button. No more digging through bookmarks or clicking for each new tab and link! You can even set up sites to open only on certain days of the week. Now, once you have all of those tabs open, you might appreciate a way to keep them organized.

7. Colorful Tabs: This add-on gives each open tab a different color, making it easier to distinguish between them. You can color-code tabs randomly or according to URL. You can also set tabs to fade. You can even set a background image for tabs.

8. Faster fox: This handy add-on lets you customize a variety of Firefox configuration settings, including simultaneous connections, pipelining, and link prefetching through a graphical interface. Now before you rush out and download Fasterfox from Mozilla.org, you should know a few things.

9. Page Saver: This utility lets you capture an image of a Web page- even if the page extends past the bottom of the screen. Now, this is a handy add-on for Firefox users running Mac OS Ten. Windows users can use tools like SnagIt to capture long Web pages too.

Consider this too:

 1. with  the  issue  of  compatibility  I  mentioned  earlier, I think IE is still more compatible on many websites than Firefox. I have seen javascripts that simply do not work in Firefox.

2. IE has always started faster than Firefox on my machines. It still does. However, IE7 is a bit heavier than IE6 and (I think) Firefox 3 is a bit quicker than Firefox 2 and the race has not ended yet.

3. The zooming feature in IE7 is awesome.

4. The quick tabs button shows web page thumbnails-a brilliant idea!

I tried Opera a long time ago. It was ok. Avant is quick. I also tried one called “Enigma” browser and Crazy browser. Nothing special other than that they are browsers built for speed and had good memory optimization- good for slow machines.

Comparing Chrome to IE 8, IE 8 uses multiple, discrete processes to isolate and protect each tab’s contents. However, while Chrome takes a purist approach and literally launches a new process with each opened tab, IE 8 uses more of a hybrid model: It creates multiple instances of the iexplore.exe process but does not specifically assign each tab to its own instance.

Thus, a look at Task Manager under Windows will show an equal or greater number of Chrome instances than running tabs, whereas IE 8 will generate a fewer number of instances – for example, six copies of iexplore.exe to support 10 discrete tabs – and share them among the running tabs.

This new development – browsers chewing up more memory than their host OS –At the time, I was shocked by how bloated IE 8 had become, consuming 332MB of RAM to render a simple 10-site/10-tab browsing scenario. Google Chrome’s UI is Spartan compared to IE 8’s and has no dedicated Search box, instead combining search and auto-complete suggestions as part of a single, unified address superbox.

New tabs open to reveal thumbnail views of frequently visited sites (IE 8 offers a similar view but focuses on recently closed tabs) and can be dragged into, out of, and between Chrome windows, allowing you to isolate, combine, and reorganize tabs on the fly (something you really need to experience firsthand to appreciate). In a sign of the times, Chrome features its own take on “porn mode” (dubbed Incognito), where cookies and history data are deleted as soon as the tab is closed.

 IE 8 adds a host of new capabilities, like Web Slices. These are sections of a web page that are isolated and reproduced in a separate, updatable mini window. Other IE features are Accelerators, which are context menu options that activate common web services such as dictionary lookup or translation.

Another IE feature InPrivate Browsing, a.k.a “porn mode,” lets you surf without leaving behind a browser or search history, cookies, temporary files, and other evidence of where you’ve been. Microsoft has also revamped the address bar to provide better auto-complete suggestions and expanded the dedicated Search field to include images and other rich media as part of the drop-down results set. Well,   choosing a browser is all about you; Sleep on the side that you like.

A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web.

The word “browser” seems to have originated prior to the Web as a generic term for user interfaces that let you browse (navigate through and read) text files online.

Technically, a Web browser is a client program that uses HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to make requests of Web servers throughout the Internet on behalf of the browser user.

Most browsers support e-mail and the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) but a Web browser is not required for those Internet protocols and more specialized client programs are more popular. We have many browsers like Opera, Safari, netscape, Mozilla, Avante, Chrome and the rivalry continues.

Internet Explorer seems to be taking the lead partly due to its default installation with Windows operating systems but how do you truly know a user likes the browser they have selected purely for its features and performance and not for its name?

A user would use various browsers not knowing which one they were using and they would simply all look the same. Then you can truly see if the user likes the browser for its features and not lead to like it for its name.

Granted, this would be a little difficult as the look and feel has a lot to do with the selection of a browser. Being that IE has a larger market share, most of the users connect with IE6 and 7, but what surprised me was that there was actually a pretty large number of users who use Firefox too (~20% or so).

The industry the client services is not aimed strictly at technical people either.

From experience, I have found that with the lion’s share of the user base on the Internet, almost every site I have tried displays 100% correctly in IE. When you go to other ‘compatible’ browsers you start to find, to a greater or lesser extent, incompatibility.

I know many say IE is insecure compared to xyz browser. It seems to me that security is much more about how you surf and whether you have the right precautions/tools in place and whether your OS is patched and properly configured than any inherent weakness or strength in your chosen browser.

At the other side of the coin, Firefox demonstrated to me some good features — if I accidentally close a tab, I can go to History > Recently Closed Tabs and easily recover the tab. With the tough competition between browsers in terms of features, ease of use, etc, I have to applaud Firefox for continuing to please me and never failing to impress me with its add-ons.

Some specific features that I like about Firefox is that it allows you to clear your cache easily, blocks pop ups by default, has tabbed browsing capabilities, and has the ability to restore your open Firefox windows after recovering from a crash.

Yes, some of the features are now included in all browsers, but Firefox was among the first (if not the first) browser to have these features, everyone else copied.

Firefox would also allow you to hide all of the browser’s menus including the address bar, bookmarks bar, File, Edit, etc, menus. Initially, when Firefox was losing to Slim Browser -yes, a browser that you may have never heard of- it was the Hide Menu Bar add-on that saved Firefox. Another add-cool feature of Firefox is IE Tabs.

