How to Know if a Website is Safe

Shopping online is a growing fad and there are hundreds of sites that sell virtually everything under the sun! But before you enter your credit card number, happy at the thought of purchasing that expensive gadget at an unbelievable price, check if the website is indeed as secure as it appears to be. But how to know if a website is safe? Read on to find an answer.

The Internet has made our lives easy in more ways than one, and today we are accustomed to use the Net for everything from banking to paying our bills to shopping. For this, we are required to fill in our personal information and use our credit or debit cards for online transactions. This is convenient as we do not even have to leave the confines of our homes and yet, we can enjoy shopping at our favorite destinations! However, this huge availability of sensitive information on the Web has given rise to crooks who are after collecting this huge database of information and using it to their benefits. Cyber crime, as crime on the Internet is termed as, is on the rise and there are thousands of sites out there that steal your personal information once you click on their links or download stuff from their site. The threats are many and include malware, spyware, phishing, virus and more. So, how can you protect yourself and your computer from all such potential threats? Well, the only way out is dealing with websites that are safe and secure.

How to Check if a Website is Safe

 Before we get into the ways to check if a website is safe, let us try and understand what is meant by a secure website. When you browse through different sites on the Internet, there is an interchange of data between your computer and the server. The problem here is that this data is transmitted in "plain text" format and it is not difficult for anyone to access and decipher this data. Now, if you are wondering who would access this and how, then you must know that the information passes across several computers before it reaches the server. A secure website is one that encrypts the data using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, thus protecting it from being "read" by third parties who wish to use it for their benefits. Here are some ways to check if a website is safe to buy or order from.

Update Your Browser

The first thing that you can do in order to be able to detect threats from a website is updating your browser. No matter which browser you are using, you find updates appearing at regular intervals, urging you to install them. It is recommended that you install each one of these updates as every browser has its own list of phishing sites and spam websites which are regularly updated for advanced Internet safety. So, an updated browser can alert you against such websites.

Check the URL

Checking the URL of the Web page is simple and perhaps one of the best ways to detect if the site is secure or not. Just have a look at the URL and you'll find that in case of Web pages that are secure, the URL begins with "https" instead of "http" as found on ordinary Web pages. For example, have a look at the URL of the 'login' page of Facebook and you'll find that it begins with "https".

Look for the Lock Icon

When you open a Web page that is secure, you'll find an icon of a lock somewhere on the browser window. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, you should see the icon on the right of the address bar (or location bar) of a secure web page, while in Mozilla Firefox browser, you'll find it in the bottom right corner of the page i.e., on the right side of the 'Status Bar' located at the bottom of the page. If you're using the Google Chrome browser, you should look for the lock icon before the url in the address bar.

Check the Security Certificate

The presence of a lock icon does indicate a secure site but to be doubly sure, click (or double-click) on the icon of the lock. You'll find that it is a link and clicking on it opens a new window that describes the security of the site in detail. This is nothing but the 'security certificate' we are talking about. The security certificate is the ultimate indicator of a site's safety, and in it you'll find details such as to whom the certificate is issued, by whom, the validity of the certificate, etc.

Use Online Tools

This is another way to check if a website is safe. There are certain websites on the Net that offer to check sites for security. All you need to do is go to one of these sites and enter the URL of the site you wish to check. Some sites like Web of Trust (WOT) even offer add-ons that you can download for free and install in your browser. The names of few of such sites are given below.

Google Safe Browsing

Web of Trust (WOT)

Norton Safe Web

HpHosts Online

SiteAdvisor

Blacklist Doctor

Look Out for Personal Contact Details

This is especially applicable to little known shopping sites with whom you have never done business before. In such cases, to find out if the business is real, look for a physical address or contact number. And if you chance to find a phone number, call the number to find if it is valid. Also, do some research about the particular company on the Net.

Thus, we see that there are several ways to know if a website is secure or not. So, before every transaction that you make on a website, check if it is indeed safe to do so. Hope you have a pleasant experience shopping online!

What is Computer Hacking

Computer hacking is a marvelous piece of art, practiced by prodigies in the field of computers. Read on to know what computer hacking is actually.

A trip to the world of computer hacking, whether ethical or unethical, can be a fascinating experience for any individual. The term is often perceived as glamorous and chic, despite its darker side. Computer hacking is basically an alteration of computer hardware or software, in order to accomplish a goal which is outside the creator's original purpose. A standalone computer is less vulnerable to hacking, as compared to a computer on a private or public network. In case of standalone computers, it is necessary to get the hands on the computer machine, whereas, in case of computers on network, unauthorized access can be gained without actually handling the machine.

