How To Conduct Online Research Safely
Sunday, March 6th, 2011Conducting research efficiently and quickly on the Internet safely is frequently ignored by people. When you use the Internet for any type of research, you might be exposing your business and yourself to hidden dangers including the unauthorized transfer of confidential information. The world isn't ready for a shutdown of a companywide computer network.
There is a smart way to conduct research on the Internet. Using a vigilant approach and an alert eye, here are some ways to help protect your business and yourself from malicious programs and prying eyes.
Microsoft is continuously providing security updated and enhancements for all of their products, including Internet Explorer. Microsoft provides service packs, upgrades, and fixes for their products when threats are discovered, although no program is completely safe from harm. You or your Information Technology department must make sure that you install all of these services packs, upgrades, and fixes in order to maintain the highest level of security on your computer.
Prior to you venturing onto the Internet ensure that you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer. Here is how to determine which version you are using.
Click on About Internet Explorer on the Help Menu in Internet Explorer. The three items that you should see in the displayed window are version, cipher strength, and update versions. The version is the version on Internet Explorer. The cipher strength is the level of encryption that your browser can support. The update versions are there in order to keep your version of Internet Explorer updated to make sure that the balance between functionality and security is correct. Close the window by clicking OK. If your browser needs updating you can download the latest version of Internet Explorer from the Microsoft Update website.
Your computer can help to protect you if you set up Internet zones to meet your personal requirements. A zone is a grouping of websites or logical region, based on how well you trust the source and where they are physically located. The default zones that are available in Internet Explorer are local Intranet, Trusted websites, restricted websites, and Internet. Local Intranet is the websites that are located on your local network. These websites don't have to communicate over the Internet in order to be accessed. Trusted websites are a list of websites they you trust not to do any harm to your computer including websites that you have identified as being encrypted properly. Restricted websites are a list of websites that are suspected or known to be harmful to your computer. Internet is all of the other websites that don't fall within the other three categories.
The small files that are stored on your computer that have all of the information required for particularly websites are known as cookies. A cookie file can be used to store any information that might be helpful to enhance your experience on that website such as personalization, preferences, passwords, and user identification. The problem is that you don't know what information the cookie will collect and it therefore may be malicious. If it is, you could wind up with a nasty little program stored directly on your hard drive. A cookie that is malicious can collect and store information that might be confidential including your credit card information, address, name, and more. Cookies are permitted in all zones except for the restricted websites by default in Internet Explorer. But, you can limit cookies for a particular zone.
Click Internet Options on the Tools menu in Internet Explorer. Click on the Privacy tab in the Internet Options dialog box. To adjust the settings, move the slider up or down in the Settings section. When you move the slider up it increases incrementally the Internet security on your computer, so that the cookies aren't accepted. When you move the slider down decreases incrementally the security, so that the cookies are accepted. To set a cookie policy for individual websites, click on Sites in the Settings section. This will specify which websites you want to not permit or permit to use cookies. In the Address of Website text box, enter the desired website address and then click on the Block button which will block all cookies for the entered website. You can return to the Internet Options dialog box by clicking on OK.
Internet security should be taken seriously. The technique that the owners of websites use to help protect themselves from confidential information including credit card numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, passwords, and user names is known as encryption. Any confidential information that you place on a website is easily accessible to hackers on a website that doesn't use encryption. To make sure that you are using a website that is encrypted, ensure that you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer and when you are viewing or entering confidential information either ensure that on the status bar of Internet Explorer there is one is a small yellow lock icon or ensure that website address starts with https://. The http"s":// denotes that the website is secure.
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