The add-on will essentially “emulate” an IE environment in a Firefox tab, allowing you to open sites that are incompatible with Firefox, in Firefox. With firefox you will be able to start several tabs automatically as a ‘homepage’ and you could have a separate download helper box: It’s great to have downloads pop out into a separate window that retains a list so you can easily go back and see what you did and find the files. It must be age, but I periodically find myself searching for something I downloaded but cannot find where it got to.

Even within the IE family, I do prefer IE6 to IE7, and find it very useful at work when I need to Run As. This feature in IE7 does not really work, although it appears to.

Furthermore, IE7 seems to take slightly longer to open (and launch tabs) than IE6. I use a browser-based application for about 90% of my time at work, so I have noticed the smallest differences in browsers in terms of speed, features, ease of use, and intuitiveness. I do find the feature in Chrome of it launching each tab in a separate process to be nifty, but how often does Firefox crash?

How often do people surf processor intensive/memory intensive web sites? Not very often-that single cool feature is not enough to make people fall in love with Chrome. I used Opera for a while, but did not find it intuitive as Firefox. In addition, it contained too many features that I found insignificant to basic web browsing

Google is a double edge sword and you can use it either ways. if you choose to be a bad person then Google will be very useful to you , it can sometimes be a hackers best friend. You will be surprise on the amount of restricted info available and open via Google, by using the appropriate search strings one can have a lot of restricted access due to carelessness of system administrators. One thing to keep in mind is that people have been exploiting the Google algorithm lately, a lot of false positives get brought back and you end up with sites linking to other sites in a constant loop.

Try some of this stuffs

In the search box put in exactly as you see it in bold

Example 1:

allintitle: “index of/root”

result:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-…G=Google+Search

What it reveals is 2,510 pages that you can possible browse at your will…

Example 2

inurl:”auth_user_file.txt”

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en…G=Google+Search

This result spawned 414 possible files to access

Here is an actual file retrieved from a site and edited , we know who the admin is and we have the hashes, that’s a job for JTR (john the ripper)

txUKhXYi4xeFs|master|admin|Worasit|Junsawang|xxx@xxx|on qk6GaDj9iBfNg|tomjang||Bug|Tom|xxx@xxx|on

intitle:index.of + mp3 -asp -html -htm -php -pls -txt

In the above example, when entered into Google this search result looks for any index of MP3 files that does not contain the standard web pages like HTML, PHP, etc. or any other non-related pages. In the above example you can replace mp3 with avi or other file extension to search for these types of files.

intitle:index.of + mp3 “<artist name / track / group>” -asp -html -htm -php -pls -txt

In the above example you could replace “<artist name / track / group>” with the artists name, track, group, or name of the MP3 you’re looking for. Keep in mind when downloading MP3 that you should own the track or song you’re downloading otherwise it’s considered illegal.

inurl:”ViewerFrame?Mode=”

In the above simple example, Google will return results of insecure live web cams and with some of the services even allow you to control the cameras over the Internet.

Below are some other stringe and you can have many different permutations.

“Index of /admin”

“Index of /password”

“Index of /mail”

“Index of /” +passwd

“Index of /” +password.txt

“Index of /” +.htaccess

index of ftp +.mdb allinurl:/cgi-bin/ +mailto

administrators.pwd.index

authors.pwd.index

service.pwd.index

filetype:config web

gobal.asax index

allintitle: “index of/admin”

allintitle: “index of/root”

allintitle: sensitive filetype:doc

allintitle: restricted filetype :mail

allintitle: restricted filetype:doc site:gov

inurl:passwd filetype:txt

inurl:admin filetype:db

inurl:iisadmin

inurl:”auth_user_file.txt”

inurl:”wwwroot/*.”

top secret site:mil

confidential site:mil

allinurl: winnt/system32/ (get cmd.exe)

allinurl:/bash_history

intitle:”Index of” .sh_history

intitle:”Index of” .bash_history

intitle:”index of” passwd

intitle:”index of” people.lst

intitle:”index of” pwd.db

intitle:”index of” etc/shadow

intitle:”index of” spwd

intitle:”index of” master.passwd

intitle:”index of” htpasswd

intitle:”index of” members OR accounts

intitle:”index of” user_carts OR user_cart

There are codes I chose not to disclose for fear of abuse, and you would be wondering why I am exposing some of these codes. The bad guys already know of these codes centuries ago, it is the good guys and innocent users that don’t know them.

The important part here is not to show how to attack something, but to show how attackers take advantage of your mistakes. This will enable you to protect your network by avoiding the pitfalls attackers use. Let me make one thing absolutely clear: I neither condone nor will I ever aid or defend those who attack networks or systems they do not own or that they have not been asked to attack.

One of the greatest challenges the security community faces is lack of information on the enemy. Questions like who is the threat, why do they attack, how do they attack, what are their tools, and possibly when will they attack? It is questions like these the security community often cannot answer.

For centuries military organizations have focused on information gathering to understand and protect against an enemy. To defend against a threat, you have to first know about it. However, in the information security world we have little such information.

Our lives is about securing networks, not distributing tools to break them. In addition, to stop a criminal hacker requires the ability to think like a criminal. After all, the objective is to demonstrate what an attacker would do.

Most of us have been taught from a very early age to be good law-abiding people and are simply not good at thinking up very plausible and innovative criminal schemes.

I hold no responsibility for what you do via the information supplied here, this is for educational purpose only, use at your own risk. You have been warned.

Not many people seem to know how to use Google, or any search engine, effectively. Most browsers don’t know 10 percent of the facilities in Google search engine, they just type what they want in the search bar and there they go.

Once you figure out the best ways to use Google, it will be very beneficial to you. This can come in handy when you want a fast solution because some of the questions can be answered easily by just Googling.

