Why is Cyber Security a Problem?
What is cyber security?It seems that
everything relies on computers and the Internet now — communication (email,
cellphones), entertainment (digital cable, mp3s), transportation (car engine
systems, airplane navigation), shopping (online stores, credit cards),
medicine (equipment, medical records), and the list goes on. How much of your
daily life relies on computers? How much of your personal information is
stored either on your own computer or on someone else's system? Cyber security
involves protecting that information by preventing, detecting, and responding
to attacks. What are the risks?There are many
risks, some more serious than others. Among these dangers are viruses erasing
your entire system, someone breaking into your system and altering files,
someone using your computer to attack others, or someone stealing your credit
card information and making unauthorized purchases. Unfortunately, there's no
100% guarantee that even with the best precautions some of these things won't
happen to you, but there are steps you can take to minimize the chances. What can you do?The first step in
protecting yourself is to recognize the risks and become familiar with some
of the terminology associated with them. Hacker, attacker, or intruder - These terms are applied to the people who
seek to exploit weaknesses in software and computer systems for their own
gain. Although their intentions are sometimes fairly benign and motivated
solely by curiosity, their actions are typically in violation of the intended
use of the systems they are exploiting. The results can range from mere
mischief (creating a virus with no intentionally negative impact) to
malicious activity (stealing or altering information). Malicious code - This category includes code such as viruses, worms, and
Trojan horses. Although some people use these terms interchangeably, they
have unique characteristics.
This series of
information security tips will give you more information about how to
recognize and protect yourself from attacks. |
Guidelines for Publishing Information Online
Remember that the
internet is a public resource. Avoid putting anything online that you don't
want the public to see or that you may want to retract. |
Why is it important to remember that the internet is public?
Because the
internet is so accessible and contains a wealth of information, it has become a
popular resource for communicating, for researching topics, and for finding
information about people. It may seem less intimidating than actually
interacting with other people because there is a sense of anonymity. However,
you are not really anonymous when you are online, and it is just as easy for
people to find information about you as it is for you to find information about
them. Unfortunately, many people have become so familiar and comfortable with
the internet that they may adopt practices that make them vulnerable. For
example, although people are typically wary of sharing personal information
with strangers they meet on the street, they may not hesitate to post that same
information online. Once it is online, it can be accessed by a world of
strangers, and you have no idea what they might do with that information.
What guidelines can you follow when publishing information on the internet?
- View the internet as
a novel, not a diary - Make sure you are comfortable with anyone
seeing the information you put online. Expect that people you have never
met will find your page; even if you are keeping an online journal or
blog, write it with the expectation that it is available for public
consumption. Some sites may use passwords or other security restrictions
to protect the information, but these methods are not usually used for
most web sites. If you want the information to be private or restricted to
a small, select group of people, the internet is probably not the best
forum.
- Be careful what you
advertise - In the past, it was difficult to find information about people
other than their phone numbers or address. Now, an increasing amount of
personal information is available online, especially because people are
creating personal web pages with information about themselves. When
deciding how much information to reveal, realize that you are broadcasting
it to the world. Supplying your email address may increase the amount of
spam you receive (see Reducing Spam for more
information). Providing details about your hobbies, your job, your family
and friends, and your past may give attackers enough information to
perform a successful social engineering attack (see Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more
information).
- Realize that you
can't take it back - Once you publish something online, it is
available to other people and to search engines. You can change or remove
information after something has been published, but it is possible that
someone has already seen the original version. Even if you try to remove
the page(s) from the internet, someone may have saved a copy of the page
or used excerpts in another source. Some search engines "cache"
copies of web pages so that they open faster; these cached copies may be
available after a web page has been deleted or altered. Some web browsers
may also maintain a cache of the web pages a user has visited, so the
original version may be stored in a temporary file on the user's computer.
Think about these implications before publishing information—once
something is out there, you can't guarantee that you can completely remove
it.
As a general practice,
let your common sense guide your decisions about what to post online. Before
you publish something on the internet, determine what value it provides and
consider the implications of having the information available to the public.
Identity theft is an increasing problem, and the more information an attacker
can gather about you, the easier it is to pretend to be you. Behave online the
way you would behave in your daily life, especially when it involves taking
precautions to protect yourself.