We live in a progressively developing world, and the topic of electronic technology no longer surprises us. Tablets, smartphones and “smartwatches” have become everyday attributes for us, and mobile operators have made a lot of efforts to provide their users with Internet access from anywhere in the world. Every year, more and more powerful chips are created, with computing and performance capabilities superior to their predecessors, and their compact size has not raised questions for a long time. But scientific and technological progress can be used in different ways - everything has its pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, and, at times, we do not see the whole picture of what is happening. This happens for one simple reason - we are poorly informed about the technology sector, the tools of which we use. Sometimes due to the shortcomings of manufacturers and developers, and sometimes because of my own rashness, but I will not go into unnecessary details, and move away from the planned topic ... Let's start from afar. When we want to find something on the "world wide web", or download a movie for evening viewing over a cup of tea, wrapped in a blanket, we turn to search engines like Google and Yandex, and, as a result, having scrolled through several sites, we find ourselves on the resource we need containing this or that material. If this resource is illegal, then most likely we will see a message about the ban on visiting this site, due to its inclusion in the state register of prohibited sites. It would seem that everything is arranged simply and we own the Internet quite freely, but what is really behind this whole screen called “Internet”? And the main question - is it safe to use? I will not go into unnecessary details, and move away from the planned topic ...
Protecting information on the network
To begin with, it is worth mentioning that everything that we are used to calling the "Internet" is in fact only a small part of the "Internet", while most of it is the so-called "Deep or Hidden Web" which we cannot access in the usual ways, but this will be discussed next time. Let's move on to a more pressing question today - is a person protected in our time and is information protected?Information on the network is protected in many ways, but the main ones are the following two: protecting the information itself, by encrypting and encrypting it, and protecting its transmission channel, from theft, reading or substitution.
You can bypass any protection, you just need to find the right way. The main channel of information leakage is the Internet users themselves! Therefore, today I want to consider network security on the part of the users themselves, in other words, you and me.
We go online all the time, someone for the sake of watching movies or TV shows, someone for the music, but still, most of the time spent on the network is associated with communication, social networks and communication. Constantly being on the Internet, many people relax, considering themselves completely protected, and do not always think about what they are actually doing.
In fact, our every action on the web does not go unnoticed, and the traces left by us are forever deposited on the Internet. Search services similar to Google record all our activity and search queries, and special modules connected to the sites monitor what we open, what we read, search for and view. All this information is recorded, analyzed and stored, and subsequently sold. You were looking for how much sea tours cost now, and now you are provided with targeted advertising for tours to Turkey and Montenegro. This is a simple example, however, information about your preferences is collected from absolutely everywhere, and successful advertising about tours may appear, even if you did not look for them at all!
"Everything that got on the Internet ..."
There is an expression that accurately describes a key feature of the Internet that most people ignore. "Everything that gets on the Internet remains (and spreads) there forever." You are not protected even if you immediately delete your social media profiles, your email, all your accounts, and unplug the power cord from your wi-fi router. Late, everything you've done on the internet is forever there. All your accounts and correspondence can be restored, your entire history of online activity can be seen and studied. You are protected by an antivirus, provider, site protection, but nothing can protect you from yourself, from human stupidity and frivolity and from human genius and ingenuity on the part of intruders and hackers.Hacking and swindlers
Getting personal information online has become much easier than in the real world. For example, in order to obtain your credit card number and password in the real world, cybercriminals will need to install hidden hardware in bank terminals and resort to other methods, which are not only costly, but also quite risky. On the network, an attacker is able to obtain this data many times easier and, often, with minimal risk to himself.Modern technology makes it easy to write or call you on behalf of your accountant, employer, or your bank, while maintaining the correct email address or phone number. With all this, it is extremely difficult to distinguish a “false” address from a real one.
And this is only a small part of what the current innovations in the IT sphere allow, and a person does not even think about all the vulnerabilities to which he is exposed when performing this or that action. For example, a harmless photo of a new desktop in an apartment, an evening view from a window, or even a photo of what you ate for breakfast can turn you over with all the ensuing consequences. There are several reasons for this. So, for example, most modern technology embeds the GPS coordinates of the shooting location in the photos you take, which allows you to find out your location. By carefully studying your pictures and various methods of analyzing them, be it cold reading, psychodiagnostics or simple logic, you can get a large amount of information about you, including personal: find out with whom you communicate, work or study, you can also get information about you through these people. There are also a lot of different ways and options for obtaining information that you do not even know about.
