The Internet Privacy
Internet privacy entails securing personal data that is published on the internet. This kind of privacy encompasses safeguarding of sensitive and private information, data, preferences, and communications. In the current cyberspace, different people have raised complaints regarding loss of personal information whenever they do online transactions, visit social media sites, and participate in online games as well as attending forums. In such circumstances, many people exhibit incidences of compromised passwords, the revelation of victims’ identities, and fraud. Such privacy issues come as a result of negligence by the users or website developers who do not comply with the regulations and standards that curb privacy violation. Thus, internet privacy is under threat due to the inability of the internet service providers who have no explicit permission to gain access or share confidential information. This essay presents a discussion of internet privacy and how online users fall victims due to increased vulnerability of online security.
Internet privacy is a paradoxical and difficult to understand. People are aware of their behaviors online and are bound to use strong passwords when before accessing their own accounts. In the same note, users are supposed to log out their own accounts when ceasing access to the internet so that they leave it safe and secure from intruders. However, regardless of such knowledge and clear understanding of the privacy policy, they do not bother. Instead, they lament of the increased vulnerability due to such negligence. On a separate note, people tend to care about protecting their personal information and normally feel insecure when issuing it on the internet. Therefore, this behavior brings about privacy paradox since they are unable to gain control of their own digital information.
Internet privacy faces numerous risks that include phishing that encompasses hacking activities that are used to obtain secured information, usernames, passwords, security PIN, credit card numbers and bank account numbers. Furthermore, users have been under attack through pharming which covers redirection of legitimate website users to a new and different IP address. Others include the use of offline applications that get information without user’s consent. In such circumstances, a computer that is online can be accessed to get the previously acquired data that is sent to the spyware source. On a separate note, there is a rise in the usage of malware which allows an illegal damage of computers both online and offline through application viruses, Trojan, and spyware.
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Even though many users have fallen victims of internet privacy violations, the numerous risks when accessing the internet can successfully minimize use of preventive software applications such as anti-virus, anti-spam software, firewalls, and anti-viruses. On the same note, users should avoid frequent online shopping from unreliable websites which avail their personal information and identification data on the websites since such sites have low-security levels. In addition, the users should develop a tendency of clearing all browsers’ cache and the history on browsing sites whenever they visit a website. This should be conducted alongside usage of stronger password encryptions with numerous special characters, letters, and numerals.
In addition to the above measures, users should always keep their operating systems and windows up to date to avoid vulnerability. A rise in software vulnerability is enhanced through the use of outdated systems. This increases loopholes for cyber criminals. For example, Flash and Java are normally vulnerable to security threats hence expose their users to cyber attacks. On the same note, users should avoid accessing free Wi-Fi networks since such networks are used by hackers with network sniffers that retrieve crucial information. Lastly, users should always update and change their privacy settings on regular basis.
In conclusion, the essay has elaborated on internet privacy based on the different risks and vulnerability that users are facing besides highlighting the different measures that should be put in place. However, reduction of vulnerability of internet privacy begins with the user’s behavior regarding internet usage. Users should incorporate all the measures and should be careful when revealing their personal information online. Lastly, users should be aware of their privacy rights and should fight for such rights especially in cases when breaches occur.
