Six Degrees

With all these social network sites appearing, its easy to visualize how simple it would be to track a person down. I once read of a school of thought that suggested that each person is separated by no more than six degrees from each other person on earth. The idea implies that we are in fact living in a very small world. Assuming this is true, we could also assume that social networking sites bring us closer by a few degrees to anyone around the world even if we are not connected to them by affinity. Technically, we are affiliated to everyone in our social network, be it physical or online. If so, are we actually putting ourselves in danger by exposing us to the harmful elements that society has to offer?

There is no question that the more we make personal information public, the more vulnerable we become. When people could hide behind profiles and fake pictures, it is much more possible for these people to manipulate others. Apparently, people choose to ignore the risks involved in social networking sites. In doing so, it is important that we observe the same precautions as we do in our own physical social networks. Who knows, we may well be less than six degrees away from our potential murderer.

Internet Security

It is a common misconception that most IT people would know the basics of hacking. However, many of my colleagues, including me, were still unaware of the kinds of threats that exist today and what was actually possible when it comes to malicious code. After watching the presentation on internet security during our Mantech class, i was partly fascinated and surprised by what I learned.

In order to protect yourself from threats, you must first get to know what threats you are dealing with. Some of the hacking methods shown were somewhat simple and just involved finding a way to manipulate code into reading inputs as commands. After recently completing a database project during my OJT term, i found myself wondering what could have happened if my system was attacked. The answer was obvious. I was absolutely unprotected to those threats. Knowing this, it is easy to realize how much more improvements could have been done and how important internet security is.

419

A lot of people today are still oblivious to the term "Internet Security". Although most people have heard the words "hacking" and "virus", many are still unaware of the real risks in internet transactions. Even in the cyberworld, theft is abundant, and in some cases even a form of organized crime. Scamming has been around for as long as we can remember. With the dawn of online communication, it has become even easier to prey on unsuspecting individuals without even being seen. Actual physical absence allows people to hide under different profiles, while manipulating their victims for personal gain. Commonly known as the 419 fraud, this exists not only in Nigeria where it became popular, but all over the world.

In our country, one can even witness these scams firsthand in online roleplaying games. The basic concept is still in tact. The victim is tricked into giving small valuables in hope for much larger returns, which is ofcourse met with much dismay. Although nonexistent gold is stolen from nonexistent people, this is but an example of how far man would go to exploit their own. In the real world, much of this happens across oceans without even sounding any alarms. Even in the countries where fraud and identitiy theft is abundant, there is little that authorities can do to control it. This only proves to show that the sea of internet users has widened far beyond control, with the evils of society along with it. With this much going on under our noses at a daily rate, its hard not to be cynical.