Google is about the fasted website to access because of its simplicity and the absence of graphics and flash work, and averages about 1.2 million individual searches on a daily basis. It is the Internet’s most reliable tool for research.

At the same time Google rakes in a lot of income for its owners as CBS , ABC news agencies in the US combine cannot match its income annually, making the duo owners among the riches people in the world . It has a search robot that crawls into peoples websites and caches their pages even though you can block Google from crawling into your site. Billions of cached pages are captured into Google’s database making the owner the single most informed person in the world. What is he going to do with all those information in his possession , that is the same question the FBI director is pondering on every day.

Google is a researcher’s goldmine. The US police uses Google phonebook as street map to detect crime locations and a lot of security agencies uses Google earth to get live pictures of locations around the world . The question now is that how do we effectively utilize Google for fast retrieval of required information.

Lets say you want to search about ”the role of Fashola in the economic development of Lagos”. I know this is an interesting topic because the magician is transforming Lagos state but let’s do a search anyway.

Step 1: Determine your question’s prime subject(s)

The subjects in this matter are Fashola, economic development and Lagos. A Google search for Lagos will turn up 25.4 million results while a search for Fashola turns up 70600 and that of economic development is 82.7 million results. Intersection of said results can be done with a search for Fashola economic development Lagos for about 2700 results.

Step 2: Go further than page one.

So you start looking at the results you’re getting. You go through the Google pages and can’t find any answer. Guess what? There is a page two, and your answer could be in page 9. It’s okay to nest in a few pages by default.

Step 3: Use caches when you only need the text of the page.

This is where the “Cached” link becomes valuable. It will still show you the text (which is what we want) sometimes without the images.

Step 4: Evaluate results and determine what went wrong.

Wait a minute. This doesn’t really tell me much about the role of Fashola in economic development but a lot of political stuffs.

Suppose I remember one article I read a long time ago. It told me the economic achievements of Fashola in Lagos and even included what I needed to type in great detail. Where did that article go?

I was also getting lot of results/returns from Fashola’s campaign activities that I didn’t care to get. Maybe I need to filter out those as well. Let’s start to assemble a Google search string based on what it is we’d like.

Step 5: Create a new query string based on what you want.

I want to get results for:

An article about Fashola’s role in economic development in Lagos that don’t include party campaign.

Query string:

article “Fashola” economic development -”party campaign”

That will exclude most campaign activities in the search.

The caches for the third and fourth items from your Google query are going to return items you want. But still, suppose you cannot find that specific item you were looking for. Let’s try one more time.

Step 6: Adjust queries to remove keywords that you aren’t certain of and search specific to a site.

I remember which website I found the article on, it was on http://www.ngrguardiannews.com.

I want to get results for:

An article about Fashola’s role in economic development of Lagos. I want to search specific to http://www.ngrguardiannews.com.com./

Query string:

article economic development “Fashola” Lagos site:ngrguardiannews.com.

And this site will not go beyond guardian newspaper and very useful information about Fashola’s role in economic development of Lagos will be retrieved

Step 7: Phrase Searching:

Using quotes around words, “like this”, is called phrase searching and very well may be the most powerful searching method for most of the items you are looking for. Especially when you throw in the asterisk for a term you may not know.

Do a Google search for: “Internet activities in Nigeria ethics and best practice” to see what I mean (include the quotes).

Phone and Location:

An entire tutorial can be done on this, mainly because it’s an easy way to make side cash to find out an online person’s real identity. Some people have been doing it for years.

phonebook: lastname ST

or, as an example:

rphonebook: Bode George

Note: Google and other server web links are bound to change since this write up. Please be aware that if you click on a link, it very well may not exist. This is merely meant as a tutorial to help people use Google.

Also, Google supports several advanced operators, which are query words that have special meaning to Google. Typically these operators modify the search in some way, or even tell Google to do a totally different type of search. For instance, “link:” is a special operator, and the query [link:www.google.com] doesn’t do a normal search but instead finds all web pages that have links to www.google.com.

Several of the more common operators use punctuation instead of words, or do not require a colon. Among these operators are OR, “” (the quote operator), – (the minus operator), and + (the plus operator). More information on these types of operators is available on the Basics of Search page on Google site. Many of these special operators are accessible from the Advanced Search page, but some are not. Below is a list of all the special operators Google supports.

Alternate query types

cache: If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document. For instance, [cache:www.google.com web] will show the cached content with the word “web” highlighted.

This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the “Cached” link on Google’s main results page.

The query [cache:] will show the version of the web page that Google has in its cache. For instance, [cache:www.google.com] will show Google’s cache of the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “cache:” and the web page url.

link: The query [link:] will list webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For instance, [link:www.google.com] will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “link:” and the web page url.

This functionality is also accessible from the Advanced Search page, under Page Specific Search > Links.

related: The query [related:] will list web pages that are “similar” to a specified web page. For instance, [related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “related:” and the web page url.

This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the “Similar Pages” link on Google’s main results page, and from the Advanced Search page, under Page Specific Search > Similar.

info: The query [info:] will present some information that Google has about that web page. For instance, [info:www.google.com] will show information about the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “info:” and the web page url.

This functionality is also accessible by typing the web page url directly into a Google search box.

Other information needs

define: The query [define:] will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them).

stocks: If you begin a query with the [stocks:] operator, Google will treat the rest of the query terms as stock ticker symbols, and will link to a page showing stock information for those symbols. For instance, [stocks: intc yhoo] will show information about Intel and Yahoo. (Note you must type the ticker symbols, not the company name.)

This functionality is also available if you search just on the stock symbols (e.g. [ intc yhoo ]) and then click on the “Show stock quotes” link on the results page.

Local search – Visit Google Local enter the area you want to search and the keyword of the place you want to find. For example, typing: restaurant would display local restaurants.

