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The internet has completely revolutionized our lives. You could say the internet is as significant an invention as the wheel. It has made our personal and professional life much more convenient and luxurious. From communication, education, shopping, and pretty much everything else, we have become so dependent on it.
That being said, there are a number of rising concerns about this phenomenal technology. People may have subscribed to services like Frontier FiOS Double Play in hopes of enjoying lightning-fast internet, but most people don’t give a thought to the threats lurking online.
We thought to help you out by discussing whether or not the internet has become more hostile than it ever used to be. Follow us below, as we discuss each aspect at length.
Rage Wars
Thanks to the internet, people are constantly living their lives on digital platforms like Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and numerous others. Such platforms have created an opportunity for every single person to start rambling about their personal opinions without considering anyone else’s viewpoint.
Online rage wars have become a common occurrence where people who literally do not know a single thing about the other person start heated debates about a meaningless topic. People are breaking off long term relationships and friendships over politics, fashion preference, and other meaningless excuses.
Cyber-Bullying
Previously, bullying was restricted to school playgrounds and unfortunate children were free from the torment once school was over. Now, this bullying has made its way into our homes, thanks to the technology that is the internet.
A study by professionals at L1GHT states that there is a 40% increase in toxic communication on platforms like Discord since the pandemic of COVID-19 started. Children of all ages have found a loophole that enables them to torture the weak while they are safe behind their own screens.
Unrestricted Supervision
You might not even know the number of entities that are constantly spying on every little incident that takes place in your life. We install numerous apps and software on our phones and computers over the course of our life. Often, they require certain permissions such as access to location, gallery, contacts, and storage.
While you need to grant some permissions to some apps, unnecessarily granting every single permission may be disastrous. It enables third-party apps to keep you under constant surveillance. Even if you are not using your webcam or your phone’s camera, you may probably be being spied on. There are numerous ways hackers can use to spy on you, and you should be fully equipped to counter those tricks.
Phishing Scams
A phishing scam is the most common way for hackers to target innocent people and extract sensitive information by misleading them. According to a report, there is a significant increase in the number of phishing scams over the last few months.
Hackers have seriously upped their game and are contacting their targets with email addresses and domains that seem almost authentic. To avoid this, you need to familiarize yourself with all the essential tips to prevent phishing attacks.
Astroturfing is on the Rise
Astroturfing is when people are misled to believe that a certain viewpoint or cause is actually backed by the original participants of a cause. While in reality, the intention is quite the opposite.
False marketing and promotional campaigns are put in motion to convince the public that the popularity of the opinion speaks for its authenticity. This certain threat has significantly grown since the COVID-19 pandemic started. All sorts of fake news have surfaced about the disease while the reality has often proven to be the opposite.
Cyber Attacks
The internet lets you visit all kinds of websites. While most of your visits may be restricted to reliable websites such as Facebook, YouTube, or Netflix, other encounters may not be that safe.
If you are not cautious about which links you click on, you might unknowingly invite different kinds of malware, spyware, and other viruses on to your devices. Before you visit any website, make sure that it has the recommended “https://” prefix at the beginning that ensures safer communication over the network. While there are numerous other things to consider as well, this is one essential thing that you should check no matter what.
Bad Bots
According to research, almost a quarter of the internet’s traffic is populated by bad bots alone. Bad bots are designed to interact with all applications the same way a human user would. This puts additional strain on organizations in filtering out legitimate queries from those that have other intentions.
This is also a means for unauthorized entities to introduce any and all malware, phishing attacks, and Trojans into an organization’s servers. Through this, sensitive and confidential information of a company may be subject to theft or corruption.
What do You Think?
While the internet has blessed us with a number of conveniences, one cannot help but wonder the drawbacks of this technology. Having read all the factors mentioned above, what do you think of the technology’s current level of utility?
