Event: World Congress on Internet Security 2013

The World Congress on Internet Security (WorldCIS-2013) is an international forum dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practical implementation of security on the Internet and computer netwo...

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Defending the Internet at scale

A decade ago, engineers tackled the C10K scalability problems that prevented servers from handling more than 10,000 concurrent connections. This problem was solved by fixing OS kernels and moving from...

View the original article here

Defending the Internet at scale

A decade ago, engineers tackled the C10K scalability problems that prevented servers from handling more than 10,000 concurrent connections. This problem was solved by fixing OS kernels and moving from...

View the Original article

Some Internet Street Smarts

What I find, among my friends and those I talk with is some basic Internet smarts. From this is how the thieves and crooks of the Internet ply on. These people should be treated exactly the same as the armed robber. Stealing is stealing, breaking in another person's computer should be treated the same as breaking into someone's living quarters (whether you are armed or not the penalty should be the same).

Enough, the first part of this lesson is recognize one of the tricks spy/mal ware scammers get their goods on your computer and with your permission (albeit but forced). For the most part, this will deal with Antivirus 2009, which can go under a variety names:

XP Antivirus;

Vitae Antivirus;

Windows Antivirus;

Win Antivirus;

Antivirus Pro;

Antivirus Pro 2009;

Antivirus 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 360;

System Antivirus;

Vista Antivirus;

AntiSpywareMaster;

XP AntiSpyware 2009,

You are happily cruising the net, maybe doing a research on a subject matter, or looking up something maybe just what is ailing your children. Google, Yahoo, Cuil and any other search engines aren't immune, and unless they catch it, you may be one of the first victims. It evens gets by WOT (web of Trust which I recommend having ). What they do is construct innocent looking websites which the search engines find, but when you arrive are redirected to their site.

So Step by step here is what happens.

1. Hit the first search term (Google they came up 2nd or 3rd, and Cuil 1st). Where most people go first.

2. They reduced my Flock browser and covered it up with their notice (here I uncovered it slightly)

3. Close their window with X (circled). Always do this.

4. At next popup. Close that with the X

5. and quickly close your browser (or tab if you prefer to save your session) on the X too (start a new session).If the following types of screens showing the scan results occur closing out your explorer/browser is going to be difficult. It can be done through the Task manager for Windows operations, and Monitor in Linux.

So let's walk through the steps

6. Copy of phony results. Enough to make one panic if they didn't know better. They are clubbing by fear. Another popup box with a Windows Security look-a-like logo (another part of the ploy). Whatever you do don't click anwhere's except the X. Even inside the popup and not on the buttons will automatically prompt from your browser for the download.

7.Download that popped up. DON'T DOWNLOAD!!!, HIT YOUR BROWSER CANCEL, DON'T RUN, HIT CANCEL OR X.

8.Now the nag popup occurs. It is now a futile operation to cancel the nag window via the X (except in one case), for it quickly reopens again. Don't hit any of the other buttons, or you can expect the download prompt again. (see 7 above ). Your Final Solutions

Once we reach the screen window at 8), the fight is on. Closing via the X only results in it quickly reopening and too quickly for you to close the tab or browser.

But not all is lost some tricks can be done here.

9. Pull up the Task Manager - via Ctrl-Alt-Del(ete).

Click on the application tab

Click on explorer/browser affected

Click end task

If prompt select OK.

10. Another alternative, but requires a fast clicking of the mouse. Is drag their popup box such that Xs are aligned over the Tab X or Browser X. Double click and you'll beat the popup. One more popup may appear but it can now be Xed out too.

For extra peace of mind run your Antivirus. It will probably just clean up your Browser's cache. Defense Solutions

1. Have a good antivirus installed. It may not stop from getting to the site but will warn. Or have it integrated in your browser AVG has a toolbar. Figure 11) shows what my AVG did in Windows (yes I redid the hit in Windows). Note another thing is you must know what your warnings from your Antivirus program looks like and behaves, the imitators will try and duplicate these too. If uncertain you can always use the Task Manager to see what is running and close things down and run you Antivirus program.

2. If you don't have an antivirus I recommend getting one of these three: AVG Free, Comodo, or Avast ( I have used any one of these three, prefer the first two). Plus haveSpybot S&D and Lavasoft Ad-aware installed

3. If using FireFox or Mozilla like browsers (Flock) have "No Script" installed - here is what I got in 12) from a "No Script" FireFox. It put a quick stop to the whole affair.Alright - you've been infected. Now what.