Find weather – Type weather followed by a zip code or city and state to display current weather conditions and forecasts for upcoming days.

Track airline flight – Enter the airline and flight number to display the status of an airline flight and its arrival time. For example, type: delta 123 to display this flight information if available.

Track packages – Enter a UPS, FedEx or USPS tracking number to get a direct link to track your packages.

Pages linked to you – See what other web pages are linking to your website or blog by typing link: followed by your URL. For example, typing link:http://www.abuzaria.com displays all pages linking to Computer Hope.

Find PDF results only – Add filetype: to your search to display results that only match a certain file type. For example, if you wanted to display PDF results only type: “dell xps” filetype:pdf — this is a great way to find online manuals.

Stocks – Quickly get to a stock quote price, chart, and related links by typing the stock symbol in Google. For example, typing: msft will display the stock information for Microsoft.

Google Voice- The service allows you to give out one number and receive calls at any one of the phones you currently use. For example, if I have a phone at my desk that rings when 111-222-3333 is called and my cell number is 111-222-2323, and my home number is 111-222-1515 — anyone looking to get in touch with me might need to call any one of three numbers. With Google Voice, I get one number and register each of my existing numbers to it, so that I have to give out only the Google Voice number. This way when any contact calls the new number, all the phones I have configured to work with the service will ring.

If my cell number or provider changes (and the number cannot be ported), I register those new numbers with Google Voice and none of my contacts need to be updated. It also can be quite useful for those people with only a cell phone. You can configure a second number, perhaps an office phone, and configure it not to ring. Then, if your cell battery were to fail or you had no service, you could send calls to the second number temporarily.

Another enhanced feature in Google Voice is Groups. Grand Central allowed four groups for call types: Work, Friends, Family, and Other. Most of the time these worked quite well; however, in the new release, Google has allowed users to add their own groups. Each group can have its own settings (such as greetings, call screening, or call announce).

Query modifiers

site: If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to those websites in the given domain. For instance, [help site:www.google.com] will find pages about help within www.google.com. [help site:com] will find pages about help within .com urls. Note there can be no space between the “site:” and the domain.

This functionality is also available through Advanced Search page, under Advanced Web Search > Domains.

allintitle: If you start a query with [allintitle:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the title. For instance, [allintitle: Google search] will return only documents that have both “Google” and “search” in the title.

This functionality is also available through Advanced Search page, under Advanced Web Search > Occurrences.

intitle: If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their title, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (title or no). Note there can be no space between the “intitle:” and the following word.

Putting [intitle:] in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting [allintitle:] at the front of your query: [intitle:google intitle:search] is the same as [allintitle: google search].

allinurl: If you start a query with [allinurl:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the url. For instance, [allinurl: google search] will return only documents that have both “google” and “search” in the url.

Note that [allinurl:] works on words, not url components. In particular, it ignores punctuation. Thus, [allinurl: foo/bar] will restrict the results to page with the words “foo” and “bar” in the url, but won’t require that they be separated by a slash within that url, that they be adjacent, or that they be in that particular word order. There is currently no way to enforce these constraints.

This functionality is also available through Advanced Search page, under Advanced Web Search > Occurrences.

inurl: If you include [inurl:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the url. For instance, [inurl:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their url, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (url or no). Note there can be no space between the “inurl:” and the following word.

Putting “inurl:” in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting “allinurl:” at the front of your query: [inurl:google inurl:search] is the same as [allinurl: google search].

Here’s a quick list of some of Google most popular tools to help refine and improve your search.

OPERATOR EXAMPLE FINDS PAGES CONTAINING…

vacation hawaii the words vacation and Hawaii .

Maui OR Hawaii either the word Maui or the word Hawaii

“To each his own” the exact phrase to each his own

virus –computer the word virus but NOT the word computer

+sock Only the word sock, and not the plural or any tenses or synonyms

~auto loan loan info for both the word auto and its synonyms: truck, car, etc.

define:computer definitions of the word computer from around the Web.

red * blue the words red and blue separated by one or more words.

I’m Feeling Lucky Takes you directly to first web page returned for your query.

 In recent times, more than 70% of entrepreneurs that had cybercafés in the late nineties have either shutdown or sold their cafes, so why do cyber café businesses   fail?  I ran an Internet café for five years and as a   networking instructor in Aptech training institute I have provided consultancy services on how to effectively run a cybercafé

 There are three major factors that contribute to the failure of cybercafé   ventures among which are:  Power, inconsistent ISPs and then mismanagement. Most cafes generate their electricity with power plants. Instead of the power plants supporting PHCN, the opposite is the case. Some even run on power plants for days. Apart from daily expenditures on gas, within a short time the cafes have to replace the power plants due to over utilization.

 Also, the ISPs are not helping matters. Cafes cannot easily know what ISPs are selling to them. Some of the cafes pay for dedicated bandwidth, and they are unknowing placed on shared connection. The truth of the matter is that you can know exactly what the ISPs are giving you   because most of the speed meters online don’t give realistic readings. If you are on a shared connection, your contention ratio determines the speed of your connection. If other contenders are not browsing then you experience full bandwidth. For instance, if you are on 256kps connection with a contention ratio of 1:3 that means three other clients are sharing the connection. When everyone is browsing, you can only be guaranteed of about 85kps but when others are sleeping, you can have the full 256kps

 To start a cafe you need to   calculate the amount of bandwidth you need for the number of systems you are going to run and the type of traffic that needs to be transported like VOIP (Internet calls).  If you hear of ISPs selling bandwidth like a 128/64kps link then you should know that you are getting a 128kps download throughput and a 64kps upload throughput. People download more than they upload so you can afford to get lower upload throughput in your link budget. But in a cafe that you will need a VOIP and just normal browsers here is how you will calculate your bandwidth:

 If you are going to be having simultaneous phone    calls you will likely be using a G.729a technology it is an audio data compression algorithm voice that compresses voice audio in chunks of 10 milliseconds (8kb/s  codec).  The 8kbs will sample the 10 milliseconds of   voice per   frame. In the voice packet, there will be three headers involve IP  (20 bytes) UDP (8byte), RTP  (12 bytes), or 320 bits per packet.  The packet can contain a simple voice sample or a multiple voice samples. Now, lets   figure out   the bandwidth needed in say 10-system cafe with a maximum of 5 simultaneous calls.

