How safe is the Internet in reality?
In today’s day and age I would say that this question is relevant and important. When I think back to my past views about the Internet 14 years ago, topics such as “Internet and Web Security” were unknown names to me.
A decade ago the main purpose of the Internet was purely focussed on email communication and web browsing activities. Commercial, critical or even complex transactions were rarely performed on the Internet.
User interactions through web applications were possible at the time; however in most cases it was very simple and “unsafe”. Security concepts or even safety precaution measurements in corporate environments were ignored and were hardly implemented in any web application solutions.
Have you ever had any concerns about your privacy or security issues a decade ago? E.g. when sending an email with sensitive information to someone or filling sensitive information in a web form on the internet? How safe did you feel when browsing the web?
It is quite interesting that such concerns were not felt at that time. Yet much has changed now.
Internet and web security measurements in private or corporate environments are being taking more seriously than a decade before. Many efforts have been made by corporate organizations and educational institutes to make the internet more transparent and much safer.
At the same time billions of harmful malwares, worms, bots and malicious codes have been developed and distributed over the web. Some of them have survived until now as they have been coded with “intelligence” such as being able to act independently based on sophisticated algorithms.
Without security measurements no administrator in the world would be able to detect intrusions or even be smart enough to block a hidden attack on his corporate network. Data theft runs at milliseconds and you even won’t be able to notice it.
It is unimaginable as to how many times medium sized business organizations have been attacked and have tried to be hacked by malware last year. By not investing in any internet and web security instruments corporate environments live in risk by not being able to control, to monitor or to protect their systems.
I think the internet is like walking down the street. I think as long as you pay attention to your surroundings, use common sense, stay out of dark alleys and bad parts of town (i.e. porn sites, bittorrents,etc) and ignore the sidewalk salesmen and preachers (i.e. spammers)you’ll probably be okay. A solid anti-virus solution is also crucial.
In my opinion, the difficulty with internet and web security is how rapidly it has to adapt to the changing needs, demands and threats of the very environment it’s supposed to work in. Advances in online and network exploitation are far exceeding the advances on the security front. I’m starting to wonder if it’s fighting a lost cause. Unless maybe the internet is far too open for its own good. Maybe it’s about time that restrictions are made online for better security.
@sue walsh
Unfortunately, the popularity of social networking has opened a whole new avenue of possible online threats. Malware and phishing schemes are around every corner as is, but with people openly posting personal details of themselves online, the world is getting smaller and far more dangerous. Facebook has already gone under severe security for its less than adequate security protocols, but it’s not like their membership base is getting any smaller.
@joshua thompson
What kind of restrictions are you proposing? I personally think that the openness of the internet is why it’s so appealing (and for the most part, essential) in the first place. To restrict its use to a certain number of monitored actions isn’t only against the sheer nature of the internet itself, but is quite frankly, impossible given the size and scope of the online community. If anything, security measures should try to catch up.
@danny
Maybe going for an all-out restricted internet is too much to ask. But with internet security being at a worse state than ever, I don’t think it’s too much to dream for a compromise between convenience and security. I do agree that the main appeal of the internet is its natural openness, but with the rise of phishing scams, malware intrusions and identity theft, maybe looking into a more moderated model of the internet would benefit all legitimate users.