The cyber wars are in full swing. Your emails and web access are being used without your knowledge or consent to determine your e-behavior, various preferences, and anything else that can be gleaned from it. Hardly a day goes by without a large corporation (or government) confessing that their system has been compromised, usernames and passwords stolen, etc.
Time used to be when the various internet browsers gave you identical pictures on your monitor device – that’s no longer the case. In fact it has not been for a while, but the problems are getting worse - not better.
Browsers
Accessing web sites I have used for several years, occasionally I experience problems. The site does not respond or cannot be found at all. Initially I thought or hoped that it was just a temporary problem, unrelated to my own (constantly updated) system. For example, new types of computer code may not be fully understood by all browsers until they are revised to do so. In other words not all browsers are entirely comparable in terms of development stage. Therefore, a website which is using the very latest code may not show on you monitor as designed.
In the past, such problems rarely occurred and were quickly overcome with an update. But now I find the problems are continually getting worse. Even relatively straightforward web site codes are shown entirely different in major browsers.
Just this week I tried to log-into a site which I had last logged-in three years ago. My regularly used browser (latest available version) did not allow me to do so. In fact there was no log-in possibility available at all though the site itself was quite active with very recent information. However, when I used another browser a log-in tab came up and I had no problem logging in with my old password.
HTML
HTML, short for hypertext markup language is a relatively simple and straightforward, internationally accepted set of commands which make browsers produce text and pictures in the size, font, location and other specs as desired. HTML is still the mainstay of most web pages you download. However, many additional web functions are coded in more powerful computer languages, such as Java and Perl. Those languages are both more complicated and intricate. While HTML is quite “forgiving” with some coding errors, the newer advanced languages are much more sensitive to errors. Just a little extra space in the code may upset the desired effect in the browser.
Cookies
Cookies are essentially bits of information stored on your computer device. Most cookies are pretty innocuous. For example, they may let the web site you are accessing know that you are a returning customer or reader, what product types you are particularly interested in, what you may have bought previously and so forth. By and large they simplify life, save transmission of repetitive information and, hence, help to speed up the information exchange without noticeable delay. Some cookies though are “malicious”, i.e. they are designed to transmit some information from your system – without your expressed consent – to whomever.
Of course, the boundaries between these things keep shifting as well. Some of the newer type java-language cookies are close to old-fashioned spyware in terms of their functions, if so designed. That’s why some browser programs now allow you to control these so-called Local shared objects cookies (LSOs), also termed flash cookies. Wikipedia says they may be considered a breach of browser security.
Email Spam
If you are really lucky you will receive emails supposedly sent to you by yourself. Don’t be surprised about the great offers you advertise.
That problem is part of the ever-expanding email spam industry. Not only can you buy databases with millions of email addresses for little money, the more advanced type of email spam sends their messages in an electronic “envelope.” That envelope you’ll see only when you view the actual source code of the message (most email programs provide that possibility). The information in the source code can help you to find the true source which you can then use to add to modify your email “Black List.”
Spyware
Spyware products are designed to transmit even more specific information to its recipient, information you certainly don’t want to have compromised, such as your log-in details (e.g., usernames and passwords) to your bank or credit card account, for example. It’s bad enough if such information gets out via other means, including theft of storage media from places thought to be secure, to groups who might take advantage of that information to your detriment, but when it’s on your own system there is no one to blame but yourself. You absolutely need a reliable anti-virus program (many come with automatic updating), a “fire-wall” and other defensive methods to protect your computer.
Hacking
You may have come across various news items on the “hacking” of web servers by some undefined elements. In fact, hacking isn’t new, just more prevalent now. There is hardly a major system where your personal data have not been compromised due to a hacking event. Some of it is driven by political views; other hacking is nothing but “cyber espionage,” trying to get information on sensitive data with the intent to exploit it in one way or another. For example, “Chinese hackers have been busy." For the last four months," the Times reports, "Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees."
According to information received this week, a brand new intelligence estimate has concluded that the US "is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country's economic competitiveness." Government sources report the Department of Defense has created Cyber Command, sort of an Internet-era armed forces unit. "The threat is real and we need to react to it," William J. Lynn III, a former deputy defense secretary who worked on the Pentagon's cyber security strategy, told The New York Times. In short: Cyberspace is the new battleground.
