Information about Internet and its Uses in Our Daily Life

Information about Internet and its Uses in Our Daily Life

How difficult our life would have been if there was no Internet. Think about it. To find some information, we all have acquired the habit of 'Googling' it on the web; within a few seconds the screen displays the desired information. You want to book tickets for a movie night with friends, you can book them at the click of a button, again through the Internet media. Many of us cannot imagine life without the social networking sites. The Internet has indeed made the world a small place and living life easier. And the rapid progress of technology has made it possible to access the Internet from anywhere through plenty of means. It has such a plethora of uses in our daily life that we use it for one purpose or the other almost daily. The routine uses and some positive effects of the Internet in various sectors have been discussed in detail below.

The Uses of the Internet in Daily Life

For Information:
For a layman, Internet is nothing but a collection of websites. And there are innumerable websites that serve a variety of purposes. There are news websites, social networking websites, websites that provide information and websites of various businesses and organizations. These websites are updated frequently to provide information to the user. You can find everything of anything on the web just by browsing through a few websites. You can also use emails, blogs, IM chat, social networking websites and communication software for sharing your information with the world. The Internet has made access to information cheaper and easier and this is its most common use in daily life.

Business & Advertising:
Almost all the businesses these days have websites, through which they promote and advertise themselves. This medium these days has been used extensively for promotional campaigns. Not only promoting your business but you can also effectively advertise your event or any cause on this medium. There are many businesses that depend on the Internet for their survival like stocks and call centers, to name a few. It has promoted faster access to necessary information which strengthens the business processes.

Education:
Internet also is a popular medium used by students. Many students use it for educational purposes, like for finding study material or for applying to some college or university. It is now a virtual world and all the applications are done online through the website of the concerned educational body. Students use websites for these and many other purposes like checking exam results, exam schedule, application procedure to any course, etc. Students also take the help of the Internet for project help and for obtaining the required images. Everything on the Internet is a click away from us.

Communication & Networking:
The use of the Internet for networking is very popular among all age groups. There are many good social networking websites that are used by people for communication. These websites provide an effective and easy platform that facilitates interaction. In daily life, it is widely used as a means of communication through means like networking websites, chat websites, blogs, etc. Through these websites you can also share your photographs with your near and dear ones. The Internet is widely used by job seekers for job applications and job searching. Facilities like video conferencing has made it possible to conduct interviews online.

Entertainment:
Another popular use of the Internet in daily life is for entertainment. Facilities like listening to online music, downloading music and movies provides a platform for entertainment. There are plenty of other ways through which you can entertain yourselves on the Internet. You can play online games, view sports matches, or watch videos of your choice. It is a trusted means of entertainment for these kinds of purposes and is extensively used for the same.

Other Popular Uses:
It is popularly used for banking. Almost all the banking transactions are possible through this medium. Apart from these common uses, it can also be used for shopping. Online shopping is very popular among masses and on the Internet you can buy any thing and get it delivered at home. There are also many people who use it to work from home.

These were some of the chief common uses of the Internet in our daily life. It is a boon for us and has made our life easy by facilitating so many uses. But it is also prone to attacks of many kinds that threaten safety over the Internet. To protect the Internet from these attacks we should all use it carefully and also protect ourselves from various privacy intrusions. The Internet as a tool for communication will always remain its most powerful use. The array of uses of the Internet is vast and with the progress of technology new uses will get added to the list of uses continuously.

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Buffer Overflow

Buffer Overflow



A buffer overflow occurs when a computer application attempts to assign data in a data structure past the point that the structure is designed to store information. In the classic case, a buffer is designed as a sequential section of memory assigned to contain the information. The type of information can vary from an array of integers to objects. When information is stored outside of the allocated block of memory, the program can be crashed or computer malware can be executed.

Why Are Buffer Overflows Dangerous?

Buffer overflows are best known from the software security vulnerabilities they create. They are often used to attack new web and stand-alone applications as well as legacy programs. Although it is difficult to discover a buffer overflow vulnerability, a number of attackers have identified buffer overflow vulnerabilities in a variety of products and web resources. Once identified, the vulnerability can be used to execute computer malware on targeted computers putting end-user’s and companies at-risk of attack.
How Does a Buffer Overflow Work?

In the classic exploit, the person attacking the program or system will send information to the targeted application that is stored in an undersized buffer. The information on the call stack will be overwritten to include the return pointer of the function or method. The information sent by the attacker will set the value of the return point to transfer control to the computer malware or other malicious code stored in the attacking information. At the program architecture level, a buffer overflow vulnerability normally occurs when an attacker successfully finds a violation of the programming assumptions not caught by error checking or by faulty memory manipulation.
What Are Other Types of Buffer Overflows?

There are a number of other buffer overflow attacks that have emerged in addition to the classic case. These include the format string attack, off-by-one error, and the heap buffer overflow. Commonalities between the various types include programming code that relies on external data to control application behavior, complex programming architecture, and dependence upon properties of data enforced outside the immediate scope of the programming code.
How Can Buffer Overflow Attacks Be Used Against Web Applications?

Similar to traditional buffer overflow attacks, web applications are also susceptible to the attack. In the web app case, an attacker will send specifically designed data inputs to the app to cause it to execute arbitrary code in order to take over the web or application server. The attack can also be used to target application server products and can pose significant risk to the users of the product. Common web vulnerabilities to the attack arise when the apps rely on libraries to conduct work and in custom code that does not undergo significant error testing.
How Do You Guard Against Buffer Overflow Attacks?

The primary means of defense against a buffer overflow attack is to keep up-to-date on all computer application and web product updates. Failure to apply the most recent patches to products is one of the most common sources of vulnerabilities to buffer overflow attacks. If running a website, making use of commonly available scanners to analyze the site to identify flaws in custom or commercially acquired web products is another proactive step that can be taken to identify the vulnerability prior to exploitation by rogue attackers.

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