Network Security and Internet Risks

Network Security
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May 8, 2020
In this age, one can say that the internet is one of the commodities, if not a necessity, every household should have in every corner of the society (with a few exceptions, of course). We cannot deny how it makes life a little easier. You want to build a box? There are instructions in hundreds of websites to offer you in every box designs you can think of. You want to learn how to cook or take another course? They are courses provided just a few taps away. Knowledge is literally at your fingertips. In a short period, the internet became incorporated into our daily lives. I this age, people can send voice, text, images, and dates of different kinds from anywhere instantly. We can make content, interact, digitally, shop anywhere, and anytime with ease, exchange ideas, and work together despite living in different countries. The internet is already having the capabilities of storing and communicating vast amounts of data online, this includes the data that is individual to us and can be used for good or be exploited for ill-intent. It should be kept in mind that the communications and data are mixed together in the servers and clouds online, and the seemingly increasing amount of data raises some concerns with regards to personal privacy and data protection (Global Commission on Internet Governance, 2015). If you put yourself back in time, a few decades ago, today’s technology would come out as something to be too good to be true, it won’t be this beneficial without any cons on the side. So, amidst this, should the people still trust the internet despite the potential risk?
Internet Risks
Internet security is a generalized term for a whole issue encompassing security transactions made over the internet. It includes browser security, the security of data entered through a Web form, and overall authentication and protection of the data sent through the internet protocol (Techopedia). It is consist of a variety of security tactics for protecting activities and transactions conducted online, these tactics are the line of defense of the user against specific threats such as the risk of someone hacking into the user’s computer systems, websites, or email addresses. Even worse, this person might be stealing the user’s identity, such as credit card numbers and other bank account information. These tactics also include safeguarding against malicious software (or virus as they call it) that can infect and damage the system inherently. Internet security is a specific part of a broader concept, which is cybersecurity and computer security but only focuses on vulnerabilities and threats of the use of online access and any other use of the internet (Macafee).
Risks of Internet Breach
Some examples that can breach internet security are; (a) hackers, they are people who circumvent database walls for various reasons; (b) viruses, are programs designed to gain entry to poorly-walled computers, once they establish themselves in your device they will attempt to duplicate themselves and then spread to other users via networks, emails, and removable storage devices. Their purpose is to corrupt the data or damage the computer in which they reside; (c) spyware’s goal is to collect information via data gathering to promote or advertise products identical to the user’s browsing habit and frequently searched items.; (d) worms, these are programmed like the virus, but unlike them, worms do not need to attach itself to another software to spread. (e) Phishing, back in the days, this is used to get information on the unsuspecting users on their social security numbers, credit cards, and any bank account details. These days, programmers that develop phishing software found that other information such as people’s account details on social media can be exploited too; lastly, (f) identity theft, can be considered as one of the worst consequence of internet security breach, for some could put the victim in a terrible financial state and other crimes committed on his name (Munson, 2009). Back in the early years, even the Department of Defense database was breached by “unknown” individuals, wherein they repeatedly enter military computers and networks via the internet and also stole software that was under development for a weapon system in the near future. According to the defense authorization report done by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Defense Department is only planning on allotting a budget of $19 million in FY-95 for information security. Yet, they recommended the Department of Defense to invest between $500 million and $1 billion per year would be too much, but $19 million is insufficient (Inside the Pentagon, 1994). In recent times there are also several instances where the breach of internet security also depicts what damages it can do to an individual or corporation. In October 2013, a blogger named Brian Krebs (2013) reported that Adobe first announced that hackers stole almost 3 million encrypted customer cred card records, and in addition to this, the login data for an unknown number of accounts were also stolen. A month after that, Adobe increased its estimate to 38 million identifications and encrypted passwords of active users. For damage control, in August 2015, an agreement called for Adobe to pay $1.1 million in legal fees and an undisclosed amount to the active users to settle claims if the Customer Records Act violation. The amount paid to the customers was reported at $1 million, with 150 million user records affected.
Impacting 139 million user accounts back in May 2019, an Australian graphic design tool, Canva, suffered an attack that somehow similar to Adobe, wherein username and email addresses, identification, and place of residence was exposed. Canva stated that the hackers did not steal, but only view the database files with a partial credit card and payment information. Gnosticplayers, the assumed culprit, contacted ZDNet to showoff about the incident, stating that Canva noticed their attack and closed their data breach server. They also said that they managed to have access to OAth login tokens for users who signed in through their Google accounts. Canva confirmed this incident and prompted them to change their account passwords OAth tokens (Swinhoe, 2020). The data breach also happened to Equifax, on the largest credit bureaus in the US, on July 29, 2017. Affecting 147.9 million consumers due to the vulnerability of the application they are offering.
The attack includes personal information, specifically SS numbers, residence, drivers’ license numbers, and birth dates (Fruhlinger, 2020). Even eBay, back in 2014, with 145 million users affected, reported an attack. The hackers exposed their entire account list, wherein they use the credentials of three corporate employees as a means to access their database. Promptly after, the company asked its customers to change the passwords on their accounts. Fortunately, on this incident, no financial info was exposed since the data on this was stored in a different server (Ragan, 2014). In 2013, MySpace was attacked with 360 million user accounts affected, their accounts were for leaked in LeakedSource, an accessible database of stolen reports, and put on the dark web market The Real Deal. One of the biggest social network site for professionals, LinkedIn, was also a victim of a breach on internet security, two, in fact, one in 2012 and the other was in 2016, 165 million accounts we leaked. In the first incident, 6.5 million passwords were stolen, yet on the second one, under the same hacker that attacked and put MySpace’s data or sale, 165...