Signs That My Site Hacked Information Technology Essay

Signs That My Site Hacked Information Technology Essay Assume you are the owner of an e-commerce web site. What are some of the signs that your site has been hacked. Discuss the major type of attacks you could expect and resulting damage on your site. Prepare a brief report based on your findings. You are required to propose web site development to one of the IT entrepreneurs in your area. Consider there are two opinions for building the site in-house with existing staff, out sourcing the entire operation. Discuss which options are in the companys best interest and the reason for choosing that opinion. Provide pros and cons for each option. Prepare a report based on your findings. Introduction to Question (1) Hacking used to be defined as One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff. However, this use has been turned around now, to mean that of a cracker One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file. This information is about this second meaning, cracking. Before we begin I would like to point out that hackers HATE crackers, crackers have given them a bad name. The main differences between the two are that hackers try to make things, crackers try to break things. Hackers made the Internet what it is today. Hackers program websites (among other things) and they do not try and harm the work of others as is thought in todays society. However, as the word hacker is now in such popular use that it is thought it means cracker I will use the words hacking and cracking for describing these cracking methods. Define question (1) Hacking is not a simple operation or sequence of commands as many people think. Hacking is a skill. To hack you must change and adapt your approach depending on the obstacles you come across. Hacking is not a specific term; there are many types of hacking. Answer for Question (1) Some of the signs that my site has been hacked: One of the goals for a hacker is to hack a website without alerting the website owner. Months go by, and a website owner hosts a hacked website without knowing the site has been compromised. The website owner may notice some strange occurrences, but here are some hacked signs that alert the owner of a compromised website. Websites that are hacked can spread malware, and the hacker sometimes steals your customers information. The Eval Base64_decode Function at the Bottom of Your Code The Eval function is used to hide code in PHP blogs such as Blogger and WordPress. The base64_decode decodes encoded text that you are unable to read when you view your website code files. The hacker places a redirection code using eval and base64_decode at the bottom of your PHP file, so you are unable to read the hacked code and dont notice the redirection to the hackers web page. If you did not put the functions on your page, then your blog or website has probably been hacked. Drop in Google Search Engine Results Rank If my site is hacked with a redirection to an online pharmacy, the Google algorithm detects a problem and lowers your search engine rank. If you check your rank often, you notice a drop in rank. You can drop several pages and even hundreds of pages in the search engine results. A Red Warning Alert in Google Chrome or Firefox When Google detects a hacked website, Firefox and Chrome use the Google API to show a warning message to users. Instead of seeing your website, the web browser shows a red screen alerting the reader to a hacked website address. Users can hit the back button or proceed to my site. In most cases, the user prefers to click the back button to avoid infecting the computer. The best way to detect a hacked website is enter your domain name into Chrome or Firefox and see if the red warning screen shows. Google Indexes Your Site with Pharmacy Text If your site has been hacked and redirects to a pharmacy, search your domain name with pharmacy text such as Viagra, pharmacy, or meds. Pornographic search phrases are also used to check if your site has been hacked and redirect to adult websites. This type of check gives you a heads up, and lets you know the hackers code is somewhere in your website code. Check the .htaccess File on Your Host Server The .htaccess file is a part of an Apache server host. One web hack is placing a redirect code in the .htaccess file. Open the .htaccess file located on the root of your web host directory. Read through the file and locate any odd website addresses. If you have a website address that is not yours in the .htaccess file, your file has been hacked. These tips help you identify a hacked website. After I fix the hack, I must identify where my site vulnerability is is located. If I do not identify the security hole, you are susceptible to hacks after you go through the trouble of fixing hacked code. The type of attacks I could expect and the damages Password cracking In most of the cases, user passwords are encrypted to protect the privacy of passwords and maintain security of the system. Password cracking is the process of decrypting encrypted passwords. A program that performs cracking is known as password cracker. Some crackers are also capable of disabling password protection system and may cause free access to anyone and the owner will be losing a lot of information in his web site. Ip spoofing IP spoofing is used to commit criminal activity online and to breach network security. Hackers use IP spoofing so they do not get caught spamming and to perpetrate denial of service attacks. These are attacks that involve massive amounts of information being sent to computers over a network in an effort to crash the entire network. The hacker does not get caught because the origin of the messages cannot be determined due to the bogus IP address. IP spoofing is also used by hackers to breach network security measures by using a bogus IP address that mirrors one of the addresses on the network. This eliminates the need for the hacker to provide a user name and password to log onto the network. Hijacking an Authorized Session With the ability to generate the correct sequence numbers, an attacker can take over an authorized session by simply taking over one of the parties to the session. Having inserted himself in the session, the attacker will simply tell the party taken over that the session has ended, while connecting to the other half of the legitimate session and continuing communication, but this time, according to the attackers dictate. Haven taken over a trusted communication channel, the attacker can then probe the network for vulnerabilities. Sequesnce Guessing Every connection between two hosts using TCP contain sequence numbers for both data and acknowledgement. These numbers, used by the TCP protocol to determine out-of-order and lost packets, is one of the facilities of the connection-oriented TCP design, to ensure reliable delivery to the application layer. The sequence numbers are generated pseudo-randomly and an attacker might send spoofed packets to a victim to determine the algorithm generating the sequence numbers, and then use that knowledge to intercept an existing session. RIP Attacks Routing Information Protocol (RIP) Routing attacks is often seen in routers which implemented the original RIP. Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is used to distribute routing information within networks, such as shortest-paths, and advertising routes out from the local network. The original version of RIP has no built in authentication, and the information provided in a RIP packet is often used without verifying it. An attacker could forge a RIP packet, claiming his host X has the fastest path out of the network. All packets sent out from that network would then be routed through X, where they could be modified or examined. An attacker could also use RIP to effectively impersonate any host, by causing all traffic sent to that host to be sent to the attackers machine instead. Buffer Overflows A Buffer Overflow is a flaw that occurs when more data is written to a block of memory, or buffer, than the buffer is allocated to hold. Exploiting a buffer overflow allows an attacker to modify portions of the target process address space. This ability can be used for a number of purposes, including the following: Control the process execution Crash the process Modify internal variables   The attackers goal is almost always to control the target process execution. This is accomplished by identifying a function pointer in memory that can be modified, directly or indirectly, using the overflow. When such a pointer is used by the program to direct program execution through a jump or call instruction, the attacker-supplied instruction location will be used, thereby allowing the attacker to control the process.  