Network Security News

The Net evolves quickly; the famous 'Web 2.0' state coined by O'Reilly isn't news any more; now the semantic web, or 'Web 3.0' is being widely discussed. However, people underestimate the possible threats and traps available, as more services and features become available on the Net. Canopus Consulting refers to those in The Dark side of the Internet.

The article goes, for some strange reason, the power, benefits and the positive aspects of the Internet are very widely known, but there seem to be very little public awareness - especially among the average users of the Internet - about some of the dark elements and inherent risks in making all information publicly available on the Internet. The Internet itself has changed drastically over the last few years, and it is evolving very rapidly. There is a tremendous difference between the first generation Internet and the new semantic web which is evolving - both in terms of its power, and the risks it poses if we are not careful of how we use it.I will first introduce very briefly the three different phases of the Internet in the first section of this article, and later discuss the various privacy and security issues connected with these different phases.

Web 1.0, the primary state of the Net, was the time of separated services and sites, where the content creation and means of interaction were site-focused. The security risks were almost always related to a single site.

With Web 2.0 introduction, where 'visitors create content' approach in action, more information and habits of users are becoming available to everyone; search engines are powerful enough to find a lot of data about people; nothing vanishes from the Web, actually - all the vital information is available for long periods of time.

The semantic Web, or the 'intelligent Web' is the state of Net when the services are 'intelligent' enough to find, sort out, understand and find associations for all the data found. That means all the users' data are exposed to all the Net and, in worst possible scenarios, are propagated very quickly.

In case of Web 1.0 all the information flows were more or less under control. Now that we have Web 2.0 all around us, information is channeled in many 'directions'. It is hard to limit information circulation and it is next to impossible to remove it from the Net altogether. Even simple network monitoring of any public data channel, such as Twitter, helps to reveal and intercept many private data, without even slight control of its further route.

When Web 3.0 entwines every human being into a single scheme. We are not alone; we are connected to one another and even the harmless personal data can become a threat, since everyone is entitled to receive it. There are no means to block data flow; communication, the blessing of humankind, can become dangerous if malevolent users decide to harm anyone or misuse information found.

As software evolves and starts 'to behave', new horizons are also opened for phishing and other scam schemes. It would become much easier to perform, since sentient search can easily find people with certain pattern of thinking and make them target for such attacks.

The Net evolves much faster than human beings inhabiting it. And it seems people shouldn't underestimate the power of new Net capabilities - the power than can be used for destructive purposes, as well.

This article was brought to you by the developers of IPHost Network Monitor, network and server monitoring software.