Threats of using online communication

Cyber bullying:
Cyberbullying is a way of using Technology such as computer and mobile devices to bully someone. This bulling consists of harassment such as sending hateful messages, which are usually anonymous. This also includes spreading untrue rumours about the person and thus embarrassing them and defaming them. Unfortunately this can lead to dire consequences such as people committing suicide. Ways to prevent it

Know the sites your kids visit and their online activities. Ask where theyre going, what theyre doing, and who theyre doing it with. Tell your kids that as a responsible parent you may review their online communications if you think there is reason for concern. Installing parental control filtering software or monitoring programs are one option for monitoring your childs online behavior, but do not rely solely on these tools. Have a sense of what they do online and in texts. Learn about the sites they like. Try out the devices they use. Ask for their passwords, but tell them youll only use them in case of emergency. Ask to friend or follow your kids on social media sites or ask another trusted adult to do so. Encourage your kids to tell you immediately if they, or someone they know, is being cyberbullied. Explain that you will not take away their computers or cell phones if they confide in you about a problem they are having.

This chart shows where Cyberbullying most commonly occurs.

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Phishing:
Phishing is an act or attempt to gain personal information from people illegally. This is done by making an exact replica of a website, allowing the client feel that the website is secure. As the client enters information, the system records every keystroke that the person makes and then relays the information back to the criminal. Phishing is commonly used on online games, where usernames and passwords are required. They are also commonly used to steal credit and debit card details where the criminal could withdraw small sums from the victims bank. Ways to prevent it:

1. Guard against spam. Be especially cautious of emails that: * Come from unrecognised senders. * Ask you to confirm personal or financial information over the Internet and/or make urgent requests for this information. * Arent personalised. * Try to upset you into acting quickly by threatening you with frightening information.

2. Communicate personal information only via phone or secure web sites. In fact: When conducting online transactions, look for a sign that the site is secure such as a lock icon on the browsers status bar or a https: URL whereby the s stands for secure rather than a http:. Also, beware of phone phishing schemes. Do not divulge personal information over the phone unless you initiate the call. Be cautious of emails that ask you to call a phone number to update your account information as well.

3. Do not click on links, download files or open attachments in emails from unknown senders. It is best to open attachments only when you are expecting them and know what they contain, even if you know the sender.

4. Never email personal or financial information, even if you are close with the recipient. You never know who may gain access to your email account, or to the persons account to whom you are emailing.

5. Beware of links in emails that ask for personal information, even if the email appears to come from an enterprise you do business with. Phishing web sites often copy the entire look of a legitimate web site, making it appear authentic. To be safe,

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call the legitimate enterprise first to see if they really sent that email to you. After all, businesses should not request personal information to be sent via email.

6. Beware of pop-ups and follow these tips: * Never enter personal information in a pop-up screen. * Do not click on links in a pop-up screen. * Do not copy web addresses into your browser from pop-ups. * Legitimate enterprises should never ask you to submit personal information in pop-up screens, so dont do it.

7. Protect your computer with a firewall, spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Do some research to ensure you are getting the most up-to-date software, and update them all regularly to ensure that you are blocking from new viruses and spyware.

8. Check your online accounts and bank statements regularly to ensure that no unauthorised transactions have been made.

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Denial of Service Attacks:

A DoS attack is an attempt to make a machine unavailable to its intended user. Perpetrators of DoS attacks typically target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks, credit card payment gateways, and even root nameservers. This technique has now seen extensive use in certain games, used by server owners, or disgruntled competitors on games. Ways to prevent it:

Victims can block the originating IP address, either at the firewall level (to kill HTTP requests) or further upstream at the ISP level (to kill network-level floods). Security tools now exist to detect and prevent ICMP flood attacks. Web servers can be configured to detect and block HTTP request attacks. Enterprise products can identify and block single origin attacks as soon as they begin.

Pharming:
Pharming is a cyber-attack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, bogus site. Pharming can be conducted either by changing the hosts file on a victim's computer or by exploitation of a vulnerability in DNS server software. DNS servers are computers responsible for resolving Internet names into their real IP addresses. Compromised DNS servers are sometimes referred to as "poisoned". Pharming requires unprotected access to

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target a computer, such as altering a customer's home computer, rather than a corporate business server. How to prevent it:

Use a trusted, legitimate Internet Service Provider. Rigorous security at the ISP level is your first line of defence against pharming. The attacker obscures the actual URL by overlaying a legitimate looking address or by using a similarly spelled URL. Check the Web browser's address bar to make sure the spelling is correct. For example, when you type http://www.google.com, you should see that address. But the address for a pharmed site might be http://www.nsgoogle.com. Check the http address. When you get to the page where you're asked to enter personal information, the http should change to https. The "s" stands for secure.

Spam:
Spam is the mass sending of unsolicited bulk messages to a persons email address, advertising a products that the recipient may not even want to know about. Spam can be avoided by going to the email settings and setting your spam filter. Most ISPs now come with a free spam filter now.

