Issues Associated With Access to Online Services

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The internet has become one of the most relied on resources in the modern age; in fact, more than 3 billion people have access to it (2). Many people today have fully entrusted the services on the internet and have allowed access to private information that they wouldn't share with anyone else. While some of the services on the internet may be convenient, there are serious threats online that take your information and use it against you.

Reliability of Passwords

Network Security

Identity Theft

Permanence of Information Released Onto the Internet

Questions and Answers

It is important to be smart when uploading information onto the internet as this information will be held online forever by data centers around the world. All of the information on the internet is stored on the hard drives of special computers called web servers (3). The special aspect of these computers is that they run web server software that allows them to speak in HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) (3). HTTP is a very simple and understandable language that is used by the web browser to communicate with the data server and get the desired websites, images, etc (3).

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Web servers are designed to fit in tight racks in buildings called data centers, which have very high-speed internet connection for maximum efficiency (3). Data centers are highly secured buildings that have to be protected from everyday threats like unauthorized people, hackers, power outages, and hardware failure (5). Firstly, Data Centers are monitored 24/7, and can only be entered upon by someone with a custom-configured ID cards (5). An intrusion detection system is used to monitor incoming data and detect online threats while the firewall deals with it (5). Should the multiple-redundancy power supply system fail, maintenance staff have approximately 15 minutes (due to emergency batteries) to start up the emergency power diesel generators (5). Lastly, if physical hardware fails, the load can be directly re-allocated to other hardware without hindering the system's stabillity (5). Therefore, it is important to be cautious of what information you put onto the internet so that it doesn't come back from the data center to harm you.

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