Learning Journal 2

Learning journal two taught me a lot about the internet and internet security, how to prevent threats to your computer, viruses, and malware. Through quizzes and power points, I learned about how to find out if something is Phished or Legitimate. Phished means that someone is trying to get a hold of your personal information such as usernames or passwords by tricking you. They can send you false e-mails pretending to be well known companies, such as PayPal or your bank account. They will ask you to reset your password or re-enter your personal information, such as credit card numbers or even your social security number. However, it can be very easy to avoid this. You can avoid this by not answering those e-mails, and either delete them or send them to spam@uce.gov. You can also avoid and tell if they are phished by looking at the website that sent the e-mail. If you hover your cursor over the window it will show you the site at the bottom of the window.

For example, the bottom of this window, notice instead of PAYPAL.COM it is PAYAPL.COM:

As I said before, we learned a lot about viruses and malware. We watched a TED Talk, that discussed why, how, and where the very first computer virus originated from. There are many, many viruses on the internet. Some include Trojan Horses, Worms, Spyware, and Malware. Trojan Horses pretend to be a "helpful" or "useful" software but instead badly damage on your computer. Worms almost have a mind of their own. They spread from computer to computer and are able to travel without any human interaction due to the ability to take over already installed computer files. Firewalls can help prevent getting any viruses. Not only firewalls, but if you download and install legitimate anti-virus software, you don't have to worry about being unsafe.
I also learned the way sending things over the internet works. In class, we watched "The Dawn of the Net". It explained how the internet can be compared to a very high speed highway. Information constantly passes through firewalls and routers, and all across the web, and then gets sent directly back to where it originated from at extreme speeds.
My Wordle:

Phish- The act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.
Legitimate- Conforming to the law or to rules
Malware- software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems
Trojan Horse- a program designed to breach the security of a computer system while ostensibly performing some innocuous function.
Worm- a self-replicating program able to propagate itself across a network, typically having a detrimental affect.
URL- uniform resource locator. It is the standard address format for websites.
HTTP- Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, the standard protocol to display information via the web.
HTTPS- Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure
Terminal Emulation- Also known as the Telnet Protocol. Used for connecting to remote computers and is known as the Telnet protocol.