Thursday, July 12, 2012

Now it's time to take a step back and remember that the Internet is a public place.  Even the most "private" corners of your Internet history are accessible to someone.  Keep in mind that once something is posted, you lose it.  It's no longer yours to control...no matter where you're posting it.

The Internet is like a public bulletin board where your data gets *copied* instead of taken down.  Many people have lost their reputations to the World Wide Web.

Think before you post!

Now, let's take a look at how easy information is to find.  Did you know that there is public information about you that you thought were private?  With enough information, it's extremely easy to find someone's address, phone number, even Facebook page.

Hopefully it doesn't come as any surprise to you that there are bad people out there.  Let's look at some of the other ways that information becomes insecure.

Some times, people who aren't usually evil do things that are less than savory because they feel like they are protected by the anonymity of the Internet.  What would you do if you could get away with it?  What would your neighbor do?

To protect your data from sniffers, various encryptions have been developed, including Public Key Cryptography.

So, how do you know that the entity that you're sending secure data to is *actually* who they appear to be?  That's where SSL comes in.

It appears we've been educated on the world of Internet evil.  How will you protect yourself?