We are living in an era of modern technology. In olden days, without mobile phones and internet, working in offices or business enterprises were very stressful. One cannot communicate easily due to non-existence of social media and emails. Nowadays technologies have enriched and enlightened our minds to a greater extent but on the other hand, in pursuit of its ease and comfort, it has forced us to become over reliant on it, As a consequence we have literally become slaves of our own gadgets and technology.
Evolution of Internet
Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, the two great American scientists are considered to be the Fathers ( pioneers) of Internet . In late 1960’s the creation of Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) resulted in the first workable prototype of Internet. The US Department of Defence funded the ARPANET that used packet switching to allow multiple computers to communicate on a single network. Eventually in 1970 Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) were developed and researchers began to assemble the “network of networks” that became the modern Internet.
Uses and Drawbacks of Internet
Nowadays one cannot even imagine a life without internet . With the help of internet one can communicate and stay connected with their closed ones. One can also do online banking, search jobs and houses, run a business and have a quick access to information and research on the go. Recently due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, strict rules and regulations like lockdown and social distancing have been imposed worldwide, so the amount of time spent on internet, especially social sites is astounding. The more one gets addicted to internet, greater are the chances of cyberbullying, social anxiety, depression, isolation, self- harm, suicidal thoughts and access to contents that are not age appropriate. Excessive use of social media also has a negative impact on heath.Long time exposure to blue light is harmful for the eyes. Some researchers claim that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobiles causes the Red Blood Corpuscles (RBC) to leak hemoglobin, which accumulates in the body causing heart diseases and kidney stones. But no proof had come to light till now.
Cyber Attacks and Other Threats to Privacy
According to a recent study in University of Maryland a cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds! Due to advancements in technologies, cyber security has become more important than ever. Some types of cyber attacks are as follows:-
1.) Keystroke Logging
Keystroke Logging is the action of recording the keys struck on a keyboard without the target person’s knowledge that their actions are being monitored. Furthermore data is then retrieved by the person operating the logging program.
2.) Denial of Service Attack (DOS)
In this attack the targeted machine or resource is flooded with superfluous requests in an attempt to overload systems thereby disrupting services of a host connected to the internet. This it prevents some or all legitimate requests from being fulfilled.
3.) Brute Force Attack
It is a trail and error method used to obtain information such as user’s password or personal identification number (PIN). In a brute force attack automated software is used to generate large number of consecutive guesses in order to crack encrypted data.
4.) Waterhole Attack
It is a malware attack in which the attacker observe the websites often by a victim or a group and infects those sites with malware.
5.) Phising and Fake Wap ( Wireless Access Point)
In Phising, a hacker replicates the most accessed sites and traps the victim by sending that spoofed link. It is a commonly used and deadliest attack vectors.
6.) Man-in-the-middle Attack
Here a hacker inserts himself into a conversation between two parties, impersonates both parties and gains access to information that the two parties were trying to send to each other or not meant to be sent at all.
7.) Cookie Theft
The cookies of a browser keeps our personal data such as browsing history, username and passwords for different sites we access. Once the hacker gets access to victim’s cookie, then he can even authenticate himself as the victim.
8.) Domain Name System (DNS) poisoning
In this method, the vulnerabilities in the DNS are exploited to divert Internet traffic away from legitimate servers towards fake ones. The DNS poisoning resulted in the Great Firewall of China which escaped national boundaries and censored the Internet in USA until the problem was solved.
9.) Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning
Here the attacker or hacker changes the Media Access Control (MAC) address and attacks an Ethernet LAN by changing the target computer’s ARP cache with a forged ARP request and reply packets.
Some easy ways to withstand Cyber Attacks :-
1.) Refrain from using weak passwords such as numbers like 12345, words like qwerty, password, name, phone number etc. Always use combination of uppercase, lowercase letters, symbols and numbers so that attackers can’t guess or crack it.
2.) Always update the latest software of computer or phone periodically to prevent viruses, malware and other online threats.
3.) Computers, laptops and other electronic gadgets must be locked or turned off when not in use. This ensures that no one can access your confidential information.
4.) Don’t click unknown advertisements, messages, emails, tweets etc. Just delete it if it appears suspicious otherwise hackers can steal your data.
5.) Always think twice before connecting to a free public Wifi, since fraudsters and hackers can monitor every activity with your knowledge.
6.) Always use trusted websites and apps with encrypted connections (https) before entering sensitive password and banking details.
Internet is one of the revolutionary and greatest inventions of all time. Every person has his own opinion regarding internet. Some consider it as a blessing to mankind, some consider it as a curse. We can transform it as a blessing by ignoring malicious contents, limiting it’s use and sharing postive vibes to the world. If we misuse it, then it will definitely be a curse to humanity. So the choice is ours.
