Sanjeev's Random Thoughts!

Final Year Project Selected!

2006-02-09T12:51:00.000+05:00

Its been about 10 days since I've selected my final year project, just couldnt blog it! My partners in this project include Munesh Kumar, Adeel Kasmani and Nasir Jamal. Hoping that we'll make up a good team. The project deals with Network Security. It is titled "Deploying Network Security using Intrusion Detection and Prevention Techniques." Here is the abstract of our project.

"Security is a big issue for all networks in today’s enterprise environment. Hackers and intruders have made many successful attempts to bring down high-profile company networks and web services. Many methods have been developed to secure the network infrastructure and communication over the Internet, among them are the use of firewalls, encryption, and virtual private networks. Intrusion detection is a relatively new addition to such techniques. Using intrusion detection methods, you can collect and use information from known types of attacks and find out if someone is trying to attack your network or particular hosts. The information collected this way can be used to harden your network security, as well as for legal purposes.

This project is related to Signature-Based Network Intrusion Detection System(NIDS). NIDS is the type of Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that is used for scanning data flowing on the network. We will select an Open-Source NIDS and deploy, modify and evaluate it on the local departmental LAN. Besides, we will also integrate other security tools with the NIDS like deploying the NIDS as an Intrusion Prevention System. We will use a database to log the data collected and use a suitable front-end analysis engine to analyze data and recent attacks for constructing a security policy. The front-end tool will be hosted on some webserver to make it available for network administrators. We will also study different types of intrusions and observe how the NIDS deals with it. If time permits, we will also try diverting the intruding traffic towards a honeypot."

Back Again!

2005-12-18T13:52:00.001+05:00

Finally I'm back to my blog! been long since I updated! Exams are finally over *sigh*! How were they is a different story this year! For once I dont want the result to be announced! So now my final year at the university is gonna begin soon and to evalulate what I've done so far is just so *less*! So much to plan and do now! Meanwhile, alot has happened thru this time! Part of my family was here from India that kept me busy all thru this as well as exams! :(

Couldnt even make to the stadium to watch Pakistan vs England. Pakistan has been doing extremely well or maybe England hasnt been doing much! But credit goes to team Pakistan! The Pakistan hockey team has done really bad during the Champion's Trophy but last two matches had a good performance holding aussies for a 3-3 draw and then beating up India in quest for the fifth position
More to come soon! Stay tuned!

Aftershocks!

2005-10-13T00:01:00.000+05:00

The last few days saw one of the worst tragedies of my life! A huge natural calamity devastating cities and villages in Northern Pakistan & Kashmir! The killing toll is increasing everyday and the scenes are very depressing! Poor & helpless people, alot of them dead while others injured and the rest homeless! The only good thing to see during last few days was the amazing spirit shown by Pakistanis especially Karachiites! I was really very happy to see them sharing a common grief and serving a human cause! But as the quake caused aftershocks... the whole spirit was really spoiled by some unpleasant events reported... even though we have so many good humans around, yet there are bad people who'd not even think that they are making it worse for people who are already going thru hell! Coffins being sold at increased prices, trucks raising the rents more than 100%, medical stores selling expired medicine :\ heck! what are we upto? where did the humanity go! :( and this is nothing when compared to what i heard a gentleman saying on the day of devastation! I was at airport to receive my cousin and was watching the latest reports about the deaths on TV and a nationalist came and said these beautiful words... "Acha hua... Khuda kaa azaab hay... humara huq cheentay hain yeah log" & I was like huh! ok! He was a local Qaum-Parast Sindhi obviously refering to the Punjabi lobby! Its really strange people can go so mean! They have stopped realizing the values of human life :( Meanwhile, alot of foreign aid has flown into Pakistan. Many countries have extended financial as well as technical support for rescue efforts to Pakistan. We shall be very thankful to them for helping us save a few lifes if not all! Just wondering how'd the aid be dispatched and how'll the Government plan the rehabilitation of the affected! Some parties and politicians are still trying to achieve political goals and to try and cash upon this as an oppurtunity! They'd still not join hands and work as a unit! We still have two collection camps on every road! One good gesture was when the ARD announced to observe 12th Oct as a Black Day and not a protest day against Musharaf regime! May God bless the dead and the injured and save us from such natural disasters!

Me versus Exams

2005-10-12T23:56:00.000+05:00

Today the third year examinations in NED began for batch 2002-2003! My first exam was Microprocessor Based Systems! It went good overall and the happier part is that its one down! just ten more to go :D yayyy! Exams are gonna be real tough this year... firstly, I dint study well this year and secondly, I'm quite uninteresed in a few subjects :( The gaps are all quite long and I hope I'll have enough time to get an A-1 this year! Still I'm worried & have my fingers crossed! A cousin is here from India and the worst thing is that due to exams I wont be able to give him my time :( Sorry dude! We'll hopefully have a couple of days before u leave! Also after this Eid, my uncle n his family is coming from India... another reason for me to be distracted from exams! :( I hope I'll be good at time management then! :$ Next is Linear Control Systems something that could have been really interesting and thrilling, only if the students (including me) and the teachers were interested enough! Hoping to count more on luck again! These electrical engineering subjects are gonna make it tougher for me! :(

Expect The Unexpected!!!

