Internet Security
Internet security in one of the hottest topics in the e-commerce industry today. Industry experts predict security issues on the Internet are the primary reasons many companies and consumers are hesitant to do business online. The Internet is a large-scale network of systems that is highly unbounded. This means it has no system of administrative control and no security policies. If there are security policies or laws they constantly need to be altered because of the changing technology. You are always up for an attack or an intrusion of your own privacy. Survivability is the key. Just the simple task of checking email, browsing, chatrooms, or even shopping can be harmful. You can be safe in this environment but you must always be on the alert for problems.
Three kinds of Internet security issues that are the topic of conversation; Unauthorized access, back doors and loopholes and, the potential threat of confidential information sent over the internet can be viewed (Scott, 1998). There are several ways you can become a victim of these issues. Email, browsing, shopping or banking and chat rooms are a potential threat for your security.
Email can be a type of security issue. America Online, Inc. was forced to admit that hackers had accessed member accounts recently through an email virus. Sending and receiving email from unknown people can cause a hazard. You can make common mistakes by revealing your identity from digital signatures and sending personal pictures of yourself. Although, it is highly unlikely for someone to capture your mail while it is in route to its destination, you should always think about whom you are sending this mail to. Encrypting also is a valuable key is you are mailing confidential information. Mostly email comes from a person or a group listed in the email. Sometimes people deliberately provide the wrong information in the listing. A security conscious user last year noticed five new email messages with similar subject lines in her inbox, this head off her attack be not opening the messages (Dyck, 2000). This can be an attempt to fool you so the person can gain information on you or, you attempt to open the unread mail to find that it is a trap.
Attachments and links in an email can cause potential problems. They can be used to deliver mail-borne viruses. You should check with the person who sent you the attachment to see if it is from a valid source. If you can’t be careful! Attachments and links also come in SPAM. SPAM in all that junk mail you receive from mass mailings. In most reputable email software and services they provide helpful SPAM filtering. Some of these services include America Online, MSN, Hotmail and Microsoft Outlook 2000. But be careful because not all mail filters that can be used by the proceeding companies can ward off a new mail worm attack.
Browsing can cause a major catastrophe in your life. Browsing can lead you into potential harmful sites. A public Web server and its clients may exist within and many different domains on the Internet. You can be lead to giving away information about your self and not even realize it or hackers can obtain the information. Many Web sites use tiny computer programs called cookies. Cookies are passive data structures that can’t be larger than 4K. They are delivered to the client, stored on the client’s hard drive, and can be read only by the Web site that sent them. Once a Web site has sent a cookie to a system, it can track the recipient’s movements through the site. When one returns to the site later, it knows that the client has been there before (Dyck, 2000). Cookies also allow Web site owners to create user profiles on their clients. This can actually become a powerful marketing tool when a Web site combines cookies with online registration; this leads to a more in-!
Another security issue is making sure you establish secure Web connections. All Web servers and browsers use a thing called a certificate. A certificate authenticates the server or browser. It lets you know who they are and that they are a reputable service. This enables the use of secure sites or HTTPS sites. Secure sites are sites you use to fill in personal information about yourself whether it is buying a product or signing up for an Internet based service.
The newest craze is shopping online. You can purchase anything and everything you can’t find in your town at a click of the mouse. Reputable merchants doing business on the Internet know that they need to deliver the goods in order to make a profit or they’ll be out of business quickly. Purchasing goods from a reputable company can be safe and reliable if used properly.
Goods should be purchased over a secure site with SSL technology or secure sockets layer. This is a layer of encrypted connections so the information you put in can only be accessed by the merchant’s electronic commerce system. This insures that your information is being shielded from prying eyes. An icon of a padlock or a key will appear in the border of your browser, indicating you connection is secure (Microsoft, 2001). The same information is true for online banking and brokers. If it is not secure, it’s not safe. Finally, be sure that you use strong passwords or passwords containing letters and numbers. Most passwords must be six to nine characters long to be able to be saved in the service you are using. If your online banker or broker doesn’t use this consider changing services to a more secure one.