 Firstly we need the number of voice sample per second:

Second / voice sample = no of samples

1000ms / 10ms = 100 samples

 Now figure out the overhead:

Number of samples x 320 bits = overhead

100 x 320 = 32 000 bits = 32kb/s

 Total bandwidth per sample:

Overhead + codec = total BW

32 Kb/s + 8 Kb/s = 40 Kb/s

 The busiest traffic is having 5 simultaneous calls that is 

 5 simultaneous calls x 40Kb/s = 200Kb/s

 So a client will need a minimum of 200kbs for Voice plus 10kbs averagely for each system in HTTP connection (10 x10= 100kbs)

 200kbs+100kbs= 300kbs minimum for smooth operation

 This sounds a bit technical, but determining the appropriate bandwidth is important to avoid wasting bandwidth. And sorry for the technical diversion.

 Also, there is a misconception over two networking terminologies: bandwidth and throughput. Bandwidth is the connection capacity like having a 128kps, but most times you don’t always get the 128kps so what you are getting at a particular time is called the throughput. Consider this analogy take the bandwidth as a big pipe of water going into a neighborhood   and smaller   pipes tapping from the big pipe into homes. The big pipe has big bandwidth and the small pipe have small bandwidth.  The more pipes tapping from the big the smaller the quantity of water each household will get. Most ISPs lure clients into paying for bandwidth, after paying, you are on your own. You will call for support   twenty   times. If you are lucky they pick your call, the lady will tell you it’s your local area network check with your system admin.

 Another catastrophic factor responsible for the failure of cyber cafés is mismanagement. Because government officials get rich overnight, people in the private sector tends to emulate them. Once you employ a person to manage a café   for you, immediately he or she will start strategizing on how to get rich overnight. So next time you are doing a cost benefit analysis on opening a café you have to assign a figure to mismanagement and build it into the cost.

 Internet service is still expensive in Nigeria; as a result the outreach is small. The more cafes we have the better for the market and the browsers but the fear is that technology is   fast changing.   Cafes mostly use Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) or point-to-point   antennae.  These days people browse on their smart phones and laptops wirelessly and this is a threat against café business.  Cafes located in academic environments do well because it is a necessity for the inhabitants there to browse. But outside the academic environment most cafes rely on scammers to survive. They are the only ones that can buy bulk time of 10-20hrs daily, so indirectly it is scam money   that is sustaining café out there.

 When making   a   feasibility   study on opening a café, the first thing to consider is location. You need a strategic location to survive in the market, say an academic environment or busy junction in an elite dominated environment. And you need to be very careful when selecting    an ISP. Any day anywhere I will recommend SimbaNet, Mweb or Cobranet, they have never   failed me. The first time you visit an ISP tell them you need to meet some of their clients, from their clients you can know a lot about them. You can ask of how good their support is and things like their   migration policy.

 And finally, these days you cant afford to sell only Internet service in your café; you have to sell a lot of other things because the Internet will create traffic for the things you sell in the café.  You can include these in your growth strategy:

 SHORT TERM GROWTH STRATEGY

 (I) Introduce more products for sale such as:

 DVD rewritable

DVD recordable

CD recordable

Flash drives (128MB, 512MB)

IPODS

CARDS (NECO, WAEC, JAMB etc); charge WAEC and NECO registration, apply to secondary schools to register their students online

Recharge cards (MTN, GLO etc)

 Digital camera & picture printer for passport, picture printing and American visa lottery

DVD writer for DVD burning

2 or 3 webcams

 (II)          Credit Card transactions

        Options:  Master card

                 Global merchant account                

                 Third party credit card processor (clickbank, ibill etc)

                 E-gold account

           Charge 10% of every transaction at =N=140-150 per $

 Expected client uses: Visa process payment

                                Hotel reservation payment

                                Admission process payment (tuition fee) etc

 (III)       Organize short-term Internet training or weekend computer training on selected systems.

(IV)        Sell Bulk time at discounted rates.

(V)            Expand to wireless network so that clients can buy time and stay outside your café or in their cars to browse. There are facilities in your access point to monitor them.

 LONG TERM GROWTH STRATEGY

 (1.) In future you have to develop a website   for your cafe. Development and hosting for a year is as cheap as   =N=30,000. You can sell your products and services through your website and also sell for others with commission charges. 

 (2) In future you have to use part of your internet bandwidth for IT outsourcing jobs (transporting IT jobs through the internet), I visit sites like www.yahoosmallbusiness.com, www.directfreelance.com  for IT  outsourcing jobs

 The use of inverters to support generators. The inverter can give 10-12 hours support daily.

 RECORD KEEPING:  An employee should be dedicated to the sales of storage media. When you buy say 2000 copies of DVDs just give him 500 copies, and only restock him if he can account for the first 500 copies

 PRINTING

 An account book should be dedicated to printing services and every printing incident should be recorded (pages and amount) and summed up at the end of the day, therefore when a rim finishes you can   calculate the lost with the aid of a print manager installed on your server. You can also refill your ink or toner cartridges.

 Customer satisfaction

 Open a suggestion box

Arrange for a television

Frequent use of air freshener

More sits at the balcony for waiting browsers

Watch the way your employees treat browsers, especially there interactions with ladies-they tend to give them more attention which will consequently lead to free browsing time in future.