HSymptoms of infection is constant popups declaring your infection, stating to removing infections you need antivirus protection. Directing you to the phony site. Unfortunately thousands if not millions have fallen for this ploy, and purchased the phony antivirus protection. (It merely becomes even more entrenched). Also the longer the phony warnings stays on the slower your machine becomes and the more entrenched it becomes.

Deleting it will not remove and depending on the variety uninstalling won't either. Instead it reinstalls itself. It may even disable your real Antivirus programs. The crooks here constantly update this antivirus rogue ware so it can avoid detection.

So how do you remove it? Well do you want to do this yourself or use antivirus software? As a DIY, I have no recommendations of which software to use. There are several dealers out there but a good starting pointing which software would be PC Mag's forum. PC mag will direct you to the Bleepingcomputer.com A very good starting point.

Now if you are up to the challenge here is the manual way of removing (It's not for the novice to do this). Please reboot your computer into safe mode. This disables a lot of drivers and functions. But will allow you access to remove this virus.

Find and stop these Antivirus 2009 processes:

av2009.exe

Antivirus2009.exe

AV2009Install.exe

av2009[1].exe

AV2009Install_880405[1].exe

AV2009Install_880405[2].exe

c:\Program Files\Antivirus 2009\av2009.exe

c:\WINDOWS\system32\ieupdates.exe

Power-Antivirus-2009.exe

AV2009Install[1].exe

ieexplorer32.exe

%PROGRAMFILES%\Antivirus 2009\av2009.exe

AntivirusPro2009.exe

%PROGRAMFILES%\AV9\av2009.exe

Find and Remove these Antivirus 2009 DLL files:

shlwapi.dll located usually in c:\WINDOWS\system32

wininet.dll located usually in %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\S96PZM7V

Remove these Antivirus 2009 Registry files:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run\15358943642955870504508370025739

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Antivirus

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\”Antivirus” = “%ProgramFiles%\Antivirus 2009\Antvrs.exe”

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Antivirus

Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start

Menu2\Programs\Antivirus 2009

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\75319611769193918898704537500611

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{037C7B8A-151A-49E6-BAED-CC05FCB50328}

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "ieupdate"

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "75319611769193918898704537500611"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{037C7B8A-151A-49E6-BAED-CC05FCB50328}

Remove these Antivirus 2009 files:

av2009.exe

Antivirus2009.exe

AV2009Install.exe

av2009[1].exe

Antivirus 2009.lnk

Uninstall Antivirus 2009.lnk

AV2009Install_880405[1].exe

AV2009Install_880405[2].exe

c:\Program Files\Antivirus 2009

c:\Program Files\Antivirus 2009\av2009.exe

c:\WINDOWS\system32\ieupdates.exe

c:\WINDOWS\system32\winsrc.dll

c:\WINDOWS\system32\scui.cpl

%UserProfile%\Desktop\Antivirus 2009.lnk

%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\S96PZM7V\winsrc[1].dll

%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Antivirus 2009.lnk

%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 2009

%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 2009\Uninstall

Antivirus 2009.lnk

%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 2009\Antivirus2009.lnk

Power-Antivirus-2009.exe

AV2009Install[1].exe

ieexplorer32.exe

ieexplorer32.exe-removed_skip

AntivirusPro2009.exe

Conclusion.

I have never been infected with this program, encounter through various search engines and other rogue like applications. My course of action has always been my friend the Task Manager. Get to know it. Plus I am a heavy FireFox user, and with that "No Script" is usually installed.

As can be seen from the steps it's better to nip these culprits before they even enter the gate - "No Script", or an good Antivirus with a toolbar (warns of bad sites in search engine results). WOT is good and should be installed.

Next is some smarts in how to act with these crooks. Stopping them at the door with the Task Manager or even if are uncertain having your system just plain out right shut down (good process for the novice). As always instruct your family or loved ones all these people. Awareness is a good defense.

Stopping them, is far better then trying to remove them. But remember the protection is only as good as the person is using it. The best locks don't work if they aren't used right. Firewalls and Antivirus protections are good, but we must still exercise some defense and be educated what the crooks do out there and their techniques. Because you the operator can let the crooks through your defenses.

