E-Mail

E- Mail is short for electronic mail. E-mail is sent over communication networks. You can send text, images, files, etc. When sending messages it can take as long as a few seconds, to more than a few minutes. There are two parts to an email address local name and domain name. An example of this would be manzoj3@gmail.com or local@domain.

Email is not secured mail. You can not control when the message will be delivered to the desired recipient.

When using email you can add a cc or a bcc. A cc is a carbon copy. A carbon copy allows all of the email addresses the messages are sent to, to be visible to the recipient. A bcc is a blind carbon copy. This means that the email addresses are not visible to recipients. You can send attachments of files, videos, pictures, etc. For each account that you have you should have a unique password.

I got my information from: http://email.about.com/od/getstartedwithemail/u/email_basics.htm and our class lecture on e-mail.

I got my pictures from: http://www.zimbra.com/_media/ss_basic_email_mode.gif and http://www.silicon.com/i/s4/illo/shutterstock/software/email/email-inbox-spam-trash-610.jpg

Wireless Networking Precautions

Unsecured wireless networks allow anyone to view and watch your online activities. If the network is configured in a certain way then these “spies” could possibly gain full access to your computer’s hard drive. Also, with this being said they also could perform malicious actions. If the unsecured network is a home network, surrounding neighbors can leech onto your network and not pay. It will lessen your signal strength (bandwidth). Also, if a criminal act is done by a neighbor using you network it would come back to you if they happened to get caught.

Everywhere we go today there are networks and a lot of them are unsecured. There are not good people out there that know this and they will go around trying to find these networks. Even though it seems like it’s not a big deal, it is. These “bad guys” can make antennas and get your signal from miles away! So even if you can’t see a person using your network they actually could be using it form the comfort of their home.

I got my information from: http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Wireless-Network-Security-Home.html

I got my pictures from: http://www.itdojo.com/images/wireless_image.gif and http://www.theiacp.org/idsafety/images/article_images/back_to_school_tips/computer_thief.jpg

Create and use strong passwords

Strong passwords allow protection to personal information and online transaction safety.  There are two major things to keep in mind when making passwords. You not only want them to be lengthy but also difficult to figure out. They should consist of letters, symbols, grammar marks, and numerals and be mixed lower and upper case letters. You want to use a variety of all of these. Also make sure it’s easy to remember.

There are some strategies people use when making strong passwords some of these are picking a sentence that means something to you for example: I love to sing, dance, and, act. You then take the first letter of each word and keep punctuationàIlts,d,a,a. Now make it difficultàiLts,D,a,A. If you feel it should be longer you can add numbers and/or symbols. Once you think you have a strong password you can use a “secure password checker” and it will tell you if your password is strong. Do not use dictionary words from any language (forwards or backwards), common sequences (ABC, 123), or personal information. Be sure to change your password frequently.

I got my information from: http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/passwords-create.aspx

I got my pictures from: http://www.bassfiles.net/PasswordChecker.jpg and http://estb.msn.com/i/76/FC1AE3929584A1A0BF686A66E4C693.jpg

Parental Controls

Parental Controls allow a parent to see what their children view and do on the internet. Parents are given

complete control over the internet with these software tools.  You can use either internet filters or a keystroke monitor. In a previous post I talk about internet filters. Keystroke monitors check and record anything typed during internet sessions and can be reviewed at later dates. Some tools take screen pictures randomly during internet use and also can be reviewed later.

Parental control software also includes porn detection/removal software. This will erase anything already on hard disks that is not suitable for children. There are methods used to determine what is unsuitable. It can detect differences in family photos, movies, etc. and unsuitable materials. Usually parental controls have password protection to prevent visitation to certain sites but also could be over-ridden by the parent if deemed an appropriate site for research or religious reasons.

I got my information from: http://www.scratchits.com/parentalcontrols.html

I got my pictures from: http://stylefrizz.com/img/internet-group-parental-control-campaign-cow.jpg and http://www.hemmy.net/images/advertisements/igparentalcontrol01.jpg

Internet Filters

An Internet Filter either software or hardware. A filter can be used to prevent access to unfavorable parts of the internet. There are many different types of filtering methods that these programs use. Some can compare bad URL’s and prevent access to them while others will just scan and block. Filter can also be created to prevent site visitation.

Surfing is allowed with internet filters without view-ability of the specified filtered sites. However, these filters are not always perfect. Sometimes sites will slip through the filtering system by not triggering. Also, sites that border the filter depending on the view of the site. For example, you may be doing research on breast cancer and while to some it makes sense for research to others the word breast will be offensive and put up a flag on the filter and deny access.

I got my information from: http://www.internet-filters.net/info.html

I got my pictures from: http://www.drorzunz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/kids-internet-filter.jpg and http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2006/Images/internetblock.gif

Digital Image Steganography

Steganography is what is used to communicate secret or private data though a media carrier. One can securely transfer a message of text by having it “hide”.  Not only can this hidden data be hidden in still images but it can also be in video or audio files as well. Encryption is used to protect the embedded file in case it was in fact discovered. It would be hard if not impossible to break through this encryption. However, in a couple of years this may change.

Compression is used to make more space available inside images. A key needs to be used when sending encrypted messages. Th

is decides where in the image the information should go hide. A key can be another image or text. The formats used to send these messages are GIF and JPEG. GIF is the tested steganography format.

Information from: http://ulster.academia.edu/AbbasCheddad/Papers/224250/Digital_Image_Steganography_Survey_and_Analysis_of_Current_Methods and https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~eberdahl/Projects/Paranoia/index.html

Pictures from: http://jp.fujitsu.com/imgv3/jp/group/labs/en/business/activities/activities-3/stegano02.jpg and https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRv6OpID-vHguXTyZIx78zBkbWHhKHCkVNwxQ7Nhs5tf8NwqXw3jm5hsR6F_QxE80h1E8WXlfw1zTgxCYRJHmVYmgSDMgSZlT3ukx1wkBsAAACyVQuf2OXBwvj-6EeFQtnodU6E6xroALG/s1600/monalisa.jpg

Computer Forensics

Computer forensics is when someone analyzes information that is in a computer system and/or devices. Information may be created or it may be contained inside the system. Basically, the computer forensic scientist is looking to answer the questions of: Who? What? When? Why? How? Computer forensics can be used to find out information about crimes involving computers as well as the reason for problems occurring on different computer systems. Usually, there is some kind of “search” going on when using computer forensics.

            Through the use of computer forensics, investigators can view information that is not normally seen by the computer user. Things such as deleted files and data can be restored and used as evidence. It takes great skill and education in order to restore these files. There are different data types in computer forensics as well as different laws and rules that must be followed when getting evidence. It can be used in not only the public sector but the private and consulting sectors as well. Most commonly for us this is used for spying on a teen or a spouse.

My information was obtained from: http://www.cybersecurityinstitute.biz/forensics.htm

My pictures were obtained from: http://computerforensicsinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cf3.jpg and http://www.watchfuleyenow.com/files/QuickSiteImages/cyber_crime1_LHl15_3868.jpg