Tuesday 11 March 2014

Potential threats of using the internet

This blog is going to be about the potential threats that are there on the internet. The information below will tell you the dangers and how. Lastly on how to stay safe using the internet.

THREATS
Cyber bullying: 

It is a way of communicating electronically with others to, bully, send Insulting, harassing comments which can include death threats or any sort of words that are used to hurt others.

Stalkers:
Strange people you may come across on the internet who you have never seen or heard of, that will know your personal information.

Hackers: 
Uses computers to gain unauthorized data. They find and exploit weakness in a computer system or network. They can send viruses to other computers to steal their identity, they can also create and send viruses to ruin other peoples computers and data.

Pop up blocks: 
Online advertisement that can not often be trusted. Anything can pop up on a pop up block. It can be pornography, link to gambling sites and things to do with money, which you should avoid.

Misleading information: 
There are lots of information you can come across on the internet that people can post, most of it can be rubbish.

Fake accounts:

Not everybody online who they say they are. There can be fake people that will pretend to be somebody who there not, you can not be certain on who they can be.

Scammers: You can't trust everything on the internet. Scammers are frauds that take advantage of the internet by stealing information which can lead to identity theft. Frauds can occur in chat rooms, email or on websites.

Viruses: 
It is a piece of code which copies itself into other programs, data or hard drive. Computer viruses causes harmful things such as: Destroy system, corrupt data, access private information, steal hard disk and lastly display strange messages on the users screen.

Spammer:
A spam is a unwanted electronic email or text which gets sent to a large number of users. They are irrelevant inappropriate mail which you should not be reading or responding to.

Phishing: 
Phishers attempt to steal personal information.They pretend to be legit websites like eBay, Paypal or any other websites that looks legitimate. They try to steal identity or bank details.

Worms: 
Computer worms are a standalone program which copies itself to send to other computers. It often is injected into a network. Unlike computer viruses it does not attach itself into an existing program. They are email worms that send by itself to all email addresses it finds on a unprotected PC, and cause all sorts of harm.

HOW TO STAY SAFE ONLINE: 

  • Downloading an antivirus software
  • Never open emails from strangers unless you trust them, or have security settings enabled on your computer
  • Strong password containing more then 8 letters and 3 numbers
  • Do not use the same password for different accounts
  • Do not give any personal information to strangers
  • Keep your eyes out for online scams
  • Do not fall for anything that comes up on a pop up block
  • Make a Paypal account, it is the fastest and safest way of shopping online to avoid scams
  • Ignore cyber bullies they are not worth your time
  • Your identity should not be anywhere on the internet
  • When using public internet, turn file sharing off
  • Only download files from sites that has been verified by trusted sources
  • Think very carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself

Therefore, you should take in mind that there are threats on the internet you should be aware of, such as different types of viruses, pop up block traps, or scammers. You should not be fooled or tempted by adverts that come up on the internet, not all of them can be trusted. You should also be alert of social networking sites because you can come across lots of unknown people. To avoid most of the threats, downloading an anti-virus software would be highly recommended. 





3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Maaz, you have show that you have some good points with regards to the potential threats introduced by IT. Please expand on each of the points introduced and also review the conclusion.

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  3. Well done Maaz, on the potential threats introduced by IT (M2)

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