Communications and Security

       

       Communication is one of the most important aspects in life. I can’t imagine how life would be if people can’t communicate with each other. Back in the old days, letters and telegram messages were only ways people communicated with others in different parts of the world. It wasn’t only about the cost of communication, but also about the amount of time it took to reach someone we wanted to talk to. Thanks to the rapid growth of networking, it has become so much easier and faster for us to reach anyone in the world within several seconds. There are two main ways to communicate nowadays, which are by phones and internet. The progress of the Internet really opens up a whole new era of technologies and communications. It allows people to communicate anywhere at anytime with a low cost.  However, there’s always some issue coming along with this kind of communication – security.

       One disadvantage of this kind of communication is that everything is stored online and done through the net. Therefore, it attracts many people with bad intents to try stealing the information over the Internet. They can either use it for their own purposes or sell it to companies who need customers’ information. No one would want his/her information to be revealed to a third party without his/her permission. Computer security has become a crucial part of computing, and everyone who uses computers should at least know how to prevent security risks from the Internet like setting up firewall, not going to anonymous websites and staying away from popups. These are just basic things we should know; however, there’s no way we can stop hackers from exploiting our systems. Even big companies like Dropbox and Adobe got hacked several times.

       The best thing we can do about it is not talking too much about important or private information on the Internet or through phones. Not only are we attacked by hackers, but also are controlled by some government organizations without knowing about it. It was revealed that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) paid AT&T over $10 million annually for information from the company’s users’ telephone records including international calls. I don’t know if that’s something we can prevent. It feels like no matter what we do, we are always being watched by someone (anonymous one).

       Finally, the Internet grows faster and faster each day, but it cannot replace face-to-face communication that has been existing since humans appeared on the earth. Therefore, we should be aware of what can and cannot be talked or discussed over the Internet. Faster communication means better but not safer.