Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
2.
When you send a letter or postcard in paper form through the
post office, you first place the item in a mailbox. The letter or
card then goes from mail carrier to mail carrier, until it
reaches its recipient. Compare the security of this relaying of
information from carrier to carrier to the transmission of data
packets from machine to machine over the Internet.
a.
Ignoring the Internet for this part, are there potential dif
ferences in security between the sending of letters and the
sending of postcards? Explain your answer.
b.
Is communication over the Internet more similar to the
sending of letters or to the sending of postcards (or is the
mechanism about the same)?
c.
In what ways are security issues similar for paper mail and
Internet communication?
d.
In what ways are the issues different?
3.
Many institutions and companies state on the Web their pri
vacy policies regarding any data they collect.
a.
Find the privacy policy for your school or company.
b.
Find the privacy policies for at least three ISPs, such as
America Online, MSN (the Microsoft Network), and a lo
cal ISP that serves your town.
c.
Compare the policies you have found in parts a and b.
To what extent might personal information be available
to officials in the school, company, or ISP?
Might the school, company, or ISP share your informa
tion with others?
Do you have any control over what data might be
distributed?
Are there other similarities or differences in policies?
4.
FTP, the traditional File Transport Protocol, does not use en
cryption in moving a file from one place to another. Thus,
files moved by FTP have some risk of being intercepted and
read. Identify the extent to which you might protect yourself
against unauthorized access to file information transported
using FTP. To what extent do you think FTP can be consid
ered safe and secure?
