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The computer has come a long way to become one of the most powerful machines in the world. From a simple calculation machine to a multipurpose machine, it has earned our respect for being fast, accurate and reliable. Today, we use the computer for almost every task or routine. We use it everywhere and we are highly dependence on them. Moreover, computer users now can connect with each other around the world with the Internet. Therefore, the information that we kept in them must be highly protected and secure from getting corrupted or lost. And with the global connection, the computer is more vulnerable to security threats such as software sabotage (viruses, Trojan horses and worms), hackers, interception of e-mails, and invasion of privacy. Below, we will state some types of prevention measure to take while on the Internet.Here, we take a look at the types of security threats, which can be transmitted through the Internet. The first threat would be the sabotage of hardware or software such as virus, Trojan horse, worm. A computer virus is 'a program that attaches itself to a file, reproduces itself, and spread to other files'(Parson and Oja, 000, p.6)1. The effect of the virus can range from harmless message, corruption of data and files and even disruption of computer operation. Computer virus commonly infect those executed program file with .exe extension, system files that is use to boot up the computer and also macro files that are use to automate task in the word processing and spreadsheet application. When the infected file is executed, the instruction of the virus is also executed. Trojan horse is another type of software sabotage. A Trojan horse is 'a computer program that appear to perform one function while actually doing something else'(Parson and Oja, 000, p.). Trojan horse is not a virus but it may be carrying a virus with it. It also does not reproduce itself. Another variety of Trojan horse is that it can store information of a user login name and password and then pass it to unauthorized user. 'A software worm is a program designed to enter a computer system, usually a network, through security holes. Like a virus, a worm reproduces itself. Unlike a virus, a worm does not need to be attached to a document or executable program to reproduce.' (Parson and Oja, 000, p.401). The worm however is not to destroy data or file but to fill up the storage space and dramatically slowed computer performance. Computer may also be threatening by the intrusion of hackers. According to the encyclopedia of Britannica, hackers are basically 'an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer and a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system'4. In other words, hackers are unauthorized users that access into one's computer without the owner's knowledge. The damage a hacker does vary from just cracking system or cause havoc to a computer system. Some of the more serious damages are retrieving personal information such as credit card numbers, social number and other valuable information. This kind of theft is difficult to detect and track because the original information is left unchanged when the copy is stolen. Buy cheap Security threats term paper
The use of e-mails has been increase dramatically over the years. It is use as a way of communication medium for millions of people around the world as its service is free and fast compare to the traditional mail service. Although the benefit outweighs the bad, e-mail is one of the most vulnerable applications to contract with the viruses. Viruses and other types of malicious code are often spread as attachments to email messages. Another threat of e-mail is spoofing. 'Email "spoofing" is when an email message appears to have originated from one source when it actually was sent from another source. Email spoofing is often an attempt to trick the user into making a damaging statement or releasing sensitive information (such as passwords).5'There have been reports of problems with mobile code (e.g. Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX). These are programming languages that let web developers write code that is executed by your web browser. Although the code is generally useful, it can be used by intruders to gather information (such as which web sites you visit) or to run malicious code on your computer.'6 There is also risk involving the use of mobile code in the email applications. Most of the email application uses the same code as web browser to display HTML. Hence, email as well as web page is vulnerable to the mobile codes. 'A cookie is a message sent from a web server to your browser and stored on your hard disk'(Parson and Oja, 000, p.415)7. Cookies collect information such as name, e-mail address and the pages that you visit. So the next time you connect to the web site, your browser will send back the cookie to the web server. Although cookies are harmless, some web site might ask information the you would not want to make public. Here are some recommendations on how to protect your computer and prevent unwanted attacks. To protect your computer from viruses, it is advisable to install an anti-virus software. Antivirus software such as McAfee and Norton Antivirus software are available on the Internet to be downloaded or they can be brought at retail store. Although an anti-virus is install, be sure to keep your anti-virus software up to date. Many of the software support automatic update of virus definition. To prevent intruders from accessing your computer system, it is best to install a personal firewall software package. These hackers are constantly scanning home user system for known vulnerabilities. 'A firewall should isolate your computer from the Internet using a safeguards that inspect each individual packet of data as it arrives at either side of the firewall incoming or outgoing from your computer to determine whether it should be allowed to pass or be blocked'.8Although with physical security measure and password protection, intruders and hacker can still manage to gain access to your computer system. Important data such as credit card accounts, bank records and medical information should therefore be stored in encrypted format to foil hacker. 'Encryption is the process of scrambling or hiding information so that is cannot be understood until it is decrypted or deciphered, to change it back to its original form' (Parson and Oja, 000, p.41). Encryption can be use in e-mail to prevent unauthorized user to read the content of the mail. Earlier on we have mention about cookie. If you must fill up personal information on the Internet, make sure that the source provides security measure to protect personal data. Encryption could be use for to store information on cookie. As for the e-mail threats, do not open any e-mail attachments before you scan them with an anti-virus software. It is also advisable to let your scanner to scan the letter automatically. Generally, images like gifs and jpegs are safe but attached files from word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and the like can cause trouble. 'Never run a program unless you know it to be authored by a person or company that you trust. Also, dont send programs of unknown origin to your friends or coworkers simply because they are amusing -- they might contain a Trojan horse program.'10It is also best to disable hidden filename extension on your computer. Some of the virus comes in an unknown file extension. Another prevention is to turn off your computer or disconnect the Internet connection when not using. That way, a intruder cannot access your computer when the power is off and disconnected from the Internet. As for the mobile code such as ActiveX, Java and JavaScript, it is best to disable all scripting languages on your web browser. With the option disable, the vulnerability attacks of your computer will be low. However, turning off these option will limit the interaction between your browser and the web site as some web site use scripts and this can degrade the functionality of these sites. E-mail application also uses the same code as web browser. Therefore, it is also best to disable the option in the e-mail application to avoid these attacks. Keep in mind to make regular backups of critical data because you never know the capability of a virus or attacks. Backup files can be kept on removable media such as ZIP disk or CD-ROM disk. 'To aid in recovering from a security breach or hard disk failure, create a boot disk on a floppy disk which will help when recovering a computer after such an event has occurred. Remember, however, you must create this disk before you have a security event.'11With the wide usage of the computer on the Internet, it is clearly that computer is vulnerable to many types of attacks as most users and programs are anonymous. Although security measure is taken to prevent such attack, it is virtually impossible to keep these attack from happening. However, with the advance technology invented each day, it can be say that computer security would be more powerful and less vulnerable to these attacks in the future.
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