Internet Safety Guide

Online Safety Intro

As many of you know, the internet is not the safest place. From spam to fraud to cyberbullying, the internet is home all manner of unsavory things. This guide is here to help protect you from the internet.

1. Keeping your information private

There is a large variety information that should not be given out freely on the internet. this section includes a list as well as the reasoning behind its inclusion.

• Credit information

You should never post any credit information, including, but not limited to, bank account login information, credit or debit card information, and any other information relating to banking or money. People could use this information to steal your money and make unauthorized purchases.

• Phone number

You should never post your phone number online, as you may then receive spam calls, and it can be used to figure out your identity as well as where you live.

• E-Mail address

Like the phone number, you should also not give out your email address to protect yourself from spam, as well as to keep your accounts safer from hacking.

• Home address

You should never give out location information, including your home address, what school you go to, where you currently are, and more, so that people cannot figure out where you live.

• Full name

This information, though not quite as important to protect, can also be used to figure out who you are and where you live.

• Images of yourself, your family, or your place of residence

Again, this information can be used to figure out who you are and where you live.

2. Account Creation and Safety

Many websites on the modern web require you to create an account before you to create an account, either to see content or to interact. These are a few guidelines on account creation and safety.

• Do not use real information in your username

Do not put your name, date of birth, address, or other personal information in your username

• Use a strong password or passphrase

Avoid using common words or phrases, patterns, or prosomal information as your password.

• Change your password frequently

Every two months or so, you should change your password

• Use two factor authentication / 2fa / multi factor authentication / mfa

This is a second layer of protection for your device

3. Other Things You Should Know

• Always read the website's privacy policy. Since they assume nobody will read it, they put all the shady things they may be doing there to avoid legal trouble.

• Do not give websites more information than the bare minimum. Lie often and severely.

• Before giving a site information, take a look at it's reputation.

• Be extra careful on unknown sites.

• Keep your identity secret. Do not use your real name.

• Do not meet people in real life that you only know online, and if you do, do it in an extremely public place only, with a trusted friend or family member knowing where you are and when to expect you back.

4. Internet History Intro

Large groups of computer called Servers, connect to one another. The home computer (PC) connects to these servers using a modem, joining a Network. 14 Years… it took for Internet to work properly. Or so they say, as the Internet is still having some problems.

5. History

February 1969: Two guys called Kenneth Thompson & Dennis Ritchie created a software program called UNIX. UNIX allowed people to communicate to one another. That was the start of the Internet.

September 1969: In this time four computers were set up at ARPANet to communicate. It failed while trying to send the word “Log”. At letter g the system crashed.

April 1972: First E-mail letter sent. The word and Electronic-Mail (e-mail) was born!

December 1973: Language called transmission control protocol/internet protocol was developed so computers at ARPANet could communicate with one another faster.

February 1974: The very first mouse to go across a mouse pad.

January 1975: Bill Gates dropped out of college to write the first basic computer language for the first working computer, Altair.

March 1975: The first version of ARPANet was released.

April 1975: Two guys named Bill Gates & Paul Allen found Microsoft.

March 1976: Apple computer gets started as Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak develop Apple 1 Computer.

March 1977: There are one hundred computers online!

August 1981: The IBMPC is invented, that contained an operating system called MSDOS. Made by Bill Gates and developed by Tim Paterson.

December 1983: Internet connection was established, so a real life Internet was running. Used by research and military things related.

October 1984: The Apple Company makes a computer that is now called the Macintosh (Mac).

April 1987: The first computer virus made it’s way across the servers making the whole entire network to shut down for 24 hours.

April 1989: America Online (AOL), Prodigy, and CompuServe were the first sites to give everyone free Internet connection.

May 1990: HyperTextTerminalProtcol (HTTP) was written. Creating a big universe of search and displaying!

January 1992: Switzerland’s company C.E.R.N created the World Wide Web. Numbers of servers makes it to 1,236,000! January 1994: The White House website is published and released for us to see!

February 1994: Pizza Hut takes the first ever online order!

April 1994: Two guys named Jerry Yang and David Filo created Yahoo!.

May 1995: Java was invented by microsystems.

July 1995: Amazon.com, virtual bookstore, is created.

January 1997: Browser war between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape sparks!

August 1998: Steve Jobs goes back to Apple computers and created the iMac.

November 1998: AOL buys Netscape for $4.2 Billion.

June 1999: The Internet reaches 56,218,000 connected computers!

If you have an important date I left out please restate it like I did. I will add credits! wink.gif

Internet Viruses can be deadly, but some do practically nothing but scare you into really affecting your computer. Here are lists of viruses.

A Virus can get onto your computer by E-Mail attachments, Downloading programs, File sharing, and CD Sharing. But anytime your computer gets data a virus might be hidden inside! Like a biological virus, a virus can replicate its self, and then looks for other computers to feast on.

6. Small Timeline

1981: A virus makes its way across Apple users in Texas A&M University.

1991: The Tequila virus becomes the first shape-shifting to infect computers in the world.

1992: The first virus kit becomes available to users around the Internet.

2002: David Smith, creator of the Melissa Virus is sentenced to 20 months in Federal Prison.

7. Software Viruses

Software Virus hide in programs in your computer. Waiting for you to click on that folder that they are hiding in.

E-Mail Viruses are the most common. What happens is that if you click the attachment, sometimes the virus will mail itself to everyone in your address book and will hide in hyperlinks. The person’s friend who got infected clicks it and they get a virus too! Usually, some smart friends delete it and warn everyone on their friend list.

Computer Worms are very damaging. A worm is a program that searches for security holes in networks. When a worm finds a computer that is safe for that worm to go in. It copies itself into that computer, and then it looks for other computers in that computers network.

Trojan Horse will erase your hard drive in your computer. All your files, programs, downloads will be gone. Trojan horses are disguised as something good like game downloads or something.