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Protecting Yourself on the Internet



NOTE: There's a LOT of detail in this document. DON'T LET THAT SCARE YOU. We are NOT going to cover all the details in the class. We will use the diagrams and cover the information a basic computer user needs to know to understand more about how the internet works. The details will be good reference material for you as you learn more.

I. HOW THE INTERNET WORKS

The internet is made up of components owned and shared by 1000's of private companies and public / government organizations

Data being sent over the internet is broken up into packets by the sending system

HTTP Request Sequence:
  1. You open your browser and enter a URL
    http://www.rootsweb.com/~txnacogd/CIGTIPS/index.htm
  2. Request is sent to your ISP
    HTTP GET www.rootsweb.com /~txnacogd/CIGTIPS/index.htm
  3. System/Domain Name is translated into an IP address
    63.92.80.33
  4. Request is then routed to that server/system
  5. Server may check to see if you have a cookie from it and gets it if there is one (or may set a cookie)
  6. Server determines what web page you want (and adjusts according to cookie values if needed)
    /~txnacogd/CIGTIPS/index.htm
  7. Server system breaks it up into packets, sends the packets out to the internet where routers decide the path to take to get it back to your ISP
    (see TRACE ROUTE (tracert) SHOWS PATH TO A SERVER below)
  8. Server separately sends graphic images referenced in the page
  9. Server logs the activity into a log file (see section III. A. INTERNET LOGS)
  10. Your ISP then sends the packets to your system
  11. The packets are re-assembled and the web page is displayed by your browser


       internet

TRACE ROUTE (tracert) SHOWS PATH TO A SERVER

tracert can be used to see how many systems your request passes through before it reaches the destination. 
DOSprompt: tracert www.rootsweb.com >somefile.txt

Tracing route to www.rootsweb.com [63.92.80.33]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1   ...  NAC-TCM-1.inu.net [63.151.1.247] 
  2   ...  nacogdoches.inu.net [63.151.1.254] 
  3   ...  lufkin.inu.net [63.151.3.254] 
  4   ...  iah-edge-04.inet.qwest.net [63.149.128.21] 
  5   ...  hou-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.23.53] 
  6   ...  hou-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.23.6] 
  7   ...  iah-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.5.3] 
  8   ...  wdc-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.5.185] 
  9   ...  wdc-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.24.10] 
 10   ...  chi-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.5.227] 
 11   ...  chi-brdr-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.20.142] 
 12   ...  s5-2.edge1.chi-il.us.xo.net [207.88.50.49] 
 13   ...  ge9-0.tran1.chi-il.us.xo.net [64.220.0.177] 
 14   ...  p0-0.tran2.scl-ca.us.xo.net [64.0.0.17] 
 15   ...  ge9-0.tran1.scl-ca.us.xo.net [64.220.0.49] 
 16   ...  64.0.0.134 
 17   ...  65.105.237.10 
 18   ...  40326A12.ptr.dia.nextlink.net [64.50.106.18] 
 19   ...  205.158.184.30 
 20   ...  205.158.184.54 
 21   ...  www.rootsweb.com [63.92.80.33] 

Trace complete.


II. THINGS TO DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF

A. EDUCATE YOURSELF and Everyone who uses your computer
(All should know these rules!!!!!)

Useful URLs with privacy and protection info:

B. BASIC INFO



C. SCAMS

Any con or scam that worked before the internet will also work on the internet plus many new ones

NEVER give money or financial info to ANYONE on the phone or internet unless you are POSITIVE they are who they say

Genealogy SCAMS are listed at http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm

D. PASSWORDS



E. DOWNLOADS AND E-MAIL AND MESSAGING SERVICES



F. FILE EXTENSIONS



G. FILE SHARING



H. VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES, WEB BUGS

http://www.wildlist.org/ - List of Viruses "In The Wild"

Check with a trusted web site as shown in Useful Virus Site URLs before spreading virus warnings - lots of email/virus hoaxes get forwarded and it just creates unnecessary net traffic and fears

Nowadays viruses are typically spread via email attachments but can also be spread by files downloaded from the internet, on floppy disks and infected CDs, etc. (even vendor software has been known to have a virus when released)






WORM
a program that spreads automatically through the network
- usually malicious

VIRUS
like a worm but usually requires the user to do something such as copy files, open attachments, etc.
  • NIMDA virus doesn't require attachment opening - just go to a web page or view the HTML mail - also uses lots of techniques to infect sites (IIS vulnerabilities plus 15 others)
  • viruses usually replicate and send themselves out before doing damage
  • newer viruses that use email address books will randomize access to names to be able to execute on system where the !0000 email user trick is used


