Apple has renewed its all-in-one iMac computer series by introducing the new Magic Trackpad mouse, the new 27″ LED Cinema Display and the 12-core processor on Mac Pro.

The new iMac computers are now equipped with Intel processors Core i3, Core i5 Dual Core and the four-core i7. All processors have an integrated controller of memory for immediate access to the system memory, allowing the new iMac to take full advantage of the faster 1333 Mhz RAM.

The new and discrete ATI Radeon HD graphics card gives high quality graphics to satisfy the demands of 3D gaming and professional applications. The new iMac’s display, based on IPS technology, gives a broad picture angle of 178 degrees. The SD card slot now supports the standard SDXC utilizing the latest high-capacity storage cards. Those who prefer the 27-inch iMac have the choice of getting the SSD storage media with capacity of 256GB as a primary or secondary storage medium. The iMac SSD supports up to 215 MB/s data transfer rate for faster booting of the computer and its applications. All new iMac are available with built-in Mac OS X Snow Leopard advanced operating system, and include the iLife software suite, which offers the ability to manage photos, create movies and music composition and learning.

The new Magic Trackpad consists of a glass multi-touch surface and aluminium body and offers the users of Desktop Mac systems the same interactive experience that users of portable Macs experience. It is wireless and allows the user a series of innovative moves such as smooth scrolling, easy zoom-in or zoom-out on images, image rotation option with two fingers, etc.

For business users, Apple announced its new generation of Mac Pro. The new Mac Pro is now equipped with up to 12 core processors, incorporating the latest generation of quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors resulting in up to 50% greater performance than the previous generation. They have the brand new ATI graphics cards, the choice of up to 4 SSD storage media with capacity 512GB each, thereby achieving a great performance and great expandability that will satisfy the most demanding users.

Finally, Apple has recently presented the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display with outstanding resolution 2560 X 1440. With the built-in iSight video camera, built-in 49W speaker, microphone as well as a Mag Safe connector for charging the laptop, the new Led Cinema Display is the perfect companion for any laptop and Desktop Mac system.

Note also that all Apple iMac computers are manufactured almost entirely from recyclable materials that are environmentally friendly.

The security problems associated with unsecured WiFi networks when you sit on the beach, cafe, etc., the applications that “show” your geographical location, the information exchanged through social networks etc are hiding serious security threats for your PC and for your personal information as well.

The use of secure wireless networks, encryption or hiding of data on disk to prevent “theft”, and serious precautions during online shopping or banking transactions, are among the practical security measures that users need to follow for protecting their personal information.

With the proliferation of social networks and the numerous applications used to share information via the Internet, PandaLabs, the anti-malware labs of Panda Security, advise users to take additional steps to avoid falling victims to malicious actions during the holidays.

Besides the traditional security measures that are usually taken, “This year, we ask users to pay special attention when sharing information over the Internet, especially when it comes to planning trips using applications, or when using GPS devices to reveal our geographic location to other members of the community. Such information can easily be taken into advantage from those who steal personal data or planning hostile actions” states Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs.

These types of “geo-location” applications are used widely in recent years. Facebook applications such as Doorpl or Trip Advisor (which describes the current location of someone or the desired destination of someone), the Twitter geolocation utility (which shows from which location your tweets are sent), or the location services via GPS mobile devices (iPhone and Android users) are just some examples.

PandaLabs constantly analyze the latest trends in Internet and are able to advise users for their protection throughout the year and more specifically during a massive holiday period like the summer.

If you take your own computer with you on vacation:
- Before you do anything, keep a back up of all your data.
- Make sure you have a reliable and updated antivirus/antimalware protection software and that all necessary security patches are installed.
- In order to mitigate the consequences of theft of your computer, use the encryption technology for information stored on your hard disk, even if such work is tedious and complicated. This will prohibit any access to your files without correct password.
- Clear the temporary files, logs, cookies and password reminders or auto-complete features you use on the browser. This would eliminate the automatic access to webmail, social networks, bank accounts or your favorite online stores.
- Do not connect on unprotected WiFi networks, as you can “get hooked” by hackers who can intercept information shared with your community. Even if you have to pay for network access, it is better and safer to use a secure network you can trust.
- Pay attention to email. The phishing attacks and spam are becoming smarter for stealing sensitive personal data.

If you use another computer on your vacation:
- It’s better not to use someone else computer. You do not know what is installed on this computer. It is possible that PCs in cyber-cafes, hotels or airports, from where you might log into your bank account, etc. are infected by a dangerous Trojan Horse.
- If you do not really have a choice and must go into websites that require your personal credentials, make sure you change them immediately after use in order to minimize the risk.
- Avoid doing online transactions if possible. Remember that any information you enter can be used by another user.
- Do not accept any inducement for storage of personal data offered by many web browsers.
- When you are finished using the computer, delete all temporary files, browser history, the cookies, the log files and any other information stored on computer.
- If you download something on the computer, remember to delete it before turning the computer off.

Using social networks
- Never use the travel planning applications offered by these networks in order to be sure that it is impossible to identify who you are. Do not accept the geolocation detection (geolocation function) in Twitter and do not use this technology in mobile phones.
- Do not reveal your plans for your holidays in chat rooms, IRCs, social communities, etc.
- If you spend time in chat rooms while you’re on vacation, do not disclose any personal or confidential information to someone you don’t know.
- Share the above tips with your children, which are often more open to good faith to share information via the Internet.
- If you notice any suspicious behavior while you are connected to a social network (people with great interest for other people’s destinations, dates, etc.) contact the police. Prevention is always better than cure.

The ASA 5500 series firewall can work as DHCP relay agent which means that it receives DHCP requests from clients on one interface and forwards the requests to a DHCP server on another interface. Usually the DHCP server is located in the same layer 3 subnet with its clients. There are situations however where we have only one DHCP server but several layer 3 networks exist (on different security zones on a Cisco ASA) and dynamic IP allocation is required for those networks as well. With the DHCP relay feature, we can connect the DHCP server on one network zone and have the firewall forward all DHCP requests from the other network zones to the DHCP server.

The diagram below illustrates a simple network scenario with three security zones (network interfaces) and a single DHCP server. The three network zones are inside, outside and DMZ. The DHCP clients are connected to the inside network and the DHCP server on the DMZ network. The DHCP requests from the clients on the inside network will be relayed to the server on the DMZ network. The server will assign IP addresses in the range 192.168.1.0/24 to the clients.

Configuration

!First identify the DHCP server and the interface it Is connected to
ciscoasa# conf t
ciscoasa(config)# dhcprelay server 10.1.1.100 DMZ
ciscoasa(config)# dhcprelay timeout 90

!Now enable the DHCP relay on the inside interface
ciscoasa(config)# dhcprelay enable inside

!Assign the ASA inside interface IP as default gateway for the clients
ciscoasa(config)# dhcprelay setroute inside

Usage Guidelines

You can add up to four DHCP relay servers per interface. You must add at least one dhcprelay server command to the ASA Firewall configuration before you can enter the dhcprelay enable command. You cannot configure a DHCP client on an interface that has a DHCP relay server configured.

You cannot enable DHCP relay under the following conditions:
• You cannot enable DHCP relay and the DHCP relay server on the same interface.
• You cannot enable DCHP relay and a DHCP server (dhcpd enable) on the same interface.