Assignment1 Microsoft Word
Assignment1 Microsoft Word
Assignment1 Microsoft Word
videos are available. Of course, the list of things to do on the Internet would be incomplete with the web encyclopedia, Wikipedia, which can give you information on most topics.
1. INTRODUCTION
he internet has become indispensable in life nowadays. Everything from communicating with friends and family thousands of miles away to playing games and watching movies are done on it. It is perhaps one of the most brilliant schemes ever to be formed in the history of technology, as no other ventures have been this successful and sought after. Initially, the Internet was just a medium with which you could communicate with your loved ones who were at different places. This too was only possible if both the parties had the Internet connection. In the early days there was only the dial-up connection which was very slow and frustrating as well. Today, the dial-up connections are nearly a thing of the past with the coming of the reliable broadband connections. Through the years, sending simple mails turned into chatting with people from different parts of the world. And today, it has become a place where you can interact with people, share ideas, take classes, and do similar such things. The social networks like Orkut, Facebook, etc have helped to build long distance friendships, which are not unlike the pen pals of the old times. Entertainment is the main attraction of the Internet. You can watch movies and videos. Those who have missed the episode of their favorite soap opera could watch it on YouTube and similar such sites where free
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The internet is one form of technology which is here to stay. The quality only gets better as the years pass by and people are trying for means to access it from different gadgets like mobiles, etc. With a highly secure connection you can do almost anything on it.
The Internet can be a confusing and dangerous place. Without a safety net, many people can fall into the danger zones of pornography, predators, online scams, Internet viruses, and spyware. With such free access to the Internet around the world, many have abused it as an opportunity to take advantage of others. But, there's no reason to fear the Internet. When used properly, with the right precautions and the right information; the Internet educates, positively influences, and provides a creative outlet for today's kids.
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There are people out there who are trying to lure us and trick us into many things. They may try to trick us into meeting us. This is NEVER safe. They dont know who they are and who they pretend to be on the internet is not who they actually are. They are very skilled at tricking young people (and old) into meeting us.
3.
3.1
They may try to trick them financially. Once credit card or bank information is given it can easily fall into the wrong hands. Identity theft is a growing problem and the devastating effects can last for years.
Choosing password or 1234 is like putting a luggage lock on the front door of your house. Also, people will be able to guess it and hack. Instead, come up with a longer password that contains both letters and numbers/characters, preferably one that references something significant only to you. For example, if the name of your
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beloved childhood goldfish was Sir Bubbles, swap out some of the letters for numbers and you can end up with a very nice password like s1rbubb735 that only you understand.
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while theyre abroad. Read How to Avoid Scams on Craigslist and How to Avoid Internet Dating Scams for more details.
3.4 Keep your eyes peeled for online scams. Beware of spoof email claiming to
Never use the same password for different accounts. If you dont want to come up with and keep track of dozens of different passwords, come up with a base password (ex. s1rbubb735) and tack a logical modifier onto it for each account (ex. on Amazon, use amzns1rbubb735; on Gmail, use gmails1rbubb735 or for Twitter twitt1rubb735).
3.2 When signing up for / installing / agreeing to anything, read the fine print. If
you do not want to receive junk mail or get put on a telemarketer list, look for a small box near the bottom of the page that asks if you want to receive information and offers from other companies. The best sites will have a statement listed that they will not sell your name to other companies (though they may still spam you themselves). Some sites require you to give all your information to get the product. Only fill in required fields that are marked with an *. If the info box does not have an asterisk it is optional and you can leave it blank.
3.3 Do not give out your full name, address, or phone number to anyone online that you don't trust or know in person. This especially important in
be from eBay, PayPal, or a bank or a company you trust asking for personal or sensitive information. This is called phishing. The e-mail may inform you that there is a problem with your account/password. There may be a link to click inside. Forward any of these e-mails to the company it claims to be sent from. They will confirm whether the e-mail you received was real or not. Also, bear in mind that e-mail programs like Yahoo!, MSN, and Gmail will never ask you for your e-mail password.Dont fall for it. Read How To Protect Yourself From Phising Scams for more information.
chatrooms or when negotiating jobs or deals through meet-up sites. Beware of stock letters (i.e. very general response letters that dont actually address any of the points youve made), anyone who wants to negotiate a wire transfer, or anyone who wants to work out a business arrangement
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4.2 When using a public wireless network, make sure to turn off file sharing and network discovery. These
both put your files and system at risk for
FADHILLAH BINTI MUZAFFAR GA01547
being opened by anyone on the wireless network, not just hackers. In Windows, these options can be found under Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center. In Mac OS X, they are under System Preferences > Sharing. If you are within range of public wireless networks but dont need to be online, turn off your wireless capabilities altogether. On some devices, there is simply an on/off switch; on others, you will need to configure this yourself (ex. on a Mac, click the Wi-Fi icon and turn off Airport.
