Monday, November 14, 2016

Stay Safe on the Forgotten Side of the Internet


The Unknown: Always stay away from websites that you don't know anything about. A lot of websites that you haven't heard of before could be a program where when you click on the link it automatically downloads something to your computer or phone. The downloaded program could be malware. Malware is software that is intended to damage your computer so stay away from it at all costs. Some websites could also be what they call screamers, or knockers. Screamers are exactly what they are called. Once you have clicked on the website and the window opens a loud scream with a spooky image pops up. This is intended to scare the user and is normally targeted towards younger users. Knockers are a little bit more harmless. Knocker websites are normally blank and after 1 second or so a realistic knocking sound is heard. These websites are extremely effective towards users who are using headphones. Its purpose is to confuse and to even maybe scare the user into believing someone or something is knocking on a window or wall near them. Both screamer and knocker websites can also be viruses which then could download malware to your computer. Websites can also try to trick the user into a scam of some sort. Stay clear of this by using common sense. If something sounds too good to be true then it probably isn’t true. Always double check a URL if you don’t know exactly where it leads to. Some URLs can be very similar to normal websites such as google. An example of these scam URLs could look like https://www.gooogle.com/ or http://www.g00gle.com.

The “Deep Web”: When searching through the “Surface Web” you might come across something saying the “Invisible Internet,” “Invisible Web” or “Deep Web.” All these terms mean the same thing. I will be using the “Deep Web” to describe it. The “Deep Web” makes up 96% of the internet as a whole. The “Surface Web” is the internet you are very familiar with. The only way to access the “Deep Web” is through an onion browser. The most common onion browser is “Tor.” Going to the “Deep Web” is not a difficult process. You simply need to install and use “Tor.” It can be fun going through the “Deep Web” but you have to be careful on what links you click on. The “Deep Web” can lead to many illegal sites that you should never go to. While searching through the “Deep Web” you are also prone to much more scams and malware downloaders. If you choose to search through the “Deep Web” make sure you know exactly what you are clicking on. One wrong move and you might have to kiss your computer goodbye.
Social Media: Every social media platform has some sort of privacy setting that you can set on your account. If we use Facebook as an example they have the setting for private accounts. This means that only your friends can see your account. Some random who is online cannot look at your details unless they friend you and you accept it. Always make sure you know who you are befriending or following. Don't just go all willy-nilly when accepting friend requests. Click on the person account that sent you a friend request and confirm that you know them in real life. If you don't want to make your account private, make it so that your account doesn't have everything about you. For example don't put your home address or your personal phone number on your account. Anyone can see that information and potentially use it in bad ways.

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