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The Internet has become a key part of our world, especially in today’s society, I could not imagine what the world would be like without the internet. The internet saves a huge amount of data that includes lots of personal information. Citizens’ privacy information such as address and bank account information are dangerous when getting into the hand of the wrong people. In addition, no security system is 100% secure in the world. Security system is built by human, high level security systems only decrease the chance of being hacked, they can not immune to all attacks. Thus, the protection of information and data is extremely important and it is every users’ responsibility to defend their own information and data.

One example of a data leakage I found on the internet is the user information breach of Facebook. “In September 2018, facebook announced that an attack on its computer network exposed the personal data of over 50 million users. According to Facebook, hackers were able to gain access to the system by exploiting a vulnerability in the code used for the ‘View as’ feature.”(GERALDINE,2018) Accounts that got attacked involves both normal people and celebrities. The hackers were able to see all the data of the accounts including the information of the account holder’s family and relatives. This kind of personal information leakage can cause public panic which can result in larger consequence such as damage of reputation and loss in assets.

Large social media companies like Facebook and Google has the information of millions of users. Once the company’s system is hacked, these personal information would be open, some important information would even be erased or changed which could result in huge loss. For myself, the best thing to use Google Chrome which is a internet explore is that it can save all your account information of all the websites you logged in. Once you agree to save your account information on Google, you do not have to remember all the passwords which is a convenient design. However, the convenience of this design makes it easier for hackers to steal our account information. Instead of getting the account information they need from each website, now all they need to do is to hack into Google and take all the account information. The security of our data depends solely on the system safety of Google.

Personal information that got leaked on the internet can be treated as a threat in real life. Data that contains birth date and name which are generally required in all accounts is also the information account holds use in real life. The more personal data that leaks out, the higher chance of a typical fraud to succeed. Fraud e-mails and messages fake themselves as they are sent by banks or government officials. Victims are convinced by the personal information contained in the mails and then sending out more personal information that give the fraud access to more assets.

Another danger users face when using the internet is that some website owners sells users information to a third party company without the authorization of the users. For most websites, they require users to agree with their term of use prior to registration. These terms are suppose to protect both the website owners and the users. However, nowadays people agree with the terms without taking a look at any of the terms which gives some website a chance to leak out user data for profit legally. These website providers use the weakness of users who do not have time or not paying attention to the terms and conditions to steal data from users. Even in real life, the situation of personal data being sold to a third party that you do not recognize happens. For example, some cell phone internet providers sell data to real estate agencies for money for every number that the agencies get. In my personal experience, I sometimes receive calls regarding selling used cars, houses and donations.

In general, the internet is full of information, data leakage can result in serious consequences such as loss in assets and damage in public relationship, the users who save their personal information and data on the internet should be aware of protecting their data instead of trusting the server provider solely in order to safely using the internet.

Photo by Sai Kiran Anagani on Unsplash

5 examples of security breaches in 2018, November1 12^th 2018, ·  GERALDINE STRAWBRIDGE

https://www.metacompliance.com/blog/5-examples-of-security-breaches-in-2018/

After reading Claire Major’s chapter, the book introduced many tools that helps online learning. One tool Lisa Lane used when teaching “a community college level class that covers Western civilization from 1648 to the present”(Major,2015,page 88) is instant messaging(IM) which is a system similar to Skype that allows her to talk to students in real time when teaching the online course. Because of the use between her and her students are non time scheduled, she uses an other tool called “Plupper” for her students to check her availability quickly by checking on the system. These two tools provides her students with a better communication environment in the learning progress.Her goal of using these systems is to make her students participate more in the learning progress rather than just read the books and do boring assignments. The result of using these tools in teaching the course was successful, students are engaged in the course and these tools created a great communication link between the instructor and students.

Another tool suggested in the book is “Online discussion forum”(Major,2015,page 103). Instructor David Evans in University of Virginia, US used online discussion forum in his online open course of computer science. Because of the nature of the course is totally free and open to everyone on the internet, the number of participants is huge so that it is hard for the instructor to help everyone with their problems. As a result, the online discussion forum is developed for people who have understood the materials to help those in need. According to David, “they provided a very active environment, with over 88,000 discussion questions posted”（Major,2015,page 103). The online discussion forum helped getting people learning the course better and faster. A similar system I have used is the forum post section in this course’s course space. Taking an online course makes it hard to see who my classmates are, but the forum post section provides a platform for students to know and communicate with each other.

Reference

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching online: A guide to theory, research, and practice. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.