In the course of creating articles to keep your family safe online, we realized that we may have been throwing around some terms that you weren’t familiar with, or briefly alluded to some concepts you may not understand. Due to this, we decided that we would go over some of the more important Internet security terms to better arm you to protect your children online.
Firewall: A firewall is essentially a gateway that gets placed between your computer and the Internet. It works just like the door to your house: it opens only when you tell it to, and for whom you tell it to. Instead of people, it opens and closes for connections to the Internet, whether through programs or features. Most firewalls, like the Windows Firewall, allows you to customize it to only open for specific programs, or to ask you every time.
Malware: Malware is any software that can be installed on your computer with malicious intent. It may try to turn your computer into a zombie to function as part of a botnet, attempt to harvest sensitive information, or even just try to cripple your computer. Antivirus and Antimalware software are designed to protect against applications like this.
Spyware: Spyware, while still being problematic, is more benign than malware. Instead of actively trying to harm or steal from you like malware, spyware instead monitors your Internet and computer behavior. Usually, this information is then sold to rogue marketers to try and entice you into buying their products. Spyware has a tendency to slow down computers.
While these are very basic definitions of topics that can be complex, it is important to establish a basic understanding of these concepts before moving onto larger ones. Remember: the best defense you can have in any situation is information.