The Pleasures of Sharing Information

Routers are not perfect. For that matter, nothing is. So if somebody wants to give a router more than it can handle there is a way to do this. We’re going to take a look at what are called denial of service attacks.

A router can only handle so much information coming into it at one time. Every machine has its limits and routers are no exceptions. Well, when the nasty trend of denial of service attacks started early this century, routers were unprepared for them. As they began to understand what was happening they began to compensate for the problem. But there was still a way around it. To understand this we first have to understand what a denial of service attack is.

A denial of service attack is just as it sounds. It is when someone prevents the router or routers from servicing the network. The question is, how do they do this? As previously stated, a router can only handle so much information coming into it to be routed at a time. If too much information starts coming in then the router gets overloaded and can’t forward the information fast enough. Ultimately, what happens is this slows the network down to the point where nobody can access it. In a denial of service attack, which is a deliberate attempt to cause this problem, a person will send an enormous amount of information from one computer to the router at one time. Eventually this will effectively shut down the network. The reason is because of the trickle down effect. Once the main routers start to get overloaded they start to send messages to the rest of the network that the connection is full. These messages start to cascade through the entire network until all the pathways in the network are full and nobody can communicate with any server on the network.

When companies and web sites began to understand what was happening then started to put safeguards in place. They would put checks in the router software to see if a large amount of information was coming from one IP address. If so, then it simply discarded the information and didn’t attempt to pass it on. It seemed that the problem was solved. Not so.

Hackers began to figure out that if they send this enormous amount of information from multiple computers or IP addresses, the routers would have no way of knowing that a denial of service attack was in progress because it would see all this information coming in from multiple locations. Ultimately again, the network would effectively be shut down.

In response to this, manufacturers of routers have placed additional safeguards into their routers to simply check for unusual traffic. The problem with this is that in some cases there is a large amount of traffic that is normal, like in the case of a news site being hit with an overload because a major breaking story hits the airwaves.

It remains to be seen if the hackers or the router manufacturers are going to win this war.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Routers

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Get Rid of Business Cards You Don’t Need

Everyone collects lots of business cards, and nobody really knows what to do with them. We’re afraid to throw them out. But there’s little benefit in saving them in a jumble in your drawer. There are a variety of containers available, from plastic to electronic. But to think first about storage misses the point. Before you think about “What’s the best place to put them?” ask “Would I really need this again, and if so, why — and when?” Be firm; get rid of cards from people you are not likely to contact in the future. If you have a great many business cards, it can actually backfire - the more cards you have, the harder it is to find a specific one when you need it. Less is more– It’s easy to keep them in order, and easier to find when you need them. And remember, the point isn’t to collect the cards, but to keep them in a way that makes it easy to use them.

Add Useful Details

Once you’ve decided which cards are keepers, jot a note on back of each card stating where you met the person and what you might contact them about. This should be done as soon as possible, especially if you return from a networking event with a pocketful of cards–otherwise when you come across the cards later, you’ll have no clue as to who these people are.

Different Ways to Store Your Cards

Now that you’ve culled your cards and made notes on them, you’re ready to think about where to put them. Don’t use plastic business card books with a dozen or so slots per page — it’s impossible to keep cards alphabetized. If you insist on staying low-tech, use a Rolodex with alphabetical tab dividers.

The alphabet’s easy for people whose names you’ll recall later, but what about service providers who are recommended to you that you’re merely keeping in case you need them later on? Let’s say your friend Jane Smith recommends a great cyberlaw attorney named Joe Moon. If you file it under Moon you won’t remember the name. File it instead by category –under Lawyer, under L in your Rolodex. Do the same for plumbers and accountants and anyone else you might do business with.

The Power of Software

But the old fashioned Rolodex is limited. It’s much more effective to use contact-management software (Outlook, Act and Goldmine are some popular brands). This gives you the best of both worlds — if you tag Joe Moon’s record with the word “lawyer,” you can locate him by looking up “Moon” or “lawyer” and find him either way. If you also note that Jane Smith recommended him, you can look it up this way too.

Such software does more than automatically alphabetize your entries by contact name, company name, and type of business. It also provides almost unlimited room to type notes on each contact. You can record when you last talked to them and about what. It can also save a record of e-mails you sent to or received from them. Used fully, contact management software keeps a record of all your dealings with each person. This does more than supplement a faulty memory. It permits you to slice and dice your data in a variety of ways. You could search for all referrals who were sent by a certain person, all the prospects who phoned you in July, all clients in a certain zip code, all clients who spent over a certain dollar amount, etc.

Should You Buy a Card Scanner?

If you have a great many cards, you may not want to type them all into your software. There are small, inexpensive scanners made specifically for business cards that capture all the text information on the business card (name, company name address, phone, fax, and e-mail address) and feed it directly into your contact management program. This could save a lot of time if you collect tons of cards, for example if you attend trade shows and plan to follow up by doing a big mailing. But I’ve heard mixed reports about the accuracy of the card scanners. They are often thrown off by graphics, unusual fonts, speckled paper, and so on. It can take time to get the hang of it. Card scanners probably aren’t worth the bother if you only have a small number of business cards.

© Jan Jasper; 2001-2006

Jan Jasper has been helping busy people to work smarter, not harder since 1988. She is the author of “Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information, & Technology” (St. Martin’s Press). Jan has helped thousands of people juggle multiple projects, survive information overload, and get the most from office technology. She also does configuration and training for software such as Goldmine & Microsoft Outlook. Call 212.465.7472 or visit http://www.janjasper.com

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