It should be noted according to the FTC and it's a good read.

"At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has issued a temporary halt to a massive “scareware” scheme, which falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers’ computers. According to the FTC, the scheme has tricked more than one million consumers into buying computer security products such as WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus. The court also froze the assets of those responsible for the scheme, to preserve the possibility of providing consumers with monetary redress."

But this isn't going to stop similar events from happening or from other countries. As an internet traveller be on your toes.

Internet Download Manager 6.15 Build 5

Internet Download Manager (IDM) is a tool to increase download speeds by up to 5 times, resume and schedule downloads. Comprehensive error recovery and resume capability will restart broken or interrupted downloads due to lost connections, network pr...

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Comodo Dragon Internet Browser 25.0

Comodo Dragon is a Chromium technology-based Browser that offers you all of Chrome's features PLUS the unparalleled level of security and privacy you only get from Comodo. Including a greater level of privacy than Chromium technology offers.

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Hacking CISCO Router

Before you start:
- What is an IP address?
- What is an ISP?
- What is a TCP/IP packet?
- How to spoof your IP
- How to use Telnet
- How to use HyperTerminal
- How to use Ping
- How to use TraceRoute
- How to use a proxy server


Section 2: finding a cisco router
Finding a cisco router is a fairly easy task, almost every ISP will route through at least one cisco router. The
easiest way to find a cisco router is to run a traceroute from dos (type "tracert" and then the IP address of
anyone's computer), you can trace pretty much anyone because the trace will show all of the computer systems between your computer and their computer. One of these systems will probably have the name "cisco" in it's name. If you find one like this, copy down it's IP address.

Now you have the location of a cisco router, but it may have a firewall protecting it, so you should see if it's
being blocked by pinging it a couple times, if you get the ping returned to you, it might not be blocked. Another way is to try to access some of the cisco router's ports, you can do this simply by using telnet, and opening a connection to the router on port 23.. If it asks for a password, but no username, you are at the router, but if it wants a username aswell, you are probably at a firewall.

Download the full file here

:: DOWNLOAD ::

Harmless Hacking for dummies

The six Guides to (mostly) Harmless Hacking of Vol. 1 jumped immediately into
how-to hacking tricks. But if you are like me, all those details of probing ports
and playing with hypotheses and pinging down hosts gets a little dizzying.
So how about catching our breath, standing back and reviewing what the heck it
is that we are playing with? Once we get the basics under control, we then can
move on to serious hacking.

Also, I have been wrestling with my conscience over whether to start giving you
step-by-step instructions on how to gain root access to other peoples’ computers.
The little angel on my right shoulder whispers, “Gaining root without permission
on other people’s computers is not nice. So don’t tell people how to do it.” The
little devil on my left shoulder says, “Carolyn, all these hackers think you don’t
know nothin’! PROOVE to them you know how to crack!” The little angel says,

“If anyone reading Guide to (mostly) Harmless Hacking tries out this trick, you
might get in trouble with the law for conspiracy to damage other peoples’
computers.” The little devil says, “But, Carolyn, tell people how to crack into root
and they will think you are KEWL!”

Download the entire file here

:: DOWNLOAD ::

Infoblox unveils new solutions for security, availability and automation

Infoblox announced new products enable organizations to manage the demands put on their networks by BYOD, cloud computing, migration to IPv6 and the evolving cyber-threat landscape.


The new Infoblox DNS Firewall, Infoblox Security Device Controller, and Infoblox Trinzic 100 Network Edge Services Appliance deliver on the company’s strategy to help customers create a strategic control point in the network. The new products are integrated with the latest Infoblox portfolio of market-leading solutions for network control.

Anonymity complete GUIDE

Anonymity on the web

[ t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s ]
01 - table of contents
02 - introduction
03 - first tips
04 - about proxies
05 - cookies
06 - ftp transfers
07 - secure transactions
08 - SSL tunelling
09 - anonymity on irc
10 - mail crypto (and pgp usage)
11 - icq privacy
12 - spyware
13 - cleaning tracks
14 - ending words

A web standards checklist

A Web Standards Checklist, How to make a proper website

The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc).

In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

HOTMAIL HACKING INFO.