In many cases, the function pointer is modified to reference a location where the attacker has placed assembled machine-specific instructions. These instructions are commonly referred to as shellcode, in reference to the fact that attackers often wish to spawn a command-line environment, or shell, in the context of the running process . Conclusion If I cannot connect to my web site or log in to your control panel, I have to contact your web hosting company. The hacker attack has changed your password and I need to get a new one. The hacker might have also changed your email address associated with my account at the web hosting company but this is unlikely because the password and the email information are generally segregated. Anyway, depending on the company policies, a web hosting firm would either send you a new password over email OR revert with what they need to send you a new password (because they need to verify that the new password request is legitimate). In some cases, I might need to send a fax because the hackers have messed up your email too. Introduction to Question (2) Nowadays, it seems like everyone is saying, I want to site. If you want to build a web site and you know what you want, dont know what you want, trying to learn about it then we have information for you. If you already own a website or a webmaster looking for the best and latest information on successful website development, then we have the website builder for you. Also on this site we have articles and free eBooks on every aspect of website development, including internet marketing, home based businesses and affiliate marketing. Define question (2) There are many different routes a web site owner can go for getting all of the content done for his online business. The two directions he could take, whether its hiring in-house or outsourcing to a content creation company, allow for many different options and different ways to get your content project done. The route you take can have effect on a number of things, like quality of the content, your expenses, and the time it will take to get everything done. Since the content will probably be the most important part of your web site, you will want to take all things into consideration before making your final decision. Answer to Question (2) IN-HOUSE WITH EXISTING STAFF Hiring in-house definitely has its own advantages. This is because anytime you have a valuable resource like a team of writers in the Internet industry you are able to accomplish many different things because there are so many ways that you can use content on the Internet (it doesnt always just have to be on-site content). It all really depends on your own companys content needs however. You will be able to train writers and mold their styles to the way you want your content to be written. ADVANTAGES: Gives you Control If design services are part of your business, then keeping it under your control allows you to provide the best services for your customers. This means that if your business sells design services, or depends on a strong, dynamic online presence for the bulk of its revenue, an in-house design team is essential. You dont want to rely on a contractor over whom you do not have complete control to make or break your business. Communicate Better and Save Time Interacting with outsourced talent can be challenging, especially if your contractor is . People under your purview are easier to find and easier to direct, so when you need something done, you can explain it to them in person. Save (lots of) Money You will find that you will save money in the long run by using in-house talent. Even though you will have to make the investment in payroll and infrastructure, over time you get better results and spend less money than you would by hiring an outside firm. In-house design also benefits from the standpoint of project cost. Contractors often will pocket some or all of the difference if they finish a project below cost. If your In-house team completes the project at less cost, that cost savings shows up in your bottom line. DISADVANTAGES Maintenance contract with an external agency Although probably the most expensive approach, maintenance contract with an external agency does provide the best level of service. If the agency provide the right kind of service this can be very much like working with an outsource team. The agency will really get to understand the business, evolve your website on a regular basis and still provide all of the benefits of an external agency. Part time contractors For smaller organizations that cannot afford fulltime in-house staff but who wish to enjoy the benefits that come with that approach, there is the option to take on a part-time contractor. These individuals will probably have 2 or 3 websites they manage on a regular basis but still will be able to work more closely with you than an external agency. Ad-hoc specialists For larger organisations it may sometimes be appropriate to bring in specialists to compliment an existing in-house team. For example specialists in accessibility, usability or design can often work well alongside an in-house team primarily made up of coders. Outsourcing Outsourcing is contracting out the management and development of a process or production to external sources. Many online businesses have found it desirable to outsource their website. While some businesses lack the in-house expertise, others find the logistics of managing the website distracts their attention from their core competencies and some other find it to be cost-effective. In the present scenario of IT, all organizations whether big or small, depend on outsourcing to stay competitive. This is quite advantageous as a wide range of options is available, in the form of experienced reliable companies offering their services. Outsourcing helps a company to focus on its core business more efficiently. Outsourcing Advantages: You can be assured that if you go this route you are leaving all of your content needs in the hands of very well experienced and trained writers writers that have written for the Internet for a long period of time. There will more than likely be a whole team of editors, project managers, and writers and they will have a their system down pat already and will be ready to take on whatever kind of volume you need to push. You will have a faster turnaround time, and therefore you will be able to scale up quite easily. Outsourcing your content will also save you a lot of time and money. Hiring and training in-house writers takes a lot of time and can also be quite expensive. Outsourcing your content to a company usually means you will spend less money because they usually charge less and you wont have to spend money building up your own resources . Disadvantages: One of the major disadvantages is the differences in writing style that you may see. Outsourcing your content means outsourcing to a number of different writers, all of which have their own unique writing style. Since they have already been trained to write a certain way for the Internet, you will have to make sure that the writers will be able to fulfill your standards in terms of style and SEO needs. For example some people may want a double space after each period and some people like the single space approach. It seems like a small problem, but little problems like that can cause a lot of trouble if not worked out before the project gets started. This problem really escalates if you are outsourcing your content to many different freelancers. Language or cultural differences: Struggling to understand your tech support specialist can make a frustrating situation even worse. Unfortunately, many small businesses choose offshore outsourcing as their least-expensive option, while not considering the time and aggravation spent on communication issues. This can be mitigated either by carefully interviewing various offshore firms and giving them a test drive, or by hiring a local firm. The latter may also allow you to have the specialist on-site, which is highly recommended for handling most IT support needs. Not part of the team: Because outsourced IT specialists are there only when scheduled or when you need them to fix a problem, youll spend time bringing them up to speed when issues do arise or when you want them to provide advice on future technology initiatives. Again, there is a solution: Get an outsourced firm involved in your IT needs on an ongoing basis via managed services. Companies best interest The best for my company would be outsourcing because its gives us a saver web-hosting and trusted from virus. Although its not cheap but it would be easy for us because its been maintain and updated always. This could increase our web viewers and customers too. Conclusion Once you have a team of writers, you will always have to find a way to keep them busy or else you will risk losing them. If you dont have the ability to keep a team of writers busy for a substantial amount of time, then hiring in-house writers would prove to be a big waste of time. Your turnaround time will also not be as fast, and you will spend more time dealing with your writers time that probably could have better been spent elsewhere. A good route to go (a route that many companies take) is to hire a few in-house writers as well as outsource content needs that make sense to outsource. The Internet business calls for unique situations and needs, and the route you go with your content creation should definitely be based on these specific needs. One thing to be aware of is that some information technology consultants that you outsource to, will in turn outsource services to their own partners. Look for companies that take final responsibility for your system, no matter whether the y or a partner provided a particular service. This will help make things simpler for your organization, especially at times of stress and concern when you most need things to be easy.