 Remember: a café is not just a place meant only for browsing it is also a joint.

                 Keeping a client is 10 times harder than getting one.

              Success in business is 80% attitude and 20% aptitude. And please don’t   forget to pray    after all the planning.

 The computer law in Nigeria is  way  underdeveloped and  hence  do not  meet  with the  contemporary  requirements of  the modern  information  and  technology age. We  lack  the  technical  resources,  expertise as  well as the  legal  framework to  tackle  cyber crimes  and  computer  crimes at  large. The  business environment  in  any country  is  greatly  strengthened by  the  security environment: therefore, serious  Techno-legal  ICT  training is required  for  judges, lawyers, law students, law  professors and corporate  executives in  Nigeria. A wise litigator now  in  Nigeria will be  looking  forth  to  writing  his MCP- Microsoft  Certified Professional which will  be  a stepping  stone  to  acquiring Techno-Legal  trainings. An MCP attached to his   name alone is an intimidation to other litigator.

Now that the infrastructures in any country can no longer function without computers and networks, a well regulated computing industry instills a lot of confidence in computer related transactions and help guard against IT risk complexities. When the internet was  first introduced , it was  like a state of nature where internet browsers have unlimited freedom but gradually laws came up that limited what people can and cannot do on the computer. I often participate in a hackers forum on a website floated from Germany, today legislative laws came up in Germany that prohibited that site from being floated from Germany.

Computer law is mostly an eclectic amalgamation of concepts from existing law, which are applied to the relatively new technologies of computer hardware and software, e-mail, and the Internet. (Google tech Dictionary). However, there are several reasons why it is convenient to have a separate classification for computer law:

1. Solving legal problems that arose from the use of computers often requires some legal principles that are rarely encountered in the practice of law. For example:
   1. Disputes about e-mail and web pages on the Internet extend across state lines, and may even extend across national borders. For example, there are technical issues in personal jurisdiction and which state’s law should be applied to the resolution of the dispute. To solve these legal problems, one must understand principles of an abstruse area of law, called Conflicts of Law. Instead of relatively firm rules with predictable results, as in most other areas of law, conflicts analysis can be characterized as choosing from a menu of possibilities.
   2. Information stored on computers (e.g., software, data, trade secrets, confidential personal information) is generally much more valuable than the computer hardware. In order to protect this information, many of the concepts in the practice of computer law involve the specialized area of Intellectual Property Law, which includes copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Take the US for instance, in order to practice before the U.S. Patent Office; an attorney must have at least a bachelor’s degree in some area of science or engineering, a requirement that excludes nearly all attorneys.

1. Traditional concepts in law are being expanded by events in the area of computer law. For example:
   1. Computer software is legally considered a “good”. Unlike other goods, the “purchaser” only owns the floppy diskette or compact disk that contains the software, plus a license to use the software. The Uniform Commercial Code was amended by including Article 2B in the US patent law to cover licensing of computer software.
   2. Computer databases that contain erroneous information (e.g., false credit reports) can be harmful to people, which may give rise to a new class of torts, called infotorts
   3. Hackers who use a modem to enter a computer without authorization and either (1) use its services or (2) alter records are committing a crime similar to burglary, but the traditional notion of burglary requires the criminal personally to enter the victim’s premises, which is not satisfied in the case of entry via data to/from a modem. Therefore, new laws were enacted to define computer crimes (Personally, I think it would have been preferable to change the definitions in existing concepts, instead of create new concepts, but no one would accuse the legal profession of honoring simplicity and economy.)
   4. Authentication of evidence contained in files on a computer presents some new problems, because of the ease with which data in the file can be altered, and also because it is easy to alter the operating system’s date and time stamp in the directory.
   5. Searches of computer databases provide access to information that was difficult to locate in the pre-computer age, which makes computer databases a major new threat to privacy of individuals.

The Internet has been revolutionary in giving anyone with a website the equivalent of a printing press or television transmitter: now anyone can broadcast their information or opinion to the whole world, without first going through formal review by a publisher. Many governments have reacted to the Internet with new censorship of both websites and readers’ access to the Internet. Furthermore, there has been widespread copyright infringement by people who post material at their website that was copied from other websites, or copied from books, without written permission of the copyright owner.

Law reacts slowly to new technology, With the exception of the telephone and typewriter, the technological revolution of the past century has left the law untouched. Law has dealt at arm’s length with technology, making new rules to cover air travel, genetic engineering, and the like, while the lawyers who do the work carry on with paper and pencil – until the advent of the computer.

The case in the developing world needs a deep focus, perhaps I might be wrong, maybe a deeper focus. Judging computer related crimes need players with adequate computer knowledge on the technical side. In Nigeria, law enforcement agent has little or no computer education to combat rising computer related crimes. We need a separate court for trials regarding computer related crimes and judges that are conversant with  bits  and  bytes, like  the juvenile court system in which lots  of  proceedings in the normal court  system doesn’t  apply  there. Surprisingly, the issue of laws regarding computer crimes has not had adequate attention even in developed world. This is as a result of different interpretation of what constitutes a computer device and computer crimes at large. For instance the newly elected state law in West Virginia regarding computer crimes states that:

Any person who, knowingly and willfully, directly or indirectly

accesses or causes to be accessed any computer, computer services

or computer network for the purpose of (1) executing any scheme or artifice

to defraud or (2) obtaining money, property or services by means of

fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises shall be guilty of a

felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than ten

thousand dollars or imprisoned in the penitentiary for not more than

ten years or both.

In the Alabama Computer Crime Act, the same issue has a different punishment and interpretation. Also, issues’ regarding definitions as regards to what is a data, computer network, computer programs etc have been interpreted in different ways under different State Laws in the US. This variance stress from Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated,, the State of Wisconsin Statutes, Washington Criminal Code in the revised code of Washington Annotated, and the Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated under Organized Crime and Fraud and so on.

