Security and Confidentiality on the Internet
- Submitted by: forestmonster
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- Category: Science
- Date Submitted: 03/18/2011 12:22 PM
- Pages: 4
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Security and Confidentially on the Internet
Introduction
The Internet provides little protection of security or confidentiality. The use of firewalls (protects both incoming and outgoing communications) and encryption can help limit the risks. I will discuss below the topics of how security and confidentially affects us in our everyday lives.
Cookies Cookies provide enhancements that make the Web easier to use. Most major sites use them as they gather information about the site’s visitor. There are two main disadvantages of cookies
* When you purchase a product from example a mail order catalogue you have to give personal details of yourself. This catalogue company in turn can then sell on your details without your permission to others who might want to sell you similar products thus pestering you.
* There are infrastructure providers that create cookies that are visible on several sites. DoubleClick is one example. Companies use DoubleClick to serve advertisement ads on their sites. DoubleClick can place GIF files on the site that will allow DoubleClick to load cookies on to your computer. It can then track what sites you visit in future.
Digital Signatures A digital signature is an easy, time-saving and secure way of signing electronic documents such as will or contract. When you use your digital signature software, you create a matched pair of keys. The first is the private key which is stored on your computer while the other is the public key which is used by someone who wishes to authenticate documents you sign. When you sign an electronic document, you need to key in an Authorization Code to decrypt the private key for as long it takes to sign the document. This is a very secure way of doing business both privately and in the public sectors in a matter of minutes.
Phishing Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by pretending to be a trustworthy company. Popular social...
Introduction
The Internet provides little protection of security or confidentiality. The use of firewalls (protects both incoming and outgoing communications) and encryption can help limit the risks. I will discuss below the topics of how security and confidentially affects us in our everyday lives.
Cookies Cookies provide enhancements that make the Web easier to use. Most major sites use them as they gather information about the site’s visitor. There are two main disadvantages of cookies
* When you purchase a product from example a mail order catalogue you have to give personal details of yourself. This catalogue company in turn can then sell on your details without your permission to others who might want to sell you similar products thus pestering you.
* There are infrastructure providers that create cookies that are visible on several sites. DoubleClick is one example. Companies use DoubleClick to serve advertisement ads on their sites. DoubleClick can place GIF files on the site that will allow DoubleClick to load cookies on to your computer. It can then track what sites you visit in future.
Digital Signatures A digital signature is an easy, time-saving and secure way of signing electronic documents such as will or contract. When you use your digital signature software, you create a matched pair of keys. The first is the private key which is stored on your computer while the other is the public key which is used by someone who wishes to authenticate documents you sign. When you sign an electronic document, you need to key in an Authorization Code to decrypt the private key for as long it takes to sign the document. This is a very secure way of doing business both privately and in the public sectors in a matter of minutes.
Phishing Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by pretending to be a trustworthy company. Popular social...