Computer hacking is both an art and science, for the people who try to break into protected or unprotected networks. Art, because it involves creativity which is equivalent to the painting of a beautiful landscape, and science because of its technical aspects. People practicing unethical hacking, generally tend to steal personal information, change a corporation's financial data, break security codes to gain unauthorized network access, or conduct other destructive activities. There are two kinds of people who indulge in computer hacking, namely those who develop an interest in it out of simple intellectual curiosity, and others with less noble motives. But the common traits amongst all hackers is that they possess technological savvy, are willing to take the risks and are passionate about various programming languages.

Computer hacking invariably involves some degree of infringement on the privacy of others, breaching the network security, and thus causing damage to confidential files, web pages or software. It may also involve downloading or alteration of files through unauthorized access, and the impact resulting from such activities will vary from being simply inquisitive to being illegal. However, many big shot companies often hire a team of hackers, in order to probe into their own loopholes. These individuals use their skills to find flaws in the company's security system, and to prevent them from getting discovered by unethical hackers. In most cases, ethical hacking helps to prevent identity theft and other serious computer-related crimes.

Depending on the domain of their work, there are basically three types of hackers. A white hat hacker is the one who breaks security for non-malicious purposes. These purposes may range from testing the security system, to finding the major loopholes in the network. Such people normally follow the legitimate ways and work within the precincts of cyber laws. The second category includes the black hat hackers, who generally subvert computer security without authorization, with the help of viruses and various other hacking tools. These hackers use technology for vandalism, credit card fraud or identity theft. The third category includes grey hat hackers, whose domain of work lies mid-way between black hat and white hat hackers. They are of ambiguous ethics and work on the borderline of legality.

The best way to learn computer hacking is to master programming languages like Python, C/C++, Java, Perl, and LISP because these particular languages teach the programmer a very different approach towards problem solving and algorithms. This in turn provides a stronger hold on the machine and its components. However, it is not possible to reach the skill level of a hacker, just by accumulating various languages in the knowledge box. It is important to learn the algorithms and working of computers in general. It is also necessary to gain knowledge about the operating system and the various important files which are used by it.

Computer hacking is an interesting way to discover the myriad latent aspects of the wonderful world of computers. The more one tries to learn about it, the more one gets inquisitive about the different domains he can probe into. However, one should always try to understand and follow cyber laws, before trying out one's hand at hacking.

IP Network Numbering

IP Network Partioning

Computer networks consist of individual segments of network cable. The electrical properties of cabling limit the useful size of any given segment such that even a modestly-sized local-area network (LAN) will require several of them. Gateway devices like routers and bridges connect these segments together although not in a perfectly seamless way Besides partitioning through the use of cable, subdividing of the network can also be done at a higher level. Subnets support virtual network segments that partition traffic flowing through the cable rather than the cables themselves. The subnet configuration often matches the segment layout one-to-one, but subnets can also subdivide a given network segment.

IP Network Numbering

Even without subnetting (explained later), hosts on the Internet or any other IP network are assigned a network number. Network numbering allows a group of hosts (peers) to communicate efficiently with each other. Hosts on the same network may be computers located in the same facility or all computers used by a workgroup, for example. Multi-homed hosts, that contain multiple network adapters, can belong to multiple networks, but each adapter is assigned exactly one network number.

Network numbers look very much like IP addresses, but the two should not be confused. Consider for example the host IP address 10.0.0.1, an address commonly used on private networks. Because it is a Class A address, with no subnetting employed, its leftmost byte (eight bits) by default refer to the network address and all other bits remain set at zero. Thus, 10.0.0.0 is the network number corresponding to IP address 10.0.0.1.

The portion of the IP address that does not refer to the network refers instead to the host address - literally, the unique identifier of the host on that network. In the above example, the host address becomes '0.0.0.1' or simply '1'. Also note that a network address becomes a reserved address that should not be assigned to any actual host. Configuring a live host at 10.0.0.0 in the example above could impact communications for all hosts on that network.

The table below illustrates the default numbering scheme for Class A, B, and C networks.

Class	Host address range	Network address	Default mask
A	0.0.0.0 - 127.255.255.255	x.0.0.0	255.0.0.0
B	128.0.0.0 - 191.255.255.255	x.x.0.0	255.255.0.0
C	192.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255	x.x.x.0	255.255.255.0

In general, a network address uses the leftmost byte of its hosts' addressing if the hosts fall within the Class A range, the leftmost two bytes for hosts in Class B, and the leftmost three bytes for hosts in Class C. This algorithm is applied in practice through the use of a network mask. The above table shows the decimal representation of the default network masks that is commonly used by network operating systems. Note that the decimal value '255' corresponds to one byte that has all bits set to one (11111111).