Computer users and law enforcement agents in Nigeria need serious awareness by concerned agencies as regards to what constitute a computer crime locally and in the cyber world. Initially,  I  stressed on  the technical abilities  of all players involved in pinning  a computer crime, this  is  because  technical issues  are paramount  in both the investigation and prosecution  phase of  the crime . I was in a  cybercafé in Ikeja, then EFCC officials  stormed into  the café and instructed  every body  to pause, they  then  move  round to check  what  people are doing. I laughed because this is highly unskillful and untechnical way of tackling a computer incident on the side of the law enforcement agents. People like us whether you shutdown your PC, we can still backtrack what you were doing. If you like unplug the power cord so that the system suddenly dies off I can still trace back your activities on the system. In fact format your hard drive I can still retrieve data from it.

Also, I entered a  cyber café in Ebute Meta  and saw a lot of scammers, so  I  decided to  rub  them to show them where their skill level lies. They were using some tools on some websites to trace people’s IP addresses to know their locations. What  I  did was  that  when they pick  an  IP address  to  insert in the machine, before they  click  enter I will tell  them  the  location of the address  off hand. They were baffled. They said ‘O boy which runs you dey into’. I just  laughed and  said  I  am writing a  book  and  I have  problem  with  my Internet connectivity so  I  came to  spend the  night in   the   café. They don’t know that people like us will automatically know your location by mere looking at your IP address. The body that allocates   IP  addresses  allocate them in  blocks, with  time we  became  use to the blocks  assigned to countries  and  continents  which these  boys  don’t  know. If I see 66.78.x.x  I know you are from  the  US, if I see 207.X.X.X  then it is  highly likely  you  are from Australia,  that  kind  of  thing.  

Now back to the issue of prosecuting a computer criminal. As  a law enforcement agents, when you seize a PC  or  about  to  seize one   that  is use to  perpetrate  a  crime, there  are two  issues to  deal  with. First is if you want to tender the PC in court and second is when you don’t   want a   trial.

 In pursuing  the first case from my limited experience the issue is not just about getting information out of the PC to prove what was done, it’s about preserving the analysed system so that it is unaffected by your forensic activities and so that it  can be used to provide evidence that will be admitted in court.

 If the defense can prove there’s even a chance your investigations have altered the system or its contents then the whole thing becomes inadmissible as evidence. One of the first things you do therefore is simply yank the power cable – don’t even let the scammer log off and shut down.

That way you still have the swap file, registry etc there on disk completely unaffected by the shutdown. Then remove and image the disk without ever starting the machine up again. Then, and only then, can you begin to think about investigation. Because you’ll eventually be taking the case to court to have the case examined by lawyers and other law officials, you’ll have to approach and handle the case as if it were an official investigation (i.e.: gather and save evidence, examine evidence, record all activities done with the evidence, etc). Of course, if you have no intentions on taking the case to court or pursuing any kind of legal activity, then I’d think that you could approach the issue as you would wish.

If you want to work on the system first in a lab, you’ll need a tool to crack or reset his OS password for you to login. I know about two ways:

1. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, Bootdisk: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

This will let you create a boot disk that will eventually reset/blank his password so that you can login.

2. Ophcrack: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

The liveCD version will try the most recent methods (rainbow attack if I recall right) to find out the hackers password. It will not reset it. But it can take some time to do the cracking.

Second, you’ll need some tools too get out his info quickly. Check this site http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html

Check the IECookiesView, IEHistoryView, MyLastSearch tools. There are many others that you might find useful. You can then transfer his cookies to your desktop to start analyzing the entire website   he has visited. And so on. This is in a  situation where a  law enforcement agent is only  interested  in knowing the activities  of a  scammer  to  possibly  track  down his  clients after  seizing  the  PC.

 Below I present some of the US existing laws and some of the pending legislation that can affect how we use our computers and the Internet in the cyberworld as compiled by Debra Littlejohn Shinder:

1: Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Most computer users have heard of this law, which was signed in 1998 by President Clinton, implementing two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties. The DMCA makes it a criminal offense to circumvent any kind of technological copy protection — even if you don’t violate anyone’s copyright in doing so. In other words, simply disabling the copy protection is a federal crime.

There are some exemptions, such as circumventing copy protection of programs that are in an obsolete format for the purpose of archiving or preservation. But in most cases, using any sort of anti-DRM program is illegal. This applies to all sorts of copy-protected files, including music, movies, and software.

2: No Electronic Theft (NET) Act

This is another U.S. federal law that was passed during the Clinton administration. Prior to this act, copyright violations were generally treated as civil matters and could not be prosecuted criminally unless it was done for commercial purposes. The NET Act made copyright infringement itself a federal criminal offense, regardless of whether you circumvent copy-protection technology or whether you derive any commercial benefit or monetary gain. Thus, just making a copy of a copyrighted work for a friend now makes you subject to up to five years in prison and/or up to $250,000 in fines. This is the law referred to in the familiar “FBI Warning” that appears at the beginning of most DVD movies.

Many people who consider themselves upstanding citizens and who would never post music and movies to a P2P site think nothing of burning a copy of a song or TV show for a friend. Unfortunately, by the letter of the law, the latter is just as illegal as the former.

3: Court rulings regarding border searches

Most Americans are aware of the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution’s fourth amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures. In general, this means that the government cannot search your person, home, vehicle, or computer without probable cause to believe that you’ve engaged in some criminal act.

What many don’t know is that there are quite a few circumstances that the Courts, over the years, have deemed to be exempt from this requirement. One of those occurs when you enter the United States at the border. In April of this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of Customs officers to search laptops and other digital devices at the border (the definition of which extends to any international airport when you are coming into the country) without probable cause or even the lesser standard of reasonable suspicion. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other groups strongly disagree with the ruling.

