WHAT IS INTERNET?

The Internet is a global network of billions of computers and other electronic devices. With the Internet, it’s possible to access almost any information, communicate with anyone else in the world, and do much more.

You can do all of this by connecting a computer to the Internet, which is also called going online. When someone says a computer is online, it’s just another way of saying it’s connected to the Internet.

Internet is a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

How does the Internet work?

At this point you may be wondering, how does the Internet work? The exact answer is pretty complicated and would take a while to explain. Instead, let’s look at some of the most important things you should know.

It’s important to realize that the Internet is a global network of physical cables, which can include copper telephone wires, TV cables, and fiber optic cables. Even wireless connections like Wi-Fi and 3G/4G rely on these physical cables to access the Internet.

When you visit a website, your computer sends a request over these wires to a server. A server is where websites are stored, and it works a lot like your computer’s hard drive. Once the request arrives, the server retrieves the website and sends the correct data back to your computer. What’s amazing is that this all happens in just a few seconds!

For you to be secured while surfing the net,the following principles must be followed.

1. Keep Personal Information Professional and Limited

Potential employers or customers don’t need to know your personal relationship status or your home address. They do need to know about your expertise and professional background, and how to get in touch with you. You wouldn’t hand purely personal information out to strangers individually—don’t hand it out to millions of people online.

2. Keep Your Privacy Settings On

Marketers love to know all about you, and so do hackers. Both can learn a lot from your browsing and social media usage. But you can take charge of your information. , both web browsers and mobile operating systems have settings available to protect your privacy online. Major websites like Facebook also have privacy-enhancing settings available. These settings are sometimes (deliberately) hard to find because companies want your personal information for its marketing value. Make sure you have enabled these privacy safeguards, and keep them enabled.

3. Practice Safe Browsing

You wouldn’t choose to walk through a dangerous neighborhood—don’t visit dangerous neighborhoods online. Cybercriminals use lurid content as bait. They know people are sometimes tempted by dubious content and may let their guard down when searching for it. The Internet’s demimonde is filled with hard-to-see pitfalls, where one careless click could expose personal data or infect your device with malware. By resisting the urge, you don’t even give the hackers a chance.

4. Make Sure Your Internet Connection is Secure. Use a Secure VPN Connection

When you go online in a public place, for example by using a public Wi-Fi connection, notes you have no direct control over its security. Corporate cybersecurity experts worry about “endpoints”—the places where a private network connects to the outside world. Your vulnerable endpoint is your local Internet connection. Make sure your device is secure, and when in doubt, wait for a better time (i.e., until you’re able to connect to a secure Wi-Fi network) before providing information such as your bank account number.

To further improve your Internet browsing safety, use secure VPN connection (virtual private network). VPN enables you to have a secure connection between your device and an Internet server that no one can monitor or access the data that you’re exchanging.

5. Be Careful What You Download

A top goal of cybercriminals is to trick you into downloading malware—programs or apps that carry malware or try to steal information. This malware can be disguised as an app: anything from a popular game to something that checks traffic or the weather. , don’t download apps that look suspicious or come from a site you don’t trust.

6. Choose Strong Passwords

Passwords are one of the biggest weak spots in the whole Internet security structure, but there’s currently no way around them. And the problem with passwords is that people tend to choose easy ones to remember (such as “password” and “123456”), which are also easy for cyber thieves to guess. Select strong passwords that are harder for cybercriminals to demystify. pasword manager software can help you to manage multiple passwords so that you don’t forget them. A strong password is one that is unique and complex—at least 15 characters long, mixing letters, numbers and special characters.

7. Make Online Purchases From Secure Sites

Any time you make a purchase online, you need to provide credit card or bank account information—just what cybercriminals are most eager to get their hands on. Only supply this information to sites that provide secure, encrypted connections. you can identify secure sites by looking for an address that starts with https: (the S stands for secure) rather than simply http: They may also be marked by a padlock icon next to the address bar.

8. Be Careful What You Post

The Internet does not have a delete key, as that young candidate in New Hampshire found out. Any comment or image you post online may stay online forever because removing the original (say, from Twitter) does not remove any copies that other people made. There is no way for you to “take back” a remark you wish you hadn’t made, or get rid of that embarrassing selfie you took at a party. Don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t want your mom or a prospective employer to see.

9. Be Careful Who You Meet Online

People you meet online are not always who they claim to be. Indeed, they may not even be real. As infoworld reports, fake social media profiles are a popular way for hackers to cozy up to unwary Web users and pick their cyber pockets. Be as cautious and sensible in your online social life as you are in your in-person social life.

10. Keep Your Antivirus Program Up To Date

Internet security software cannot protect against every threat, but it will detect and remove most malware—though you should make sure it’s to date. Be sure to stay current with your operating system’s updates and updates to applications you use. They provide a vital layer of security.

Keep these 10 basic Internet safety rules in mind and you’ll avoid many of the nasty surprises that lurk online for the careless.

Download only from secure websites and official app stores

There are hundreds of websites available online which provides you free software. And when you choose to download from unreliable websites, you are putting your online security at risk.

Have you ever thought how and why you get all these paid software for free?

You may say a lot of users like to distribute paid stuff for free, and you may be right. However, in the mix of this, there are hackers who release these paid software apps, movies etc for free and embed a backdoor along with it. The moment you open those files, hackers also get backdoor access to your system.

If you are someone who keeps sensitive data, including your photos, financial history, bitcoin private key or similar stuff which could cause harm to you, refrain yourself from using warez website. I know it’s a hard thing to do, but you should consider the risk vs reward.

If it’s a must for you, for example, to watch movies, create a virtual environment using a tool like Vmware or something similar.

Avoid clicking on unknown links

We all get spam emails or unknown emails which have internal links to websites. Avoid clicking on these links. They may spread the virus on your computer and result in the hacking of all your accounts and passwords. These days shortened URLs are used to spread links to websites/blogs but only click on links which you get from reliable resources.

Anti-virus

This is the most important thing to remember. It is not enough to download a good anti-virus software to your system. What is more important is that you keep updating it regularly. The easiest way is to keep the auto update feature “ON”. Always follows alerts sent by your anti-virus software companies. Many anti-viruses have the option to update the new version automatically. You should enable that option to make your system more secure. There are many great antiviruses out there and you can pick from Nod32 or Kaspersky. These are my favorites.

Online Shopping

Online shopping is very risky when it comes to security. Most online shopping portals ask for your address, account, and other personal details which can be easily hacked by others. Try to shop online only on reliable websites and never ever give your personal details.

Also, while making a transaction make sure the browser is connected with https and not http.

Avoid using the proxy site and proxy software:

We all know that proxy websites and software like Ultrasurf let us access blocked websites and they are very useful. Though, one of the biggest online mistakes which we make is by using sensitive data over these proxy channels. Using sites like Facebook, bank details or emails account where you need to provide your password, might leave you vulnerable. Rather, use VPN tools which are more reliable and use only trusted VPN services.

Use proxy sites for accessing blocked sites but don’t use them for logging into any sensitive site. Before your system is hacked or you lose your sensitive data, I would highly recommend you to put the above security measures in effect and keep yourself safe and secure while surfing the internet.

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