The Internet

• The internet is the infrastructure that is used to access the World Wide Web.
• The World Wide Web is the collection of all the web pages that are avaliable.
• A URL is a text based address for a web page that contains the protocol, the domain name, and the web page name, or file name.
• The HTTP protocol is used to transmit data between a computer and a web server. This data is not encrypted when sent using this protocol.
• The HTTPS protocol is the encrypted version of the HTTP protocol. It uses the SSL protocol to encrypt the data.
• The main purpose of a web browser is to render HTML to allow a user to view web pages. It also has other functions such as recording a user’s history and storing bookmarks, favourites and cookies.
• Cookies are used to save your personal data and track your online preferences. They can be session or persistent based.
• Web pages are located, retrieved and displayed using a web browser, a DNS, and a web server.
• A digital currency is a currency that only exists electronically. An example can be cryptocurrency and this kind of digital currency is tracked using blockchaining. This is a type of digital ledger that records all payments made using the currency.
• There are several cyber security threats that exist such as brute-force attacks, data interception, DDos, hacking, malware, pharming, phishing, and social engineering.
• The aim of most cyber security threats is to steal your personal data to commit identity theft and fraud, or as an act of revenge or activism.
• There are a range of cyber security solutions that can be used to help keep your data safe from security threats such as anti-malware software, firewalls, proxy servers, encryption, authentication, privacy settings, automated software updates, access levels, and visual checks such as checking the URL is connected to a link or download.
• The internet is the fact there is a global connection of devices. The WWW is a part of the internet which we use web browsers to access. We access WWW through the internet.
• Web browsers are software which display webpages on a screen. They interpret HTML sent from web servers. On a browser you can set a homepage and bookmarks. They have a history and the ability to go back or forwards to and from pages. They allow you to have multiple tabs open. They use Hyperlinks to navigate through pages. They can interpret and run JavaScript. They make use of cookies.
• URLs are text addresses used to navigate web pages. They include a website address, domain host (www), domain name (website name), domain type (.com), country code (.uk).
• URL format: protocol://website address/path/file name
• HTTP is a set of rules which must be followed when transferring website files across the internet. Iff there is some sort of security e.g. SSL or TLS, there is a ’s’ at the end.
• SSL (secure socket layering) and TLS (transport layer security) use encryption to secure data being transmitted.
• To retrieve pages from a website, the browser needs to know the web server IP address. The DNS (domain name server) is used to do this. It can find the IP address from the URL. It can contain more than one DNS to find an IP address for that computer.
• The internet is an infrastructure. An infrastructure is the physical structure, such as all the components and cables, that are used to connect devices, that are used to connect devices.
• The internet is described as one large network. A wide area network (WAN).
• Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) is a scripting language that is used to create a presentation template for a web page. It includes what kind of font and colour text will appear on the webpage.
• Active script is the script that is used to produce any of the interactive elements of a web page.
• A digital certificate is awarded to a website if they can prove that they are a real organisation and take measures to securely transmit their data.
• Certificate authority is the awarding an organisation that checks if another organisation is real and secure before awarding them a digital certificate.
• Session cookies are a type of cookies that are deleted when the web browser is closed.
• Persistent cookies are a type of cookie that is stored by the web browser until it is deleted by the user or because it has expired.
• A brute-force attack is a type of cyber threat that involves repeatedly inputting a password until the correct one is found, to try and break into an account or device.
• A data packet is a unit of data that is used to transmit data across a network.
• A packet sniffer is a piece of software that is used to examine the contents in a packet of data.
• A distributed denial of service (DDos) attack is a type of cyber threat that targets a web server to cause it to crash and prevent access to the web pages that it stores.
• Botnet is a network of bots that are created to carry out a DDos attack.
• Malware is a type of malicious software that is downloaded onto a user’s computer or device.
• A zombie is the name given to a bot that has malware downloaded onto it to allow it to be used in a DDos attack, but it currently isn’t being used in this way. It is effectively a dormant or sleeping bot.
• A bot is the name given to a computer that has downloaded onto it that will cause it to be used in a DDos attack.
• A proxy server is a method of cyber security that examines requests sent by devices to access the web pages stored on a web server.
• A worm is a software based cyber threat that replicates itself across a network using vulnerabilities that it finds, with the aim of clogging up the bandwidth.
• Adware is a software based cyber issue that automatically creates popup advertisements.
• Ransomware is a software based cyber threat that encrypts a user’s data to stop them gaining access to it until a ransom is paid.
• Pharming is a type of cyber threat that involves downloading malicious software onto a user’s hard drive, that redirects a request aimed at a genuine website to a fake website instead. The fake website will encourage the user to input their personal data, allowing it to be stolen.