How Secure is Your Surfing - Is Your Browsing Encrypted?

So have you actually every thought about how secure your surfing is? Do you know if your surfing is encrypted, you probably know that if you see that little padlock that you have some sort of security, but how much.   Well the truth is that there is a basic insecurity with browsing the web which is because it was developed for speed not security.

The majority of our web browsing happens through something called HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol), this is a language used to request and receive information through our web browsers. It is an incredibly efficient language and it allows us to send and receive information quickly with little to no overhead.   It is one if the reasons behind the success of the internet, after all for the first years of the life of the internet, people were using very slow connections.  My first modem was a 14.4k model, it would probably take about 10 minutes to load the average web page nowadays but it was reasonably responsive.

HTTP is actually a clear text protocol so it doesn't encrypt, secure or protect your data in any way, it is all transported in clear text.  Anyone one the same network as you can clearly read all the information that passes through HTTP, web sites, logins, password you name it's all visible in logs, in the ether and across the wires.  It's not HTTP's fault though it was never designed to provide any security.

Of course if you see a little padlock on your browser somewhere you'll be a little safer this is when your surfing is protected and encrypted.  This is the sign you're using HTTPS which is a secure version of the protocol, you'll notice in the address bar your HTTP turns to HTTPS on a secure site.   Of course you can't choose when to use HTTPS you are dependent on the server you visit, which is unfortunately the case with most security on the internet - you are reliant on other people.

Always remember the trail you leave behind you when you are surfing, everyone can be traced back to their IP address. Your ISP logs your every web site visited, picture downloaded and movie watched.  Combine this with the servers you visit logging your address and all the other places your browsing is logged and you can see the potential for security problems.

So remember without the padlock you're using HTTP and so your connection, account names and passwords are not encrypted and are readable by anyone.  Never enter sensitive or confidential information on any web site which is not secured.

To see which software I use which offers a full encryption, private proxies and total privacy check out the links below.

Online Surf Protection

Try the new free demo of Identity Cloaked on the link below.

Anonymous Surfing Demo

Take care and stay safe.
Jim

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Rjindael

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