Your credit card number has been a potential problem in the past. Most browsers will let you know if the connection is insecure. It will create a “secure” connection before you attempt to give your numbers away. Credit card companies now insure their usage of their card on the Internet. If you get unauthorized transactions or seem to think that someone stole your number on the Internet you can contact you credit card company for further action. Now there are come companies out there that have created the market for secure transaction. HyperSend is a newly launched security product. Since that launch in July more that 7,000 businesses have joined its network. Or if you still are not comfortable, most places have an 800 number so you can call in your order of you don’t feel comfortable with the secure site.
Chat rooms or the use of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and instant messages can be threatening. This puts you in the position to be in direct contact with the hacker or virus sender. Not only that, you are instantly giving everyone your email address and you are invisible like the rest of the people in them. It is very difficult for a person engaged in a chat room discussion to tell if there are other people lurking in the chat room listening to the conversation in hopes to pick up some extra information. Your vulnerability to this is extremely high because of the ability to send and receive direct messages.
The virus called the Trojan Horse is attractively disguised files that cause harmful damage if you download and run them. They can takeover your IRC channels and cause erasure of your hard drive. Backdoors are also common with IRC’s. These allow others to obtain and gain unauthorized information and access to your computer. At least with email you can read the senders name and title before you open it for potential damage.
Being able to resist, recognize and, survive an attack should be a necessity to any person. To be able to resist attacks you should have access control to certain sites and people. By having this you are able to gain control over who is using and where they are going on your system. Encryption, firewalls and applications for system upgrades to better coverage of new viruses and hackers are a must. With this you should be able to resist most attacks.
With the latest threats of the “ILOVEYOU,” “Red Hot Piranha,” and the newest “Code Red Worm.” In most cases to recognize that you have been attacked your virus scan would tell you or your computer would not act in a normal manner. There is now many virus scanning software out on the market today and most new computers come with some sort of virus software. Much reputable software includes Norton’s Anti-virus and McAfee. Once installed and running on your system you are able to always check and scan your current system for any mishaps. Also, some of these also include a small portion of utilities that clean up unused files or temporary Internet files so your system run better and efficiently. Many large associations like: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has offered several online tips for businesses and persons can protect themselves from attacks.
Another type of protection is called a firewall. This is a popular safeguard against vandalism. Firewalls can isolate one network from another be passing messages through a control point where the system can check whether their system conforms to their site’s security. Not all firewalls can protect you. There are two kinds of firewalls: appliance-based and server based. Server based firewalls have been known to have some flaws. A true firewall quarantines an attack and can keep it from attacking the rest of the network.
New research and methods for tools are always under development to help with your survival out there on the Internet. The European Dependability Initiative represents a major research effort in the European Union to address many of the same issues and concerns as the critical infrastructure protection of survivability efforts in the United States, this includes plans for joint collaboration of the EU-US sometime soon (Ellison, 1998).
If you have been attacked you should try to isolate where your system has been damaged if you can. Once you have fixed the problem try to restore your original system configurations and use alternative services or a reduced user community so you won’t be susceptible to further attacks of privacy or viruses. Contacting CERT or Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh would be a wise choice. They compile and research all the attacks known for the year, researched it and, provides all sorts of help regarding your attack. Their security body received 9,859 incident notifications in 1999, compared with 3,734 notifications in 1998. In just the first quarter of this year, 4,266 incidents have been reported (Dyck, 2000).
You should now be aware that you could survive through this so in the future you will be more aware of your habits that got you into these attacks. You have now learned a little about the world of Internet security and its issues. There are many more topics and problems with Internet security that I didn’t talk about. Hopefully this has helped with understanding and despite the industries best efforts, there is still no assurance that you system will not be harmed again. Even the hardened systems of huge networks are susceptible to hackers, viruses and, privacy. 