I_1_I  - Brute force hacking
a. Use telnet to connect to port 110 (Hotmail´s pop-server)
b. Type USER and then the victim´s username
c. Type PASS and then the guess a password
d. Repeat that until U have found the correct password.
!. This is called brute force hacking and requires patience.
It´s better than trying to guess the victims password on
hotmail homepage only because it´s faster.

Web is turning us into kid-ults with no 'private identities' - report

Britons' willingness to post every little detail of their lives online is changing the way their identities are constructed, according to a report from the UK’s chief scientific advisor.

The web is having a profound effect on how Brits see themselves and how they relate that identity to the world around them, Professor Sir John Beddington’s report on the future of identities said.

Spyware

There are a lot of PC users that know little about "Spyware", "Mal-ware", "hijackers", "Dialers" & many more. This will help you avoid pop-ups, spammers and all those baddies.

What is spy-ware?

Spy-ware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Ad-ware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.

How to Set Up A Ftp

Well, since many of us have always wondered this, here it is. Long and drawn out. Also, before attempting this, realize one thing; You will have to give up your time, effort, bandwidth, and security to have a quality ftp server.

That being said, here it goes. First of all, find out if your IP (Internet Protocol) is static (not changing) or dynamic (changes everytime you log on). To do this, first consider the fact if you have a dial up modem. If you do, chances are about 999 999 out of 1 000 000 that your IP is dynamic. To make it static, just go to a place like h*tp://www.myftp.org/ to register for a static ip address.

Access Internet on 3 phone

If you have a phone thats with the provider 3 theres a simple trick to allow you to access the entire internet on its browser without having to go through 3 services and only what they want to allow you access to view.

Simply do the following.

A Web Standards Checklist

A Web Standards Checklist, How to make a proper website

A web standards checklist

The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc).

In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

Basics of INTERNET

The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows exactly how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that these number in the millions.

No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which develop technical aspects of this network and set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control. The Internet backbone, through which Internet traffic flows, is owned by private companies.

All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use a client/server architecture. This means that the remote server machine provides files and services to the user's local client machine. Software can be installed on a client computer to take advantage of the latest access technology.

An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services: electronic mail, file transfer, vast information resources, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities, breaking news, and much more.

The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.

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COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET

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WORLD WIDE WEB

The World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web or WWW) is a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP, Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, the World Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocols will be explained later in this document.

The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate, command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Web's ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages, the Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.

The operation of the Web relies primarily on hypertext as its means of information retrieval. HyperText is a document containing words that connect to other documents. These words are called links and are selectable by the user. A single hypertext document can contain links to many documents. In the context of the Web, words or graphics may serve as links to other documents, images, video, and sound. Links may or may not follow a logical path, as each connection is programmed by the creator of the source document. Overall, the Web contains a complex virtual web of connections among a vast number of documents, graphics, videos, and sounds.

Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplished by creating documents with a language called HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. With HTML, tags are placed within the text to accomplish document formatting, visual features such as font size, italics and bold, and the creation of hypertext links. Graphics and multimedia may also be incorporated into an HTML document. HTML is an evolving language, with new tags being added as each upgrade of the language is developed and released. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, coordinates the efforts of standardizing HTML. The W3C now calls the language XHTML and considers it to be an application of the XML language standard.

The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages, containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.

The Web provides a vast array of experiences including multimedia presentations, real-time collaboration, interactive pages, radio and television broadcasts, and the automatic "push" of information to a client computer. Programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Cold Fusion and XML are extending the capabilities of the Web. A growing amount of information on the Web is served dynamically from content stored in databases. The Web is therefore not a fixed entity, but one that is in a constant state of development and flux.

For more complete information about the World Wide Web, see Understanding The World Wide Web.

E-MAIL

Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.

A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example, a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.

TELNET

Telnet is a program that allows you to log into computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.

Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.

With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the Internet.

FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, and more.

If your computer is directly connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.

FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine, you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because you do not need to know FTP program commands.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS

One of the benefits of the Internet is the opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the listserv.

A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion groups.

Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.

USENET NEWS

Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.

Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.

There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as Usenet newsgroups.

The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as standalone products.

FAQ, RFC, FYI

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.

RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general information.

FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.

Links to indexes of all three of these information resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at /http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.

CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGING

Chat programs allow users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.