Freedom in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Huckleberry Finn – Freedom Freedom is not a reward or a decoration that is celebrated with champagne...Oh no! It's a...long distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting." -Albert Camus. The dictionary defines freedom as the condition of being free from restraints. Freedom is not just a word one can say without meaning. It is a privilege, a privilege not everyone is granted. Freedom gives the liberty to choose what should is done and how. Freedom is the capacity to exercise choice and free will. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator, Huck, seeks freedom from society. Huck, a thirteen year-old boy, lives with Widow Douglass and her sister Miss Watson. He lives with them because before this he had no home, only a drunken father, whom he rarely sees. Both of the ladies attempt to civilize Huck by sending him to school and teaching him good manners. "Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must try to not do it any more" In this passage from chapter one you can see that Huck enjoyed doing what he pleased when he choose. "I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit." This passage is from chapter four of the book spoken by Huck. In it one can see that although Huck begins to like the civilized ways he still has a craving for his old ways, which seem u ncivilized to all. Freedom is not only having a choice but also having no restraints. The characters of the Duke and the Daphne, who were really two criminals running away, have an advantage of no restraints being given. In chapter 19 of the book, the two men introduce themselves to Huck and Jim. When they do this, they do not introduce themselves with their true identity. Because there were no restrictions, they could not only befriend Jim and Huck but also trick them. "He told them he was a pirate-been a pirate for thirty years out in the Indian Ocean-and his crew was thinned out considerable last spring in a fight, and he was home now to take out some fresh men, and thanks goodness he'd been robbed last night.

