How to Protect Yourself and your Family from Threats you may Encounter on the Internet?

The internet is an entire new world which exists parallel to ours. When we connect to the Internet we get access to visit millions of sites. Thanks to the Internet we can keep in touch with our friends, find out the latest news, look for a fun place to visit, find a job or volunteer opportunity, and do many other things.
You can think of anything in the world and google it and you can be 99,9 % sure that there will be a web-site (or thousands of them) dedicated to it. Besides surfing websites you can read other people’s blogs, download music and video and play online games.

But just as in the real, non-cyber world, some people you encounter online may try to harm you. In addition, there are many other threats that may await you in that virtual world.

Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying takes place when someone uses the Internet, cell phones or other devices to send or post messages or images with an intention to hurt or embarrass another person. These messages may be from former friends or other people that the victim knows. Cyber-bullies may give away victims’ personal data (for example, real names, addresses, or workplace/schools) at websites or forums. Some can post rumors or gossip so that others would dislike the victims. Some cyber-bullies may also send threatening and harassing emails and messages to the victims. Sometimes (but not when messages contain threats) it is better to ignore such messages because eventually cyber-bullies, just like other bullies, want to get a reaction or some attention from their victims. Usually the term “cyber-bullying” is used when such things happen to children.

Cyber-stalking

Cyber-stalking is similar to cyber-bullying but the term is used to describe similar situations when they happen to adults. Cyber-stalkers look for their victims by using search engines, in online forums and chat rooms, and more recently, through online communities such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, etc.

Many cyber-stalkers want to damage their victim’s reputation and turn other people against them by posting false information about them on websites, posts or user pages. They may approach their victim’s friends, family and work colleagues to get personal information. They may even try to trace the victim’s IP address in an attempt to verify their home or place of employment. Sometimes they may want to damage the victim’s computer by sending viruses and Trojans for that. Moreover, they may try to arrange a meeting with their victims in real life which is obviously dangerous.

Online annoyances

Everyone who has an e-mailbox has probably received a spam letter. And if you received 15 or more spam letters a day you know how annoying it can be. If you wonder why you receive them, the answer is quite simple – your e-mail is on a spam list. Some e-mail service providers recognize such letters and mark them as “spam”.

Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Malware, Spyware, Adware

A virus is a software program or script that can infect, destroy, modify, or cause other problems with software programs or with a computer and which can be distributed through shareware, pirated software, e-mail, or other programs where users share data. A Trojan horse is a program or utility that pretends to be a useful program or utility (for example, a screen saver) which allows other users to have access to your computer or sends information from your computer to other computers. A worm is a destructive software program which can get access to computers or networks, and once inside them, harms that computer or network by deleting, distributing, modifying, or otherwise manipulating the data. Malware is a software program which changes a user’s settings without their permission, deletes a competing software program or causes it to stop working, and/or leaves a computer open to attacks. Spyware is a software program that a user intentionally installs on other people’s computers to monitor or spy what they are doing. Similar to spyware, adware programs are used to track a user’s Internet activities and/or habits to help companies advertise more efficiently.

Thus, it is clear that all these software programs are meant to harm your computer and you personally. In the past your computer could get a virus or malware by your opening e-mail attachments or clicking links in e-mails.  Now, you can even get infected by going to the wrong website.

So how can you protect yourself on the Internet?

Surf smartly

If somebody in a chat room requests personal information like your home address, phone number, e-mail address, be very cautious because this information can be used to fill your mailbox and answering machine with advertisements.  Do not disclose your full name or names of family members, credit card numbers, Social Security number, passwords, etc on the Internet because identity thieves can use this information for their own purposes. Try to keep virtual friendships in the virtual world because people can pretend to be something they are not when you can’t see them or talk to them in person.

If you get an e-mail from your bank which says you have some problems with your account and that you should “click here”, never do it. Instead of following the link in the e-mail, visit the page by manually typing the address of the bank. In general, never click on unknown links.

Don’t reuse passwords for different sites. Get a special program to manage your passwords so that each site would have a different password.

Keep your computer safe

Update your computer with security updates, because they may patch a problem in the operating system that is currently being exploited.

It’s highly recommended that you have some form of anti-virus and spyware protection on your computer to help clean it from infections if your computer has any and to help prevent any future infections.

Apart from an antivirus, you need to install a firewall on your computer. While antivirus software protects you from viruses, Trojans, worms and other malware, a firewall helps keep your computer from communicating with undesired computers on the network or on the Internet.

Use  VPN

If you don’t want anyone to have unauthorized access to your system or network, you should also use VPN technology (Virtual Private Network). When you connect to the Internet using  VPN, you set up a private tunnel that other users have a difficult time locating. It means that you will be anonymous to the outside world. You do this by establishing a connection to VPN server which acts as your connection to the public network (usually, the Internet). Being connected to the Internet in this manner, you are actually on a Private Network which is much more secure.

You should definitely consider using VPN when you are surfing from a public wireless hotspot. Sniffers can intercept your private data transmitted over the network and use this information for their malicious intent. But when you connect to the Internet through VPN, there is no such risk.

Another benefit is that you can be anonymous when browsing the Internet because VPN hides your real IP address. This feature can be especially useful if you are a cyber-stalker’s victim. Using VPN service, you may rest assured that your true IP address won’t be tracked. Thus, you will be able to enjoy plenty of security and privacy when on the Internet.

VPN (Private Virtual Network) technology provides three major functions for the users. The main functions are as follows:
1. Confidentiality (Privacy) VPN technology has a working system to encrypt all data that passing through it. With the existence of this encryption technology, so your confidentiality becomes safer. Though there are parties who can tap into your data before-passing, but they unlikely could read it easily because it is already encrypted. By applying this encryption system, nobody can access and read the contents of your network data easily.
2. Data Integrity (Data Integrity) When passing through the Internet network, your data is already running very far across the various countries. In the midst of the journey, anything can happen on its contents. Whether it is lost, damaged, and even manipulated by people in it for fun. VPN has a technology that can preserve the integrity of the data that you send to reach the destination without any defects, lost, damaged, or manipulated by others.
3. Origin Authentication (Authentication Source) VPN technology has the ability to authenticate the sources of data sender that will be received. VPN will conduct examinations of all incoming data and retrieving information from data source. Then the source address of the data will be approved if the authentication process is successfully. Thus, the VPN (Private Virtual Network) ensures all data that sent and received by you are coming from the proper source. No data would be fabricated or submitted by other parties.