The digital world is changing at a tremendous speed. New communication technologies open up new possibilities.I can say that none of us can live without internet these days, but by using them one can make his personal details exposed to others which may lead him to face many problems.
Internet Security
Internet security is a term for a very broad issue covering security for transactions made over the Internet.A small example over this point: Consider youself saying something important and is to be kept secret initially you must see that the person to whom you are conveying the message is trustable, similar case comes here “Technologies are invested in types of trust relations some are safer than others, some can be modified, and some are better avoided”.Information security is:”the practice of ensuring information is only read,heard, changed, broadcast and otherwise used by people who have the right to do so” (Source: UK Online for Business)
Internet security is a term for a very broad issue covering security for transactions made over the Internet.A small example over this point: Consider youself saying something important and is to be kept secret initially you must see that the person to whom you are conveying the message is trustable, similar case comes here “Technologies are invested in types of trust relations some are safer than others, some can be modified, and some are better avoided”.Information security is:”the practice of ensuring information is only read,heard, changed, broadcast and otherwise used by people who have the right to do so” (Source: UK Online for Business)
In the eighties when the Internet was in its initial stages , its main usage came from university students and professors.This means that security was not the first thing in mind when the basic uses and functions of the Internet were first developed.Nowadays the Internet is everywhere both in public and in private life. It has become a vital means for professional and personal (often been used for confidential purposes also).This has required security enhancements to the various communication methods used on the internet. A lot of these enhancements are not implemented by default or require additional configuration.
Generally, Internet security has browser security, the security of data entered through a Web form, and protection of data sent via Internet Protocol.Internet security relies on specific resources and standards for protecting data that gets sent through the Internet. This includes various kinds of encryption.Aspects of a secure Web setup includes firewalls, which block unwanted traffic, and anti-virus programs that work from specific networks or devices to monitor Internet traffic for dangerous attachments.
Understanding Path of Info We Send
To understand term “internet security” we need to have a basic understanding of how the Internet is organised and which path our information travels.Which can help us in taking measures to protect ourselves.Going back to the era where we used post-cards for communication, if a person sent some information through a post-card then postman on the way can read the message, alter its content and/or the destination.To counter this, people have used secret languages to communicate safely.Similarly coming to this internet era the info that a person sent can be captured somewhere in its path to the reciever so measures such as encryption are to be taken such that it doesnot get captured.
So,now lets get to know how the data transfer takes place between client and host.
Let us suppose you have requested for an HTML document from a remote computer using a web browser. The browser searches for the remote computer and on locating it, passes the request to a program called the server running on this distant computer. The server then checks up your request and tries to locate the HTML file on its hard disk. On finding it, the server sends this file to your computer. If this HTML document has embedded image, video, and/or sound files, the information and the content of such files are also passed to the browser.
On receiving data from the server, the client which is a browser in our case, starts to display the HTML page. The client holds the sole prerogative on document display, with no involvement from the servers’ side. Once it sends the data to the remote computer, the server, so to say, washes its hands off it. On receipt of all requested data, the client-server connection is lost. Thus, the next time this client asks for some information from the server, the server will treat it as a new request without any recollection of previous requests. This means that client-server interaction is “stateless” with every new request generating a new response.
The attacker has no way to come ,access your system or the server’s system directly to get the information he need.So the way he can get it is only through capturing the information by getting into the path or by interpreting himself as a legal one to the server in order to get the information.Attackers try to get access of different types of protocol modules present in between client and server. i.e in the path of information.
Common Online Security Threats
Spyware Threats A serious computer security threat, spyware is any program that monitors your online activities or installs programs without your consent for profit or to capture personal information.
A serious computer security threat, spyware is any program that monitors your online activities or installs programs without your consent for profit or to capture personal information.
Hackers
People, not computers, create computer security threats and malware. Hackers are programmers who victimize others for their own gain by breaking into computer systems to steal, change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism.
Phishing Threats
Being as a trustworthy person or as a friend, phishers attempt to steal sensitive personal information through fraudulent email or instant messages just by creating a similar website where you would visit and get the credentials by which they could login or access the website by your credentials making the server belive that the client is you.
Viral Web Sites
Users may often get email messages to visit websites that contain viruses or Trojans. These sites are known as viral web sites and are often made to look like well known web sites. Users who visit these sites often inadvertently download and run a virus or Trojan and can then become infected or the subject of hacker attacks.
Social Engineering
Tricking computer users into revealing computer security or private information, e.g. passwords, email addresses, etc, by exploiting the natural tendency of a person to trust and/or by exploiting a person’s emotional response.
How to Secure Yourself
Prevention
If you were to secure your house,prevention would be similar to placing locks on your doors, locking your window, and perhaps installing fence around your yard. Doing everything possible to keep the threat out.
Detection
Once again using the house analogy, Though you locked your doors it doesn’t mean none will attempt to break them.This would be similar to putting a burglar alarm and motion sensors in the house.These alarms go off when someone breaks in. If prevention fails, you must be safe side by arranging for alerts.
Reaction
Detecting the failure has no meaning if you do not have the ability to respond. What good it does to be alerted by a burglar if nothing is done or nothing can be done by you?. The same holds true for information security. Once you have detected a failure, you must execute an effective response to the incident.
Tips to Secure Yourself
-Install and Use Anti-Virus Programs
-Take Care When Reading Email with Attachments
-Install and Use a Firewall Program
-Make Backups of Important Files and Folders
-Use Strong Passwords
-Take Care When Downloading and Installing Programs
-Install and Use a Hardware Firewall
-Install and Use a File Encryption Program and Access Controls
One can use advanced threat intelligence solutions, adopting a proactive attitude to security and… preparing for the worst so as to be secured. Individuals must be careful and worldly-wise, understanding that it is not a good idea to share anything and everything on social networks, and use strong passwords and up-to-date information protection solutions.
Refer These if Interested
Refer These if Interested:
- “https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1180”
- “http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~kemm/courses/cs177/Internetsec.pdf”
Of these two links the first one provides you with knowledge of networking and path of information packets and the second one gives information about internet working and threats you may face using internet.