EMPOWERMENT TECHNOLOGIES

LESSON 2: RULES OF NETIQUETTE

ONLINE SAFETY AND SECURITY

The Internet, truly, is a powerful tool. It can be used to promote your business, gain
new friends, and stay in touch with the old ones. It is also a source of entertainment
through games, online communities, and everything in between. But like most things in
this world, there is always the other side of the coin. The Internet is one of the most
dangerous places especially if you do not know what you are doing with it. But there is no
need to worry; it is never that late.

How Safe Are You?

Type of Information Risks
1. First Name There is a risk in sharing your first name. Chances are, a hacker may
already know plenty of stuff about you even if you only give out your first
name. Likewise, you cannot just walk in a room and start introducing
yourself to everyone. You do not know whom you can come across with.
2. Last Name If sharing your first name is a small risk, having both your first and last is
more risky. You will be vulnerable to being searched for using search
engines, which include image search. Matching a name with a face is a
modus to several cybercrimes like identity theft.
3. Middle Name Sharing your middle name alone is probably not the most risky of these
shared information, but sharing your full name would be.
4. Current and previous Most people who steal identities study their subject. They can use this
school(s) information for verification purposes.
5. Your cellphone Your cellphone number should never be posted over the Internet. The
number internet is a public place. It is the same as posting your number on a
billboard. You would now want random strangers to text or call you, or
worse, pretend that they are someone else.
6. The name of your Risky, yet not as risky as posting their full names, especially your mothers
mother and father maiden name. In fact, you may have already encountered many websites
that require your mothers maiden name as an answer to a secret question
whenever you lose your password.
7. The name of your Disclosing this is a huge risk. Strangers may pretend or use their identity to
siblings dupe you.
8. Your address Hopefully, you answered no to this one. Giving the Internet your number
is one thing; giving them your address is a whole other level. It would be
much easier for criminals to find you.
9. Your home phone This shared information is more risky than sharing your personal phone
number number. Scams usually use this information to deceive you, one of which is
when a stranger pretends to know your parents or pretends to be you.
10. Your birthday Letting people know your birthday is probably a must if you want to get as
many gifts as possible. But having it in your profile makes you vulnerable to
identity theft.;

The Internet is defined as the information superhighway. This means that anyone
has access to this highway, can place information, and can grab that information. Any
information, even things that have set privately, can be accessed one way or another.
This is why social networking sites like Facebook continue to improve their security
features. The threat of cybercrime is very real. While you may not experience the threat
now, whatever information we share today could affect our future.

TIPS TO STAY SAFE ONLINE

The Internet is a public place and it is up to you to protect yourself. Here are some
tips to help you stay safe when using the Internet.

1. Be mindful of what you share online and what site you share it to.
2. Do not just accept terms and conditions; read it.
3. Check out the privacy policy page of a website to learn how the website handles
the information you share.
4. Know the security features of the social networking site you use. By keeping your
profile private, search engines will not be able to scan your profile.
5. Do not share your password with anyone.
6. Avoid logging in to public networks/Wi-Fi. Browsing in incognito (or private)
mode, a feature of the browser, will not protect you from hackers.
7. Do not talk to strangers whether online or face-to-face.
8. Never post anything about a future vacation. It is similar to posting, Rob my house
at this date.
9. Add friends you know in real life.
10. Avoid visiting untrusted websites.
11. Install and update an antivirus software on your computer. Use only one anti-virus
software to avoid conflict.
12. If you have a Wi-Fi at home, make it a private network by adding a password.
13. Avoid downloading anything from untrusted websites. You are most vulnerable in
peer-to-peer downloads (torrents) as the download is most likely not monitored by
the site owner.
14. Buy the software; do not use pirated ones.
15. Do not reply or click links from suspicious emails.

Most people would dispute that there is no such thing as private over the internet
and they may be right. There are hackers who can find a backdoor ever if your profile
is already set to private. You have no control of whoever is looking at your friends
screen whenever they open your profile or chat with you. You have no control over
people getting access to your friends account and seeing your private stuff.

INTERNET THREATS

Here are some of the threats you should be aware of when using the Internet:

1. Malware stands for malicious software

 a. Virus a malicious program designed to replicate itself and transfer from one
computer to another either through the Internet and local networks or data
storage like flash drives and CDs
b. Worm a malicious program that transfers from one computer to another by
any type of means. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself. For
example, the ILOVEYOU worm (Love Bug Worm) created by a Filipino.
c. Trojan a malicious program that is disguised as a useful program but once
downloaded or installed, leaves your PC unprotected and allow hackers to get
your information.
*Rogue security software tricks the user into posing that it is a security
software. It asks the user to pay to improve his/her security but in reality, they
are not protected at all.
d. Spyware a program than runs in the background without you knowing it (thus
called spy). It has the ability to monitor what you are currently doing and typing
through keylogging.
*Keyloggers used to record keystroke done by the users. This is done to
steal their password or any other sensitive information. It can record email,
messages, or any information you type using your keyboard.
e. Adware a program designed to send you advertisements, mostly as pop-ups

2. Spam unwanted email mostly from bots or advertisers. It can be used to send
malware.

3. Phishing its goal is to acquire sensitive personal information like passwords and
credit card details. This is done by sending you an email that will direct the user to
visit a website and be asked to update his/her username, password, credit card,
or personal information.
*Pharming a more complicated way of phishing where it exploits the DNS
(Domain Name Service) system.

