Security on the WEB
The statement's on this page are just the opinions of the writer and is not specifically directed
at any one or group. It is just a list that the writer has compiled through secondary and third
parties and personal experience. To anyone who has experienced harassment from the internet
this page is intended as an information tool kit.
Be careful:
-Signing guest books or leaving comments on a strangers web page.
-Posting personal information about yourself on the WEB.
-Posting memos to news groups.
Why:
-Some one else may come along and read it, not like it and flame you.
-Your email ID may be sold or distributed to Bulk emailers.
-The Internet is open to the public.
-Junk E-mailers can strip off your email address and distribute it.
COOKIES, or is it the cookie monster ?
What's a Cookie?
A cookie is a small text file deposited on your computers hard disk drive
to store information about your connection, possible settings you have
defined for that website and to a small extent, information about other
webpages you have visited.
Cookies can NOT steal your email address or other personal information.
The only way any site can get that info is if you give it out yourself.
But a cookie can be used by companies to help track pages you have visited.
This is done by sending you a cookie with info from the current site. Then when
you visit another page on the SAME site with the company using the same cookie
(like doubleclick), the cookie is read and the pages you have visited on that site
can then be read from the file.
In this way, companies can improve their advertising by keeping some basic info
about which pages you like to view on that one site. They can't track which sites
you have visited across the Internet - it's perfectly safe for you to visit any site you
want without other sites knowing you were somewhere else. Cookies can NOT be
used to get other vital information nor can they be used to send you a virus.
Note: Older web browsers like Netscape 2.0 may not notify you of an incoming
cookie. However, Netscape 3.01 can be set to intercept a cookie and gives you
a choice to accept it or reject it.
E-Mail Vulnerability
Every E-mail you send is at least temporarily archived at your
server.
Sniffers are someone who wants to look at your E-mail and
does not have to wait until it is stored. They use a program
that employs "packet sniffing". Information on the Internet
is broken down into bits of data called packets.
Packets is the method used for more efficient transmission
of data. These packets are sent over various routes from one
location to another. Through this process of information
transfer an individual can gain access to the mail relay or
the system where the mail is delivered and can read or modify
any message.
The Unwelcome Guest: Junk E-mailers
Junk E-mail is on the rise, It's bad for the
Internet, Its annoying, It costs many
dial-up users money to download.
Paper junk-mail houses scoop up address from a variety
of sources, and junk E-mailers are no different. Here is
how they do it. Anytime you post to a Usnet newsgroup,
a listserv mailing list discussion, or virtually any bulletin-
board type area on the web, your E-mail address is included
in the headers that go along with your message. Along comes
the Junk E-mailers using software that strips off your E-mail
address from these headers for their use.
Most individual junk mailers know they won’t last long at
a particular address and plan to move on anyway. Junk E-mailers may
also use E-mail service providers like for example, www.hotmail.com
or www.pobox.com under an alias E-mail name to transmit from.
The Internet: Just like the Old Wild West of the 1880's ?
The WEB is open to the public, anything goes from the good, bad
and the ugly. Behind all the glitter and pomp of a web page,
the problems of our society still exists.
The web may be a nice place to surf, just beware that the abusers
and crazies are there too.