Thursday, February 11, 2010

LJ2

Because so many people are connected to the internet these days, it is becoming more and more important to make sure we're using it safely. There are many dangers out there on the web, including hackers, viruses, and spam. It can be very easy to become a victim of identity theft if you don't practice good internet security. One way to keep the malicious software at bay is to have an up-to-date web browser and anti-malware software, such as McAfee. Hackers and virus authors will take advantage of computers that haven't patched up their security.
I found the Hi-Tech Heist video very interesting as well. I didn't realize using credit cards in stores can be more dangerous than shopping online. My mother has always been leery of putting her credit card information online, so this should enlighten her. I learned from McAfee Do's and Dont's of Online Shopping page that by law you're only liable for $50 if your credit card is stolen and misused. I'm much more inclined to shop online now.
Lastly, I learned that I should be skeptical of any suspicious ads I receive in email, and I should never give out personal information through an email. This is a likely way to be a victim of spam and identity theft.
I believe my participation has been satisfactory for the course. Everything has been done by the due date and I feel pretty on par.

1. InPrivate Filtering
2. Web Bug
3. SSL
4. web portal

The McAfee Do's and Dont's of Online Shopping was helpful and informative this chapter.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Learning Journal #1

After completing the first cyber lesson and reading chapter 1, I have gained some knowledge on the history of the internet along with some of its basic networking aspects. For the most part though, most of the information is just a refresher of what I learned in the internet chapter from my Intro to Computer Systems class last semester. Some information was new though, like the difference between the World Wide Web and the internet. I found the Internet History Timeline incredibly hard to get through. I think this may be because of the wealth of information as well as all the people and acronyms...I couldn't keep on top of them all. I just found it very confusing...it's something to work on though. Hopefully I got what I needed from it.
It is amazing how much the internet has grown and how influential it has become over the past 40 years. It seems as though you can do almost anything on the internet. I agree with the the statement in the cyber lesson, "The Internet can be viewed as an amazing example of cooperation and collaboration." Even though there is no one who is singly responsible for the entire internet, Everyone who owns a piece works together to keep it the remarkably efficient communication tool it has become.
I think my participation in this class so far has been adequate. I try my best in all of my classes, and I don't plan to slack in this one. I put in the time necessary for this assignment.

Words I didn't know prior to this module:
1. Gopher
2. Microblogging
3. Telnet
4. Packet Switching

Also, I thought out of the four websites used in the exercise 5 on page 33 of the text, NetSmartz Workshop was the most organized. The amount of information they had was adequately organized so it was easy to access and navigate though. I've posted the link-

http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/definitions.htm