5. DOWNLOAD SAFELY
5.1 Only download files or software from sites that have been rated/verified by trusted sources. Choose downloading resources that are up-front about price and ratings and vet their downloads (ex. download.cnet.com). When in doubt, google the name of the site or download along with the word scam to see if you get any hits. Do not download illegally (copyrighted material without paying for it) 5.2 Never open e-mail attachments from strangers unless you can trust them and have security settings on your computer. Some junk e-mails may contain
viruses or spyware that can harm your computer. These e-mails may be automatically marked as "spam" or "junk," but virus-ridden emails from unwitting friends can also slip through.
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4.3 Always check for secure transaction info. The best companies will
have many security devices in place. You may see a gold lock at the bottom of the page to indicate a secure site. When giving any bank details or other information, make sure the connection is secure (URLs like this begin with https:// instead of http://) and the site is trustworthy. (Not every site which runs HTTPS or accepts payments is trustworthy, even if the connection if) Configure your browsers to filter out or block inappropriate content, especially if you have children. Read How to Restrict Web Browsing Using Internet Explorer / Block Websites on Firefox / Block a Website on Mac if necessary.
If you use an email program like Outlook or Thunderbird, make sure to disable attachment previews. These take away your ability to decide whether or not to open an attachment. Look through your email programs settings and disable options such as Show Attachment Previews, Display Attachments Inline, etc.
Download Safely
5.3
Warning
Give up your account if its been compromised after you backup what you can save. Inform your bank, job and others of this immediately. You will probably have to change all the passwords or account numbers or so immediately(if it was ever in your email). Report the problem to your email provider. If your computer was hacked through the internet then all your information it may have been compromised. Update your security and remove the virus. If important documents , account numbers ,etc have been stolen or compromised inform your bank, job, etc accordingly. Report any crime to the police. Use good hints that only you will know the answer to. Keep a backup of important emails and documents on a USB or in print or both. Being safe on the Internet sounds easy but it takes time and experience to know what is okay to share with people on-line. Remember, people on-line are strangers so it's best NOT TO SHARE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION AT ALL! NEVER meet anyone that you have met on-line
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even if you think that you really have gotten to know someone well. This is the biggest risk you can take and can put you in danger. Talking to your parents about what you can or cannot do on-line ahead of time is the best way to keep safe and have fun while using the Internet!
6. STRATEGIES
This is some strategies here to help keep you and your personal information safe online. Some of these you will be able to implement and some you wont, but in conjunction they ought to make you safer.
to mention any personal financial or other sensitive data youre storing in your online files.
One thing to note with this is that many websites still wont allow you to use certain characters (usually *) in passwords.
6.3
The strongest and most secure password follow the same rules
But sometimes, especially in the case of a website youll have financial dealings with this is unavoidable as they need your date of birth and address for security. Go back to my previous rule about different passwords for different websites for this situation then. If a web service is hacked though any and all information that you share is vulnerable. If you must give away this information to validate yourself on a website can you remove or change it afterwards? Will the websites service still work for you if you later log into your account and either remove the information completely or change it, perhaps by changing the phone number to 12345?
Make it at least 10 characters in length Use a mixture of Lower and Uppercase letters Use numbers (you can substitute some for letters too, 0/o, 1/i/l, 5/s and so on) Use symbols (which you can also substitute for letters, $/s, _/L, #/o for instance) Do not ever use the following (common words, names, date of birth, the word password)
6.7
happen to any company at any time, no matter how big or small they are. The trick is to not have the information that can be exploited avillable to begin with but this is rarely easy in todays Internet age. The best advice I can give is simply to be vigilant and aware of whats going on with your banking and your accounts. With these simple rules you wont be completely protected, but you can at least minimise the damage if something does go wrong.
