The threat of online security: How Safe is our data?

Nowadays, internet becomes more essential as a tool of communication all around the world which people can surf the net any time and anywhere. Anyone who gets online is at risks because online security threats are one of the biggest challenges on the Internet today. Therefore, the online user must have main concern in protecting their websites from threats such as computer viruses or worms, spy ware, hackers’ attacks, online fraud and etc.



First, the computer viruses is a most common form of malicious code which a program or a fragment of code that replicates by attacking copies of itself to other programs. Virus attack can damage the possible loss of data while worm is a program that copied itself repeatedly which ca slow down the computer speed. Besides that, common spy ware includes Trojan horses, key loggers, dialers, and ad ware programs. It is a computer program that is designed to steal information from your computer without your knowledge or it will send your personal information such as documents, passwords, credit card numbers, bank accounts, and many others to another source.



In addition, hackers is defined as a person who breaks into computer that have advanced network skills access computers and networks illegally with the intent of destroying data, stealing proprietary data and information. For example, many hackers use email as a means to spread devastating viruses and worms by including them as attachments in emails.




Next, the other online security threat is online fraud which is a broad term covering Internet transactions that involve falsified information. The major forms of online fraud are identity theft and data theft. Personal identity theft on the Internet is the newest form of fraud that has been witnessed in traditional settings for many years. For example, thieves open credit card accounts with a victim's name, address and social security number, or bank accounts using false identification. Moreover, data theft is not only the theft of information but also unauthorized perusal or manipulation of private data. It will cause the users loss the important information without their knowledge.

In conclusion, online threats are very real, but if the users know how to prevent the threats, they will able to better protect themselves. Therefore all users can able to get online without constantly worrying.

The following references :

http://www.bsagovernment.com/downloads/MajorOnlineThreats.pdf
http://www.tech-faq.com/online-security-threats.shtml