Beowulf and the Tempest-Revenge

Revenge Many comparisons can be seen between Shakespeare’s novel The Tempest and the epic Beowulf. One of the strongest similarities is the idea of revenge. Shakespeare’s novel occurs basically in order for Prospero to have revenge on his enemies from usurping his dukedom. Beowulf’s original monster, Grendel, starts acting out less due to revenge and more out of pure frustration. His death though, causes his mother to act on revenge, killing one of Hrothgar’s trusted advisor, Aeschere, causing Beowulf to kill her for revenge. The dragon got mad about a stolen article and burned down Beowulf’s home in revenge, and so Beowulf went after him.Although they have different motives, both plots are caused greatly because of revenge. In The Tempest, Prospero’s brother, Antonio, with the help of his friends Sebastian and Alonso, took over Prospero’s dukedom. He was then sent to a deserted island with just his daughter Miranda for twelve years. T hroughout his time on the island, Prospero continued to delve into his magic books. Along with he gaining new knowledge, he attained a servant Caliban, and an indebted spirit, Ariel. For twelve long years on the empty land Prospero plotted his revenge, something that was made possible due to his newfound knowledge of magic.Finally the day came when his master plan was able to finally become reality. He made a huge storm come, tearing apart the boat that held Antonio, Sebastian, Alonso, his son Ferdinand, and a few others. Ferdinand got separated from the rest and wound up, not coincidently, finding Miranda and falling in love with her. Alonso became distraught thinking his beloved son was dead. Antonio and Sebastian began to plot the death of Alonso. Finally as the novel came to an end, Prospero sent Ariel as a harpy to frighten his brother and the two other men and tell them all they have done wrong. They then were brought to Prospero.Alonso became very apologetic, while Antonio an d Sebastian remained uncaring of what they had done. Their fate rested in Prospero’s hands. This was the plan Prospero had perfected all those years, the perfect revenge plot. At that moment he had all his enemies gathered around him. He could’ve killed them or banished them to a foreign land, but he did not. He said, â€Å"The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent, the sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel. My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore, and they shall be themselves. (The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1, 28-33) He had gotten his revenge, they were sorry, and he was content. Beowulf, though, did not start out like this. The monster Grendel was a descendant of Cain. He was forced to roam the Earth an outcast due to his ancestor killing his brother Abel for no apparent reason. He heard celebration going on in Heorot and got mad. He hated happiness and noise and celebration beca use he hated the hand he was dealt in life. So as revenge for his own hated life, he decided to wreck the party and make others miserable like himself.He continued to do so for a while, scaring all the Danes, even the most powerful. Finally a brave warrior, Beowulf, came from Geatland. He went to fight with Grendel using no protective gear at all. He managed to kill the ravaging beast. The Danes thought this was finally the end of the disaster that they had been hoping for. But it was not. Grendel’s mother was furious with Beowulf for killing her son. She was willing to die in order to avenge her son’s murder. She started to attack everyone. On her rampage in Heorot, she killed Aeschere, King Hrothgar’s most trusted advisor.The entire kingdom was furious, demanding the death of this horrible monster. Beowulf states to the king â€Å"Sorrow not, wise warrior. It is better for a man to avenge his friend than much mourn. Each of us must await his end of the worldà ¢â‚¬â„¢s life. Let him who may get glory before death: that is best for the warrior after he has gone from life† (Beowulf 45). He is saying rather than mourning over Aeschere’s death, he should just avenge it. So the brave Beowulf once again came to the rescue. She lived under water so that was where he fought her and the place where she met her bitter end. Beowulf’s final battle was also due to revenge.The dragon had a valuable cup that had gone missing from the treasures. He was furious and ransacked the entire country, including burning down Beowulf’s house. Therefore Beowulf went after the dragon to avenge his lost home. This was his final battle, the fight where he lost his life. Although revenge is a major theme in both The Tempest and Beowulf, their reasons for revenge are very different. Prospero wants revenge in order to get his life back. He was thrown out of his dukedom and onto a deserted island. He wanted his enemies to feel remorse and to gai n back his dukedom and that was all.In Beowulf it was very different. Everyone wanted revenge because they were upset and wanted to hurt the nemesis. Grendel was upset with his lineage so he wanted to stop all happiness so he attacked Heorot. Grendel’s mother wanted to avenge her son’s murder so she too destroyed Heorot, including killing Aeschere. Beowulf and all the Danes wanted to avenge Aeschere’s murder so he killed Grendel’s mother. The dragon wanted his treasure back so he raided the country, and Beowulf got angry and attacked the dragon. Prospero just wanted remorse and he was happy. The characters in Beowulf wanted revenge and payback.

