# K-12 School Computer Networking/Chapter 9
## SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS

Bryan Apt
Workplace Surveillance Methods: Many companies track the Internet behavior of their employees with “packet sniffers,” software that examines or “sniffs” every packet of data that comes across the network and stores it in a log file. Filtered “sniffers,” capture only packets that have passed into the network from specified Web sites. Which enables technical support staff to examine the file and reconstruct Internet behavior. A more insidious kind of software, called key loggers, is installed in the computers of employees without their knowledge. This software sends a record of every keystroke, which is recorded.
Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Expansion of Filtering. CIPA requires recipients of Universal Service Discounts (USD) and recipients of ESEA Title III or Library Service funds must have technology in place that filter child pornography and material harmful to minors. Local officials, however, are given the latitude to temporarily suspend filtering or blocking for research or other legal purposes. Internet filtering technology: More effective than legislative action, however, is Internet filtering technology—software that enables parents and teachers to ensure that their children are not viewing pornographic material. A number of companies, such as Net Nanny, SurfWatch and CyberPatrol, make and sell protective software that monitors their time on the Internet.. Powerful, yet easy to install, they help parents protect their children. The software checks sites for content and bars children from sites that are unsuitable for them. Some routers, widely used for home networks, have filtering capabilities that block pornography, hate sites, questionable chat rooms, and other dangers of the Internet. In addition, they team with “Safe Search” options found in widely used search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista, Dogpile, Lycos, AllTheWeb, and MSN. Children using search engines on the World Wide Web, when engaged in an “image only” search, will not see links to blocked sites that offer protection against pornographic images. Filtering may be implemented in a number of ways: Filtering Services. Internet service providers, that are “child friendly,” such as AOL and MSN, offer effective filtering as a service to their customers. Filtering Software. A number of software programs monitor Internet use and block objectionable sites on the World Wide Web as well as on less known but equally dangerous areas like Peer-to-Peer. Downloading networks, Chat Rooms, Instant Messages, FTP, Forums, and email, they serve as effective software filters. A New Front in War Against Child Pornography developed last summer (July, 2007). Verizon and Time Warner Cable, two of the nation’s largest service providers that service roughly 16 million customers between them--after undercover agents of New York State revealed that Internet providers were allowing child pornography to proliferate online (but only after resistance and prolonged negotiation)--agreed to curtail access to child pornography and to purge their servers of Internet bulletin boards and Web sites that disseminate child pornography. They further agreed to purge web sites hosted on the three companies’ servers that traffic in child pornography.
Site Restrictions. There are some browsers that can check for special rating tags that are embedded in a website. For information about these tags, see the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) www.icra.org. These tags often identify content descriptors for one website or for one specific page. Users can set their browsers on pages that display “fantasy violence” but not sex. Websites with rating tags embedded in their pages do not display, for the browser is unable to ensure that the site is safe. The system of rating tags, which is not used widely, may be useful but, as of now, does not appear to be a general solution to the problem of child pornography on the Internet How Does One Determine the Suitability of a Website? First, filter the incoming content as it enters the system. The filter is programmed to look for targeted words or images that may have “too many flesh tones.” Such filters, however, are unable to eliminate sites on sex education or breast cancer. (Terrill, 2006) Moreover, while looking for email messages with targeted words, the filter may be unable to recognize “s*e*x” as “sex.” Porno spammers, though, know the limits of common filters and designs around them. Scanning images is tricky. Which is why, flawed though content filters often are, schools have little choice but to consider them. For they may be able to block a hitherto unknown bad web site.
Debate about use of filtering programs has stirred controversy in the education community. Pro-filtering advocates believe that the filters do a good job in disallowing children into inappropriate sites. Anti-filtering proponents feel that the filtering software keeps children out of sites that hold appropriate information but “inappropriate” words. Questioned, also, is the “moral compass” used in filtering software. It is maintained that teachers should be able to teach children what to avoid without having children locked out of sites by filtering Effective is a Combination of Filtering Systems, Education, and Vigil. While freedom of the web may work well in secondary education, it seems it is too great a risk to include pornographic sites in elementary education. A single moment on one of these sites may be all it takes to increase prurient interest or to initiate desensitization to such images. Hence, it is recommended that a combination of filtering systems, teaching, and vigil be employed at the elementary level. The mere presence of an educator should not be underestimated. Having a teacher nearby and actively interested in what the students are pursuing on the Internet can effectively deter inappropriate access. Having computers situated in rooms where the screen content can be viewed by the teacher at all times is also a good classroom deterrent.
PICS. One group working on the issue is Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS), which is trying to give parents control over the type of material that their children can access. PICS is trying to develop industry standards for technology that would allow the content of all sites and documents on the Internet to be rated according to their suitability for children, Additionally, the group would create standards that would enable software to be developed to block sites based on those suitability ratings.
How Parental Controls Work. (1) The SurfWatch software the URL of every address coming toward the TCP/IP stack. It searches for five types of URLs: http, nntp, ftp, gopher, and IRC—the ones most likely to contain objectionable material. It puts each into its own separate “box.” It allows the rest of the Internet data coming in to go through. (2_ SurfWatch software is installed on a computer that a parent wants to monitor to ensure that children can not get to objectionable material on the Internet. When a child launches software to get onto the Internet, SurfWatch latches onto Winsock or MacTCP, depending on whether a PC or Macintosh is being used. A SurfWatch software module sits “in front” of Winsock or MacTCP and monitors the TCP/IP data stream coming to the TCP/IP stack. Conclusion. Although child pornography on the Internet may form only a small percent of Internet content, it possesses a huge challenge for society. To protect children from child pornography, the use of a filtering system is an effective way to block pornography. In addition, an essential partnership between major servers, such as AOL, Verizon, and Time Warner, and parents, educators, and librarians will further reduce the incidence of child pornography. Hotlines are a mechanism for receiving complaints from the public, collecting intelligence for law enforcement, removing illegal content from servers, and providing safety education. In short, an effective partnership against pornography seems to be emerging. For a Summary of How Parental Controls Work, See Diagrams One and Two, Page 10, Below.
References Ribble, Mike, & Bailey, Gerald (2007) Digital citizenship in schools. Eugene, OR: ISTE
Terrill, Thane B. (2006) Technology on a shoestring:A survival guide for educators and other professionals. New York: Teachers College Press.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use http://csriu.org/about
Educator’s Guide to Computer Crime and Technology Misuse www.uni.uiuc.edu/~dstone/educatorsguide.html
Encyclopedia-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main Page-Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks.

