Internet Security is very important in this day and age where the internet is a microcosm of the global society. It is something that has grown to be a primary concern among men. Companies have come out with means of ensuring security, but usually, by the time you get those, it is already too late or doesn’t help. The purpose of this segment is to help you try and develop safe internet habits and to keep you as safe as possible from unwanted problems relating to your personal security.
When a website is compromised, it puts thousands at risk for one of many possible types of identity hack. It is rare that a site is hacked to this extent: usually, the data is collected through mirror-like sites, through spyware, or through other means of collection; most of which happen on a single-user basis. It makes many people nervous when giving out personal information to anyone online because they are not sure what can really happen, and they do not have all the facts.
The goal of this segment is to help you understand internet security, so you can protect yourself from hackers and thieves. We will take a look at how you can protect yourself, what websites are doing to protect you, and what laws are in place to help protect you. The best way to be safe is to understand what common tricks are, and how to avoid getting exploited.
There are two important terms, which are very commonly misused (even among the “experts” at Microsoft), that need to be defined, so you do not get confused later in the article. These words are:
Hacker and Cracker
According to the Wikipedia, hackers are commonly thought of as the bad guys, the people who make your computer go as slow as heck, and the people who steal your identity. In reality, they are actually the opposite. Hackers are the good guys who test security vulnerabilities and fix them. Government agencies, software companies (including Microsoft), and internet security companies employ hundreds of hackers (a few too little, maybe!) to test their software before its release. They try to hack the software to make sure that when it ships, people are not going to be able to use it for malicious purposes.
A webmaster has to know how to test his website’s security so the bad guys don’t get through. He or she also has to ensure that when he or she makes a website for a client, that any data on the site is safe, secure, and that everything related to security is quite impenetrable. The term “hacking” in this article is used to refer to the testing of security, whether for good or bad.
According to Tyler Thompson, a cracker is a term that isn’t used much outside of the security world. A cracker is someone who exploits holes in a program for malicious use. For example, the people who create game keygens are crackers, meaning what they do is illegal