Internet Security Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Internet Security - Research Paper Example the computers being used to access the internet, or the user. The subjects pertaining to the security against these threats are internet safety and internet security. There is a slight difference in internet security and internet safety, with the most basic one being that the former focuses more on the direct safety of a computer network from threats that can attack through the internet, such as viruses or data corruption, while internet safety relates more to the security and safety of the user, such as identity fraud, money scams, false information etc. Although both forms of security threats can are important to understand and counter, this paper will concentrate mostly on the more technical aspect of internet security, and will focus on the various threats that are encountered and the preventative measures taken against them. As mentioned, internet security is the necessary measures taken and rules laid out which make the use of the internet more secure for a user in terms of the safety of their computer from various threats. To understand where these threats rise from it is first important to understand the basic working of the internet. ... IP transfers the required bits of data, firs within each individual network, then between secondary levels of networks, starting from the most basic level, and then progressing regionally and then globally, thus allowing the information to reach from one point to another. TCP checks these bits of data, ensuring they are correctly being transferred and offering corrective feedback measures when they aren’t (Reed, 2004). Data threats enter this system of information management when at any of these many levels data is encrypted and corrupted. To prevent this, a number of measures are taken, which include SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), TLS (Transport Layer Security) and IPsec, with the most effective one being the IPsec protocol, which in turn further uses the AH (Authentication Header) and ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload) protocols as the mechanism for its protection. AP authenticates the data and then sends it further on, and ESP provides confidentiality. All three protocols ba sically revolve around the same principal of securing communication by authenticating the sender at each level where these protocols are implemented, and by encrypting the data so that in case of unwanted interception, it is not altered. Internet security threats are also widely transferred through email messages. Again, understanding how email messages work greatly explains the reason for this. Email messages can also be considered bits of data that are transferred through the many networks of internet, with the main difference being that users can easily edit and change this data at the various levels it is transmitted to. How email messages basically work is that first a user composes a message. This message is converted into a certain standard form and is transferred to the mail