Travel Tips Cambodia - Thailand - Thailand's Loy Krathong - Cambodia's Water Festival Big Holidays - INTERNET THEFT - October 2006

Tuesday October 31, 2006

Roman Wanderaugh - National Radio Text Service

Thailand's Loy Krathong - Cambodia's Water Festival Big Holidays - This past year the BBU virus created by two Build Bright University college students in Phnom Penh has been creating havoc and DAMAGE. The virus is known damage USB flash drives as well as destroying files.

CAMBODIA & THAILAND's MAJOR HOLIDAYS

This is the big holiday week in Thailand and Cambodia. The Thai's will celebrate Loy Krathong the 4th and for several days after. Cambodia celebrates thier Water Festival holiday from the 4-6th.

Thailand's Loy Krathong

Beauty contests are an attraction at Thailand's Loy Krathong. Locals and tourists play a part in the festivities by floating Krathong's (floating candle with flowers) on the river.

In the past we enjoyed the festivities in Chiang Mai at the Gondola restaurant. There are other venues along the riverfront that are great places to be with the crowd of local and foreign revelers. Rooms can be tough to get in Chiang Mai during the celebration.

The riverside clubs on the river street Charoenraj Road in Chiang Mai is a well-known restaurant area with environments that include bars with live music and also venues with a quiet dining sections.

During the celebrations watch out for errant firecrackers and cherry bombs that are thrown by locals at ones feet or in the air towards ones head. In the past we noticed several people with patches over their eyes.

CAMBODIA'S WATER FESTIVAL

Phnom Penh is the hot spot for celebrating Cambodia's Water Festival. Families travel from the provinces and convene on the riverfront area making it a sea of humanity during the festivities.

Roads are blocked off in the Royal Palace area from Norodom to the riverfront. Vehicles may not enter the area unless they have a pass.

During the three days of festivities in the evening brightly lit and colorful water floats parade around the waterfront. Prizes are given for the best floats.

Also in the evening live entertainment is provided on stages throughout the riverfront area.

Boat races are held during the day from 9am. Championship teams from the provinces compete for prize money. In the evening the parading of colorful floats on the river begins at dusk

"Basically the city will be turned into a party mode for three days," said K.B. Thuraisingham the Principal Advisor for the Ministry of Tourism.

During mid day is quite hot unless it rains. Be prepared to pace your self for the evening events of parading floats, fireworks and live entertainment.

Most of the festival activity will take place along the riverfront. Many of the expatriate owned bars would close during the festival since the crowds are so large that their customers can't take transportation to their business.

If you take transportation the riverside you will have to walk several blocks to reach the river walk street of Sisowath Quay.

There will be activities from the Independence Monument area of Hun Sen Park going in a northern direction to street 106. That is near Wat Phnom and the Post Office area.

There are plenty of vendors in the festival areas selling food and many restaurants will be open.

From our experience in Chiang Mai and Phnom Penh the Water Festival has a more cultural feel than Loy Krathong, which to us is more commercial. Whatever your choice a good time can be had by all.

BANKING NOTE:

Banks in Cambodia will be closed Monday November 6 and Tuesday November 7. They are recognized as Water Festival holidays.

HELEN'S BAKERY & RESTAURANT

Helen's restaurant and bakery is near the Independence Monument on the fringe of the Water Festival crowds and activity.

Helen's specialty is Philippine food and has excellent bakery goods that are also sold in many Phnom Penh supermarkets.

She will be open during the Water Festival but will be closed on Sunday November 5th her regular off day.

Helen is a great person to talk to if she is not busy. She came to Cambodia in 1990 when UNTAC arrived.

She has a lot of experience and stories about the changes of Cambodia since she landed on Cambodian soil.

Located on 1598 Norodom Blvd. between St. 306 & St. 294. Look out for it there is a small tree in front of the entrance. Tel: 016-848-001

KNOWLEDGE BRINGS DESTRUCTION

When American Bill Herod brought the Internet to Cambodia in 1997 he though not intentionally, turned on the Cambodian economy with the ability to do commerce more capably.

Herod then went on to teach Cambodian youth how to technically work the Internet. He started KIDS that was an IT training school for many of the Internet savvy youth in the country today.

Full circle came when one of Herod's former students repaid him for the knowledge by opening up his own Internet shop. He also stole Herod's Internet password. He then proceeded to run up Herod's bill.

Herod took the former student to court and won the case. Herod is now out of the Internet business.

Some students use their IT knowledge in a positive way by opening Internet cafes or working in a company's IT department. But now there is a more pressing problem when the knowledge is used in a negative way causing some a loss of time money and equipment.

This past year the BBU virus created by two Build Bright University college students is creating havoc and DAMAGE. BBU stands for the initials of the school. The virus is known take up space, slow down speed, damage USB flash drives and destroy files.

In our travels to the Internet shops in Phnom Penh we asked the owners and staff if they were familiar with the problem. They all said yes. "They go to my school," (Build Bright University)," said one shop owner.

No punishment has been dealt to the creators of this problem. The Cambodia Daily reported that a BBU administrator confronted the boys who admitted to infecting the university's computers. They also admitted that they had a stronger version that they had yet to release.

One boy gave his thumbprint and promised not to release another version. That was then…. BUT... this is now.

