Chapter 6

I didn’t personally enjoy reading about Internet Security. As I read through the Module, I was a little concerned just how numerous different security threats are. I did, however, find cryptography interesting. I even found the simple algorithm of spelling words backwards interesting, so I’d be curious what a more complex algorithm looks like. Maybe I’m naïve, but I think most people are knowledgeable about phishing scams now. I feel as though most reputable websites go out of their way to make sure their emails are easily distinguishable compared to scams.

DDoS attacks are extremely common in multiplayer video games now. While I don’t have as much time as I used to, it seems the launch of every new multiplayer game gets ruined by one person with zombie computers crashing their servers. The gaming companies really started going after them and pressing charges as a countermeasure and it seems to have lowered the amount of DDoS attacks.

While identity theft is still concerning, I think credit card companies and banks have done a good job limiting how much damage they can do. My brother was a victim of identity theft, and his experience was more of an inconvenience than anything else. Malware is another thing that has gotten easier to deal with over the years. I remember when I had to completely wipe my hard drive just to remove a virus, but now if they somehow get past all the adblockers and anti-virus tools, I can just use a recent backup of windows.

Authentication is something I’ve used for a while now. I still have my physical authenticators on my keychain that I had to use for some older websites. Now, I have about four different apps I use to authenticate my logins to various websites (including LCCC.) While I’m glad websites like google and paypal have authentication, I find it more annoying than anything else when I’m using an app or website that doesn’t store any sensitive information (that I know about.)