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How to prevent it: Disguise your email address. Don't put your email address in plain text on your website. An effective way to trick the spiders that traverse the web to harvest email addresses is to disguise your email address by stripping out periods and "@" symbols. For example, "YOURNAME AT YAHOO DOT COM." You can also make the "@" an image, which will prevent crawlers from identifying it. You may also wish to disguise it in your signature file, in case your recipients forward your email. Don't use your home or business email address when you register on a website or in a group. If you must sign up for services, request more information, or register for newspapers or domains, use a free email address from a site like Gmail or Yahoo to create an address especially for that purpose. This also goes for posting to the web in social media, a listserv, a newsgroup, a contact page for a website, or a resume that is submitted online. If you want to be even safer, you can use a modified version of your email address when signing up for most services, which will allow you to filter emails sent to that modified address. For instance, Gmail allows you to append a plus ("+") sign and any combination of characters after the initial part of your email address, and you'll still receive the emails. So if your email address is "john267@gmail.com," you'll still receive emails sent to "john267+newsletters@gmail.com." You could use a modified address like that when signing up for newsletters, for instance. If you start getting spam at the address, set up a filter to redirect messages sent to that address to your spam folder, and sign up for future emails with a slightly different modified address.

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Safety and security when setting up a blog

Social networking sites are great for keeping in touch with family and friends, and letting the world know what youre up to. The Online Engagement Guidelines make it clear that we encourage the safe and responsible use of social networking sites, but we have provided some further guidance on this site to help you stay safe and think about what you post online. Remember that there may be those who are using such sites for unsavoury reasons. These range from criminals looking for ways to con you or steal your identity, to those who may wish us harm. While it is unlikely that youll fall victim, you should be aware of the risk. Whether you choose WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, or another blog format, all of blogs require a display name, a URL, and a title. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on WordPress and Blogger because they are the most commonly used platforms. While URLs, display names, and titles are pretty basic, these requirements are key factors in personal and family privacy. But, they can also be a creative intersection for safety and personal expression. Many people incorporate their name into the title. Sometimes they use a witty pun, but sometimes they use a full name. Using names, specifically last names, in a title can present some risks.

If you want your blog to be public, disclose only what you want everyone on the Internet to know. Otherwise, keep your blog private. Periodically review who has access to your site and make changes if necessary. Keep details that identify you only to yourself and trusted people. Do not post confidential information that might be used to steal your identity such as credit card numbers, passport details or home address. Consider using an assumed name if you wish to keep your identity secret for personal safety, political reasons or security of employment. Be careful what information you disclose such as your address, school, and place of work or birthday. Be careful about the photos you post as they may reveal things about you that you would rather keep private. Be careful about what private feelings you share in your blog. Be aware of what friends blog about you, or write in comments on your blog, particularly about your personal details and activities. Be cautious about meeting in person someone you only know through blogging. Ensure that children are aware of the dangers of blogging to a public audience. If you are new to blogging, start cautiously. Understand the features of the software you use and how the blogging community (the blogosphere) works, including how to filter comments.

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Do not post anything that may cause you embarrassment at a later date.

Security of data being transferred

Web (https) The easiest way to manually send a file is to use a secure web browser, the traffic to the page should be protected by high grade AES 128 bit encryption, as seen on our website where customers access our data cleansing services. data8.co.uk/data8online/bureauservices.aspx. You will be required to enter a username and password or you can register if you don't have one. FTPS / SFTP File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to copy a file from one host to another over the Internet. Secure FTP (either by FTPS or SFTP) is a great way of automatically sending data. Both methods are very secure and again you will be required to enter a username and password to transfer data. Email with PGP Email is not as a secure method of transferring data. However, it is when used with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. Any data transferred is securely encrypted and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient.

Why use a firewall?

If your PC is connected to the Internet, you are a potential target to an array of cyber threats, such as hackers, keyloggers, and Trojans that attack through unpatched security

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holes. This means that if you, like most people shop and bank online, are vulnerable to identity theft and other malicious attacks. A firewall works as a barrier, or a shield, between your PC and cyber space. When you are connected to the Internet, you are constantly sending and receiving information in small units called packets. The firewall filters these packets to see if they meet certain criteria set by a series of rules, and thereafter blocks or allows the data. This way, hackers cannot get inside and steal information such as bank account numbers and passwords from you.

Why use antivirus software?

Antivirus (or anti-virus) software is used to safeguard a computer from malware, including viruses, computer worms, and Trojan horses. Antivirus software may also remove or prevent spyware and adware, along with other forms of malicious programs. Free antivirus software generally only searches your computer using signature-based detection which involves looking for patterns of data that are known to be related to already-identified malware. Paid antivirus software will usually also include heuristics to catch new, or zeroday threats, by either using genetic signatures to identify new variants of existing virus code or by running the file in a virtual environment (also called a sandbox), and watching what it does to see if it has malicious intent.