2005-09-12T20:39:00.000+05:00

The more I expect.. the worse it gets! This is what I've learned in life so far! Humans in general have tendency to have expectations from every other human being. In many cases, this leads to aweful amount of stress creating emotional distress, conflicts, breakdowns, mistrusts, misunderstandings and what not! Expectations can be from one's one self or from others. Both of them have caused trouble for me atleast! When they are not fulfilled on the others side... it just leaves me a lil hurt! But when the expectations are not met by own standards.. Life gets really bad! Its like low self-esteem, depression, feeling of underachievement. I've learnt from many sources that we should expect less from others to keep one's self out of this frustration caused. But the question that haunts me then is what shall I do about my own expectations! If I'd stop that... I probably wont be able to achieve anything at all in the end! I'm way too lazy! The failures have always made me strive harder next time! and these failures obviously do have a psychological effect! This post comes out of some emotional distress caused by a few near and dear ones in recent times! I have no grudges left now! I am not expecting anything anymore! :) Life is beautiful... Its just the matter of how I see it! Its bad when I look at the sorry state of kids on street, but when I get back home to see the amazing smile on my luvly sister's face (She is such a sweetheart) life becomes worth living every moment! Its the unexpected kiss she'd give me once in a while that causes enormous amount of happiness inside and not the stupid stress that expected expectations cause!

Moral of the post : Expect Less & Be Happy!

Rain Rain... Dont come again!!!

2005-09-11T22:14:00.000+05:00

Atlast Karachi received some showers.. I've never liked the rain here! I doubt if many karachiites do. The reason offcourse is the question that arises... Where will the rain water go... Doh! KESC will have just another reason to cut off my power supply!... Will the government do something about the havoc the rain creates! By Karachi standards, the first sign of rainfall is the power breakdown. However, KESC was generous enough today to let me go! :D but my cable internet provider as well as the cable TV provider were out of power! What amazes me is that even the major roads of Karachi are flooded like anything be it Sharhah-e-Faisal or MA Jinnah Road or major roundabouts like Hasan Square! Forget areas like Lyari or Mehmoodabad! A cousin from Mumbai a few weeks ago told me that even though Mumbai was wrecked by floods the roads had no water as soon as the showers stopped.

Seems amazing that the recent local bodies election here saw some huge amount of money spent by the Haq-Parast people as well as Al-Khidmat guys on their election campaigns... more to degrade each other rather than to imrpove their own image! The banners/speeches proved that atleast. I wonder if something would be done by the MQM guys now in power on the so-called grass root level... where we had this so called non-party based elections! What good is the new Askari Park, when in a rarely good weather the road that leads to the park is flooded. But thats how things have been in Karachi... and most of us seem to be so much calm about it! God help us! Whatever... I luv this amazing place called Karachi! Home Sweet Home! :)

Long time no see! Updated finally!!

2005-09-08T18:12:00.000+05:00

Its been quite a long I've visited my own blog!! Been busy with quite a few things besides ofcourse being quite lazy! :) Expressing thoughts in words has never been easy for me! So that might be another reason! And its good to have this free counter on my page! Gawd.. atleast a few ppl do visit my blog ;-) So much has happened all thru these days! Be it the In Dependence day (Courtesy: Sir Saqib), Local Bodies Elections, the local departmental rallies with final year, the Department's Annual Dinner, the Defence Day & a few others... and for all those I had so much on mind just couldnt get it thru to the blog!!! The past month has been tough because of quite an academic pressure! n yayyyy! My third year at NED is abt to end! just one more day to go!! I'm kinda happy abt the year ending! but yea on a serious note there is a whole lot to worry abt!! NNNNOOOO!!! m not talkin abt the exams that are ahead! but the thought of not having acheived as planned or even worse is sending tremors down myself!!! Third Year at university and still being unsure of what to do! and what not ahead in future! I neeeeeeed counselling! :$ Someone please? The time ahead is gonna be tough atleast the coming few months surely! I wonder if I'd be able to keep up my previous record of scores this year! Third year, as per a friend Raza, wasnt techincal enough! I feeeeel like the same! I wonder if I'd ever be able to get the logic behind digital electronics! :( This stuff aint for mee!!!! Hoping for some mercy in coming times! :$ Gotta jet again! Laters!

Dead-lines!

2005-08-05T00:32:00.000+05:00

Meeting deadlines seems to be getting tougher & tougher day by day... be it academics or anything else... Now I desperately need to get rid of this habit cuz I know if not now I'll be suffering... sooner or later that’s a different question! After being at NED, I seem to be enjoying doing things at the eleventh hour! It has become more relevant to me than following the plans or even planning accordingly. And this strategy for academics has had an effect on other things in life too. No wonder my dad has been angry with me lately for being lazy.

I was going thru some web article about how deadlines can affect the software quality. Some developers commented that deadlines do apply good enough pressure to affect the software quality. Nevertheless, everyone did agree there needs to be a tradeoff. Everything needs a realistic deadline. I wish I could say the same for my own life especially things related to academics & career! And I have none to blame but my own stupid self. This summer, I had interned at GlaxoSmithKline & one of our managers, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, was always there for some good motivational sessions. That guy once told me that the major problem lies in the fact that we never take the ownership of our mistakes. Now whenever I try to do that, be it even a small mistake that has worked for me. It’s always good to realize one’s mistakes. I’m keeping the hope alive that I’ll get over with this really bad habit of not being prepared in advance or for that matter, not being early. But then again, I think if deadlines are always met, it would be a perfect world. But really things can not be always perfect! :)

Just a thought!

2005-08-02T01:24:00.000+05:00

Ok now this is something I strongly believe in... it comes from Rig Veda

"Truth is one... Sages call it by different names"

I hope people stop hating each other!! The whole world hating n just hating makes me sick at times!

Peace!

My First Blog!

2005-08-02T01:19:00.000+05:00

Hello Everyone (if someone is reading)
This is on the request of my mate FM! Here I begin! Hopefully I'll continue posting some random thoughts!

Guys... Wish me Happy Blogging :D