It is possible to collect information about you - and this is a fact. The amount of this information depends only on how smart and educated the person who collects it is. I have seen many times how people who are not even very familiar with the software world, find the approximate place of residence of a person up to several floors and apartments, based on only one picture from the window or from the balcony of the apartment. The Internet is constantly evolving, and with it the ways of obtaining information. There are various techniques and special services that allow you to find out your phone number, contact and personal data, see and study everything that you wrote and posted on social networks and websites, even everything that you have long since deleted and erased.
Everything that gets on the Internet remains in it, regardless of your desire, and nothing can be done about it, all that is in your power is to think about your own electronic safety and whether it is worth uploading your photos with a new sports car or a photo the one you dined with or shook hands with.
What are the consequences?
Sometimes in response to all of the above, I hear something like “So what? Let it go! So what? "or" I have nothing to hide! "This approach indicates that the person does not fully understand the issue. What's wrong with someone out there, far away, making your profile or recognizing your personal mail? The fact is that this someone may not be as far away as we would like. Yes, the Internet is constantly surfed by special software programs - bots that collect information, statistics and various kinds of data, which do not care at all from whom they collect this data.However, there are also people who are interested in you. I guarantee, if you've ever consulted a fortune teller or psychic, all your social profiles have been studied to the smallest detail. But the opposite is also possible - by studying the pages of users of social networks, to find the most vulnerable to suggestion and manipulation. And now, at your doorstep or on the street, you "absolutely by chance" meet a fortune-teller who, by the magical powers of black magic, sees your past, something that only your family knows about, and a curse that prevented you at some moments in your life, a terrible curse, the evil eye. But this sweet and kind woman, out of the kindness of her soul, is ready to remove this damage, just in exchange for your sports car, in which you will crash because of this damage,
This example seems exaggerated, but, unfortunately, it is not so far from our reality. The methods of deception and the art of scam are constantly being replenished and improved, acquiring new forms and colors. These methods are used not only by swindlers and malefactors - the motives for collecting information can be quite harmless, for example, when hiring an employee for an important position in a large company, interviewing, searching and catching criminals, increasing sales, collecting anonymous statistics , and much more.
It is worth paying attention to the existence of cybercriminals and gaps in systems, sites and programs. Developers, creating their product, may overlook some elements, as a result of which your data may be at risk or even be published for all to see. Not so long ago, in one of the updates of the Skype program for mobile platforms, a bug was discovered, as a result of which it became possible to successfully reach any device without the owner's knowledge. Fortunately, this error was quickly eliminated.
Conclusion and conclusions
So what should you do to protect your life from the vulnerabilities of the network environment? Here are some tips:- under no circumstances give out your passwords or bank card numbers to third parties, and even more so do not put them in public access. If you need to transfer such information to a friend or relative, it is best to transfer it personally or, breaking it up into parts, transfer it by various communication channels;
- it is desirable to have a strong password consisting of at least 10-15 characters using letters, numbers, symbols of different case. No matter how hackneyed it sounds, but it can protect you from hacking your password by brute-force, although it will not save you from direct password theft;
- if you do not need to use a webcam or microphone, turn them off or stick them with a sticker;
- install a good antivirus on your system with a web protection function;
- install browser extensions (such as Adblock) that remove intrusive ads and block the collection of statistics and activity history;
- if necessary, use proxy servers to hide the user's network address. This function is provided by various browser add-ons that can be found in search engines for the query "VPN";
- do not provide your mobile phone number unnecessarily. For example, to fill out various questionnaires, get a disposable SIM card, and after completing all operations, just throw it away. This will save you from advertising and intrusive calls, because often these numbers fall into the hands of third parties and advertising agencies. As an alternative and less expensive option - use virtual SIM cards;
- the main thing is to understand and not forget that absolutely in any system you can find a loophole, and it also happens that they are left intentionally.
Summing up, I want to note that not all techniques, tools and facts are described here, but only a small fraction of what is behind the screen of the Internet we are used to. Much remains unknown not only to advanced users, but even to professional specialists in the fields of electronic, network and personal security ...
