INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET

WEEK 4
INTERNET SAFETY & PRIVACY
Dr. Stephanos Mavromoustakos
 Learning Objectives
This week, students should be able to:
Reflect on their internet use and how it
connects to privacy.
Discuss methods of protecting their
devices from hackers and malware
Apply HTML/CSS code for designing basic
HTML pages

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 Internet Safety & Privacy
Internet has many risks related to safety and
privacy:
Malware
Spam
Phishing

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 Malware
Malware (MALicious softWARE), is any
software used to disrupt computer or
mobile operations, gather sensitive
information, gain access to private
computer systems, or display unwanted
advertising.

Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

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 Spam
Electronic spamming is the use of
electronic messaging systems to send an
unsolicited message (spam), especially
advertising, as well as sending messages
repeatedly on the same site(or user). The
most widely recognized form of spam is
email spam. Other forms include instant
messaging spam, spam in blogs/forums,
etc.
Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamming
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 Phishing
Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive
information such as usernames,
passwords, and credit card details (and,
indirectly, money), often
for malicious reasons, by disguising as a
trustworthy entity in an electronic
communication.

Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

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 How to Avoid Malware
Think before you click Verify the identity of the
site and the individual. Do you trust them?
Dont share private information with someone
you dont know
Keep your OS, antivirus, browser settings, and
other programs updated
Use different and strong passwords.
Back up your files frequently

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 How to Avoid Malware
Avoid suspicious links
Ads with system/diagnostics warning
You won a prize
Pop-up windows
Headlines that encourage you to read more (clickbait)

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 How to Avoid Malware
Identify suspicious sites
Search for information about the site
Check the address bar on your browser
Run a Google safe browsing diagnostic on
the site.
https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search

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 Browser Settings
Check the web address e.g.
www.wellfargo.com and www.wellsfargo.com . The first one
is missing an s.

Look at the security symbol

Update your browser

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 Browser Settings
Adjust your browser settings for privacy and security

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 Strong Passwords
Never use personal information
Long
Difficult to guess
Relatively easy to remember
Combination of characters
Uppercase, lowercase
Numbers
Special characters e.g. #$&^
Do not use the same password for all your
accounts
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 Avoid Spam and Phishing
Cautious when opening emails
Emails containing images. Senders can track those
images. You can turn them off, e.g. Gmail

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 Avoid Spam and Phishing
Check your Spam folder not to
avoid any important emails

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 Report Spam
If you are getting spam, report it so your email provider
can provide a better filtering

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Phishing Example

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 Browser Tracking
Why?
To determine your browsing habits and
preferences, for advertisers mainly
To make your browsing experience faster and
more convenient.
Personalization and Recommendation

Examples
YouTube, Amazon, Google, eBay

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 Browser Tracking
How?
With the use of cookies. Cookies are small text
files stored in your computer. They store specific
information on the websites you visit and the
things you click on different sites
Generally, cookies don't pose a serious risk to
your online security

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 Account Tracking
Sign up to our site with Facebook
Mobile apps accept agreement(files,
location, camera, images, etc)

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 Social Media Privacy
Think before you share-What/Where do
you share?
Review your Privacy settings

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 Browser Cache
Browser loads the page with text, images, video
This information is saved or cached within your browser so every
time it loads only the new information so the page can be displayed
faster

Clear the cache Why? - sometimes you cant see the latest
information so you will need to clear the cache
Clear the cache How? This is under your Browsers Settings

(Next slide)

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Browser Cache

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 Key Terms and Concepts
Malware
Spam
Phishing
How to avoid malware, spam, phishing
Strong Passwords
Browser tracking
Cookies
Cache

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 Required Readings & Viewings
Chrome: Privacy and Security
https://www.gcflearnfree.org/chrome/privacy-and-security-in-chrome/1/

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