If you use online banking you can keep a much closer eye on transactions on your accounts. Rather than have to wait up to 30 days for your statement to arrive, online banking will usually show you the most recent transactions whenever you log in. This is an excellent way to see if someone is fraudulently using your credit or debit cards so that you can inform the bank promptly and have those cards cancelled, minimising the economic effect on you. Remember it can take the banks a while to refund money to you.
7. IMPACT
6.8
Again this is something I wrote about at the beginning of the week. Try not to sign up for every website and web service going. Dont spread yourself out on the web so far that youll never remember where you have accounts. Keep and eye on your email and junk folder. Occasionally these websites will send you an email and you can use this as a reminder to go back there and either remove or replace any personal and sensitive information, or preferably, just close the account completely.
The internet seems safe enough youre in your own home, safe, talking to who you choose, having fun chatting in a chat room How dangerous could it be????
VERY!
6.9
Be vigilant
There are people out there who are trying to lure you and trick you into many things.
To be honest theres absolutely nothing you can do to prevent a hacking attack such as the one that recently hit Sony. It could
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They may try to trick you into meeting them. This is NEVER safe. You dont know who they are and who they pretend to be on the internet is not who they actually are. They are very skilled at tricking young people (and old) into meeting them. Dont put yourself at risk.
much information or doing things they dont want to do. If someone does or says something to lure you or you just feel uncomfortable about something they have written simply log off. No explanations required. You have that right.
They may try to trick you financially. Once credit card or bank information is given it can easily fall into the wrong hands. Identity theft is a growing problems and the devastating effects can last for years.
Know the value of your personal information. Do not share this information. There is no reason to give out your address, phone number, or real name. Giving out this information puts you at great risk for danger. Do not fill out profiles. Although they may seem confidential they are NOT. When you complete the survey to open an account or join a chat room that information can be easily accessed by a predator. Choose fun nicknames that a boy or girl could use. Do not give out your email address. If you are in a chat room do not exit for a private chat. This is a very common way for predators to trick people. They are very good at tricking people into divulging too
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important to keep your information safe when you are online, and this includes not using unsecured wireless networks, even if you know and trust the person that is providing the connection. The biggest thing you can do to secure your home network is to set up a secure Internet connection. If you use a wireless connection (and honestly who doesnt use wireless nowadays?), then you must set up a secure connection. This means getting your own connection and protecting it with a password. If you have a wireless connection, it does allow everyone in your family to connect to the network no matter where they are in the house. It also allows your neighbors, complete strangers, and even hackers to find your sensitive information. If you dont use a secure Internet connection or you arent making your network secure, you are leaving your passwords and personal information vulnerable. Another useful and helpful thing to do to protect your network is to make sure you have your firewall, or virus protection, turned on and updated on every computer in your house. No matter how careful you are, the chances of getting a virus are still quite high. Make sure every computer has the proper virus protection, especially if those computers have access to the Internet. Technology really is changing lives and making it easier to do business. The most important thing to remember is to play it safe. Take a few simple steps and youll be able to keep your home network secure and working properly. You may think your information is secure online, but whether you like it or not, there are plenty of dishonest people in the world who want to get your personal information and use it in a harmful way. This can include
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everything from stealing your identity to emptying your bank account and using your money. Some people will even go as far as using your identity to apply for more credit cards. This can be a major issue you are going to have to fix if you are not careful about who has access to your personal information. Its also going to take a lot of time and headache to change all of your passwords, close your bank accounts, and put a stop on all payments if somebody does get your information. Although no method is fool proof, there are plenty of things you can do to keep your information safe online. First of all, you should never buy something from a site that you have never heard of or that does not look professional. You run the risk of giving your credit card number to someone that will charge it with purchases. Secondly, you should never give any information that is not required. Just because there is a field for something on a form doesnt mean you have to supply that information. Theres no reason a company would need to know your SSN in order to process a payment. In this day and age, its easy to imitate the programing of any website in order to gather information from people. You could be using a site that is imitating some other site without even knowing it. This means you should have a firewall enabled on your computer as well as anti-virus software that can detect fraud. Many of these security programs can be downloaded for free from the open source community. Always look for the SSL seal.