Web-based Diagramming!

While surfing the web found a few really nice web-based diagramming tools. Here they are
diagrammr
Diagramic
gliffy
websequencediagrams

Of these four, gliffy is the most polished. It is available in a basic (free) SaaS and premium (paid) SaaS application. All of these are excellent examples of web-based software leveraging the cloud and your web browser.

I played with each of them and really like gliffy since it can do all types of diagrams including flowcharts, floor plans, business activity, UML, network diagrams, org charts, etc. This is a whole new category of web-based applications that provide functionality previously limited to desktop diagramming applications like Visio, Dia, Gimp, OpenOffice, etc. This is definitely an emerging category to watch evolve and use.

Now only if gliffy could evolve and start importing Visio .vsd files... now that would be entirely impressive.

Botnets and New Defense Techniques

Recently, I read a really good article that describes advances in botnets, malware, bot-herding, and advances in defenses against this tuff. "The Dark Cloud: Understanding and Defending Against Botnets and Stealthy Malware" provides a good explanation of botnets, stealthy malware, and the sophisticated internet/web threats they represent in the future. It discusses several advanced concepts including: botnets, bot-herder, polymorphism, rootkitting, hyperjacking, etc..

The article makes an interesting analysis of the botnet Life-cycle. There are some really good diagrams.