The internet is a system of networks to provide information and resources across the world. The internet gives endless options of resources and information that could be used in various ways. Even though the internet is convenient and necessary, there is little security on the web. The internet is dangerous and provides little security for the people who go on it. There are so many ways that someone could be harmed from using the internet. Some of these dangers can be prevented while others are unstoppable. There are pedophiles, as well as hackers that use the World Wide Web to get what they want, since there is little security to stop them. Novice level hackers can be stopped by spyware installed on a computer to prevent low level viruses. However, someone faking their identity on the internet is unstoppable because there is no way of seeing if they are telling the truth. Social media is one dangerous component of the internet that has little security. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all public. This means that all the information that is posted on this website can be seen by anyone who is able to go online. Once a profile is created on one these websites, they are automatically created as public accounts. The person creating these websites would need to manually make their accounts private. Most users would not know to do this and anything they put on their accounts can be viewed by anyone. Additionally, anything that is put on the internet is permanently up there. There is no way to take something off the internet once it is uploaded to the World Wide Web. Even when a person deactivates their social network, it is not really deleted. You could very easily just log back on and all the same information will be there. This can be dangerous for many reasons. There are pedophiles or other people with negative intentions that can see what a person is doing or where they are located by looking at their posts on the website. They could also get information about the person from their profiles. Malcolm Gladwell describes an instance where a person’s location is found using the internet in his essay Small Change. A man, Evan, left his phone on the seat of a taxi cab. A girl named Sasha later picked up the phone and started to use it to go on her social media sites. The phone was located by the phone company. Once Evan found out the girl had taken it, he realized she had social media sites he could look on. Later on, “Someone found her address online” and went to the police to get her arrested (Gladwell 238). It was said that “Evan could never have tracked down Sasha” if it was not for the information available on the internet (Gladwell 238). Additionally, if someone is applying for a job and their accounts are public, the companies can look through anything they may have posted on there. If something is posted that is considered negative, the company has a reason not to hire the person based on that post. This could easily be prevented if the accounts were all private, or if the information was not viewable. The internet is dangerous because you never know who you can be talking to. This is especially applicable to social media and dating sites. Since anyone can create a profile on a site, they can make up a person or change their name to trick people they are talking to. There are people in the world with negative intentions in their mind. They can try to meet someone online posing as someone else. There are numerous scenarios that can stem from this, and none of them would be good, such as abduction. There have been known occurrences where this has happened. It is known as Catfishing by modern terms. There is one specific occurrence that took place over the last year where a famous football player Manti Te’o got catfished. Te’o believed he was in a relationship with Lennay Kekua for a few months. Before the BCS Championship Game it was said that that this girl that Te’o was in a relationship with, had died. Shortly after this was said, it was found out that the person Manti Te’o believed to be Lennay Kekua, was actually a fictitious person. “Te’o later admitted her nonexistence, claiming in several interviews that he had been conned into believing she was real” (Liebler/Moritz 1). She was made up by someone online and was playing Te’o over social media for several months. There were pictures of a random girl posted on the girls profile and had been in contact with Te’o. Manti Te’o had never met her in person but believed he was in a real relationship at the time. He was made a fool as this altered NFL scouts opinion of him. He was drafted later in the draft than he was originally projected due to this incident. This is a prime example of how dangerous it can be as it caused a young superstar to have his reputation altered. There are people on the internet that can pass the little security a person has and take information from them. This way of stealing information is called hacking. Any website, especially social media is susceptible to being hacked. With the creation of the internet and all it could do, hackers emerged to exploit this technology. They use it to take any information they please for their own pleasure. It is known to be “so easy that cybercriminals are even offering DIY kits for novice criminals” (Gold 1). A virus will allow a hacker to gain information from a person’s computer once the virus goes into effect. This is formally known as malicious software. Malicious software can be dangerous because they have “Developed evasion methods that [makes] them even more challenging to detect” (Bowles 4). A hacker could also gain enough information on the person to guess their passwords. This would be horrible, since they would have access to credit card numbers, or even social security numbers if they are present on the computer. These dangerous cybercriminals sell whatever information they get for their profit. This could to lead to someone using a credit card that does not belong to them, this is bad because “Identity thieves will use stolen credit card data from hackers to create fake credit cards and launder money” (Bowles 6). A Hacker stealing someone’s social security information could lead to identity fraud also. They could use someone’s identity as their own and ruin their life. There are some precautions on the internet to prevent hacking, however there is nothing to protect against someone hiding their identity on the internet. There is no way to check someone’s true identity when they join a social media site. They can make any fake name as they please. There is software created to protect against malicious software on a person’s personal computer. This software is meant to prevent these viruses from launching, so cybercriminals cannot access their computers and ultimately take information from them. There are also programs on the computer meant to make them safe too. However, there are ways experienced hackers can get around these by searching for weak websites to hack. Hackers are still able to get past virus protection software if they have enough knowledge and experience. Even though these safety precautions may help against small viruses, they cannot protect someone in the event of an experienced hacker trying to steal their information. To conclude, the internet is dangerous in various ways. People’s identities are hidden from each other on social media sites. This can create problems if someone is not who they say they are. There are abductions as well as other crimes that stem from this negative behavior. There are situations like Manti Te’o’s where he was embarrassed on a social media site. He was played by someone who was not even real. A stranger on the internet is not to be trusted with all the ways they can be dangerous. Additionally, someone’s location can be found just from viewing their post on a social media site. A person’s location is usually turned on with an iPhone, so it is viewable once a post is sent. Is that not scary that anyone could see where you are if they want to? Finally, one of the more common ways to get hurt on the internet is by being hacked. There are viruses every day that are waiting to get access to information on the computer they infect. The hackers steal this information to take money from credit cards, or steal someone’s identity.

Works Cited
• Bowles, Matt. "The Business Of Hacking And Birth Of An Industry." Bell Labs Technical Journal 17.3 (2012): 5-16. Business Source Complete. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
• Gladwell,Malcolm. “Small Change”. New Yorker
• Gold, Steve. "Identity Crisis?." Engineering & Technology. Web. 5 Dec. 2014
• Liebler, Carol M., and Brian P. Moritz. "Cleaning Up After Te'o: Writers, Routines, And Repair." International Journal Of Sport Communication 6.4 (2013): 434-445. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.