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Dangers of downloading files from the internet

Whenever you download a file, there is always a small risk that the file will contain a virus or a program that can damage your computer or your information. Computer viruses are the original malware. They are programs that can be deposited into a computer, and once executed, can replicate themselves. Some can be simple annoyances; while other can cause such horrific damage that they can cripple or even permanently crash a computer. Adware is malware that forces unintended advertising upon the victim, and also is a popular addition to free downloads. This can be done several ways. It can create unwanted pop-up advertising. Many times, these unwanted pop-ups are for offensive Web sites, such as pornography, or they may be in the form of scareware. Scareware is false advertisements that claim that a computer has a virus or other infection, and then defrauds the victim by either selling them software that doesnt work, or leads them to download more malware onto their computer. Spyware is a malware program that can collect data from the targeted computer. Unlike viruses and adware, which are always malicious, Spyware can in fact come from reputable sources. This type of adware usually comes from reputable companies who only want to track their softwares usage. However, this is dangerous, as any form of malware can alert cySome free downloads are completely safe, and are important to take care of, such as security patches and updates for operating system software, or software like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player or Shockwave Player, Quick Time browser plug-in or Java Virtual Machine. However, even in this situation, its important to take preventative measures in order to stay safe.

What are the risks of opening attachments?

Emails are a convenient way to connect with others, however they are susceptible to attacks known as malicious software, or malware. This malware is unleashed when you open an unsafe attachment and it does various things such as making your computer perform actions that you do not want it to do. Discover the risks of opening email attachments so you can protect yourself.

Web Bugs
Most people regularly receive web bugs in their inbox. While housed in a spam message, these invisible icons detect whether an email address is active so that they can continue to clog peoples' mailboxes. These bugs are difficult to prevent, but you can try deleting obvious junk mail without opening them, or set your email program to view messages as

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text only.

Mass Mailing Worms

Mass mailing worms (also known as "email worms") can spread rapidly from user to user, often before people are aware of what is happening. These worms might unintentionally come from people you know, and, once unleashed through an attachment, begin sending themselves to people in your address book. If you are not expecting something from a friend or relative, check with him before opening the message.

Computer Virus
The term "computer virus" is regularly associated with harmful email attachments. Viruses commonly work their way into your operating system and begin changing the manner in which your computer behaves. For example, a user might notice that their system has slowed down significantly, and another person discover that their files are tampered with and no longer operable. Regularly run virus scans on your computer to help prevent this problem.

Trojan Horse
Some attachments might cause mildly annoying effects, but others are especially harmful, such as the Trojan horse. This malware disguises itself as a helpful program to gain trust and get inside your computer. Once inside, hackers get the remote access they need to attain information for their own personal gain, such as identity theft. Protect yourself with antivirus software such as Norton to prevent any damage.

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Malicious Executable
Another attachment is the malicious executable, which is known for causing serious damage quickly. These attacks seek to acquire sensitive information and render your system inoperable. Like other malware, this executable can be sent from someone you know and contain seemingly innocent subject lines, such as "You have received an ECard!" or something similar. Again, take care not to open attachments that are not expected, and regularly run virus protection applications.

Personal safety and security of data being transferred Data Legislation:

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK. Although the Act itself does not mention privacy, it was enacted to bring UK law into line with the EU data protection directive of 1995 which required Member States to protect people's fundamental rights and freedoms and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data.

Copyright:
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator of intellectual wealth (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to receive compensation for their work and be able

to financially support themselves.

Computer misuse act:

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced partly in response to the decision in R v Gold & Schifreen (1988) 1 AC 1063. Critics of the bill complained that it was introduced hastily and was poorly thought out. Intention, they said, was often difficult to prove, and that the bill inadequately differentiated "joyriding" hackers like Gold and Schifreen from serious computer criminals. The Act has nonetheless become a model from which several other countries, including Canada and the Republic of Ireland, have drawn inspiration when subsequently

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drafting their own information security laws, as it is seen "as a robust and flexible piece of legislation in terms of dealing with cybercrime.

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the "wrongful appropriation" and "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work. The idea remains problematic with unclear definitions and unclear rules. The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe only in the 18th century, particularly with the Romantic movement. Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions like expulsion. Plagiarism is not a crime per se but in academia and industry it is a serious ethical offends and cases of plagiarism can constitute copyright

infringement.

Executable files:
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions, as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU. However, in a more general sense, a file containing instructions (such as byte code) for a software interpreter may also be considered executable; even a scripting language source file may therefore be considered executable in this sense.

Bibliography:

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbullying http://www.identitytheftkiller.com/prevent-phishing-scams.php http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/prevention/ http://www.techsoup.org/support/articles-and-how-tos/things-you-can-do-toprevent-spam http://securityresponse.symantec.com/en/uk/norton/clubsymantec/library/article.js p?aid=cs_prevent_pharming http://www.getsafeonline.org/social-networking/blogging/#.Us6OdvlFDcs http://www.blogs.mod.uk/onlinesecurity/ http://www.ikeepsafe.org/be-a-pro/online-security/blog-safety/ https://www.data-8.co.uk/en/news-media/blog/A-short-guide-to-data-security-and-datatransfer http://www.johnspendluffe.lincs.sch.uk/pages/departments/ict/risksofopeningemailattchments.html http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloading-files-internetfaq#1TC=windows-7 http://www.nortonantiviruscenter.com/security-resource-center/dangers-of-freedownloads.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Misuse_Act_1990 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable

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