Cyber security is like trying to box while being blindfolded.. Cyber instability may cause massive panic in citizens of the United States. Government surveillance is one of the platforms of cyber security and it started to erupt after the 9/11 incident. The main ways the government watches people today is with cell phone, social media, and email surveillance. Should they be able to invade our privacy? Maybe.
Hacking, as we know, is present in our society. From time to time, we see on the news how a website or a database was hacked and passwords or even some credit cards information have been stolen. All of these events affect our communities and make us wonder how safe we are from a cyber-attack, after all, all of important data like our social security number are stored on databases. Even government agencies have suffered this intrusion from a hacker that has put at risk the safety of its citizens. How it all did begin and how it affects our society?
“W32.Koobface." Endpoint, Cloud, Mobile & Virtual Security Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014.
Online security breaching is criminal activity that can happen from any part of the world through the hacking of any infrastructure. Most breaches are done through the falsifying and personal information or even a breach of security stemming from lack of security. Now that more and more crime is happening over the internet there many different aspects to security as a whole. Due to the drastic increase in modern cybercrime the police, information technology specialists, detectives, and even the government need to work together to find a solution. Law enforcement can provide security measures to prevent security issues, “law officials take significant actions against preventing major security breaches” (Kak & Parakh, 2009 p.426).
According to the CIAC (Computer Incident Advisory Capability) Internet hoaxes are written with one purpose and that is to send out a message, usually through email, that contains untrue information whether it be information over a virus or a letter trying to invoke sympathy so that the recipients will pass it along to his/her friends, this is sometimes called chain mail or letters. If a person looks at the costs of these hoaxes it may seem insignificant at first glance but when one digs deep it will add up. The reason being is that if everyone receives one of these letters and sends it on, the cost of that one letter adds up as it is passed on down the line. An example of this can be found again on the CIAC website, they state that if everyone spends one minute on each hoax and then discards it the formula would look l... ... middle of paper ... ...nt of an alternative dispute resolution system that would provide the consumer with a prompt, fair, and accessible assistance with complaints without them waiving their legal rights. As one can see the Internet has proven to be the new Wild West, were scam artist and pranksters roam looking for innocent victims to either torment with spam mail or to rob blind.
New ways to detect and prevent cyber fraud have been developed to discover and prevent criminals before the fact, rather than after the damage has been done. In Trends E-Magazine the article the Internet Grows More Dangerous talks about cyberspace fraud and how it is becoming more evident as business efficiency and productivity increase. It states “the more dependent we become on cyberspace the more vulnerable we become to all these threats” (25). Next, a few examples of cyberspace threats were discussed. To list a few: “A Microsoft Windows computer worm labeled Stuxnet targets industrial software” (24).
With everyone joining the online world your privacy is at even greater risk then ever before. The internet has become part of our everyday lives, from social networking to online transactions. Your privacy is threatened every day. However is our privacy threatened by our own government? According to the pew research data 56% of Americans say that it is acceptable for the NSA to run through millions of Americans phone records in order to prevent terrorism.
One of the scariest things is that you can become a victim of many different types of crimes while using your computer. Just last year there was a reported loss of $525,441,110.00 (www.ic3.gov) due to internet related crimes. This is because people are able to access another person’s personal information through the internet. You may even be committing crimes without even being knowledgeable of it by downloading illegal content. With activities such as these occurring every hour of everyday; the internet needs to become more restricted to help protect the public and industries affected by these sorts of crimes.
To begin with, various websites are violating our privacy by selling our data to third party companies. Today accumulation of personal information is escalating using technology tools all over the world without permission of an individual. Precisely, social networking sites such as Facebook collects information actively while websites such as Google passively. Facebook allows strangers to view anyone’s profile and systematically eliminates privacy for those who choos... ... middle of paper ... ...eryone’s effort in the community as a whole. With the explosion of the internet, social networks breach peoples’ privacy everyday and are rampant with online predators, the only solutions are to make privacy policies shorter and easier to understand and make privacy settings more readily available.