## YouTube Interview: Cassandra Maida, Senior Technical Trainer

An example from the corporate world, this Senior Technical Trainer shows that security is a major concern for her clients, however she is able to reduce their concern with some specific details and by staying positive. Remember, if you are trying to pitch your system to teachers and parents— be positive. Instead of listing all the problems that could potential happen (not an effect way to be persuasive), list all the solutions and security steps you plan to use. Take a note from this corporate trainer and address security concerns while staying positive and being confident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQpC53ByRc0
Kmr2136 (talk) 15:09, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

## Diagram: How Parental Controls Operate (Gralla, 2004, 324)

Multiple Choice Questions: 1. At the heart of the filter system is: a. Gopher; b. ftp; c. SuperWatch; d. http. 2. Large cable company that recently agreed to ban child pornography: a. ESPN; b. Time Warner; c. Fox; ABC. 3 .Most effective way to keep young children from viewing pornography on the Internet: a. effective filtering system; b. legislative action; c. voluntary action; d. parental instruction. 4. A device on Google that may permit a child to view pornographic material on the Internet: a. search; b. Yahoo; c. AltaVista; d. cache.
True-False Questions: 1. Because of effective filtering systems, parents and teachers do not have to remain vigilant in the encounter against child pornography. T or F 2. An Internet user may see questionable websites without visiting the site. T or F 3. An effective filter is called SafeSearch. T or F 4. Most effective tools against child pornography are a combination of the following: filtering system; education, vigil. T or F
Answers to Multiple Choice Questions
* 1- b (SurfWatch)
* 2-b (Time Warner)
* 3-a (filtering system)
* 4-c (cache)
Answers to True/False Questions
* 1-F
* 2-T
* 3-T
* 4-T