The Internet and YOU series Part 1

So, instead of linking to a video or article today I thought I would simply explain some basics about the internet, and go through some common terminology that I am probably going to use throughout this blog. 

     The first topic I am going to cover is the one that has the most potential to affect you on a daily basis, and that is internet security. For anyone who has a myspace account or pretty much any social networking account, and especially those who manage their finances online, being safe and secure on the internet is of utmost importance. I have the feeling that most people believe that the worst thing that can happen to you on the internet is getting a virus, and that isn't too serious. Worst case scenario you have to reinstall Windows on your computer (I say windows because for Mac users, viruses are almost non-existent). The truth, however, is that one of the primary concerns on the internet right now is malicious access to your personal information. On myspace, for example, this often comes in the form of phishing. 

     So, lets say your happily myspacing along and you come up to a tantalizing link on a comment your friend sent you! It says something like "hey!! click here to see pictures of me doing craaazzzy stuff!!" and when you click on the link a new myspace window comes up and asks you to re-input your username and password in order to see the pictures of your friend. Sounds perfectly normal right? They're just asking you to confirm that it is actually you and not someone else that is going to view these pictures, right? right???

WRONG

     What has actually happened is that someone has taken over your friend's myspace account in order to send wave after wave of fake comments from it. When you clicked the link it actually took you to a page that looks exactly like myspace(sometimes even with working links) but in reality is a fake website that is meant to record the username and password you put in so that it can gain access to your account.

     This is a typical Phishing scenario. It basically entails anything that pretends to be a legitimate online entity (i.o. website, friend, etc.) in order to gain access to your personal information. This can also include e-mail phishing, which simply sends a fraudulent e-mail asking you for some kind of personal information. Just to tell you how real the threat is, my dad's PayPal account was compromised by this method, and he ended up finding over $1500 of extra spending charged to his credit card! Not good (luckily, PayPal reimbursed him).

     So, on my next blog post, I am going to explain the less obvious methods of preventing phishing(apart from not putting your information in random boxes) and I am hopefully going to begin to touch up on website encryption and packet sniffing. 

Happy surfing everyone!!