Power

In this world there is a little known thing called power. Power is what gave the United States and the Soviet Union the right to dominate wars. During the Cold War the U.S. and the Soviet Union had a race to make the most powerful bomb in the world, them hydrogen bomb. This lead to the creation of the atom bomb, which put a stop to World War II. Both of the countries had many scientist, nuclear physicist, and chemist on the job. The main brain of this leadership to make the bomb in the Soviet Union was a man named Andrey Dmitryevich Sakharov. He was a nuclear physicist and is considered the father of the Soviet Unions hydrogen bomb. Even though Sakharov first invented a viable hydrogen bomb, a man named Edward Teller came up with the first product called the hydrogen bomb, which was tested and used in 1952. With all of this power now in the air, the impact of the bombs consequences is very deadly. The hydrogen bomb came in four different sizes: the Tritium bomb, the De! uterium bomb, the Booster bomb, and the Fission-Fusion-Fission bomb. The pressure to develop the hydrogen bomb increased in the United States after the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in August 1949. The Atomic bomb is what lead up to this entire power race with other countries. Robert J. Oppenheimer, led an American team during World War II to produce the Atomic bomb. The Atomic bomb is an explosive device that depends upon the release of energy in a nuclear reaction known as fission, which is the splitting of atomic nuclei (Grolier 1). It was the first race between the USSR and the U.S. in which we won. We came up with the first product over the Soviet Union in 1945. Edward Teller (1908- ) was a Hungarian-American physicist known for his work on the hydrogen bomb. Teller was born in Budapest and educated in Germany at the Institute of Technology in Karisruhe and the universities of Munich and Leipzig. In 1941, he became...

uni life Essay

uni life Essay uni life Essay I’ve always had an interest in becoming a teacher because, i love working with children and within a child care setting. During primary school i was inspired by a teacher who always use to support me therefore, she had become my role model and i always us to look up to her and wanted to become a teacher myself. I have previous experience working alongside children from the ages of 0-11 years, i have worked within a nursery setting and also in a primary school. Working with children shows me they are able to achieve all their developments if they are making good progress throughout the year. I always had a passion of becoming a teacher because, seeing children learning and education them shows me they have the ability to make further progress. I was always determined to go to university so, I will become a teacher and extend my knowledge in child care. When I had attended University of Wolverhampton on the first day it felt very welcoming because, the staff had done activities which allowed everyone within the room to interact and communicate with one another. This was a good idea because, everyone was in the same position we felt nervous and wasn’t very confident at beginning of the day, throughout the day I became confident so I was able to interact with others on the course and have a conversation. When working in groups you get to work with people out of your comfort zone. This allows everyone to share their opinions when I have worked within a group throughout

British Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

British Literature - Essay Example s misogyny has been the focus of various critics in literature as he exhibited unconcealed and deliberate hatred against women, which can be accounted as one of the reasons for which Eve has been manifested as inferior to Adam and expressed in the following lines when Adam asked God: â€Å"O! why did God, Creator wise! That Peopl’d highest Heaven with spirits masculine, create at last, this Novelty on Earth, this fair defect of Nature? And not fill the world at once with men, as Angels without Feminine? (10: 881-89). These thoughts clearly revealed as if Milton had achieved the patent to hold Eve entirely responsible for the sin of disobeying the order of God. The character of Eve was not that of her own as she was created from a part of the body of Adam. Although, women of today can express their righteous anger and resentment towards the portrayal of Eve, it can be said that the social milieu during the time of Milton was responsible for her character being typified as weak when compared to that of Adam to a certain extent. It is true that Milton’s description of the relationship between Adam and Eve succinctly touches the tones of synchronization; however, the coordination is largely based on inequalities between them. The explanations bear clarified testimonies to Milton’s conception of heterosexual love in his times as he has always preferred to mention the society which was essentially patriarchal in nature although his explanations have also remained nebulous in certain instances. Therefore, the sexism or inequality between Adam and Eve is also revealed in his depiction of Eve and her dual crime towards God and Adam (Corns 71-73). There are various instances in Paradise Lost in which the sexist tendencies of Milton are more blatant and compatible with Bible: â€Å"For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was

Housing crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 10

Housing crisis - Essay Example Eventually, homeowners fell into foreclosure and delinquency. These mortgages failed to yield returns to lenders, making institutions reluctant to re-evaluate their assets that could dispose of their insolvency. Lack of institutions to purchase loans made the market to freeze making lenders to incur losses they could not absorb. The collapse of the housing market has been blamed on many participants such as potential homeowners, lenders, investors, hedge funds and government interference (Smith & Susan 126). Lenders are responsible for the housing bubble in the United States. They were responsible for lending funds to poor credit people with a great risk of default. The flooding of the market with capital liquidity by the central bank lowered the rate of interest and depressed risk premiums while investors sought opportunities that are risky in bolstering their returns for investment. Lenders at this point had adequate capital for lending and were willing to indulge in more risk to e nable their realization of increased investment returns (Fried 11). Government The housing bubble started with the efforts of the government to expand homeownership to people. The legislation enacted by authorities required investors of government-backed mortgages such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, to guarantee loans to people with poor or no credit and incapable of making down payments. This policy of the Federal Reserve enabled interest rates to maintain lower levels. This eventually made house investments more attractive. Increase in prices compelled mortgage banks to relax standards of lending further. This made prices for homes to increase until the housing bubble began (Smith & Susan 131). Homeowners Potential homebuyers viewed homeownership as a less risky investment. Incentives provided by lending institutions led to the issuance of subprime loans with varying interest rates to households with no or poor credit histories. With the increased demand for houses, prices rose an d more homes built and availed in the market. They believed in price appreciation that would allow them to refinance at relatively lower rates. However, housing bubble erupted and prices reduced significantly. The rest of their mortgages made most of the homeowners incapable of refinancing their mortgages to lower rates since no equity was created as prices for houses fell. The homeowners decided to set their mortgage interests higher making them unaffordable. Most of them had no alternative than to default on mortgages (Fried 14). Investors are to blame for the collapse of housing market just as homeowners. This is because they invested in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and were willing to buy them at very low rates over bonds. The lower rates are responsible for the increased demand for subprime loans. Investors bear the blame for the housing bubble since it was their obligation to be diligent while investing and failed to make viable expectations (Fried 23). Banks The len ders increased use of the secondary mortgage market led to increased subprime loans originated by lenders. Instead of holding onto these mortgages in books, lenders sold their mortgages in the secondary market and collected fees that originated from these market. More capital for lending circulated all over eventually increasing liquidity. Demand for mortgages emerged from the availability of assets that accumulated to form securities such as CDOs.