PROTECTING REPUTATIONS ONLINE

In the past, doing something embarrassing was not much of a big deal. It
happened; people would laugh at it, and they would move on. Nowadays, embarrassing
moments are captured using any device you could imagine. What is worse is that people
can easily upload it to the Internet, where it can be stored forever. This could impact not
only your reputation but also the people around you. What is worse is that people tend to
ignore this fact, and suffer from it later in their life.

Once you post something over the Internet, search engines keep them in their
archives for search results. This makes anything you post to last forever even if you delete
it in your page. Something you and your friends find funny today may be something that
could harm someones reputation later.
 Before hiring, companies do a background check on the application, and the
easiest way to check your background is to visit pages that are related to you. Thus, if
they find disreputable information about you, it may harm your reputation even if this
information has been discarded.

THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK

Here are things you might want to consider before posting something over the Internet:

1. Before you post something on the web, ask these questions to yourself: Would you
want your parents or grandparents to see it? Would you want your future boss to
see it? Once you post something on the web, you have no control of who sees
your posts.

2. Your friends depend on you to protect their reputation online. Talk to your friends
about this serious responsibility.

3. Set you post to private. In this way, search engines will not be able to scan that
post.

4. Avoid using names. Names are easy for search engines to scan.

5. If you feel that a post can affect you or others reputation, ask the one who posted
it to pull it down or report it as inappropriate.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

If you create somethingan idea, an invention, a form of literacy work, or a

research, you have the right as to how it should be used by others. This is called
intellectual property. In other words, the copyright law includes your rights over your work,
and anyone who uses it without you consent is punishable by law. Try grabbing any book
then browse its first few pages and you will find a page with a disclaimer with the words:
No part of this book may be copied, reproduced That is a copyright page.

As a responsible user of the Internet, you have to consider that not everything out
there is free for you to use. Just like your own, contents that you see from websites have
their respective copyrights. There are several instances where employees or business
owners face copyright infringement and are sentenced to a huge fine due to reckless
copying of materials.

Here are some tips that could help you avoid copyright infringement:

1. Understand. Copyright protects literary works, photographs, painting, drawings,

films, music (and lyrics), choreography, and sculptures, but it generally does NOT
 protect underlying ideas and facts. This means that you can express something
using your own words, but you should give credit to the source.

2. Be responsible. Even if a material does not say that it is copyrighted, it is not a

valid defense against copyright. Be responsible enough to know if something has
a copyright.

3. Be creative. Ask yourself whether what you are making is something that came
from you or something made from somebody elses creativity. It is important to add
your own creative genius in everything that will be credited to you.

4. Know the law. There are some limitations to copyright laws. For instance in the
Philippines, copyrights only last a lifetime (of the author) plus 50 years. There are
also provisions for fair use which mean that an intellectual property may be used
without a consent as long as it is used in commentaries, criticisms, search engines,
parodies, news reports, research, library archiving, teaching, and education. If you
have doubts that what you are doing does not fall under the policy of fair use, seek
permission first.

Another misconception is that fan-fiction is not copyright infringement. In reality, it

is and some copyright holders ignore them but they can opt to use their rights.

ONLINE RESEARCH

Have you ever search the Internet for certain information where the search engine
returned a different result? For example, if you were to search for The Madonna as the
representation of Mary in the form of an art, you would probably use the keyword
Madonna to search for it on the net. But if you use the same keyword nowadays, you
are more likely to stumble upon Madonna, the artist instead. And if you used The
Madonna to search for The Madonna in the first place, you will be directed in the right
place.

The information that we need is more likely already in the Internet. It is just a matter
of how to look for it and how to use information from the most credible source. Here are
some tips in conducting online research.

1. Have a question in mind. Focus on a question you want answered. If it is a

series of questions, start with one. Never search everything on one go.

2. Narrow it down. Search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo use several filters
to determine the most appropriate result for you. These search engines use
your previous search history and your geographical location, and send you the
result which is the most related to you. Try to search weather and most search
engines would return the weather conditions of where you are. But if all of these
filters fail, you should remember to narrow down what you are searching for.
 For example, if you where to look for Tom Sawyer, the animation series, you
would better use the keywords Tom Sawyer animation rather than just Tom
Sawyer. Another example is if you were to look for science research
experiments, it would be better to include what branch of science is it or what
type of study it is.

3. Advance Search. The best way to filter information you get from search
engines, is by using the advanced search. This will allow you to filter out
information you do not need.

4. Look for a credible source. Some wikis, though filled with updated
information, are not a credible source. This is due to the fact that anyone can
edit its content. When using wikis, check out the link of the cited text (indicated
by superscript number) to be navigated to the footnote where the list of sources
is located. Click the source of the information and see if it is credible.

The more credible sources are scientific, journals, established news and
magazine websites, online encyclopedia, and scholarly databases.

You can also check the URL of a website if it ends with a .org, .gov, and
.edu. A website that ends with .com is intended to be a commercial websites
and may be slanted to promoting a product or service. You should consider the
intent of the information on the web page. In most cases, .edu websites are
best for research as government and organization websites may have a
tendency to make information favorable for them.

Unfortunately, not all websites follow the standards in domain name

conventions. Some sites use the suffixes like .com loosely; some sites are not
credible even though they use a .edu suffix.

Another tip to validate if the information is correct is to have multiple sources

of information. Having two or more websites will you whether the information is
reliable or not.

5. Give credit. If you are going to use the information from a source for
educational purposes, give credit to the original author of the page or
information. To properly cite a reference, you may use the format below:

Name of the person or organization (the author of the information). Title of the home page
in italics (title is shown in title bar but is sometimes missing or unrelated). URL. Date last
seen.

Source:

RBS Empowerment Technologies, First Edition

::: For class reference only. NOT FOR D ISTRIBUTION :::