Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joshua Tannehill and I have the
pleasure of knowing all three of the Techie Teachers running this blog. My daughter was fortunate enough to have Mrs.
Schulz as her 4th grade teacher last year. Once I found out that Mrs. Schulz and her
friends were taking on this endeavor I immediately reached out to them to see
if I could help out.
I joined the Air Force right out of high school in
1996. I went to school to learn to be a
“Computer Operator”. It was there that I
learned the tricks of the trade. I
remember how intimidating technology could be the first time the Air Force
instructors made me take a computer apart and put it back together. Once I buckled down and overcame my fear I
was able to learn and appreciate technology. It all worked out well, because I have been
working for the DoD directly or as a contractor for the past 17 years.
One of my current jobs allows me to work from home and
travel to different military bases as needed when they need my expertise in
finding security weaknesses and vulnerabilities in their computer systems or
networks. Think of my full-time job as
an ethical hacker for the military. Because I have WRITTEN permission from the
customer to “break “into their network and find their flaws and because I turn
over my findings immediately to them so they can mitigate the risks as best as
possible, it is called ethical hacking. I have numerous IT certifications ranging from Network + to
Cisco certs to Microsoft certs. My most
prized certification is the CISSP certification. It is highly regarded in the IT Security
industry. Think of it this way, you
wouldn’t want to hire a lawyer who didn’t pass the bar exam, you wouldn’t want
to hire an accountant who didn’t pass their CPA exam and you shouldn’t want to
hire an IT security practitioner who can’t pass their CISSP exam.
T3 has allowed me the opportunity to help them with their
blog on a regular basis. I have several
topics I wish to share with teachers and parents under the umbrella of Internet
Safety. But first I want to cover some
basic vocabulary words that my colleagues and I may take for granted but may be
new to you. So let’s get started:
Internet = a collection of “public” computers, mobile
phones, servers, workstations, smaller networks and other devices that can
share data between them. You can’t
connect to Facebook or this T3 blog without access to the internet and you have
to pay an Internet Service Provider or a Wireless Carrier for that access.
Computer = Back in the 90’s a computer was like a tower PC
on the floor or on the desk that had a hard drive, memory, a mother board a
keyboard and mouse with a connection to a monitor. Fast forward to today and Laptops, netbooks,
and iPads are computers and even your iPhone or other smart phone is a
computer. All of those devices can connect
to the internet.
Mobile device = iphones, ipads, laptops and other smartphones
are mobile devices because you can easily take them anywhere and connect to the
internet with them wirelessly. You
wouldn’t consider your desktop workstation or a server a mobile device because
it usually is stationary and doesn’t move.
Browser = a web browser is any special software crafted to
make “surfing” or browsing the internet and its web pages easy. A long time ago we had Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Internet Explorer basically put them out of business. Now there is Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox,
and on your Apple devices your browser is called Safari.
HTTP = Stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. It is special computer code that web pages
are usually made from.
HTTPS = Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. A more secure way to communicate between
your networked device and the web page you are trying to access. It uses additional encryption and validation
techniques to ensure you are gaining access in a secure way to a trusted web
page.
Password = any secret combination of keystrokes you use to
gain access to your device or web page.
Ensure you use strong passwords and not your dog’s name or date of birth
to prevent it from being easily guessed.
Virus = a malicious computer code/logic that tries to do
harm from one computer to another by deleting, sharing, moving, or destroying
data.
Anti-virus = Special software like Norton’s or McAfee that
you can obtain for free or pay for that helps secure your computing device
against future viruses.
Spam = unwanted or unsolicited emails that try to sell you
unwanted and unneeded products or services at an annoyance to you. Spam filters are in place to try and filter
out all the garbage emails and let your inbox focus on the ones you want or
need.
Phishing = This term is used to describe when someone tries
to obtain information from you that could potentially do harm to you or your
employer later. It normally happens when
you get an email from someone pretending to be an official employee of your
company or bank and they try to get you to reveal your password or PIN or other
company secrets that they should not have.
Social Media = Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other web
sites like that which allow regular users like you or I to post daily updates
or photo’s in a blog like fashion.
Web 2.0 = Generally indicates the data on a site is user
driven or user provided. So therefore it
is user manipulated instead of company provided. Because regular users add, update, delete,
modify the data it should not consider “trusted” for legal or business reasons. Basically all social media is considered web
2.0.
Hacker = someone who uses computer skills in a deceptive way
to illegally gain unauthorized access to private web pages or computing
devices. Usually for theft or political
reasons, but sometimes just for the challenge of it.
We'll have a vocabulary test on Tuesday on the material covered in today's post. Wait! I can't do that. Please never hesitate to email me at
tannehillj@gmail.com if I can possibly
help answer any IT related questions you may have.
V/r,
Joshua Tannehill, CISSP
