Security is a major problem with the Internet Essay

Security is a major problem with the Internet - Essay Example The internet has become so huge that it is now nearly impossible to keep a check on all the activity that goes on in the internet. What are these threats The most common security threats of using the computer are hacking, phishing, viruses, worms, spam, and spyware. According to Victor Sabadash, Hacking is unauthorized use of computer or network resources. (2004) This includes hacking into other people's computers and also hacking other people's passwords. This has become very common nowadays. According to Symantec Software Solutions, new threats have increased from 125243 to 711912 from 2006 to 2007. This is a 468 percent increase in just one year. (Business Standard, 2008) These figures show why this is a major problem with the internet. You can make your computer safe by installing a firewall on to it. A firewall is a program that detects unauthorized users who try to hack into your computer and it stops that activity. Phishing is uses emails to ask for personal information by using the names of reputable organizations for example Citibank etc. This fools people into giving their personal information to these hackers. These hackers use this information for financial theft, identity loss, and fraud. (Russel Kay, 2004) Symantec has seen 87963, which is a 167 percent increase, in phishing hosts in just the last sic months of 2007. (Business Standard, 2008) This increase also proves how security is a major problem of internet. The only way phishing can be avoided is to understand the occurrence of this and think before giving out your password and other personal information online. You can also check the reliability of the source of the website.A Computer virus is a program which replaces itself or attaches itself to other programs in an individuals computer without the knowledge of the owner. These infect the computer in different ways. Sometimes viruses are not noticeable while sometimes they can de stroy the hard drive. Worms are something similar to a virus. It is a program which usually proliferates through network connections. It needs a host program, otherwise it would not be able to function. (Markus Hanhisalo) In 2003, $55 billion was spent on cost of computer viruses by businesses. (Cyberoam, 2004) There are different anti viruses nowadays that deal with all sorts of viruses. Installing these anti viruses onto your computer can help you detect and delete the virus before it spreads and destroys the PC. Email is the cheapest way to pass a message to many people at the same time. Spam unwanted emails that come into your email inbox which you refer to as junk mail. These mail usually promote products and sometimes even ask for personal information, for example credit card number etc., in the email. These emails were only a nuisance but now viruses are spread through this and phishing is also becoming common because of this. The statistics show that spam is increasing. According to a source, 92.3 percent of emails sent in the first three months of 2008 were all spam and 23300 spam related web sites are discovered everyday. (Robert Jaques, 2008) This is why spam is becoming a major problem for internet security. Spywares are programs that are installed onto one's computer without his permission. These programs basically spy on the activities that take