Since that time two more versions of the BBU have been released. In late August the University of Cambodia's Internet system became very slow and wouldn't function properly.

A job that is usually completed in 10 minutes took over an hour without completing the task. Pictures wouldn't upload. Erasures of files also occurred.

When we questioned Pom Piseth the head of the schools website development he admitted the problem was there and noted that the virus creators were also students at U Cam night school.

He then showed us pictures of the violators who brazenly included their telephone numbers and email address in the message.

Piseth noted that the virus was in all of their computers since it was inserted into a computer. Once inserted it then goes to the server that then infects all computers. At that time he had no cure for the problem.

In August Internet shop operators were dealing with version 3 of the virus. They had a cure for version 1 but not for version 2 & 3.

When we asked a shop owner if Symantec had been informed his reply was Symantec didn't consider it a real virus and didn't attempt to find a remedy.

This week operators said they now have a cure for BBU version 2 & 3. The reality is that the perpetrators have yet to be called into account nor punished for the problems they have caused in lost business time, revenue and ruined equipment.

The question is what does a thumbprint really mean to people that according to the Cambodia Daily want to be recognized as being the top computer hackers in the world?

In Cambodia they may teach Internet technology but apparently they don't teach ethics and integrity.

Continued: LOOK OUT FOR - Problems & attitudes from Internet shop owners.

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BEWARE - COMPUTER VIRUS SPREADING IN CAMBODIA

A Build Bright University college student in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is responsible for Cambodia's first homegrown computer virus said a report in the Cambodia Daily.

It is spreading throughout the country. Most importantly there is no cure.

The virus shut down the university's system and the countries largest TV station CTN had their programs destroyed.

The proud student named the virus after the university thus the name BBU from the initials of the school.

The school rector asked the student to thumbprint an agreement that the student would not to release the virus into the public domain.

The student admitted that he created another virus that is more dangerous that he has yet to release. His plan is to study all he can about computers so he can become a topflight computer hacker. He feels that creating viruses is fantastic.

GO FIGURE BUT BEWARE….

Cambodia news information is available at: www.cambodiadaily.com

COMPUTER THEFT

When using a public computer at an Internet shop BEWARE. We've noticed an increased amount of Spam and odd computer behaviors. When we checked Internet options virtually every computer was set to save passwords and forms. We found one of ours.

Some Internet shops also have hidden files hidden files where downloaded pictures are stored. They also save anything scanned or downloaded Acrobat Reader documents. Many have back rooms.

Spy ware is abundant. After using a computer for a while and strange icons appeared and the service was not functioning properly we saw a message stating someone was on line. All of our icons were changed. In the hidden icons there was INSTANT MESSAGING TURNED ON.

When the shop owners or managers are questioned about why the answer is OHH… MY CUSTOMERS CAN'T REMEMBER or they didn't know about it because customers put information into the machines.

When you bring up the point that information can be written down and if someone wants to save something they can put it on their flash drive or a floppy disk. It's amazing how the shop owner didn't think of that.

When it was pointed out that it is their business and their responsibility to take care of their computers they seem not to understand…. Intentionally or not.

Internet shop staffs spend a lot of time listening to music or looking at or downloading pornography. When you point out to the shop owner that viruses and spy ware can be hidden in those types of files they know but permit it.

When it is pointed out that they pay the employees to do a job and is that job to look at sex site and listen to music? They seem stunned.

The point of taking responsibility and having integrity for the safety of the public's documents such as financials and passwords relating to the business seems to be all news to them.

INTERNET THEFT WARRANTS CAUTION

TIP… Internet theft is rampant in the region. The work you are doing at many of the Internet cafes can be accessed from within or outside the shop from another computer.

Also many of the shops have the computers set to remember passwords and save forms and downloads.

In some shops we have found that legal documents that were scanned were saved in files that remain in the system for a week or more.

Use the Fire Fox browser whenever possible.

After receiving too many requests from business to change passwords we decided to look at how the computers are set at Internet shops. In doing so we found that there was too much to think about and self-protection was in order.

When using an Internet shop computer it is wise to go TOOLS on the computers tool bar and click on INTERNET OPTIONS.

From there in general information click on open to BLANK PAGE.

Delete links to other sites as well as the history.

Go to PRIVACY and set remember history to 0 days. Also delete remember history, clear the cache, save NO passwords.

Make sure the computer will not SAVE OR REMEMBER PASSWORDS or COPY FORMS.

Close and then click REFRESH THREE TIMES then open the browser.

Check history. If there is a history something is wrong.

Repeat the process or change computers.

After you finish your work repeat the process to make sure the person that uses the computer after you can't track your information and go to the sites you've visited.

Also some employees have been seen going to a computer after a customer has left the shop and clicked on and went to every website the customer visited.

We have pointed out to some shops the copying of passwords and forms in their computers in Internet Options. Some were very squeamish and others were attentive and tried to correct the problem. In some cases customers input the spy devices.

Some shops have set their computers so that what they have set can't be changed. You then have the option to leave and go to another shop where you can repeat the process and have a clean computer to use. Some shops have a system that whatever they scan will be saved to a file.

This may not solve all of the problems but it's a start. More suggestions are welcomed.

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