TROJAN HORSE
a piece of CODE attached to a useful utility
  • while you use the utility the trojan installs itself as a server in the background and offers itself as a backdoor to a hacker to access and maybe control your computer
  • doesn't replicate itself
  • most Anti-Virus scanners will catch trojans
  • http://www.simplysup.com/ Simply Super Trojan Remover
  • use a firewall
  • don't open attachemnts or links unless you know they are safe


WEB BUGS
a 1 pixel GIF image on a web page and can send info back to the company
  • could tell your browser to accept a cookie (unless you have cookies disabled)
  • act like banner ads - site gets your IP address and what pages on the site you are looking at
  • use web proxy sites (they load pages to their server so the web bug gets their IP address then the web proxy gives you the page - makes for slower but safer connection)


I. BROWSER CACHE AND HISTORY

Your browser saves copies of the pages and images you have looked at in its cache to allow pages to be quickly redisplayed when you use the BACK button. This is only a problem if someone else obtains access to your computer or if you use a computer in a public place.

  1. Clear cache periodically
    • NS
      • Edit
      • Preferences
      • Advanced
      • Cache
      • Clear Memory Cache click OK
      • Clear Disk Cache click OK
      ns6
    • IE
      • Tools
      • Internet Options
      • General
      • Delete Files in the 'Temporary Internet Files/ section
      ie
  2. Clear History periodically
    • NS
      • Edit
      • Preferences
      • Navigator
      • Clear History
      history
    • IE
      • Tools
      • Internet Options
      • General
      • Clear History and follow instructions on the screen
      ie
  3. IE5+ = saves user queries so they don't have to be re-entered (browser persistence)


J. COOKIES

Only you can decide whether or not to accept cookies and which ones to accept. Acceptance of cookies is based on options you must set in your browser. You have to decide how paranoid YOU are about information about you being saved.

Some web sites won't work unless you accept their cookies. They keep track of online shopping carts.

Cookies are not inherently bad BUT can be used to track you - click-by-click. Cookies let web sites recognize you when you return (each new web page you access is a "return" so this could be one session not necessarily spread across many days). Cookies can be used to track you as you surf the web and report on what you view. Cookies can track what resolution, etc. your monitor uses

Cookies are located: 
# HTTP Cookie File

#sitename   true / false
#expiration? cookie-name cookie-value
.ancestry.com   TRUE    /   FALSE   
2051222412  BIT 6nb-kk9QsO7VzmotzPX_HD

.ancestry.com   TRUE    /   FALSE   
1609401412  ANCUUID EgC97mpUpQ1niiC

www.vmyths.com  FALSE   /   FALSE   
2137622391  CFGLOBALS   HITCOUNT%3D6%23
LASTVISIT%3D%7Bts+%272001%2D09%2D13+10%3A42%3A36%27%7D%23
TIMECREATED%3D%7Bts+%272001%2D08%2D10+18%3A06%3A03%27%7D%23

.google.com TRUE    /   FALSE   
2147368445  PREF 
ID=06715f3722ed:TM=998409409:LM=998409409

www.glorecords.blm.gov  FALSE   /   FALSE   
1033099675  zipcode 75760
Cookie Managers (Built in to NS6, less control with IE but can get third-party products also such as CookiePal, CookieCrusher, Cookiewall)

BEWARE OF DoubleClick and similar sites:


K. OTHER INFO YOUR BROWSER PASSES TO SITES

What browser sends What it means
GET /x/ne.dll?qg0diq1u HTTP/1.1 The web page I want to get
Referer: http://grc.com/su/earthlink.htm The URL I came from (the page I was at when I asked for the page in the GET command - used to tell who referred you to a site that pays when you "click through" their banner ads)
ONLY IF I allow a cookie to be set:
Cookie: (This can be any text the server wants)=(And so can this)		 See cookie file above
Host: nanoprobe.grc.com The host for the web page I want to get
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; m18) Gecko/20010131 Netscape6/6.01 The browser, OS, language, ?? I use
Accept: */* The kinds of files I will accept
Accept-Language: en The language I accept files in
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate,compress,identity The encoded files I will accept
Keep-Alive: 300 Connection: keep-alive Keepalive time


http://etxquest.com/
Copyright © 2003-2008, Debbie Parker Wayne,
All Rights Reserved.