Meanwhile, be aware that even though you’ve done nothing illegal and are not even suspected of such, the entire contents of your portable computer, PDA, or smart phone can be accessed by government agents when you enter the United States. So if you have anything on your hard drive that might be embarrassing, you might want to delete it before crossing the border.

4: State laws regarding access to networks

Many states have criminal laws that prohibit accessing any computer or network without the owner’s permission. For example, in Texas, the statute is Penal Code section 33.02, Breach of Computer Security. It says, “A person commits an offense if the person knowingly accesses a computer, computer network or computer system without the effective consent of the owner.” The penalty grade ranges from misdemeanor to first degree felony (which is the same grade as murder), depending on whether the person obtains benefit, harms or defrauds someone, or alters, damages, or deletes files.

The wording of most such laws encompasses connecting to a wireless network without explicit permission, even if the wi-fi network is unsecured. The inclusion of the culpable mental state of “knowing” as an element of the offense means that if your computer automatically connects to your neighbor’s wireless network instead of your own and you aren’t aware of it, you haven’t committed a crime — but if you decide to hop onto the nearest unencrypted wi-fi network to surf the Internet, knowing full well that it doesn’t belong to you and no one has given you permission, you could be prosecuted under these laws.

A Michigan man was arrested for using a café’s wi-fi network (which was reserved for customers) from his car in 2007. Similar arrests have been made in Florida, Illinois, Washington, and Alaska.

5: “Tools of a crime” laws

Some states have laws that make it a crime to possess a “criminal instrument” or the “tool of a crime.” Depending on the wording of the law, this can be construed to mean any device that is designed or adapted for use in the commission of an offense. This means you could be arrested and prosecuted, for example, for constructing a high gain wireless antenna for the purpose of tapping into someone else’s wi-fi network, even if you never did in fact access a network. Several years ago, a California sheriff’s deputy made the news when he declared “Pringles can antennas” illegal under such a statute.

6: “Cyberstalking” laws

Stalking is a serious crime and certainly all of us are in favor of laws that punish stalkers. As Internet connectivity has become ubiquitous, legislatures have recognized that it’s possible to stalk someone from afar using modern technology. Some of the “cyberstalking” laws enacted by the states, however, contain some pretty broad language.

For example, the Arkansas law contains a section titled “Unlawful computerized communications” that makes it a crime to send a message via e-mail or other computerized communication system (Instant Messenger, Web chat, IRC, etc.) that uses obscene, lewd, or profane language, with the intent to frighten, intimidate, threaten, abuse, or harass another person. Some of the lively discussions on mailing lists and Web boards that deteriorate into flame wars could easily fall under that definition. Or how about the furious e-mail letter you sent to the company that refused to refund your money for the shoddy product you bought?

Closely related are the laws against “cyber bullying”that have recently been passed by some states and local governments.

The best policy is to watch your language when sending any type of electronic communications. Not only can a loss of temper when you’re online come back to embarrass you, it could possibly get you thrown in jail.

7: Internet Gambling laws

Like to play poker online or bet on the horse races from the comfort of your home? The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 criminalizes acceptance of funds from bettors — but what about the bettors themselves? Are they committing a crime?

Under this federal law, the answer is no, but some state laws do apply to the person placing the bet. For example, a Washington law passed in 2006 makes gambling on the Internet a felony. The King County Superior Court just recently upheld that law, although challengers have vowed to take it to the Supreme Court.

Be sure to check out the state and local laws before you make that friendly online bet.

8: Security Breach Disclosure laws

A California law passed in 2003 requires that any company that does business in California must notify their California customers if they discover or suspect that non-encrypted data has been accessed without authorization. This applies even if the business is not located in California, as long as you have customers there, and no exception is made for small businesses.

9: Community Broadband Act of 2007

This is a piece of pending federal legislation that was introduced in July of 2007 as U.S. Senate Bill 1853. In April 2008, it was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders and is still winding its way through the legislative process. This federal law would prohibit state and local governments (municipalities and counties) from passing laws that prohibit public telecommunications providers from offering Internet services.

This is in response to laws passed in a few states, as a result of lobbying from the telecom industry, that prohibit cities from installing and operating public broadband networks, such as public wi-fi networks. The big telecom companies have a vested interest in preventing cities from establishing networks that could compete with their own services by providing free or low cost Internet services because the public services are partially or wholly taxpayer-subsidized.

If this law passes, it could make it easier to find free or low cost ISP services in cities that choose to build public networks. On the other hand, it could (depending on how it’s funded) cause tax increases for those who live in those municipalities, including those who don’t use the public networks.

10: Pro IP Act

Back on the copyright front, the US House of Representative recently approved by an overwhelming majority HR 4279, which imposes stricter penalties for copyright infringement. It creates a new position of “copyright enforcement czar” in the federal bureaucracy and gives law enforcement agents the right to seize property from copyright infringers.

This may all sound fine in theory, but when you look at the way other seizure and forfeiture laws have been applied (for instance, the ability of drug enforcement officers to seize houses, computers, cars, cash, and just about everything else that belongs to someone tagged as a suspected drug dealer — and in some cases not returning the property even when the person is acquitted or not prosecuted), it makes many people wary.

Lastly, I always conclude my write ups these days with a plea to the government. The government  should  provide  laptops  for all  civil servants  in  Nigeria  from  local government  to  federal  government level, all  lecturers, secondary schools and L E A schools even  on  loan. The  government  should  make  it mandatory  for legislators  to  carry  laptops  to  sittings else  no sitting  for  them, Could  you believe if you  show a  lot of  lecturers  a flash drive, they wont be  able to  identify its  name. A vice  chancellor  from a  Nigerian  university  traveled abroad  for a  seminar and he  couldn’t use the  computer  to   fill  a  form. We are tired of all these embarrassments.