*EC~4~US*: The Threat of Online Security: How Safe Is Our Data?

Nowadays, Internet becomes so common and everyone can easily access to the Internet. Many companies and individuals are using the Internet to carry out business transactions or sharing some important information. However, these websites are not really safe to the users since every transaction in the Internet can be tracked, logged, monitored and stored. Some people might create some malicious software, or malware in order to secretly access a computer system without the owner's informed consent. There are a few examples of malicious software:

i) Computer Viruses

Computer viruses are small software programs and they are designed to spread from one computer to another and disrupt the computer operation. Computer viruses might delete data in the computer or hard disk. They might also use the email program to spread itself to other computers. Computer viruses are usually spread through attachments in e-mail or instant messaging messages. They can be disguised as attachments of images, audio and video files. They might also spread through downloads from the Internet.

ii) Trojan Horse

A Trojan horse, or Trojan is a program that appears to be useful but it actually contains hidden function that presents security risk. It may steal information or harm the system. Trojan horse programs make it possible for someone to access and control another person's computer via the Internet.

iii) Spyware

Spyware is computer software that is installed on computers and collects small pieces of information about users without the user's knowledge or consent.

There are also some other threats of online security:

i) Phishing

Phishing is the criminal, fraudulent process of attempting to acquire confidential information such as user names, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication via e-mail or instant messenger.

ii) Hacker

A hacker is a person who breaks into computers and computer networks either for gaining profit or motivated by challenge.

iii) Spam Attacks

Spam is the use of electronic messaging system to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. The most common spam is e-mail spam. E-mail spam is a type of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail.

To prevent these threats, we should:

i) Install Internet security software

Antivirus, antispyware and firewall can prevent viruses and hackers from entering our computer programmes.

ii) Avoid using a weak password

A weak password can be easily broken by hackers. So, we should use a stronger password which contains a long combination of alphabets and numbers to prevent the password being broken by hackers. We should also keep our passwords securely.

iii) Only open links and attachments from trusted authorities

Avoid opening links and attachments that are sent by unknown users or authorities, these links or attachments usually contains viruses or they are used by others to steal your personal confidential information.

For more information on how to prevent online security threats, please refers to the post on