Even in the developing
nations, Internet is respected as an enabler. No doubt about this as
more and more people are using Internet to go about business.
Statements have come out predicting that by the year 2022, Internet
will be a 'must' of life. In the same line the UN is moving to make
broadband access a human right. It is with no doubt now that Internet
is moving to rule our lives, in education, medicines, communications
(emails and so on), banking, society (through social media like
Facebook, Twitter, etc) and generally in the way we live our lives.
As we move around the
Internet, we often find problems, either people with bad intentions
or our poor enlightenment which might end up being costly to us. The
problems on the Internet might include, although not limited to:
a) Cyberstalking:
Cyberstalking is a technologically-based “attack” on one person
who has been targeted specifically for that attack for reasons of
anger, revenge or control. Cyberstalking can take many forms,
including embarrassment, accusations, monitoring, making threats,
harassment or gathering information in order to harass and humiliate
the victim.
b) Identity
Theft: Identity theft occurs when someone uses your
personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security
number, Email Address credentials, or credit card number, without
your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.
c)
Spam and Unsolicited
communications:
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited
bulk messages, especially advertising, indiscriminately. The hidden
dangers of spam is that; Eight out of ten spam emails contain covert
tracking codes that enable the sender to record and log recipients'
email addresses as soon as a message is opened.
d) Hackers: A hacker is someone
who finds weaknesses in a computer or computer network, though the
term can also refer to someone with an advanced understanding of
computers and computer networks. The dangers of Hackers range from
petty theft of little information from your computer to state
sponsored crimes like state attacks. Hackers can at times be taken
under identity theft or vise versa.
e) Con-men and
Scammers: These are people who tell stories that are too
good to be true in a way of winning your heart with intentions of
stealing from you. They are too common on the Internet mainly through
email and other social networks now days. They will either exploit
your wish to make quick money or your sympathetic heart to cheat you.
The different harmful
people and activities cannot be enlisted and finished in this paper
but they are many and we are assured, they are going to increase as
Internet develops.
What should be
done?
Just like in any security related
scenario, your best way out is your defense and your defense is your
curiosity and keenness.
1) When on
the Internet, don't click
on links you are
not sure of. Some of these
links can install Malware on to the computer. Malware is short for
malicious Software which has a potential to gathering sensitive
information or gain access to private computer systems. It could be a
virus, worm, Trojan, spyware or Adware. There are many tempting links
on the Internet which will entice your eyes and these are well
designed to force your hand into clicking. Don't touch them unless
they are linking to a website or program you know and intend to use.
2) In addition to
suspicious links on the Internet, a number of suspicious softwares
are given to us to install on our computers. Some of these softwares
are used as back doors into our computers by hackers. Only
install programs that you
know their use and
source. Things like 'Updates are available for
installation' will drag you into thinking that the updates or
softwares are legitimate yet they are dangerous. In addition to
suspicious links, don't allow browser pop ups. Pop ups are web
browser display windows that suddenly appear in your active display
window intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses. If
you are not knowledgeable enough about some thing, it is advisable to
ask those who you think know.
3) Filling
online forms: In a number of times we are
presented with online forms to fill. These forms have spaces of email
address, contact address and passwords. You find people providing
their true email addresses, with at times their passwords. If you
asked these people why they fill such forms, you will be baffled by
their response(s). Some will tell you that they thought it was a
requirement to access the web page, and so many others. The trick
here is, never to fill forms unless you know what it is meant for and
unless you have requested for the form. These forms are used for
information gathering, a very popular trick in spamming.
4) Use strong
Passwords and protect your
password jealously. There are programs out
there that test usernames and passwords into applications and
passwords that appear in the dictionary, simple alphanumerical
characters like 'paul123' don't need more than an hour to be cracked.
Online applications today enforce strong password cultures although
some are still backwards as regards this. A strong password should at
least contain a Cap, Numeral, and an Alphabetic letter with more than
six characters. Passwords with special characters like
'@,#,$,%,^,&,*,' etc are the hardest to crack. As part of good
password cultures, we are encouraged to always change our passwords
periodically (year). Remember to make a password strong, hard to
crack but simple to remember. Avoid bad habits of writing passwords
on papers because they are too hard to remember.
5) Password
memory and Full time
log in. Many applications, have options of
'Leave me logged in' and 'Remember my ID and password'. Although
these are good for speedy web-browsing and password memory since we
have many to remember, they are very dangerous habits. At times
people use them on public computer for example computers of friends,
Internet cafe computers and school or university computers. With
these options, we are only weakening the work of Hackers and identity
thieves. Make sure these 'check boxes’ are not ticked before
clicking the login button. As a policy, always remember to logout
your account after use. If in a cafe, use the last five minutes to
logout your accounts. When the cafe session screen appears on the
monitor, it doesn't mean that your accounts are logged out; it only
means you cannot access your accounts. If someone activates the
session, it will continue with your account.
6) Clear
Cookies in your web
browser as often as
possible. A cookie is a small piece of data sent from a
website and stored in a user's web-browser while a user is browsing a
website. When the user browses the same website the date stored in
the cookie can be retrieved by the website to notify the website of
the users' previous activities. Cookies wouldn't have been dangerous
if other dangerous people never looked for them from our computers
and used them for their purposes like marketing, login information
gathering etc. As you move around the Internet you click on many
things, these things you click on depict your likes, and dislikes. If
this information is stored on the computer in the browser, it is
almost available to all the people on the Internet, that is, if they
want it. The security or defense is to remove it very often. Most
web-browser cookies can be cleared under the 'Tools' menu and 'Clear
recent history' or specifically you can look for help in different
browsers.
7) Desist from
the habit of sending
(forwarding) spam. We have already talked
about spam in the previous paragraphs and its dangers. Spam
propagation is a hard part for those in the business and the best way
to reducing running costs is through every day people, people we
trust. We often receive mails that ask as to resend or something will
happen, mails that are meant to educate us about some thing but force
use to forward them as they are. Chances are high, these mails have
background code and this code is being executed every time the mail
is opened. You and me as naive users, the best work we can do for the
SPAM companies is by propagating this spam.
8) Where
possible use secure web
browsing. Normal web-browsing is done through http (hyper
text transfer protocol) and this is the most common mode of
web-browsing. Now days, a number of websites are provided over both
http and https. The 's' at the end of https stands for secure. It
thus means that browsing over https is a little more secure and it
provides a little more secure environment for business transactions.
If a website offers both https and http, please choose https.
9) Have an
updated Anti-virus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware,
Anti-Adware and Anti-Malware program on your computer for those that
use them. For all the problems we have talked about, some of these
applications can be of use. Although some of these programs are
costly, intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses
the cost is not equal to what you would loose if any of the problems
mentioned above ever happened to you. Now days all these applications
can be sold in single software and many software (Anti-virus)
companies are combining them in one package, making work easier.
Finally but not least, we
need to pay attention to all that the computer tells us through
warning messages and where possible ask if you are not sure. At times
the notifications on the computer are misleading and yet at time they
are critically informative. It is through reading, experience and
inquiry that you can know which one is misleading and which one is
safe. As we have seen, it is not any ones work to have our privacy
and security on the Internet but our own. Those days, it used to the
work of IT support officers and security engineers to ensure our
security on Internet, but things have changed. We deal with the
Internet more closely, more frequently and more personally that the
IT teams are no longer fully responsible for our security. I
therefore call upon you all to educate those around you and take
these few skills and others you might have into action to minimise
losses and pain on the Internet as we strive to have a healthier and
cleaner Internet with no crime.
