Security_and_Confidentiality_on_the_Internet

Security and Confidentially on the Internet Introduction The Internet provides little protection of security or confidentiality. The use of firewalls (protects both incoming and outgoing communications) and encryption can help limit the risks. I will discuss below the topics of how security and confidentially affects us in our everyday lives. Cookies Cookies provide enhancements that make the Web easier to use. Most major sites use them as they gather information about the site’s visitor. There are two main disadvantages of cookies * When you purchase a product from example a mail order catalogue you have to give personal details of yourself. This catalogue company in turn can then sell on your details without your permission to others who might want to sell you similar products thus pestering you. * There are infrastructure providers that create cookies that are visible on several sites. DoubleClick is one example. Companies use DoubleClick to serve advertisement ads on their sites. DoubleClick can place GIF files on the site that will allow DoubleClick to load cookies on to your computer. It can then track what sites you visit in future. Digital Signatures A digital signature is an easy, time-saving and secure way of signing electronic documents such as will or contract. When you use your digital signature software, you create a matched pair of keys. The first is the private key which is stored on your computer while the other is the public key which is used by someone who wishes to authenticate documents you sign. When you sign an electronic document, you need to key in an Authorization Code to decrypt the private key for as long it takes to sign the document. This is a very secure way of doing business both privately and in the public sectors in a matter of minutes. Phishing Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by pretending to be a trustworthy company. Popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to trick the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website who look the same as the legitimate one. Attempts to deal with the large number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures. Fire wall Firewalls can be used to protect your computer from hackers and offensive sites. It is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your computer. A Firewall has numerous duties such as it protects us against remote login where someone can connect to your computer in some form. It also prevents E-mail bombs where you get repeative E mails and eventually it blocks up the whole system. Pay Pal PayPal is a Web-based program for the secure transfer of funds between member accounts. It doesn't cost the user anything to join PayPal or to send money through the service. A fee must be paid for members who wish to receive money. PayPal relies on the existing framework used by financial institutions and credit card companies and uses advanced fraud prevention technologies to improve the security of transactions. Virus Virus is a computer program that can duplicate itself and infect a computer. A true virus can spread from one computer to another. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a computer or a file system that is accessed by another computer Personal privacy It is the desire of personal privacy concerning transactions or transmission of data through the Internet. It involves the management over the type and amount of information a person reveals about themselves on the Internet and who may access such information. Encryption Codes usually worked by replacing words or letters with other words or letters that can be changed back to the original words or letters by someone who knows what words or letters to change. This type of encryption was used during the world wars as a means of passing secret messages securely. In the past these codes were easily worked out but nowadays encryption is much more complex than ever before. Working on a series of calculations modern encryption hides data really securely; this should help stop unwanted access. This form of encryption is used on various highly confidential documents such as bank account information or private correspondent. Filtering Now you can protect your children and have the online peace of mind that you expect while using your computer. Previously there hadn’t been an effective internet filter solution for keeping your children safe while allowing them to use the computer. Net Nanny allows you to monitor, screen and block access to anything residing on, or running in your PC, whether you are connected to the internet or not.Net Nanny allows you to block and filter the following: * Internet web sites * Chat channels * Personal information * Words and phrases * Newsgroups Net nanny will also monitor any program on your PC example E-mail Programs, Chat Programs and many others. Methodology I carried out my research on Confidentiality and Security on the Internet using the search engines www.google.ie and www.dogpile.com . I also took references from two books in the school library. The books I got information from are called The Internet & Web authoring (Author Fionnuala Nicholson and Jacqueline Dempsey Publisher Gill & Macmillian)