In the early days of the Internet, its use was confined to predominately educational and governmental agencies, funded by the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. It was not until 1992, when what is now known as the World Wide Web was released by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and expanded by Congressional initiatives for its commercial use that the Internet began experiencing rapid growth.
The Internet has not only changed the way we communicate but the very way in which we carry out many of our daily activities. However, as the Internet is not censored or controlled by any one individual or group, there have arisen many issues regarding safe use of the Internet for both children and adults alike. Many users of the Internet are aware of these issues while others have become victims of these very same problems. In order to practice "safe" computing, one needs to be aware of a variety of behaviors and actions that can occur through every day use of the Internet.
Phishing
Phishing is a criminal activity used to obtain personal information, such as passwords, bank account numbers, social security numbers, illegally. A fake web site that appears to be legitimate is created, then an official looking email is sent out to millions of unsuspecting online users hoping that a few people will go to the fake web site and provide personal information. This information is then used to steal personal information from unsuspecting victims. Ways to avoid responding to these sites is to look for two items on the web page: a picture of a lock in the lower right corner of the screen as well as the letters "https:" before the URL which both show that the web page is secure.
Trojan Horse
A Trojan Horse originates from the ancient story of a "gift" of a horse, which was filled instead, with Greek warriors. This is a program that pretends to be something else. Once the Trojan horse is installed, it could collect personal information, lock up the computer, or perform a variety of malicious deeds. In order to prevent the installation of a Trojan Horse on one's computer, one should always research and examine any software that is downloaded from the Internet.
Viruses and Worms
A virus is a computer program that attaches itself to other programs, without user permission, for the purpose of replicating itself or performing other malicious acts such as erasing files, increasing the size of files, damaging the boot sector of the hard drive, etc. A worm is a self-replicating computer program. Like a real worm, it looks for a "hole" in your computer and usually takes over a computer and tries to infect other computers over the Internet. It does not need to attach itself to another program, like a virus.
Firewall
This is one of the best protections against these types of malicious software. A firewall is software or hardware that helps prevent hackers, viruses, and worms from damaging one's computer. It should be installed between a computer and its access to the Internet to block attacks, downloads and overall access to a computer's data from the potential external threats of the Internet.