Benefit of Network Addressing

Network addressing fundamentally organizes hosts into groups. This can improve security (by isolating critical nodes) and can reduce network traffic (by preventing transmissions between nodes that do not need to communicate with each other). Overall, network addressing becomes even more powerful when introducing subnetting and/or supernetting.

Introduction to the Domain Name System (DNS)

The Internet, and many larger private Internet Protocol (IP) networks, rely on the Domain Name System (DNS) to help direct traffic. The DNS maintains a distributed database of network names and addresses, and it provides methods for computers to remotely query the database. Some people call DNS the "phone book of the Internet."

DNS and the World Wide Web

All public Web sites run on servers connected to the Internet with public IP addresses. The Web servers at About.com, for example, have addresses like 207.241.148.80. Although people can type address information like http://207.241.148.80/ into their Web browser to visit sites,

The Internet utilizes DNS as a worldwide name resolution service for public Web sites. When someone types a site's name into their browser, DNS looks up the corresponding IP address for that site, the data required to make the desired network connections between Web browsers and Web servers.

DNS Servers and Name Hierarchy

DNS uses a client/server network architecture. DNS servers are the computers designated to store DNS database records (names and addresses), while clients of the DNS include PCs, phones and other devices of end users. DNS servers also interface with each other, acting as clients to each other when needed.

The DNS organizes its servers into a hierarchy. For the Internet, so-called root name servers reside at the top of the DNS hierarchy. The Internet root name servers manage DNS server information for the Web's top-level domains (TLD) (like ".com" and ".uk"), specifically the names and IP addresses of the original (called authoritative) DNS servers responsible for answering queries about each TLD individually. Servers at the next lower level of the DNS hierarchy track second-level domain names and addresses (like "about.com") , and additional levels manage Web domains (like "compnetworking.about.com").

DNS servers are installed and maintained by private businesses and Internet governing bodies around the world. For the Internet, 13 root name servers (actually redundant pools of machines around the world) support the hundreds of Internet top-level domains, while About.com provides authoritative DNS server information for the sites within its network. Organizations can similarly deploy DNS on their private networks separately, on the smaller scale.

Configuring Networks for DNS

DNS clients (called resolvers) wanting to use DNS must have it configured on their network. Resolvers query the DNS using fixed (static) IP addresses of one or more DNS servers. On a home network, DNS server addresses can be configured once on a broadband router and automatically picked up by client devices, or the addresses can be configured on each client individually. Home network administrators can get valid DNS server addresses from either their Internet service provider or third-party Internet DNS providers like Google Public DNS and OpenDNS.

Types of DNS Lookups

DNS is most commonly used by Web browsers automatically converting Internet domain names to IP addresses. Beside these forward lookups, the DNS also is used for:

    finding the correct servers to deliver Internet email

    reverse lookups that convert an IP address back to a domain name

The network requests supporting DNS lookups run over TCP and UDP, port 53 by default.

DNS Caches

To better process high volumes of requests, the DNS utilizes caching. DNS caches store local copies of recently-accessed DNS records while the originals continue to be maintained on their designated servers. Having local copies of DNS records avoids having to generate network traffic up and through the DNS server hierarchy. However, if a DNS cache becomes outdated, network connectivity issues can result. DNS caches have also been prone to attack by network hackers. Network administrators can flush a DNS cache if needed using ipconfig and similar utilities.

Dynamic DNS

Standard DNS requires all IP address information stored in the database to be fixed. This works fine for supporting typical Web sites but not for devices using dynamic IP addresses such as Internet Web cams or home Web servers. Dynamic DNS (DDNS) adds network protocol extensions to DNS to enable name resolution service for dynamic clients.

Various third-party providers offer dynamic DNS packages designed for those wanting to remotely access their home network via the Internet. Setting up an Internet DDNS environment requires signing up with the chosen provider and installing additional software on the local network. The DDNS provider remotely monitors subscribed devices and makes the required DNS name server updates.

Alternatives to DNS

The Microsoft Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) supports name resolution similar to DNS but works only on Windows computers and using a different name space. WINS is used on some private networks of Windows PCs.

Dot-BIT is an open source project based based on BitCoin technology that is working to add support for a ".bit" top-level domain to the Internet DNS.